UPDATE: The PSP MotorStorm listing on GAME.co.uk has been debunked by SCEE as a database error and will be removed shortly. And I went and made that sweet mockup for nothing. Carry on.

UK shop GAME might have accidentally revealed that MotorStorm is in development for the PSP. Excellent, if it’s actually correct and not some sort of database error. I mean, PSP and PS3 look pretty similar.

Jump, boy, jump! Or girl. Sarcastic Gamer is, and always will be, an equal opportunities website so whether you’re male or female, you’re invited to hit the jump and read more on this potential reveal.

Thanks to those eagle-eyed PSP fanboys over at, er, PSP Fanboy we can see that there is indeed a listing of a game called MotorStorm listed in GAME.co.uk’s PSP section. The description of the game offers sweet naff-all with regards to what the portable edition of the game might offer, instead favouring what essentially appears to be a description of the PS3 game (although crucially not the same description that appears on the PS3 version’s page):

MotorStorm delivers visceral off-road racing, plunging players into a frenzied environment awash with grit, mud and petrol, in a game that leaves the standard rules of racing in the dust. Gone are the limits of power restrictions, limited classes and qualifying rounds. Players simply choose their vehicle from a massive range – including dirt bikes, ATVs, sand rails, rally cars, monster trucks and everything in between – then hit the track in a no-holds-barred sprint to the finish line. Carving a swathe of destruction through the ever-changing wilderness, players must compete in a gasoline-fuelled, horsepower spectacle where the only rule is to try and stay alive.

Save for the description fished straight from Evolution Studio’s PR archives, there are barely any other details about the PSP MotorStorm on the page: no developer, no publisher, no box art or anything. This leads me to think that maybe, just maybe, this game wont be developed by Evolution Studios but in fact a more specialized developer familiar to the handheld PlayStation platform.

At the moment, my money would be on Bigbig Studios, who are essentially the portable arm of Evolution Studios having been set up by the MotorStorm developer in 2001. Bigbig’s only games have been those in the Pursuit Force series, which has appeared exclusively on PSP with the exception of a PS2 port for the sequel Extreme Justice. Given the close links between Bigbig and Evolution, you can imagine that development of a portable edition of MotorStorm would go to them over anyone else, and with Evolution on hand to provide developer support this could be extremely promising as a portable port of a ‘next-gen’ game.

As long as you can handle the downscaled graphics (480×272 doesn’t quite compare to 1080×720 or even higher) I think a portable MotorStorm game would be a rousing success. The dip-in-and-out ‘ticket’ structure of the single player mode means that it can be played in portable-friendly bite-size chunks and the potential for local or online multiplayer is undeniable. I hope this isn’t just a database error by GAME, as I’m getting kinda excited now that I’ve wrapped the whole thing in a great big thick layer of speculation. Maybe we’ll get some kind of word from Sony soon..I hope so anyway!

PSP MotorStorm spotted at Game.co.uk retailer – PSP Fanboy