E3 06: BattleZone announced for PSP

Atari has announced the development of BattleZone for the Sony PlayStation Portable, with a planned release date of November 2006. Paradigm Entertainment has been charged with updating the 1980s arcade game, which will offer unlockable weapons and vehicles, four-player Wi-Fi games, and two levels that will be customizable online.

The game is set in a futuristic international military environment, where players control maneuverable hover tanks in close-combat scenarios. Within this world, there will be eight unique customizable team vehicles, an assortment of weapons, and multiplayer battles. There will also be an online level-builder tool that will let players customize game maps and then download them to a PSP over a USB connection.

On the multiplayer side, BattleZone will feature deathmatch, capture the flag, team deathmatch, hotzone, knockout, and fox-and-hound game modes. These modes will be playable over Wi-Fi for up to four players. The game will span locations such as the abandoned cities of Russia, the jungles of China, and the desert canyons of the United States.

We'll have more info and screenshots on the title as soon as they're made available.