E3 2006 portable gaming

Nintendo unquestionably stole the show at E3, with some of the hardest hype as well as the longest lines the show has seen in years. Visitors endured hours of waiting in line just to try out the Wii. Big N's little console might not have the best graphics in the world, but the great new control scheme and the sheer number of exclusive titles really ... Read more
The console versions of Tomb Raider: Legend have been out for a little more than a month now, and the surprising success of those titles has set a high standard for the portable set. With all three of the major portables represented, Lara's reign may just last through the summer. The PlayStation Portable version will be the most familiar to fans o ... Read more
Gameloft also announced the release of the exclusive and official mobile game of Mission Impossible 3, right in sync with the movie's release in theatres. Following the adventures of Ethan Hunt, the game environments and story line are heavily based on the movie itself. Aside from the traditional combat moves, the mobile MI3 game will also feature ... Read more
If you were on the show floor at E3 on Thursday afternoon, you may have wondered what was the hubbub around the Gameloft booth, with security guards and cameras flashing left and right. Well, wonder no longer, because that was Paris Hilton signing autographs and posing for photographers, helping to promote Gameloft's new line of mobile titles based ... Read more
Another trick up Glu Mobile's sleeve is its collaboration with World Series of Poker champion, Chris "Jesus" Ferguson, a rather big celebrity in the poker world. Ferguson is helping them with a new mobile Texas Hold 'Em game that will feature poker celebrities such as himself and others in the World Series of Poker. Ferguson also helped develop a u ... Read more
Glu Mobile had several announcements at this year's E3, and most of them dealt with the world of sports. First, it announced that it would develop the mobile version of Sony's ATV Offroad Fury, an off-road racing title popular on the PlayStation 2. The mobile game is designed to deliver the same stunts and quad racing available on the original, onl ... Read more
Aside from Madden NFL 07, there were many other EA Mobile games on display at the EA booth. There was the recently announced Tetris for Sprint, the first Tetris game to be released on the CDMA carrier. Via Sprint's Game Lobby community feature, there's a multiplayer option where players can play head-to-head on the popular puzzler and see where the ... Read more
EA Mobile, the mobile arm of Electronics Arts, announced the cell phone version of Madden NFL 07 yesterday at E3. The popular football game will feature all 32 teams, a full roster of players, 3D graphics, more than 50 plays, and in-game commentary from Al Michaels and John Madden much like the console version. The mobile Madden NFL 07 will debut t ... Read more
The biggest news from Square Enix at E3 is that Final Fantasy XIII is being developed. The role-playing game will have three different versions: two for the PS3 and one for cell phones. Final Fantasy XIII for the PS3 will be a traditional FF-series role-playing game, while Final Fantasy Versus XIII will be a more action-oriented adventure. Final Fa ... Read more
The PSP is often derided for housing way too many PS2 ports. Namcobandai's portable lineup is completely guilty of the aforementioned assessment. Who cares, though, when they're all so awesome?! Ace Combat X: Skies of Deception is actually an all-new game, but it feels as though the code for one of the PS2 titles has been ripped violently from a D ... Read more
The past is the future for Capcom, especially in handheld gaming. The developer is working on several different sequels, anthologies, and graphical overhauls of its various game series. Mega Man ZX brings the robot-blasting game series to the Nintendo DS, taking the Mega Man saga even further into the future. Mega Man ZX takes place several centur ... Read more
Along with the release of Galaga and Super Pac-Man, Namco Networks announced yet another game yesterday: It plans to bring the popular Scene It DVD games to mobile phones. Both the Movie and TV editions will be ported over to the mobile version, and the mobile game will feature many of the same movie and TV trivia questions as the original. In orde ... Read more
At the Sprint Game Lobby press event yesterday, Sprint announced the launch of Game Lobby Lounge, a social-networking application developed by AirG that allows Sprint mobile gamers to chat, share gaming tips, review games, and even blog. Game Lobby Lounge is a separate downloadable application that's an enhancement to the existing Sprint Game Lobby ... Read more
Metal Gear Solid 4 is the biggest game on the way from Konami, but that just means the company's making its games a lot tinier. Here are the big names Konami is bringing to the handheld scene. Naked Snake is coming to the PSP in the first true Metal Gear Solid portable game, Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops. This title has the soon-to-be-Big Boss fo ... Read more
Mario (New Super Mario Bros.) and Link (Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass) won't be the only Nintendo characters finding a comfortable new home on the Nintendo DS. The dual-screen handheld is getting a truckload of franchise games from Big N itself, ranging from monkeys throwing barrels to foxes flying spaceships. Star Fox DS will arrive for the ... Read more
Snake has a lot of work ahead of him. Not only does he have to deal with Metal Gears on the PlayStation 3, but everyone's favorite commando-spy also has to recruit an elite commando unit to foment an uprising and beat the stuffing out of Nintendo's most beloved mascot! Besides a new trailer and some behind-the-scenes information, Konami is keeping ... Read more
A snap-on camera and a GPS device are coming soon for the PSP--but other than that, there's little more that Sony's willing to disclose at this time. While mentioned in passing at the company's E3 pre-show briefing, we know little more now than we did when the company first mentioned the planned accessories at a March press conference in Japan. ... Read more
The PS3 is the star of Sony's booth at E3, but the PSP was here in force as well. Sony was keen to highlight three of its premiere first-party (that is, published by Sony) titles for the forthcoming year: LocoRoco, Killzone: Liberation, and Ratchet and Clank: Size Matters. LocoRoco is a unique 2D scroller in which you control an amorphous blob by ... Read more
Sure, there aren't any more N-Gage-branded gaming devices, and Nokia has waned in the eyes of the game-playing public, but that hasn't stopped the Finnish company's undeniable presence at E3. Its large, flashy booth was one of the first I noticed when I walked into South Hall, with the Nokia N-series smart phones splayed out on orange and white pla ... Read more
Midway was highlighting three forthcoming PSP titles at its booth: NBA Ballers Rebound, Mortal Kombat Unchained, and Rush. All three are PSP-ified versions of existing Midway properties, but Rush's origins may not be as explicitly clear: It features much of the arcade-style racing action of the original game--it's a portable version of L.A. Rush- ... Read more
Namco Mobile has announced mobile versions of two arcade classics: a 25th-anniversary edition of Galaga, as well as Super Pac-Man, an amped-up successor to the classic Pac-Man chomper. The two games will be exclusive to Sprint subscribers. The special edition of Galaga includes a surprise option that lets you start the game in the highly desired D ... Read more
All eyes will be on the PlayStation 3 at Sony's booth, but that doesn't mean the company's handheld will get left in the dust. Lots of PlayStation Portable games are on the way, in all sorts of genres and from all sorts of developers. The PSP is getting a ton of action games, ranging from the shoot-'em-up to the beat-'em-up. Sony will be unveilin ... Read more
It might not be revolutionary, but Nintendo's updated DS Lite is certainly sleek and pretty. We'll be seeing lots of the new, brighter, slimmer version of the DS at E3. We might already know the release date (June 11) and the price ($130), but Nintendo and other developers might still throw us a few curveballs when it comes to games and features. ... Read more
At E3 this year, we expect cell phone game publishers to further focus on the "casual gamer" demographic--the people who play games while waiting in line, for example--in order to draw more mass-market appeal. Nokia's Snap Mobile, a universal Java-based gaming platform traditionally available on only Nokia handsets, is expected to be opened up to t ... Read more
At last year's E3, Nokia indicated that the N-Gage was moving away from being a single model and becoming more of a "gaming platform," with a variety of compatible phones available. The problem was that those phones never materialized beyond the prototypes Nokia displayed at the show. With another year gone by, it's getting closer to "put up or ... Read more