Sega fires up PSP After Burner

One of the very first arcade games to deliver a sensation of speed was Sega's After Burner. The air-combat simulation was like OutRun in the skies, using Sega's trademark three-dimensional perspective and adding heat-seeking missiles, jet fighters, and barrel rolls.

Gamers who missed out on the action the first time around (or on the franchise's multiple console ports) will soon be able feel the need for speed anywhere they go, as Sega has announced After Burner: Black Falcon for the PSP. Black Falcon is due out in spring 2007 and is currently in development by Planet Moon Studios, the creators of Armed & Dangerous and Infected.

The game's plot sees a terrorist cell dubbed Black Falcon planejacking 13 fighter jets from the CIA. Players will be tasked with making the skies friendly again by screeching through the skies in an assortment of planes, including F-14D Tomcats, F-22 Raptors, and F15E Strike Eagles. Each plane can be customized with a variety of weapons, which will come in handy when shooting targets in the air and on the ground.

Black Falcon will support "numerous multiplayer challenges" in both eight-player competitive and two-player cooperative modes.

After Burner: Black Falcon has not been rated or priced.