And so it seems despite what Sony might have wanted gamers, industry, and press to think during its 2010 E3 press conference, the force may not be all that strong with the PSP. Even though the PSP version of the first Force Unleashed was released to critically mixed reviews, the franchise itself was still a huge success across all platforms for LucasArts, even garnering a re-release.

I personally think it is a little telling when a company pulls such a popular franchise game from a system. While I would rather play The Force Unleashed 2 on one of my home consoles, as someone who travels often and spends a decent amount of time on portable systems, seeing this kind of news makes me a little sad. And while it looks like the DS and Apple iOS versions are still on schedule, there is something about the PSP that fills a nice niche for portable gaming, if it is done right.

Games on the DS are usually a simpler type game versus their console sibling. And while the Apple iOS devices have shown they have some serious horsepower and gaming abilities, lacking physical buttons still makes for awkward controls that cause some games to be more frustrating than they should be. The key is designing the right game for the right system. And while the PSP has shown it can handle console-like experiences really well (God of War says hi) it has also shown just porting a PS3 or Xbox 360 game to the PSP is not necessarily the right answer. I think it takes a talented developer to make a solid PSP game, focusing on what makes a PSP game good, what makes it unique, and what makes it work on the PSP versus another system.

So perhaps LucasArts does not believe the PSP is a viable system. Or maybe they realized they could not make a good, unique game that worked on the system. And maybe this had nothing to do with the PSP and instead was related to the realities and difficulties associated with a publisher setting a hard release date, or because of Haden Blackman’s recent exit from LucasArts. But whatever the reason, the simple fact remains gamers of all Midichlorian counts will not be slicing and dicing along with Starkiller on the PSP this October.

What do you Ranters think? Are you upset that The Force Unleashed 2 appears to be no longer coming to the PSP? Do you care? Do you even play games on your PSP?

Star Wars: The Force Unleashed 2 is still currently scheduled to release on October 26, 2010, for the PC, Xbox 360, PS3, Wii, Nintendo DS, and Apple iOS.

Source: IGN