A First for PSP
WRC is on
schedule to make its appearance on the PSP, making it the first officially licensed handheld
FIA rally game. If you are wondering how the PSP will differ to the PS2 version and if
Sony's promise to "protect" PSP content from simple ports is being kept, read on. If the
images, available by following the screens tab above, are anything to go by it seems that
WRC is just as visually impressive on PSP as it is on PS2.
WRC The
Game
Immerse yourself in the first officially licensed handheld FIA World Rally
Championship game packed full of exhilarating stages set in the toughest terrains the
world has to offer. Experience the "in your face" thrills and spills of rally on the move
feel the speed, embrace the power, taste the mud!
Features:
- Featuring the 16
official rallies from around the globe including Japan and Mexico, plus 19 bonus stages and
downloadable content enabled
- 30 fully deformable cars, including Evolution and
Extreme spec cars, plus all 17 official 2004 registered drivers, from the 6 official
manufacturers
- Link up to other PSPs via WiFi for multiplayer battles in 16 super
special stages allowing you to pit your wits against the best WRC drivers in the world
Traveller's Tales Q&A
We've seen WRC on PS2, can you tell us what is
different about this game?
WRC will utilise all of the same licensed cars, drivers
and tracks / stages as PS2 however the emphasis with WRC is really more about easily
accessible, pick-up and play gameplay with more against arcade style against the clock
challenges.
So it's not just a port?
No, WRC PSP is built from a completely
new code base and entirely different set of art assets than PS2.
What new elements
have you introduced to the game?
All the familiar Quick Race, Time Trial, Single
Rally and Championships will of course feature, but all are now based on a more arcade
style, in order to take maximum advantage of the quick fire nature of the PSP.
Is
this created by the same team that worked on the previous games?
No, different
developers are working on this title and this gives a significantly different visual style
and feel to WRC on PSP.
Are there many major differences in the development for a
software title for PSP?
We've found that our development teams have rapidly gotten
used to developing for PSP. What has surprised many of us, however, is how powerful the PSP
actually is once you begin to better understand the hardware. This means that although teams
are slightly smaller than PS2, comparable team sizes are required to make the best of the
hardware.
Tell us more about the WiFi elements in the game.
We plan to include
the opportunity for up to 8 players to play head-to-head via WiFi on an ad hoc basis.
Players will be able to compete on 16 specially designed looped stages. WiFi will also allow
players to transpose their stage times using ghost cars with other players and other
PSPs.
Are you going to include any downloadables that can be used to enhance the
title at a later date?
Yes, we plan to support the title over its life with the
inclusion of bonus tracks and cars as well as other licensed elements.
As a
developer, what is the most exciting element of working on software for PSP?
I guess
being there at the start. No portable games console has ever had the power to truly deliver
powerful 3D gameplay before and the power of the PSP will undoubtedly take many people by
surprise. It certainly surprised us!
What features has the game got that take into
consideration the fact that the PSP is portable?
We wanted to avoid streaming lots of
data so as to prolong battery life. Obviously this isn't even a consideration on PS2, so
you have to think about how to get the best out of the PSP without relying on old common
place techniques. With WRC PSP, we recreate WRC's breathtaking vistas by cleverly
pre-loading much of the data. We also decided to completely re-design all of our circuits,
so as to have far more close-to-the-player, high speed
action.
