Sony announced the introduction of Minis at their Gamescom press conference a couple of weeks ago. What we were told was that there would be fifteen games initially, across a variety of genres including arcade-style games, racers, and parlor games — with more than 50 games by the end of the year. But we were left to guess: will they just be iPhone-style Tower Defense and Bejeweled re-runs?
Well, we need wonder no more - at least about four of them.
Icon Games has announced four Mini games it will be releasing soon for PSPs: Arcade Pool & Snooker; Arcade Airhockey & Bowling; Arcade Darts and Stunt Cars.
While the first three of these look like the usual style of addictive arcade games the Stunt car just might be a step above.
Icon Games describe it as:
High-speed competitive stunt racing over fast paced track circuits. With 24 challenging tracks, and Race, Time Trial, Championship & Challenge game modes.
Here is a mini image of the game as it will look on the new PSPgo
Notice something else about these images (all courtesy of Icon)? There is a distinct iPhone-icon look about them!
This may be a sign of things to come from Sony. The App store has bee such a humungous success that it would not be surprising if Sony developed an Apps store rip-off . With all the freebies that iPhone owners get - especially for games (there are hundreds of free games - though most are mini minis!) - this could be a good development for PSP owners.
Sony has made no mention of the price of the minis, but, if they want to set up an App Store clone, it will have to price these minis at a similar price to the games there. Games on the App Store with a price tag, can range from 99 cents to $9.99, and there are thousands available.
BTW, these new “minis” will be available on the 1st of October in Europe and North America as they have been timed to coincide with the launch of PSPgo.