Sony Bend-ing Uncharted on NGP

One of the highlights of Sony's Next Generation Portable (NGP) presentation last night was an extended demo of a new Uncharted game for the system (see below). The series' first portable outing was put through its paces on the new handheld, including a variety of climbing moves controlled by the portable's front touch screen and rear touch pad.

When the Uncharted game was being demonstrated by Sony Computer Entertainment senior vice president of product development Shuhei Yoshida, he said it was an original title being developed under the supervision of Naughty Dog. Today, Game Informer confirmed that the studio developing the title is Sony Bend, a Sony Worldwide Studios shop located in Bend, Oregon.

Developing a portable version of a major Sony franchise will be nothing new for Sony Bend. The studio was behind 2009's Resistance: Retribution, a critically acclaimed third-person spin-off of Insomniac's popular first-person sci-fi shooter series. The operation is also known for bringing another high-profile franchise to the PSP in the form of 2006's Syphon Filter: Dark Mirror and 2007's Syphon Filter: Logan's Shadow. Sony Bend also developed the PlayStation 2 editions of both games, as well Syphon Filter: The Omega Strain (2004) and Syphon Filter 3 (2001).

For more on Sony's NGP, check out GameSpot's comprehensive coverage of the new device.