http://www.gamespot.com/news/2005/05/18/news_6125409.html

Lemmings headed to PSP

SCEE announces that a PSP version of DMA Design's classic puzzle game will fall into European stores later this year.

Sony Computer Entertainment Europe has today announced that it plans to release a PlayStation Portable version of Lemmings toward the end of this year. The game, in case you're not familiar with any of the series' numerous incarnations dating back as far as 1991, challenges you to safeguard the lives of green-haired lemmings as they attempt to negotiate levels packed full of hazards. You'll do this by assigning different roles to individual lemmings, such as bridge builder, miner, parachutist, and blocker.
Currently in development at Team 17, the PSP version of Lemmings will feature both classic and all-new levels and will also let you create your own that can be shared with friends. Sony also plans to release its own downloadable content for the game, including new themes and levels.

We'll bring you more information on Lemmings as soon as it becomes available.

Team 17!  Grrr...

Some screen shots there too.... looks horrible..  Each level looks like a pre-rendered thing.

Actually... the pipe style isn't bad... but the dirt+rock one sucks.

:(

I think the dirt levels look really cool. They're a bit Wormsy which is no doubt down to Team 17, but it looks no where near horrible.

The various screen shots of the "Just Dig" level give the impression that you can zoom in and out, which would be brilliant for precision-based levels, especially when you consider the higher resolution of the PSP.

And the ability to create your own levels? I'll easy be buying a PSP for this.

(The character art for the Lemmings themselves look alarmingly phallic, though)

It looks so sweet! And the 3D graphics is something fairly new to lemmings. The character design does look slightly whimsical though . . . Too bad it's not for the PC

I thought of Team 17 like a good company... Til Worms 3D. This game sucks. I couldn't find any screenshots but I know how the new style of graphics is that Team 17 makes.
I just found some... Not sure what to think about it.
It has 2 aspects: The nostalgic aspect, and the aspect that stupid people don't even look at a game if the graphics don't need DirectX 10 and 2 VGA Adapters working at full power.
Unfortunately, the world is ruled by the second group of people...

My personal opinion: It has not the original Lemmings feeling to me.

Of course you're not going to have original Lemmings feel on an advanced piece of hardware. They have to make it look "new" in order for kids to buy it. At least this might broaden the exposure of Lemmings to new audiences. It looks pretty cool, and besides, it's hard to tell from just a few screenshots how good the game will actually play.

I'm definitely glad that they have the sense to put in the ability to create your own levels.  Though it sounds like no "style editors" though.

I win for semi-true prophecy.



Anyway, judging by the screenshots, I'd say the game is still in very early alpha/beta stages - the PSP is capable of MUCH better graphics than that. However, if these are screenshots of a close-to-finished version... Team 17, gtfo my planet.

Urgh.

Actually it's not that bad. As has been said, very Worms-esque, which isn't a bad thing in itself, but what bothers me is that the designs are too clean. What I love about the original Lemmings games was the grungy feel of the terrains, that the worlds they inhabited were real grotty places with mould and trash everywhere. This new dirt style, however, looks like a background from an early Pixar short or a kid's funhouse. That dinosaur bone in particular looks like a Fisher Price job. Still, given Team 17's cartoon stylings it's hardly surprising, eh?

The trapdoor looks great, mind.

Ooooohhh! Looks so sweeet! :thumbsup:

Team 17? Well, I like this company because I like playing Worms games. So, I don't think it would be bad.

Hey! Do you recognize some levels in the screenshots? There's "Just dig!", "You need bashers this time" and "Going up....."

It looks... interesting.  I think Lemmings for DS would work better (having a touch screen), but that'll never happen.

Woaaah!!!!  Sweet!  I love it!  That's awesome!  A NEW LEMMINGS GAME!  It's something new, and it's a LEMMINGS game!  This is ground breaking here!  Even if the game isn't the best thing ever, it's a start to what we've hoped might come in the future.  I hope that they continue to produce lemmings games after this one.

Well, you all can play a part in making this wish come true by buying this game and do word-of-mouth advertising to your friends and family.   :P

(No, I swear I'm not working for Team 17 and I'm not paid to say the above.  ;P)

And so in fact here's the catch:  while it's okay in some ways that the game isn't the "best thing ever", if sales are not too encouraging they probably won't be producing additional lemming games after this.  It's a business after all.

It might also be a good time for us to think about why certain lemming games hasn't been selling as well as they might've hoped, especially the later ones.  Is it the quality of the puzzles?  The graphics?  The lack of advertising efforts?  An oversaturation of the series?  Being overshadowed by other genres of games?  The lack of support for user-created levels?  Changing demographics of game audiences?  etc.

Come to think of it, one thing that could be really neat is if they remake several of the Lemming games, not just Lemmings 1.  Like having Lemmings 1, ONML, the Tribes and the Chronicles all included in this new remake, or something like that.  The levels are already designed so the effort should be relatively minimal.  And it might help generate additional interests to other lemming games out there, or really, just as a way to remind people what a long history the game has gone through.  I dunno, it seems like a good idea, especially for remakes.

Heck, it seems like most remakes do this:  Super Mario All Stars was the SNES remake of the NES Mario games, Final Fantasy Chronicles (or was it "Origins"?) was the PS remake of a few of the SNES/NES Final Fantasies, including one (Final Fantasy V) that was never released in the US.  It almost seems like to be a compelling release you should remake more than a single game in the series.

And "This one should be a doddle". Not to mention a very interesting looking level in the "pipe" style that seems to be a new creation.

I should hope that they have new levels in the game.

Looks great... but I'm quite angry. Now I have to buy a PSP! For this ONE game! I'm a Nintendo person!  Why can't they make a PC and DS version too?

Though maybe if this comes out, it will sprout more games... and Lemmings will return to the gaming world.

:agree:

Also I think the screenshot of the level with the big dinosaur skull is "You live and Lem".

...um, because Sony owns the rights to Lemmings right now and is probably going to hog it for all its worth?

Looks like you just got one more reason to hate Sony......  :P

I wouldn't be that sure. There are Sonic Games for Gamecube and GB Advance. Somehow confusing.

But because Sony own the rights, seeing Lemmings appear on the DS would be like seeing Mario appear on the PSP.

Yerp.  Sega is technically out of it anyhow, are they not?

So why did Sonic appear on a GB?

I haven't followed Sega very much, but as Timballisto pointed out, at some point Sega finally "declare lose" against Nintendo and stopped making consoles and handhelds, so they are no longer really in direct competition with Nintendo, plus if they are going to release games it will have to go to somebody's system.  It only makes business sense that Nintendo would let Sega published the Sonic games on the GC and GBA.

Now that's assuming those Sonic games you mentioned are released after Sega demise not before.  It would be very strange indeed if they were released earlier.

Yes, they appeared after the Dreamcast was on its way out.

After nearly exploding with sheer joy at the fact that Sony were actually doing something with the lemmings liscense, I looked at the screenshots. My immediate thoughts were "Dear God. Sony have officially killed the graphics..." As for the character art, however, I think the lemmings look kind of cute in a slightly odd way, even if whoever made/drew(delete as applicable) them still hasn't worked out how to get them to smile without them looking weird. That's the reason I have changed avatar to a slightly edited version of one of the pieces of character art.

ZOMG! THAT'S THE CHARACTER ART FROM LEMMINGS PSP??? X_X

Yes. Everything is exactly like the original except the black background, the initials and the size.

Erm...If I might ask, what exactly did they "kill" about the graphics?  I mean, I think they look cool.  Because of that, more people would like it anyhow.  Another port would not bring any new interest.  The graphics help to bring this lemmings game away from the "port" category that everyone seems to ignore if they don't need anything on another system or don't want the game in the first place because it's old.  Also, if there ever was a new lemmings game, I expected it to have newer graphics for those reasons.

Does anyone else wonder about the glitches, such as the blocker glitch, or the 1,2,3,2,1 trap door glitch, or the fall into the exit from too high and still live glitch?  Maybe those won't be there anymore.

Well, I don't think people are saying that we should go back to old-school 2D 320x200x16 color graphics per se when they talked about the graphics being "killed".  Just that they don't think the graphics are of the right style and feel.

As for the glitches, I'm sure we can live without them.  Cheapo doesn't reproduce all the glitches faithfully either but people generally had few complaints.  You may even say that this represents a rare opportunity for the programmers to fix mistakes that were left unfixed in the original version.

I wonder what they'd do for sound and music?  Hmm......

Actually, it would be really interesting to see what their take on death animations are.  You know, the usual splattering and getting mauled by traps......  :devil:

Actually, on the subject of glitches.....

If they plan to use the original levels, then they'll probably need to reproduce many of these glitches to make some levels work. Lemmings2 was far worse, but L1 had its share of bugs you had to reproduce...

I remember in L2, there was a trampoline level I had to fudge all lemmings to do a 1 pixel lower bounce to make the chain of bounces work. The Amiga one was different somehow... nightmare...

If they totally redo the levels in the same "style", then they'll probably be able to get away without do it.

Can you give an example of a Lemmings 1 level that required a glitch for the solution? I can't think of a single one; but then, as we know, many levels have solutions other than those intended.

Even if what you say is true (which I am fairly skeptical of, since like Ahribar I can't think of any levels that required glitches), there is still the option of not including the levels that require an unimplemented glitch, substituting instead with new levels.

After all there is already a precedence for it in the numerous Lemmings 1 ports.  Certain systems such as the Sega Genesis, the game boy, etc., cannot handle the large map sizes used for the Amiga/PC/Mac, so they either substantially alter the level to make it fit in a smaller map size, or in many cases, substitute completely new levels.

And my believe is that the number of levels requiring such a substitution would be few if any.  In general I believe the original Lemmings levels gave a bit of margin of mistake, even on the harder levels, so as long as the differences are small enough it is unlikely to render a level impossible.

It was somewhere in the Higland tribe, right? Argh! Hate this one!

Yeah I think so.... I hated it too... right up to the point where it worked, then it was cool to watch! :)

The most obvious "glitch" or "feature" is the one where you click on a lemming just as he hits a wall. By clicking there, you select him for the next frame, and any action is taken in the opposite direction.

I cant remember the name of the level (fire style), but it was where lemmings dropped into a 1 pixel gap, and you had to click just right to bash in the right direction. (Just checked: Mayhem 24: All or Nothing )

Now, this could either be solved by chance, or as in L1, made 100% possible by the "feature". Dave wasn't going to allow the level unless Gary proved it could be done 100% of the time, which he did.

Well, for that hopefully Team 17 can take the L2 approach, and allow you to have the cursor track an individual lemming.

I should point out that since it is still possible to solve that level by chance, the glitch didn't help out as much as you think, with most people not knowing about the glitch.  I've even read a solution online that criticizes the level as "You can only win this level by chance.  What a waste of level!".

A glitch-free 100% certainity method on "All or Nothing":

Hold your cursor in the centre of each holding area as the lemmings fall into it, and click just after the first one has had time to turn round.

See, I told you most levels had unintended solutions!  :P

As for the graphics being 'killed' I meant they just don't look right to me. I'm pretty sure most people here will agree with me on that one.

The high-resolution graphics may open up a lot of back doors, too. But I think the graphics are pretty good but perhaps a little outdated. This would be really impressive if released five years ago.

Has anybody ever seen the wartime-style artwork of a load of silhouetted Lemmings walking past a sunburned backdrop as one of the Lemmings looks pensively into the eyes of the viewer? They should have made the in-game artwork graphics look like that.

**

Let as hope that it will be like Cheapo Copycat where it is possible to selection a paritular Lemmings in the melee, or just by pressing the correct arrow key to force the lemming to do the action in the correct way.

I dont know if anyof you play the SNES version of Lemmings2, but we spent a lot of time doing a Joypad "lock on" system for that... it worked really well....

Yeah I have played that version (I was the one who riled you up with my criticism of the levels in the SNES version, remember?  ;P)  I thought it was a feature available in all versions of Lemmings 2.  It's definitely very handy.

Lemmings 2 fpr SNES was my first Lemmings game ever. I really like the "lock on" feature. But then I discovered the mouse also works and I didn't used it anymore.

Yeah...We got one of the first SNES mice to come out... Which was interesting... Gary prefered the lock on to the mouse though, particiually since you could pause perfectly on a frame by frame basis. It allowed him to do pixel "clicking" mich easier.

You know about the superscope and Lemmings2 on the SNES dont you?

Also, if you click the  dot above the "i" in Lemmings, you get "visual" sound effects switch on.

And....heres a tough one... Just under the 2, where the pixel "steps up" (left hand side), if you click there, you can see the end sequence! I usually put these in so I can see them years later without playing the game.

B)

Not necessarily.  You don't have to scale the resolution of the game mechanics up with the actual resolution.  So for example, the original Lemmings on the PC runs at a resolution of 320x200.  If they scale this to 960x600, they can still make the game-mechanics "pixel" actually be a 3x3 square of "real pixels", so that the game mechanics remain at a 320x200 resolution but the graphics can be rendered at the higher resolution.  The only disadvantage of this is that counting pixels (the game-mechanical type) become harder, but then again, it would already be hard to count the tinier pixels you get when you stick to true pixel-level precision in the game mechanics.

Incidentally, anyone knows what screen resolutions the PSP supports?  Given that it's just a handheld, the screen can't be that large, so perhaps it doesn't even go much above the 320x200 the original PC Lemmings runs on.  Nice graphics could come mostly from having millions of colors displayable at once instead of the 16 in the original PC Lemmings.

The PSP's resolution is 480 x 272.

Isn't Cheapo 640x480?

Yes and no.  It uses 640x480, but for in-game graphics like terrains, interactive objects and the lemmings, it actually scales the bitmaps 2x before displaying them, so the effective resolution is only 320x240, as is the game mechanics.  For other graphics such as the skill selection toolbar, no such scaling occurs so it makes full use of the 640x480 resolution.


Hmm, interesting, so somewhere in between 320x200 and 640x480.  So they probably will just have the game mechanics operate at the true pixel resolution.

So probably the gameplay won't ever be exactly 100% the same as the original, just close enough.  Then again, even with the original Lemmings, there are subtle differences that can be found amongst the different versions on different systems.

I learnt an interesting lesson last night. Never say a 2D games' sprite graphics suck until you've seen a some kind of trailer. If you want a copy of the trailer just email me at miss_lemming(at)hotmail.com (No comments on the email address please :P)

Can't you just post a link to the trailer or the site hosting it?

enjoy

http://streamingmovies.ign.com/psp/article/617/617547/Lemmings_SCEEe32005_1_wmvlow.wmv

"let's go"

Intriguing.  B)

Of course, one factor that makes the trailer better is that they didn't feature the "dirt" style that many people seems to despise, instead featuring the more popular styles with the crystals and the pipes.

One thing I definitely notice is that most of the actions (bashing, building, mining) seems a bit slower than the original version.  I can only hope "Just a Minute (part II)" still works!  (Yes I know it's premature since there's still plenty of time for them to tweak the game mechanics.)

One thing I definitely have to object though is, the builder animation is terrible.  Towards the end of the clip there is one scene where you can see a builder (actually 2) in relatively close-up action, and if you look closely you notice that it's awful, instead of laying out a brick, it looks more like the lemmings is miming laying out an invisible brick (with somewhat exaggerated motions to boot) and then the brick appears out of thin air by magic.

I'm also not too crazy about the mining animation either.  Whereas the original it actually looks like mining with an ax, in their version it is weird, the lemmings execute this android-like, very robotic body movement and I guess mine with their fists or something.

team17 are great developers, they will polish the product and it will turn heads. you wait :P

Yay. Lemmings on PSP. Can't wait >:(

Actually, this means I now have to buy both a DS and a PSP, this is because I want to play the new Sonic games on the DS as well as Lemmings on the PSP.
I don't see this Lemmings being multi-format, since it's Sony publishing now and not Psygnosis. My only other hope is that Sonic on the DS will go multi, but I'm not holding my breath.

Besides, I'm short on cash as it is, so I will most likely have to make the choice between Sonic and Lemmings (a very hard choice for someone who has grown-up loving both series from the very beginning)

That trailer has only made me thirsty for more. True, there is Cheapo and its superb ability to make levels, so I'd only be buying a PSP [I]and[/I] Lemmings just for the new levels (and maybe the graphics, but as most people know, graphics don't make a game, gameplay does).

I'm trying to decide how much money to save for college vs. how much to spend.  I usually never spend much at all, really.  Now though, I see some things and I say

"...I might like to have that..."

Right now, a PSP or a DS seem to be out of the question.  You can forget about me getting a revolution...if it's as expensive as I think it will be.

Am I the only one who wishes consoles would come out a bit slower?

I'm about 46% the way through downloading this trailer on my little 56k modem...

I hope this will actually be released here...and I hope there will be some other decent games on PSP...

The graphics for the new game look really good and i don't think they are butchering the graphics at all...they look just like the old graphics but slightly nicer looking and with more colours!

Zoom Function, sweet. But Most of the animations are looking really bad. The Digging and Bashing is just bad. The DOS versions are MUCH better. And what's up with the Floater? Can you see an umbrella there? I can't.

I actually thought that tiny umbrella was kinda cute.  At least it was one of their better animations......

It's a beta, so they'll probably fix the animations. This makes me feel stupid buying that DS in december.....The PSP has graphics that are just too good! even in lemmings!!! (I might've been intimidated by ATI MMC's advanced stretching capabilities)

PS: Team 17 developed Worms, a combat game with Lemmings-like physics and graphics (On the first 2 games)

I registered on Team17 forums and there's a big topic where fans of Worms are talking about Lemmings on PSP. You need to be registered to access the forums.
There's also a topic called: "The Lemmings Fan-Arts Thread", still there you must register to access the topic.

So, my question is, do you want for me to give you the link on my registered count or do you prefer register and watch yourself? You can also forget it if you want!