CES 2009: Resistance: Retribution presentation

At Sony's PlayStation presentation, Insomniac studios showed off Resistance Retribution. The focus of their portion of the show was all around how the upcoming PSP title will connect with its console counterpart, Resistance 2. By connecting their PSP to a PS3 running Resistance 2, players will gain access to a couple of impressive features and new content.

The first, and most exciting feature, is the ability to "infect" your character in Retribution. This gives him the ability to use some Chimera abilities, such as regenerating health. It also grants access to otherwise unavailable areas of certain levels. Plus, infecting your PSP unlocks the wicked-cool HE .44 Magnum weapon from Resistance 2 for use in Retribution as well as a Chimera uniform. It's a very cool way of extending the game by offering some new ways to play.

Also of note is the PSP Plus mode. Activating this mode allows players to use their Dual Shock 3 controller to the control the game, allowing for a much more comfortable control experience to use while playing the game through the PSP's video output capabilities. 

All in all, I'm fairly impressed. It's nice to see developers starting not only to take advantage of handheld-to-console connection capabilities, but to offer compelling reasons for players to make use of them. I hope that this is a trend that continues, as there's absolutely no reason for series which are spreading across platforms not to reward fans who are willing to make the investment to play on screens both big and small.