Back in January, when Sony announced their new PlayStation Portable – currently called Next Generation Portable – details on compatible software titles were slim, but the company did announce that a new "Uncharted" game would find its way onto the system. Today, Eurogamer has reported that the portable adventure will fill in some of the missing story between "Uncharted: Drake's Fortune" and "Uncharted: Among Thieves."
The "Uncharted" franchise is incredibly focused on story. So much, in fact, that's it's currently in development as a film from director David O. Russell. If you're a fan of the series – if you own a PlayStation 3, the odds are pretty good – you've probably wondered about the plot holes that exist between the first two games. Thankfully, it appears that Naughty Dog is just as interested in filling those gaps through its upcoming portable title.
French site Gameblog.fr recently posted a video, taken during a "games as cinema" debate, where they interviewed Naughty Dog co-president Christophe Balestra. Among other things, Balestra discussed "Uncharted NGP" (working title), and its relevance to the franchise.
Balestra stated that the portable game takes place between the events of "Drake's Fortune" and "Among Thieves," running "parallel" to those games' plot lines. He further stated that the portable game will "most likely" feature interactions with the upcoming "Uncharted 3," though what those interactions entail is unclear at the moment. There have been many questions as to how the NGP might interact with the PlayStation 3, so hopefully we'll see a glimpse of this at E3 this year.
Development duties for "Uncharted NGP" have been passed on to Sony Bend, who you're most likely familiar with from their work on "Resistance: Retribution." I'm not particularly thrilled that Naughty Dog isn't developing the game, but Bend have an impressive resumé, and it's entirely understandable that all of Naughty Dog's resources are currently devoted to "Uncharted 3."
As was revealed during January's Sony PlayStation Meeting 2011 in Japan, "Uncharted NGP" will utilize the touch screen and gyroscopic capabilities of the new portable device. Rocking the NGP, for instance, you can swing Drake along vines, or climb a cliff face by alternating finger slides on the rear-facing touch-sensitive pad. You can see a bit of the game in action here.