Why We Can't Swap Echochrome Levels Cross-Platform

Newsweek's N'Gai Croal has an idea: enabling user-generated content across asymmetrical platforms through extensible markup language.

...Wait, wait, don't glaze - in plain language, this means making it possible for the levels you built in Echochrome or your Spore creature creations, for example, to be swapped around to any platform where the game resides. Ever wonder why you can't transfer user-created Echochrome levels between the PlayStation 3 and PSP versions of the game, when it seems so theoretically possible?

Echochrome associate producer Kumi Yuasa explained at Croal's Level Up:

Sony touted it's minimalist PlayStation Network puzzler echochrome at E3 2007 as a game inspired by the classic, simple-but-deep rule sets of traditional brain teasers like the Chinese board game Go and the Rubik's Cube. Pitched as the PlayStation 3 game with "the least graphics and the most gameplay," echochrome lets players guide an animated artist mannequin through a blocky construct, picking up "echoes" via Escher-esque perspective bending.

echochrome, with its simple black and white line-work aesthetic is certainly lacking in the expected visual fireworks common in most modern games, as promised. But does it feature the proportionate gameplay of its inspiration?

This week's PlayStation Store store update doesn't shy away from a game release like some people did, bringing the mind-bending puzzler echochrome to North American PlayStation 3s and PSPs. It's the main draw this week, with a Dark Sector demo available for those with tightly shut virtual wallets and a taste for first-person throwing. It's low key, but a whole mess of Rock Band tracks, wallpapers and videos await you after the jump.

As the minimal headline suggests, Sony's long awaited Escher-esque 3D puzzler echochrome will arrive digitally on North American shores tomorrow. The PlayStation 3 and PSP versions will each ring up at $9.99 and features 56 platform specific, ultimately controller flinging puzzles. I'm off to sell a pint to scrounge up the funds for both.

echochrome arrives tomorrow! [PlayStation.blog]

echochrome Demo Changing Minds Tomorrow

On PS3, you can upload your created levels to the developers through the game's interface. Once uploaded, your creation will be considered by the developers for a future downloadable content release.

Feeling Puzzled? echochrome Demo Coming to PSN [Official PlayStation Blog]

Echochrome To Skip UMD Release In America

Unsurprisingly, Sony will bypass regular retail channels for its minimal PSP and PlayStation 3 puzzler echochrome, with Newsweek confirming that the UMD version for PSP will be a Japan and Asia only offering. North Americans will see the PSP arrive as a digital download only. While that may not sit well with some gamers, a title like echochrome would have very little chance of success at retail, with its intentionally simple aesthetic and potentially cheaper PlayStation 3 counterpart.

If you're set on having a UMD with echochrome data stamped on it, you may want to pick up the import version, as there will definitely be a surplus if Japanese sales data is any indication.

Could You Use Some Echochrome in Your Diet? [Level Up]

The PlayStation Network's Next Big Games

Echochrome Demo Now Available On Japanese PS Store

If Echochrome Only Had Afros...

The minimalist stylings of Echochrome are certainly welcome, but seeing the game play in a photorealistic environment with a man in an all-white suit and stunning afro makes me wonder what might have been...

Say, this is only a fortnight away! I might have to import.

Echochrome Getting Summer US Release?

I was told plans for the PSP version were up in the air and the summer slot is specifically for the PlayStation 3 version. Don't take this conversation as confirmation that the PSP version got the axe, its fate has not been sealed.

Echochrome To Cost Twice As Much On PSP Than PS3?

Here's something disconcerting if it pans out as true: Siliconera reports that Echochrome will cost more than double for a UMD PSP ($37) version than a downloadable PSN/PS3 version ($17) when released on March 19th in Japan. While we've seen similar pricing discrepancies with downloadable vs. retail versions of Warhawk, that price difference included a headset for online chat.

The questions then become, are these two versions identical and will the game support Remote Play? And if so, just how much is it worth to have a UMD? UPDATE: Siliconera updated their post, pointing out that PSP Echochrome has twice the levels. I guess that explains the price difference.

PS3 Echochrome costs 50% less than PSP Echochrome [Siliconera via OpposableThumbs]

Sony says it's looking for a console defining puzzle game in echochrome—a fairly tall order. It certainly doesn't look like anything else on the PLAYSTATION 3, but it reminds us of minimal previous PlayStation gems like Intelligent Qube and Vib-Ribbon. Of everything that SCEA showed at yesterday's E3 conference, this PlayStation Network downloadable was the most striking thing I recall. Possible only with the power of Cell (and possibly some good graphing calculators)!