MumboJumbo working on PSP

Last month, the Retail Radar picked up a couple of unusual bogeys on the PlayStation Portable release lists, specifically the downloadable PC and Mac games Platypus and Luxor. Today those two titles were confirmed as the first PSP releases from Texas-based casual games publisher MumboJumbo.

Luxor: Wrath of Set is the latest installment of an action-puzzle franchise that boasts more than 40 million downloads in the last two years. Similar to Zuma or Ballistic, Luxor requires players to destroy a field of colored balls by firing like-colored balls from a cannon. However, it also incorporates an Arkanoid-like twist in that the player's cannon can move along the bottom of the screen.

Much like the animal platypus is an unlikely amalgamation of characteristics from other animals, so too is the game Platypus distinctive. Despite being a "casual game," Platypus is squarely in the traditionally hardcore genre of side-scrolling 2D shooters. But unlike Gradius, R-Type, or Thunder Force, Platypus has its own unique visual style in that the graphics are made entirely of clay.

Luxor and Platypus will retail for $29.99 each when they are released next month.