Revisit the Rainbow Islands, where Bob and Bub are now under the grasps of an ecosystem-polluting record company evil. Because of its grubby enterprise boldly dubbed as "music", flowers then die off, and the usually friendly greens have mutated into angry, angsty foes. It is now entirely up to the duo to put a halt to this atrocity spawned by the record company.

Well that certainly seems like a lot to do for our two heroes. But on a lighter note, check out the enhanced environment, now in 3D. The platforms now follow perspective and disappears off into the distance. As Bob and Bub go through the levels, these platforms will then move forward, thus becoming accessible.

Says Rainbow Islands Evolution producer Tony Byus, "We're passionate about keeping the classic gameplay intact, whilst updating and modernising the design without affecting the essential gameplay. In effect, our goal is to produce what [it] could have been if the PSP...had been available in 1987."

The Evolution series is a range of modernized videogame classics, especially made for the PSP, by Rising Star Games. Bubble Bobble Evolution also was developed by the same guys.

Rainbow Islands Evolution shines your way early next year.

 

After having learned that developer Rising Star has a Rainbow Islands Evolution in the works, we immediately wished they'd share with us details or any information about the game. Call us old, sentimental fools, or whatever, but this Taito classic owns a special place in our hearts and we are very much looking forward to it. To our surprise, like a mana dropped from heaven, today we came across the game's first images.

Compared to the last time we saw it, Rainbow Islands Evolution looks evolved indeed in these screenshots, with the game moving to a 2D-3D like environment. Although, we wonder if this is a good move for Rising Star. During its hay day, the arcade game gained popularity with sprites and many actually prefer it that way. Anyway, that's just us and at any rate, we are still very excited about this title. For the mean time, we'll just have to content ourselves with these screenshots.

More screens after the jump!

It seems that developer Rising Star Games is all for evolution - in a sun-shiny, rainbow-glittered sky kind of way. Just two months after releasing Bubble Bobble Evolution, the company announces today that they will be porting another Taito classic to our much loved handhelds.

Rainbow Islands Evolution actually served as a sequel to arcade game Bubble Bobble back in 1987. So making it next after the latter and the first title for 2007 is actually a good call for Rising Star. "Rainbow Islands Evolution is the first PSP title we’ve confirmed for release early next year. 2007 is going to be a busy 12 months for Rising Star and in the coming weeks we'll show how varied our product-packed schedule really is," states Rising Star Games COO Martin Defries.

While we are happy that Defries company is quite in a good shape, we would appreciate it more if he had given any details about Rainbow Islands. We know that Bubble Bobble follows the adventure of Bub and Bob, two brothers that were trapped inside dinosaur suits. We wonder if they would continue with this plot. In the original series, the brothers finally revealed their human forms in Rainbow Islands. We guess we'll just keep our eyes open for new details.

As expected, this year's Golden Joysticks Awards held at the Park Lane Hilton hotel in London, was a real blast. There are a total of 16 awards given, 15 of which were decided by the gaming public. Winner of the Editors' Choice Award, on the other hand, was selected by a panel of the industry's journalists. Titles that came out on or after August 1, 2005 until July 31, 2006 were all contenders.

Rockstar Games continued on its winning ways as Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories took home the Handheld Game of the Year award. It would be remembered that just last year, San Andreas also emerged victorious in the said award giving body. Accolades were then given to The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion by 2K Games as it grabbed three trophies: PC Game of the Year, Xbox Game of the Year and PLAY.com Ultimate Game of the Year.

Nintendo also shared the limelight as it won in three categories as well: Nintendogs for The Sun Family Game of the Year and Bliss Girls' Choice for 2006. New Super Mario Bros., on the other hand, won the Nintendo Game of the Year trophy.

Other winners are as follows:

• T3 Innovation Award - Xbox Live Marketplace (Microsoft)
• 1Xtra Soundtrack of the Year - Need for Speed Most Wanted (Electronic Arts)
• Nuts All-Nighter Awards - Pro Evolution Soccer 5 (Konami)
• PlayStation Game of the Year - Resident Evil 4 (Capcom)
• Intel Online Game of the Year - Age of Empires III (Microsoft Game Studios)
• Retailer of the Year - GAME
• CVG's The One to Watch for 2007 - PlayStation 3 (Sony)
• Publisher of the Year - Electronic Arts
• Editors' Choice Award - Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter (Ubisoft)

With all of the great titles being released its easy to tell that Christmas is coming up soon. The PSP makes sure to make itself noticed in the Christmas rush. Many great titles will be available within the next few months. Take a look at the list below.

September:
29: Infected
29: Mercury Meltdown
TBC B-Boy
TBC Destiny's End

October:
6:  Capcom Puzzle World
6:  Open Season
13:  Power Stone Collection
20:  Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories
20:  The Sims 2: Pets
27:  Blade Dancer: Lineage of Light
27:  Ford Street Racing: LA Duel
27:  Metal Slug Anthology
TBC Rengoku II: The Stairway to H.E.A.V.E.N.

November:
3:  Need For Speed: Carbon
3: Scooby Doo! Who's Watching Who
10: Capcom Classic Collection Reloaded
10: Thrillville
10: WWE SmackDown vs. RAW 2007
17: BattleZone
TBC Brothers In Arms: D-Day
TBC Dave Mirra BMX Challenge
TBC Dungeon Siege: Throne of Agony
TBC Eragon
TBC Football Manager 2007
TBC Hard Rock Casino
TBC Legend of the Dragon
TBC NBA '07
TBC Pro Evolution Soccer 6
TBC Scarface: Money. Power. Respect.
TBC Test Drive Unlimited
TBC The Hustle: Detroit Streets

Remember Bubble Bobble? That kid in a dinosaur suit with a bubble gun? Yep. Remember how crazy and addicting it got? Well after the DS version, we're going to be treated to a PSP one. Welcome Bubble Bobble Evolution.

This time, there will be new realms, innovations, new bubble types to new environmental hazards and puzzle elements. The Story Mode tells how the two bros were trapped into dinosaur suits. Ah, is this like a prequel game then? One way to know is to play the game.

It's been out in Japan since July 13, but the American and European release date will be on September 26 and 29 of this year. So while we anticipate the arrival of the Dino-brothers to our shores, we'll be showing you a load of screenshots and a box art for Europe.

See the screenshots and box art after the jump!