Recently Sony hosted a Holiday Preview Event at the Republik nightclub in downtown Toronto to show off upcoming PS2 and PSP titles. The event was small with no fancy light shows, big stage presentations or booth babes, instead it was a straight forward no nonsense exhibition of what PSP and PS2 games to expect this coming Fall and holiday season. Making my way through the show I was quite surprised that, despite the huge drive by the gaming industry towards the "Next-Gen" and subsequently newer consoles, there is still plenty of love being shown for the ol' PS2. It was clearly evident at the show that developers and publishers still looked at the PS2 as a viable platform to publish games on in today's video game market. The PSP of course, being as versatile as it is and sporting the best graphics of any portable gaming device, continues to do well with plenty of support from most of the big game production houses. After helping relieve the burdenous weight of a few shrimp puffs off a cocktail server's tray I decided to start my journey at one of the many PSP game demo stations. For me the PSP always seemed to shine brightest when housing simpler, perhaps more arcade like games than the more involved games that were primarily designed for the larger consoles. However, my views are beginning to change as many of the more complex video games showing up on the PSP these days seem to look and perform quite nicely. The Sony Holiday Preview Event had no shortage of impressive PSP games to show off from the arcade action of Puzzle Fighter II to the large scale action adventure of Star Wars: Lethal Alliance. I made my way through most of the PSP game demo stations trying to get a sense of which PSP games would be worth the time and money this holiday season. Beginning with a quick tour of the sports titles I was able to have a look at EA's recent offerings of which NHL 07 impressed me the most with its graphics, comprehensive controls and all round fun game play. That is not to say games like NBA Live 07 or Tiger Woods PGA Tour 07 were poor, it is just that NHL 07 as a sports title for the PSP seemed to look and play the best out of all the EA sports games I tried. Moving on to racing games included only two titles that I saw: Need For Speed: Carbon and ATV Offroad Fury Pro. The PSP version of NFS: Carbon was a bit of a disappointment for me. The "speed" in Need For Speed didn't seem to translate well to the PSP platform at all. The game play and overall look of the PSP version of NFS: Carbon seemed sluggish and subsequently rather boring. ATV Offroad Fury Pro on the other hand was a real blast to play with decent graphics, physics and game play modes. After some racing action I had the chance to take a look at Gang of London. I was just starting to see why this game may not be the most appropriate PSP title for kids this Christmas (butcher knives, gangsters, and enough use of the F-word to make Joe Pesci blush) when all of a sudden my ears perked up to the sound of an Ubisoft rep mentioning a new Star Wars title. Still finding myself thoroughly brain-washed to follow the Star Wars saga where ever it may go I immediately spun around to see a demo begin of Ubisoft's up coming game Star Wars: Lethal Alliance. The rep explained Star Wars: Lethal Alliance takes place between Episode III Revenge of the Sith and Episode IV A New Hope. You play the part of Twi'lek Rianna, a kind of spy/bounty hunter hired by the Rebel Alliance to infiltrate Imperial planets and steal the plans to the Death Star. The game features an interesting collaborative game play as you not only take on the role of Twi'lek Rianna in adventure and combat but her side-kick security droid Zeoo as well. It is through this collaborative gameplay that you are able to overcome the many obstacles put forth by the Imperial forces you encounter. I found Star Wars: Lethal Alliance's 3D graphics excellent with plenty of impressive cinematics. The Twi'lek Rianna character was easy to control and had some cool acrobatic moves. Weapons took form of a standard blaster Light Saber-like short blade. Your interaction with your security droid Zeoo is simple enough with only a few button pushes needed to get it into the desired action. I was able to send it to attack a Stormtrooper, as well as disable a turret, all while never breaking stride with my main character's actions. The Ubisoft rep mentioned players can expect to travel to such familiar destinations as the Death Star and Tatooine while also allowing you to discover never-before-seen locations on Despayre, Danuta and Alderaan. The main character will have to face many challenging situations that require various tactics keeping the game play interesting at every turn. No need for the rep to say any more I was sold. If you are a Star Wars fan and own a PSP Star Wars: Lethal Alliance should be high on your Christmas wish list. Eidos seem to have been bitten by the Latin bug as of recent with games like Total Overdose, the recently released Just Cause and now the soon to come PSP exclusive Chili Con Carnage. Set to be released Spring of 2007 Chili Con Carnage is the story of Ramiro Cruz who is out to avenge the assassination of his father, which eventually leads him to a showdown with the deep seedy underworld of Los Toros, Mexico. The game was really a lot of fun to play, and it kind of reminded me of the first time I played Max Payne. Chili Con Carnage is not only about carnage but carnage with style. Big points are rewarded for taking out your opponents using a number of John Woo inspired stunt moves. The Eidos rep demonstrated by showing me the combo meter on the hud and how by executing a number of moves before the combo meter runs out you can rack up bonus points. In one example he stole a tractor, drove it up to a certain speed, leaped off it and then shot down a couple of bad guys in a slo-mo bullet time effect all while getting multiplier bonuses on his kills. The rep further explained that the accumulation of points earned through combo moves allow you to unlock goodies like extra levels and new characters. Another cool feature of Chili Con Carnage was the various power ups you come across in game that give you a variety of short lived special abilities like dual-wielding guns or a rewind power up that allows you at any time to rewind the action 10 seconds so you could, for example, undo a costly mistake. The power ups also serve a function in multiplayer allowing you to temporarily effect your opponents game like turning his game screen upside down. The game also features a turn based multiplayer El Macho Mode that is centered around scoring the highest number of combos and points over a period of time. The exciting game play features make it well worth the wait till it's release in the Spring of next year. I was about to leave the PSPs and go look at the PS2 offerings when my eye caught a glimpse of Capcom's Power Stone Collection. As I ventured for a look I remembered that Power Stone was a wildly popular arcade fighting game back in the day, as well as a great Dreamcast title. Well thanks to Capcom their soon to be released Power Stone Collection will give a new generation of gamers the chance to experience what made both the original Powerstone and Powerstone 2 so popular. Capcom has actually gone one step further by adding a few game play enchancments as well as new game modes and weapons to further enhance the game. To me the game looked and played every bit as good if not better than the original as the transition to Sony's portable machine's 16x9 screen really had some punch to it. Fighters combat each other while vying to collect Power Stone gems in order to gain power ups like transforming into super fighters that can perform devastating power moves. The game makes good use of its 3D environment allowing you to move around flexibly within the various fighting arenas while still maintaining the ability to use a variety of in game objects as weapons. As for multiplayer games they will only be available for local play; however players will be able to take advantage of the PSP's game sharing function to get four-player games going with only one copy of the game. Capcom's Power Stone Collection should be a big winner on the PSP and it easily makes my top picks list for the PSP this year. Eliah H