I'll be posting more and more impressions, so keep coming back here. 
Uncharted: Golden Abyss
Nathan Drake’s first portable adventure is developed by Bend Studio, the team behind the acclaimedResistance Retribution on PSP. It promises to retain the crucial elements of the Uncharted titles – adventure, thrilling action and top-notch storytelling – and the familiar control scheme, while also introducing innovative options such as touch and tilt controls. Check out my interview with John Garvin, Creative Director at Bend Studio.
"For the exploration and third-person shooting at the heart of Uncharted, Sony Bend hasn't altered the essentials - but its interpretation is often surprising. The NGP's dual sticks can keep up with the cover-based gunplay well enough, and the duck and run segments are as tight as those in the PS3 games.
The exploration and scaling of the environment is likewise largely untouched. It never ceases to amaze how many walls crumble at Drake's touch, leaving him dangling in a pre-canned animation. But there's a creep of the NGP's new and varied control methods that's sometimes welcome, sometimes less so."
"Such problems are an understandable by-product of Sony Bend's enthusiasm for the new hardware. It's commendable that the studio is so eager to experiment with all of the strange new features at its disposal. Any early missteps shouldn't detract from its achievement; this is authentic Uncharted on a handheld, and that's an impressive feat."
"Uncharted Golden Abyss is the best reason, but certainly not the only one, to buy Sony's still-codenamed Next Generation Portable."
"The good news? You don't have to use the touchscreen to play, it's an option. The better news? You'll still probably want to because it works."
"Uncharted Golden Abyss certainly isn't the sort of first-person shooter experience that will completely stress test the abilities of the NGP's dual thumbsticks, that will have to wait for a Battlefield or Call of Duty, but it requires enough shooting and moving to prove what gamers have been saying for years: Shooters just don't work with a single thumbstick."
"Unfortunately, screenshots and even video can't do Sound Shapes justice. It's that rare blending of game and experience. Sound Shapes is as much about discovering a tune as it is about traversing a level. To understand why it's so cool, you have to play it. But it will be the talk of Sony's E3 NGP showcase. It's the first NGP game that's made me feel like I might have to invest in the system when it hits stores."
Taking one of the most celebrated PlayStation series in a new prologue, WipEout 2048 is set during the birth of anti-grav racing and features a greater near-future environments than we have become used to since the original soared onto PlayStation in 1995. Perhaps the most exciting feature is the ability to play against PS3 racers on WipEout HD Fury via cross-play with PlayStation 3. Check out my interview with Graeme Ankers, Game Director at Studio Liverpool.
"WipEout 2048 explores reaches of the handheld that the rest of the current line-up has yet to discover, all the while delivering the closest approximation of an existing PlayStation 3 title. Even better, it does this at the same time as giving the series perhaps its most serious makeover since its inception."
"WipEout 2048 does an incredible job of fulfilling the hazy notion of a handheld PS3 in all but name that accompanied the announcement of the NGP."
"It's not enough of a hit to prevent the two games from playing nicely with each other, and 2048's the first game to offer cross-platform play between the PlayStation 3 and the NGP."
"Such minor changes combine with wipEout 2048's other minute revolutions to create the freshest take on the series in some time. Just as Sony's first PlayStation found the perfect partner in wipEout, the NGP now has its own marquee racer to show the world what it's capable of. The future, it seems, is now."
"NGP in hand, I raced against a gamer playing on a Playstation 3 set up on a television directly in front of me, so I could see that there was no slow down or issues with the cross-platform competition."
"Unfortunately, I didn't get to check out two of the most NGP-centric additions to this Wipeout: The game's ability to use touch or voice-activated controls."
"But the question I found myself asking between deaths and kills at 200 miles an hour was: why here? WipEout 2048 will exist on both the PS3 and Sony's new portable world-destroyer, and it will be so much the same that players on one can take on players on the other. It's not like Uncharted: Golden Abyss, which is a completely new title, or SoundShapes, which depends completely on touchscreen input. What can WipEout 2048 bring to the table other than mobility?"
Little Deviants is a series of madcap adventures that will showcase the multitude of features and functions your NGP possesses, including rear touch pad, touch screen, the motion sensor, front and rear cameras, augmented reality and microphone. Check out my interview with Richard Ogden, Game Design Director at Bigbig Studios.
"Little Deviants has a crack at utilising every single one of them throughout the three mini-games on display. It's at its most effective in Hole Roll Control, a game that throws some real-time terraforming at Marble Madness's simple format."
"Bots Blast is the last of Little Deviant's mini-games currently on show. It's an augmented reality shooting game that uses the NGP's rear-facing camera. Throw in some motion controls and you've got an experience that flies close to that of the 3DS's built-in Face Raiders, but any similarities illustrate how Sony's tech is several steps ahead of Nintendo's."
"And with that, my whirlwind demo was over. It was a blur between shooting and contorting my arms, but it was fun enough. I didn't see anything that made Little Deviants more than a tech-centered mini-game collection, but with a new device, people are going to want games that make use of the new tech. How long people keep playing after using every touch function? We'll have to wait and see."
Previously unannounced, Reality fighters is an augmented reality fighting game in which you can capture yourself using the NGP camera and duke it out against other fighters around the world, in the world as you see it through the NGP camera.
"Reality Fighters does an incredible job of incorporating its combatants into the backdrops, and it's a feature that's disarmingly charming: it's possible to project a 30- foot version of yourself onto the horizon and fight against a similarly proportioned astronaut. The camera and motion controls do well to keep the action steady."
"There's an option to fight using pre-captured backdrops, excusing the need to prance about in the sunlight. There are pre-loaded examples, although it's possible to upload 360-degree photos of your own. These can work in tandem with the Near app, allowing photos to be tagged with locations and possibly stored for other players to pick up.
It's another smart feature that has potentially far-reaching consequences – with the right application backed up by the NGP's networking, the sharing of 360-degree photos could be another hook for those wary of picking up what looks like, in some lights, merely a beefed-up PSP."
"Once you've created your fighter you're ready to drop into a fight. As with Face Raiders, Reality Fighter uses the settings around you as a backdrop. That means you can stand around a table and play with your fighters duking it out on the table. Or you can snap a shot of a setting and sent it to a buddy who's not in the room with you so you can have a shared environment. If you use an AR card you can even zoom in and walk around your fighters in the real environment as you fight."
"It's certainly no replacement for Street Fighter, Mortal Kombat or Dead or Alive, but it's fun and it stars you. So it's worth checking out."
"Reality Fighters doesn't arrive for a while. It probably needs to go back to the drawing board and given a refreshed vision on what kind of experience it should deliver. Rarely do boring demos turn into good games, but if the desire is there to turn Reality Fighters around, I'm sure it could be made into something that's enjoyable for more than its tech."
The mesmerising PlayStation Network shooter comes to NGP using the dual analog sticks to control the action the familiar way, plus touch screen and motion sensing controls to add something new.
"From my short time with the Super Stardust Delta, the gameplay is fluid, the graphics astounding. It's a game that completely satisfies any needs you may have from a shoot-em-up."
"It's crazy to see a demo for a system that may be months from launch looking like it's finished. Super Stardust Delta is impressive. The changes make sense, the series seems to be moving forward, and it's already looking rock solid well before it comes out. If you're buying an NGP, you'll probably want to put this one on your wishlist."
Play, compose and share on NGP in a unique take on the side-scrolling platformer, where you create music with your actions using the touch screen and share them with the PlayStation Network community.
"If Sound Shapes (as it's temporarily titled) is anything to go by, the NGP will foster come creative gems which make the most of the handheld's own idiosyncrasies."
"In Sound Shapes each screen is an interactive music sheet. Pitch is defined by the placement of enemies and platforms. This makes for plenty of fun when exploring the developer's own creations, but the real brilliance lies in the user-generated content elements.
Here the front touch screen comes into its own. It provides a swift and natural interface for using a simple suite of tools. The end result is equal parts level creator and music maker."
"The experience of playing the game is immensely gratifying. But there's more than just this single player in Sound Shapes, equally important is the ability for players to create on the fly music and levels in a robust level editor."
"Sound Shapes is a game that makes music not just an element of play, but an integral part of the experience."
"Unfortunately, screenshots and even video can't do Sound Shapes justice. It's that rare blending of game and experience. Sound Shapes is as much about discovering a tune as it is about traversing a level. To understand why it's so cool, you have to play it. But it will be the talk of Sony's E3 NGP showcase. It's the first NGP game that's made me feel like I might have to invest in the system when it hits stores."
The king of pool games rolls onto NGP, bringing stunning graphics and a stylish art style and adding precision controls via the touch screen and rear touch pad.
"You take your shot, and then your buddy takes his when he has a free moment. You get a push notification letting you know it's your turn again and you can go whenever you have a chance. It's an online NGP title that doesn't require two people to have 30 minutes to devote to playing at the exact same time. You could have 20 pool games going at once, just like you would with Words With Friends on the iPhone. And with full rules customization, you can not only play the variety of accepted variations on pool and billiards, but any weird game types you can think up."
"Hustle Kings is essentially the same as the PS3 version with some nice little additions (such as the aforementioned asynchronous gameplay). How close is it to the original? Well, so close that you can play a match of Hustle Kings NGP against someone playing Hustle Kings PS3. Let's say your buddy can't afford an NGP, but you're flush with moolah. Buy an NGP, get your buddy to buy a copy of Hustle Kings on PS3 and the two of you can play competitively on the same couch if you want. Sadly, PS3 vs. NGP doesn't allow for asynchronous play."
Tee off with the latest iteration of everybody’s favourite golf series from ClapHanz. You can shoot for a birdie using traditional, touch and tilt controls and take on the world in effortless online multiplayer.
