LittleBigPlanet, Rock Band, Assassin's Creed, Dissidia Final Fantasy, MotorStorm and more coming to PSP in 2009 @ Gaming Target

Written by John Scalzo on February 25, 2009

News: And Hannah Montana and Petz and Madden and Tiger Woods and more...

While the PSP was ignored by practically everyone in 2008 after God of War: Chains of Olympus was released, 2009 looks to be quite a bit better for PSP owners.

First things first, Sony has announced they will be creating a PSP version of the popular LittleBigPlanet. The game will be co-developed by Sony and Media Molecule and will feature a ton of brand new levels. The LittleBigPlanet philosophy of play, create and share will also carry over to the PSP version as players will be able to create levels on the PSP version and share them with their fellow Sackboys and Sackgirls.

Sony will also be bringing the MotorStorm series to the PSP (and the PlayStation 2) with the BigBigStudios-developed MotorStorm: Arctic Edge. As you might have guessed, Arctic Edge ships the off-road racing series to Alaska and features all the snow and ice you could ask for. It is currently scheduled for a Fall release.

Sony will also be bringing out two new PSP Entertainment Pack bundles this year (priced at $199.99), themed around two upcoming exclusive PSP games. The first is the Hannah Montana PSP Entertainment Pack. The pack will include a Lilac PSP and Disney Interactive's new Hannah Montana game (a PSP exclusive dancing and rhythm action game). Also in the box will be a UMD of episodes of the Hannah Montana TV show, a 2GB Memory Stick Pro Duo, and stickers. The Hannah Montana PSP will be released in July.

The second PSP Entertainment Pack will be released sometime in 2009 and it will come packed with an exclusive PSP version of Ubisoft's Assassin's Creed. The Assassin's Creed pack will also include a 2GB Memory Stick Pro Duo and a Piano Black PSP.

While these are all pretty standard announcements, Electronic Arts and Harmonix have revealed they will be bringing a version of Rock Band, titled Rock Band Unplugged, to the PSP in 2009. Unplugged will use the PSP's face buttons as a Simon-like rhythm colormatching game. It will also include it's own fully-featured Rock Band Store for downloadable songs.

In the "no surprises there" category, Sony also revealed that Electronic Arts plans to bring Madden Football and Tiger Woods PGA Tour to the PSP in 2009. Both games, Madden NFL 10 and Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10 (that's right, 10, not 2010) will feature faster "PSP friendly" gameplay and other new modes and features.

Another unsurprising announcement comes from Square Enix and there reveal that the Final Fantasy fighting game Dissidia: Final Fantasy will be coming to America in the Summer.

Finally, Ubisoft plans to bring their Petz series to the PSP for the first time in 2009.

We'll have more on all of these titles soon.