The PlayStation Portable was never the winner Sony had hoped it would be, but some decent games have been released for the handheld gaming device in the years since its 2004 release. The company eventually got into the habit of porting PSP releases over to the PlayStation 2, both before and after the PlayStation 3 arrived. Rumors had previously suggested that the God of War PSP games would be getting a PS3 port, but now Sony has confirmed a similar yet much larger initiative called PSP Remaster.
As you’ve probably guess from the title, the PSP Remaster series will bring a variety of games from the portable device to PS3 as disc-based releases. A press release notes that the new product line will kick off in Japan with Monster Hunter Portable 3D HD Ver. from Capcom; that series is enormously popular in Japan, with more than 4.5 million units have shipped there since the game’s December release last year.
There are a few quirks which make this PSP Remaster series rather noteworthy. The biggest revelation is that saved game data will work on both platforms, allowing for players to continue their progress in a single game being played on the PS3 and PSP. It sounds like it’s just the data that’s cross-compatible, so you’ll need a way to transfer it back and forth between devices. PSP Remaster games will also be remastered (surprise!) with high-def graphics and possible new features, including support for PS3 controllers or support for 3D displays.
There’s no launch date revealed, either for the Japan release of Monster Hunter or the North American launch of the series, which probably won’t kick off with Monster Hunter. There is some video of the remastered Capcom game, however, which you can check out below.
