E3: Sony confirms Euro PSP launch line-up, strong UMD support

A number of new details of the PlayStation Portable's planned European launch in September have emerged at SCEE's pre-E3 conference, including the first-party launch line-up and strong support for the UMD movie format.

Speaking in Los Angeles, SCEE president David Reeves revealed that Sony will be publishing no fewer than eight first-party titles to support the launch of the console - including six European-developed games, namely World Tour Soccer, F1 Grand Prix, Wipeout Pure, Fired Up, World Rally Championship and MediEvil Resurrection.

They will be joined in the line-up by Ape Academy and Everybody's Golf, two key titles from the company's Japanese studios, and SCEE will also be publishing Namco's racing title Ridge Racer for launch.

A further twenty titles are expected from third-party publishers for the launch of the console, bringing the total games line-up on September 1st to an impressive 29 titles.

In terms of movies, the platform will be supported from the outset by releases from Sony Pictures Home Entertainment - which plans to launch 19 movies on UMD by the end of September, growing to around 45 titles by the end of the year.

"That's a lot of titles," commented SPHE senior vice president Adrian Alperovich at the conference. "It underlines our strong belief in movies for PSP - and it's not just movies. We believe that short form programming, including episodic TV, will be wonderfully successful on PSP."

The company also hopes to see a number of other studios lending their support to the UMD format, as they have done in the USA - with Alperovich describing the uptake of the format as "the fastest support by Hollywood of any hardware launch ever".

The line-up of Sony's movie titles scheduled for September launch is, in alphabetical order:

13 Going on 30, A Knight's Tale, Anacondas: The Hunt for the Blood Orchid, Bad Boys, Charlie's Angels, Ghostbusters, Hellboy, Hitch, Hollow Man, Once Upon a Time in Mexico, The Punisher, Resident Evil: Apocalypse, Spider-Man 2, Steamboy, SWAT, The One, You Got Served, XXX, and last (and possibly least) XXX: The Next Level.

In addition, the firm hopes to launch a number of music video UMDs alongside the provision of downloadable music content for the PSP, and is currently working with major label Sanctuary Visual Entertainment to secure the release of music video UMDs from artists including Bob Marley, INXS and Iron Maiden - all of whom will feature in the launch line-up.