With preparations for 2005's launch of the PlayStation Portable in effect, Ignition Entertainment has today unveiled Mercury, an innovative puzzle game for the PSP from the likes of Awesome Studios, led by industry icon Archer Maclean. The game concept is simple: tilt each level so to move around globs of mercury, all the while finding a way to evade or conquer the switches, platforms, obstacles and hazards that block the way to success. Players will have the opportunity to employ certain puzzle elements, for example splitting the mercury into numerous color component parts, where the game's advanced engine will calculate each drop of the liquid metal so everything appears and runs as smooth as... a liquid metal?

"Without exception, everyone who has seen the early versions of Mercury behind the scenes has immediately loved it," reveals Archer Maclean of Awesome Studios. "It's an incredible game that will define a new genre. Coding it to run this fast has been very complicated, but the results are impressive. We're delighted to be able to work with Sony Computer Entertainment in making this a PSP launch title. It's just perfect for the format."

"We look for Mercury to catch on with game players like wildfire," adds Ellen Fuog, president of Ignition USA. "It's one of the most innovative and creative ideas for a game we've seen in a long while."

Mercury is set to be one of the PSP launch titles, so we can guesstimate it's release time sometime around March 2005. Stay tuned for developing details on the game and the handheld bundle of joy of a system as well.