As for the game lineup, well Sony definitely didn’t hold back during the press conference. They showed video clips of portable versions of titles such as Killzone, LittleBigPlanet, Resistance, and then the head of Sony Computer Entertainment’s Worldwide Studios Shuhei Yoshida presented a gameplay demonstration of a portable version of Uncharted. This demonstration displayed near-PS3 level graphics, a great viewing angle range, and showed different uses of the front and rear touchscreens to control the game.

A line of representatives from third-party companies also came on stage at the event to announce their titles for the system including Jun Takeuchi from Capcom who presented a gameplay demo of a portable version of Monster Hunter, and while playing he mentioned “I must say, the sticks feel great” referring to the dual analog sticks. He followed that with a cinematic from the PS3 title Lost Planet 2, rendered on the NGP, stating that it is just like the PS3 with the only differences being geometry capabilities, and that it has the same lighting and physics as the PS3.

Takeuchi was followed by Sega showing a cinematic of a portable version of Yakuza; Tecmo Koei with Dynasty Warriors; Hideo Kojima from Konami showing a cinematic from Metal Gear Solid 4. Hideo described his dream for the NGP as allowing you to play a game on your PS3, save it, then continue playing it on your NGP from the same save. He said they are working on something like that, but could not disclose any further information now, however he said he would like to show it at E3. Epic then presented a graphics demonstration, and the iPhone and Android game Dungeon Defenders running on the NGP. The third party developer section was closed out by Philip Earl from Activision announcing that there will be a Call of Duty title on the NGP.

Sony released a PDF along with their press release about the NGP, containing a list of all the Third Party developers and publishers that have signed up to work with the new unit. It’s quite outstanding that so many developers all kept quiet about it all this time. There are two developers from Australia and New Zealand on that list, Wellington’s Sidhe, and Melbourne’s own Firemint who told Drop Bear Gaming: “We’re very happy to be involved with the NGP. Unfortunately we’re not ready to reveal any details just yet!”

There has been no official announcement about price point or battery life as yet, however some Sony executives have been quoted saying some interesting things. Shuhei Yoshida said that the NGP’s battery life would be comparable with the PSP-3000, so somewhere around 4-6 hours. Sony’s Jack Tretton hinted that the price would be higher than the 3DS (US$250), however Andrew House said that Sony “will shoot for an affordable price that’s appropriate for the handheld gaming space.” (Sources: Engadget and Kotaku)

I’m definitely interested to hear more about this hot little unit, and will definitely be keeping Drop Bear Gaming viewers up to date as things come to light so stay tuned! The NGP is slated for Holiday 2011 release.