"Echochrome" is tough.

I learned that Tuesday morning during a two-hour visit with Sony reps at a mid-town Manhattan showcase of the biggest PSP and PS3 games of early 2008.

"Echochrome" is also the game I've been most eager to play on the PS3 since it was demonstrated by Sony head of worldwide studios Phil Harrison at E3 this year. He promised a game with "possibly the least graphics and most gameplay" of any game at the big show.

"Echochrome" is a puzzle game set on a landscape of floating shapes and line-drawn optical illusions. Classical music plays as the gamer rotates the playing field, opening and closing new paths for a little stick man who needs to walk to a goal. Turning the level just right creates and opens up paths. The proper twist might let the character bridge gaps that, thanks to the swivel, no longer appear to be there. (Watch the game's E3 trailer to fully comprehend).

This game had a lot of buzz at E3, but it wasn't playable. It was shown at the September Tokyo Game Show, but I wasn't there to play it.

I got my hands on the PS3 downloadable version this morning. My impressions, pro and con, follow.

(A note about this post's images: The relatively low quality of the images in this post is due to us at the Multiplayer Blog, not Sony. We snapped these photos on the fly as I played the game, once we realized that some of my post would only best be explained with visuals. These shots were taken by a digital camera off of a big-screen TV and under-sell the quality of the game's graphics. "Echochrome"'s graphics, when viewed by the naked eye are smooth, refined, and in stark black and white. Click the shots to enlarge and see the game in a somewhat better light.)

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Santa can go check his own list. I've been busy checking one of mine: the games I thought were coming out in 2007 but haven't shown up yet.

Topping that list is a demo of "Little Big Planet," the make-your-own levels side-scroller Sony used to steal the show at the Game Developer's Conference back in March.

And if you have a long memory like me, you may recall that Sony's official announcement for the game "slated" a demo for release "this fall." The full game would come out in 2008.

People's frothing demand for this game is well-documented. And successful demos of the game at E3 and Tokyo Game Show led me to think it's demo still might squeak out this year, kind of like the Christmas Eve 2006 launch of the downloadable "Gran Turismo HD Concept" on the PS3.

Alas, there will be no squeaker this year. An "LBP" demo is not coming in 2007. I found this out this morning at an otherwise impressive demonstration of Sony's PSP and PS3 software for early 2008 (more on that stuff in later posts).

"I can officially confirm that there won't be a demo this year," Ron Eagle, senior manager of PR for Sony Computer Entertainment America told me. But he did say he's played 30 of the games 50 planned developer-made levels and that it's a lot of fun. He seemed genuinely pleased about his time with the game, but his company won't be showing more "LBP" at least until next month. Eagle could only add that the full game is set for a 2008 release.

And with that, the video game release calendar for 2007 is complete. No more delays. No more surprises. Right?