Top 5 handheld highlights from Day 1 of E3 2008

We're in full swing of the second day proper of E3 2008 and it's clear that the once great game trade show is clambering back to its feet yet again after a couple of years in the wilderness, with a huge volume of new games and announcements being unveiled.

With the resulting deluge of stories onto this and every other site on the internet, we appreciate it can be quite difficult to separate the wheat from the chaff. Hence, we've decided to put together a very brief round-up of the top stories from each day, starting with yesterday's pre-show briefings.

(And like your very own time machine, you can now read our Top 5 E3 2008 handheld highlights from Day 2, too.)

At last our plan is coming to fruition. Move over you chubby home console fans your time is over – the younger, fitter and all-round slightly more tanned pocket gamers are taking over. Mwuhahaha!

Ahem, that's (sort of) the message from the latest sales figures and predictions announced in Sony and Nintendo's respective conference openers yesterday.

While Sony confirmed PSP sales are on track for 15 million this year (which added to the 23-25 million sold/shipped by end of 2007 means around 40 million installed), Nintendo revealed a massive 70 million DS Lites are already sitting in the pockets of gamers, with bold predictions of 100 million by the end of 2009.

Crucially, Nintendo also announced that the sales of DS Lite were virtually an even split to female and male gamers, leading us to shout to anyone who'd listen that the DS Lite really is the console of the people.

Read the full story on DS sales, PSP sales and the Nintendo DS female/male gaming split.

That's right, the PSP will soon no longer be the only portable device for indulging in a little criminality-laced, motorised mayhem GTA-style, as bowing to fanboy pressure (and an install base of 70 million, remember), Rockstar is finally bringing its juggernaut of a franchise to DS.

Suffice to say the questions are many: How will it employ the touchscreen? Will it be tone down the violence for a younger market? Will the 3D visuals run like an absolute pig?

The answers at this stage are few. Although we do have a launch date (November) and hardly surprising suggestion of a new game engine for the format.

Read the full (albeit brief) story on Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars for Nintendo DS.

Undoubtedly the PSP highlight of the show so far is the announcement that this eagerly followed first-person shooter (now third-person, don't worry) series is making an appearance in play-on-the-go format.

More reason to be cheerful comes from the fact it's being developed by the team behind the Syphon Filter titles and, perhaps more tellingly, the footage shown so far is looking rather fabulous.

Read the full story on Resistance: Retribution on PSP.

You may have thought that the pokémon would be something of an endangered species after over ten years of hunting the devils down and squashing them into little plastic balls. Perhaps that's why this latest outing sees you as more of a warden, helping to defend the natural balance, rescuing pokémon and humans in need in an even bigger, more varied and more poképacked title than the original.

With highlights including the presence of Diamond and Pearl pokémon, the ablity to partner with different critters in order to approach missions in various ways and the chance to found your very own RSPSPMPB* (Royal Society for the Prevention of Stuffing Pokémon into Miniature Plastic Balls), it should keep Pokémaniacs dribbling.

*This may be made up.

Read the full story on Pokémon Ranger: Shadows of Almia.

5. The PSP Video Store is (finally) (almost) here

With the UMD films seemingly going the way of Betamax (another patent Sony format), the PSP's plans for portable media domination appeared a little dead in the water.

Until some bright spark came up with the idea, "Hey guys, why can't we sideload video over wi-fi like we're doing with games demos and games themselves – you know, like with iTunes and iPods?"

It was such a brilliant idea that it only took a couple of years to come to fruition. But only if you've also got a PS3 and can download the video in question to that first via PSN before accessing it on your PSP.

Got that set-up? Okay, you're now able to rent TV shows from $1.99 and films from $2.99 (or likely £1.99 and £2.99 over here using the mystical video game exchange rate) and buy the films outright from $9.99.

Hmm, maybe next year they'll be able to cut out the insanely expensive middle man (you know, like iTunes and iPods?). Until then, it is at least a step in the right direction.

Read the full story on the PSP Video Store.