Is Resident Evil Portable now an NGP game?

We all remember Sony’s brief reveal of Resident Evil Portable two years ago at their E3 press conference. But now we’re all stuck with the same query: What happened to it?

Resident Evil is no stranger to the portable gaming space and the franchise even has two outings coming up for the Nintendo 3DS, The Mercenaries 3D later this month and Revelations early next year. So, with Sony’s next handheld looming in the horizon and with the PSP slowly approaching the end of its life-cycle, could we end up seeing Resident Evil Portable on the NGP? Or better yet, could it be re-revealed next week at E3 for said platform?

The announcement for Resident Evil Portable was just that, an announcement, with virtually no substantial details behind the game being revealed. All we knew was that the franchise would be landing  on the PSP and that it’ll be utilizing the platform’s online feature. This, of course, led to speculation that this may be a handheld version of the popular Outbreak experience. But we really had no concrete information to really cement that speculation as a possibility. And now, years later, the game has seemingly gone the way of the once proposed Devil May Cry PSP game (What is it with Capcom and their propositions for PSP version of their console experiences?).

“It’s been canned” is the popular belief, especially since Capcom has been extremely quiet over the matter since it was first revealed. Another belief is that the team behind ‘Portable’ ended up shifting gears to 3DS development, and thus ended up getting caught up in the development of Resident Evil: Revelations. Both notions are sound but it would be nice to hear straight from Capcom concerning this. Will we ever, though? That’s the true question. Unless Capcom has decided to shift the development of ‘Portable’ over to Sony’s upcoming NGP.

We’ve already seen what the NGP is capable of in terms of sheer power. The dual sticks also lends itself greatly to offering gameplay experiences that can be found on Sony’s blu-ray powered home console. Add to that touch-sensitive capabilities by way of the front screen and the device’s rear, with motion-sensing features as well and you have quite a powerful handheld, leaps beyond what could be done in the portable gaming space before. So, how does that benefit Resident Evil Portable (if it has, in fact, been ported over to this new handheld)?

Well, for starters, ‘Portable’ would be able to offer a very close-to-the-console experience if released on the NGP. Just look at the recent pics and videos showing off Uncharted: Golden Abyss in action and you’ll see what I’m talking about. The game will also have the capabilities to offer a deep online experience, which is something that was originally planned for the MIA PSP title. But will it happen? I feel strongly about Resident Evil Portable being an NGP title now, but we’ll have to wait and see if there’s any truth to that. And what better time to announce it than next week at E3.