First details on Infected @ Gaming Target

Written by John Scalzo on January 13, 2005

News: Your PSP will be Infected with a virus in the fall. Find out why that's a good thing.

After a sneak peek in the pages of this month's EGM, Majesco and Planet Moon officially unveiled Infected for the PSP today.

Infected is currently scheduled to ship in the Fall and look to be the closest we'll ever get to 28 Days Later: The Game. It's Christmas in New York City and a virus has infected much of the population. One of the first to be infected, Officer Stevens, proves to be immune to the virus. Her blood also appears to be lethal to the people now known as the Infected. With the help of the mysterious Dr. Schaeffer, Officer Stevens has a gun built that takes her blood and injects it into the Infected, causing them to explode in a bloodstorm of gory chunks.

This would be enough for most horror games, but Planet Moon is taking it a step further. After an Infected explodes their blood can infect other Infected. This technique can then be used to create a chain reaction of explosions making Infected as much like a puzzle game as it is a horror game.

Infected will also take full advantage of the PSP's Wi-Fi features by offering Deathmatch and Team Deathmatch play. In these modes players will be able to infect the losing player's PSP with their Infected avatar and like a real virus, that avatar can get passed on to other player's the original infected person plays.

Other features include:

Infect the world - spread your unique avatar like a virus to other players' PSP systems via exciting multiplayer modes such as Deathmatch and Team Deathmatch

Through multiplayer victories, players can potentially spread their avatars from player to player around the globe

Form clans with shared uniforms, spreading the same unique virus to the lesser skilled

Ultra-fast paced, two-gun action in the streets of New York

Access a huge arsenal of guns and viral weapons, as well as special weapons like air strikes and fire trails that ignite chains of Infected

Set off massive chain reactions of exploding Infected, showering the streets with blood.

"Infected will certainly be 'socially communicable' in that victorious players can wirelessly invade their opponents PSP systems and spread their unique virus literally around the world," said Ken Gold, vice president of Marketing for Majesco. "This type of compelling game play is further enhanced by allowing players to check their ranking against other players, as well as see just how far their virus has spread."

We'll have more on Infected real soon.