It takes a lot for a new game to grab me these days, having been swimming around the gaming community since I was a wee babe. A game has to be truly unique and innovative to keep me from automatically filing it away under a genre heading for future reference. Portal. Katamari Damacy. Parappa the Rapper. All excellent examples. Well you can add SEGA's newly announced PSP title Crush to the list. Crush is a hybrid 2D/3D puzzler with a truly innovative gameplay mechanic. "Set within a complex, hypnotic 3D world, players will use the game's unique crush mechanic to "crush" the environment and transform it into a more simplified 2D platformer."

The story revolves around Dan, a nervous insomniac who turns to hypnosis to help sort through the wreckage of his past and save his sanity. Some of us only wish therapy were this exciting. Due out this Summer, Crush looks to be a game worth keeping an eye on. More details after the jump. Michael Fahey

SEGA Announces 'Crush', A Mind-Bending New Puzzle Game Exclusively For The PSP System

Think Swiftly, Think Unconventionally, Think Crush.

SAN FRANCISCO & LONDON (January 23, 2007) - SEGA of America, Inc. and SEGA Europe, Ltd. today announced that Crush , an inventive new puzzle game for the PSP (PlayStation Portable) system, is currently in development and scheduled for release in Summer 2007. Developed by U.K. based Kuju Brighton, Crush is an exciting new concept which challenges how players traditionally approach games with its intriguing new style of thought-provoking gameplay.

Unique to its genre, Crush introduces a valuable new gaming experience that is wholly suited to the PSP system. Set within a complex, hypnotic 3D world, players will use the game's unique crush mechanic to "crush" the environment and transform it into a more simplified 2D platformer. Once flattened, players will utilize the 2D space to move to new areas to solve otherwise impossible challenges, and unlock secret items that were previously unobtainable in the 3D environment. Players will then "uncrush" the 2D environment and return to the 3D world.

"Crush introduces a fascinating new gameplay perspective on the PSP that encourages players to stretch their imagination in a whole new way," said Scott A. Steinberg, Vice President of Marketing, SEGA of America, Inc. "The spatial concept of the crushing mechanic is something truly unique that encourages users to think back and forth between 3D and 2D objects and environments to engage different parts of their brain, and see beyond what is literally in front them."

Designed for a wide and varied audience, Crush tells the story of Dan, a man with a lifetime of unresolved issues and bottled up emotions that has turned him into a nervous insomniac who is too tired to turn his life around. Desperate for a cure, he turns to hypnosis. It is during this state that he is given one last chance to sort through the wreckage of his past, before he loses the last thing he has - his sanity.

Crush is scheduled for release in Summer 2007. For assets, screenshots, and a video of the crush mechanic, please visit http://segapr.segaamerica.com. For more information, please visit www.sega.com/crush.

About SEGA of America, Inc.
SEGA of America, Inc. is the American Publishing arm of Tokyo, Japan-based SEGA Corporation, a worldwide leader in interactive entertainment both inside and outside the home. The company develops, publishes and distributes interactive entertainment software products for a variety of hardware platforms including PC, wireless devices, and those manufactured by Nintendo, Microsoft and Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. The SEGA of America Web Site is located at www.SEGA.com.

About SEGA Europe Ltd.
SEGA Europe Ltd. is the European Publishing arm of Tokyo, Japan-based SEGA Corporation, and a worldwide leader in interactive entertainment both inside and outside the home. The company develops, publishes and distributes interactive entertainment software products for a variety of hardware platforms including PC, wireless devices, and those manufactured by Nintendo, Microsoft and Sony Computer Entertainment Europe. The SEGA Europe Ltd. Web site is located at www.sega-europe.com.