The Playstation Vita Catch-All

And no price was announced. Probably better that they didn't, but speculation and Sony's history don't lead me to believe they can push this out in Q4 2011 at a reasonable cost.

So what's the PSP2's competition at this point? 3DS? Smartphones? Tablets? Seems like Sony is going after everybody.

No pricing or specific release info was announced. Here are the specs for those that care http://www.engadget.com/2011/01/27/sonys-ngp-psp2-has-a-quad-core-arm-cortex-a9-processor/

Perhaps the 3G means it can be subsidized. And hopefully not murdered in the cradle the way Verizon did with the Kin's data plan at the last minute.

Good grief. Fantastic hardware - but what a software snorefest.

Spunior wrote:

Good grief. Fantastic hardware - but what a software snorefest.

So, a typical Sony launch?

This is a company that needs to learn that hardware isn't everything. I would have thought the PS3 would have been a lesson.

For launch the lineup is fine. Also, more launch titles will be announced I'm sure. Regardless, by the time I can afford this monster, I'm sure there will be lots of great stuff.

I got a flash cart for my DS in preparation for a trip about six months ago and loaded it up with games (all ones that I legally own, of course) and you know what, I don't think I can go back to carrying a stupid little bag full of stupid little not-quite-SD-cards with exactly one game apiece on them and swapping them out all the time. I'm surprised and disappointed that Sony is going with physical media again.

Other than that, it looks like a sexy piece of hardware that's probably not in my budget. Call me in a couple years when your firmware is hacked so that I can store all my games on one device and you've dropped the price a couple times.

I know it's easy to be blase and dismissive, Cthulu knows I can be, but Uncharted sounds very cool.

hbi2k wrote:

Call me in a couple years when your firmware is hacked so that I can store all my games on one device and you've dropped the price a couple times.

The resounding thud of the PSPGo, the less than stellar response from retail partners to the GO, and Mr GT Chris's earlier info that physical media is still a must in Japan probably convinced them that going straight digital download is not yet feasible.

I'm really surprised that it is not configured like the PSP currently works where you can choose to either buy your games on physical media or buy them from PSN. (maybe it is and they just haven't announced it) The only two questions would be whether they fixed the business end by rewriting their licensing with developers to REQUIRE a digital release, and how much they are charging for blank media since I haven't yet seen any mention of onboard storage or slots for Sony memory sticks or non-proprietary SD cards.

(Completely speculating here) However, it could also be that they HAD planned on doing dual physical/digital releases like on PSP and felt comfortable doing so because the device was locked down using a security system similar to that on the PS3 and now they are scrambling to determine what to do since that type of system was just hacked to pieces in the past 6 weeks or so.

Additionally, to be honest, last night's PS3 update practically killed PSN for a few hours (at least here in the midwestern US). It took forever to download, failed out several times, and their credit card authorization server was also apparently knocked offline since it wouldn't let me or anyone I know add cash to our PSN wallets. I don't think Sony's infrastructure could handle the load at this moment if the PSP2 actually took off and REQUIRED all games to be digitally downloaded. At the very least, I think it would be a launch week nightmare for early adopters.

I'm genuinely scared by what the price will be, not to mention the size of that thing. Amazing tech, but I don't really want to pay ANOTHER 30 bucks a month for ANOTHER 3G connection just so that my PSP2 or whatever won't cost me $500.

Definitely a wait and see, here.

Mystic Violet wrote:

So what's the PSP2's competition at this point? 3DS? Smartphones? Tablets? Seems like Sony is going after everybody.

The PS3.

God ... I'm only half kidding ...

Edit: And yeah, it's easy to be SUPER cynical about this, but NGP sounds like a military organization. It sounds like something straight out of MGS4. Oh, the irony.

But in other news, holy hell, how is a portable that powerful without burning up?

@Jasonofindy

Your question about onboard storage and blank media is absolutely the right question. I've always felt that the original PSP was horribly hobbled by having no built-in memory and preposterously expensive Pro Duo sticks. IIRC, the original came with a 32MB Memory Stick, which placed real limits on its practicality as a multi-media device. I bought a 1GB stick in 2005, and it cost half as much as the PSP itself!

Given the monstrous amounts of flash in current iPods and iPhones, I can't see Sony bringing this to market with less than 64GB onboard. I simply could not justify buying it with less...

I'm with Blind_Evil on 3G too. I already have a mobile phone and a home internet connection (feeding my PS3 and my laptop). I have no need for another phone line and another monthly bill.

As for price, subsidized or not, £150 is now my maximum price for a new gaming/multimedia device (not least because my PSP is still working fine).

One positive thing is that PSP games will take a further price drop as stores clear the way for the new model (they're already dirt cheap in HMV). I look forward to picking up all the 'Best Of' titles that I've missed in recent years... not that there have been that many, if truth be told.

New Sony portable could sell for $299-$349 - EEDAR

Still too rich for me, but if that's even vaguely close it's lower than seems possible.

Oh right, some people may not have signed up at GI.biz.

Sony's Next Generation Portable games consoles could arrive on the market with a price tag of between $299 and $349 (£187-£219), according to one analyst present at the PlayStation Meeting today in Tokyo.

And Jesse Divnich of EEDAR told GamesIndustry.biz that he believes the NPG "will blow away Western audiences."

"The market is ripe for portable high-end gaming. The NGP will be a serious threat to all forms of portable entertainment," he said.

"After seeing the specs today, if the NGP can't succeed, it is clear that the portable gaming landscape has forever changed. The future of portable entertainment is in the hands of Sony."

The high-end hardware was shown off for the first time today, with a list of features addressing the hardcore market such as dual analogue sticks, as well as more social functions and connectivity.

Sony has not yet attached an official price to the unit, nor name, but has said it will launch this Christmas holiday season. Speaking to Eurogamer in Tokyo today, Sony boss Andrew House said that he wouldn't be drawn on a specific price, but that the console would be "affordable".

"I can't put a ballpark on it in terms of figures, but what I would say is that we will shoot for an affordable price that's appropriate for the handheld gaming space," House told Eurogamer.

However, House did reveal that Sony is keen to sell the handheld at a unit profit, rather than just making margins back on software sales.

"Ideally we would want to have our hardware be profitable, in addition to our software," he said. "We've experienced both sides and we know which one we like to be on!"

*edit*

And it's interesting that they want to make a profit per unit.

Maybe I'm just dense and have no clue what these components actually cost. However, if they want to make a profit per unit I don't see any way with the listed specs that a $300-$350 quoted price does not require a 3G contract so AT&T, Verizon, etc. will subsidize the hardware cost for Sony for the first year or two before component/manufacturing costs go down.

I'm actually interested in it for the 3G connection. I don't have a fancy smart phone because I hate cellphones; I probably use 3 minutes of voice each month so I refuse to pay the voice portion of plans those phones require. If the new PSP has a decent web browser (touch screen would hopefully imply yes), I'd be happy to pay for a data plan and make that my mobile device of choice.

We'll see. I like my PSP quite a bit and am really curious to see how this pans out.

garion333 wrote:

Edit: And yeah, it's easy to be SUPER cynical about this, but NGP sounds like a military organization. It sounds like something straight out of MGS4. Oh, the irony.

It sounds a lot more like Neo Geo Pocket...

This is an incredible piece of hardware. The back mounted touch pad is a very interesting idea. I predict it'll launch at $399.99 standalone. But I expect, with the inclusion of 3G, there will be subsidized versions released by carriers.

Although what could the 3G really be used for? I can't imagine carriers allowing full games to be downloaded using it. On my iPhone, if an app is >20MB Wifi is required. NGP games will be gigabytes. The latency of 3G would be problematic for mulitplayer gaming. But it doesn't make sense to include it just for the basic online features of the interface.

What do you guys think the 3G will be used for?

Sorax wrote:

What do you guys think the 3G will be used for?

Advertising!

That's a lot of machinery. I like the current design, and I'm very interested in it. I never bought a PSP, but I am a big fan of several of Sony's 1st party franchises, so if it's going to have, say, PSN downloads of things like the God of War PSP games, that would be a plus for me too. I saw a poster mention its having back comp, but I didn't see it in the list of official announcements. Maybe I missed it. My majors concerns are connected--3rd party support, and Sony's matching their machinery to their target audience. They seem to be, yet again, releasing steak and trying to sell it at an all-you-can buffet. I would think devs would hesitate to invest into this situation for the third straight time (PSP, PS3, now PSP2).

My guess on price, barring some sort of underwriting by the phone carriers as mentioned above: $399.

I'll be getting this for the PS3-quality Hot Shots Golf game alone.

Not only do I not want 3g but I don't want to pay for a 3g chip in the device. I've got an android phone that allows tethering. Why pay extra for something I already have?

It seems like this may be a tablet pc/gaming device. The 3g stuff is useful for tablet pc functions but as someone stated earlier it's terrible for gaming or downloading games. Not to mention that with the caps on Verizon and AT&T you'd be paying a ton of money in overage fees if you download even one good sized game. Many PSP games are 1.5gb so a full game on this thing is probably going to hit 4+ gig which takes knocks all your bandwidth out with one single download.

EvilHomer3k wrote:

Not only do I not want 3g but I don't want to pay for a 3g chip in the device. I've got an android phone that allows tethering. Why pay extra for something I already have?

Well, good thing you don't have to?

Sony's Andrew House has told press that there will be multiple versions of the new PlayStation handheld at launch, with only one model featuring 3G capability, a service which will cost the owner each time it is used.

Speaking to Eurogamer, Euro boss House confirmed that multiple SKUs will be available when the Next Generation Portable launches in late 2011, and not to expect to be able to use the 3G model to play online in the same way as you might at home - network and data streaming restrictions will apply.

"The first thing to clarify, which I'm not sure the presentation did a perfect job of doing today, is that all of the devices will have Wi-Fi capability; a separate SKU will have 3G," House said.

"So the user gets a choice. Wi-Fi is available wherever, which clearly is the most important aspect of connectivity and that connected experience; 3G will be a subset of that."

It's funny, because now that the 3DS and PSP2 have both been unveiled I find myself oddly happier about the current gen of handhelds. It's that whole thing where you realize that now the end is really here for this generation the prices will start to really drop on games and systems, making the current gen even more accessible.

I was kind of frantic the last couple of days trying to figure out which DS was going to be sacrificed to pre-order the 3DS. Now I think I'm just going to wait and see how things play out for both systems while enjoying building up and playing my DS pile as games for the DS get cheaper.

After seeing this and being underwhelmed by the 3DS lineup, I could be talked into a PSP2. I have to have it in my hands to see if it's more or less portable and "pocket friendly" than the PSP 1. Untili then I can wait.

My biggest concern with the NGP is the dual sticks, honestly. I never really liked the placement of the analog nub. I never found it comfortable. The fact that it's a stick instead of a nub this time might change my opinion. I still feel like there isn't much to grip on to and work on both analogs as well as buttons.

I think the fact they are sticks does make an interesting argument about portability.

So limited online play and certainly no game downloading? Sounds like 3G will provide a very minimal subset of the connected experience. Still though, I can't blame them for putting it in there. They needed the bullet point to appease a certain crowd. And with how awesome the hardware appears to be, impractical 3G isn't much of a knock.

A few further observations...

1) I'm not surprised at the decision to try to make a profit per unit. Sony's shareholders are probably fed up with being told that profits will come only when manufacturing costs fall and software sales rise. They've had to swallow this for pretty much every Sony gaming device, and I suspect the PSPGo will have been the last straw.

The question is 'How much profit per unit?'. 20%? 40%? My view is that trying to 'Do An Apple' will almost certainly sink this device.

2) The further news that 3G will be an option for one SKU only clears things up a bit. I'm guessing that this SKU will target those that want to use the NPG as their phone somewhere down the line.

3) I share CptGlanton's doubts about the willingness of 3rd Party Developers to commit to this device. Things have changed a lot since the PSP. The DS and the iPhone - the latter in particular - have demonstrated that high selling games can be developed and published cheaply... if developers pick the right system.

My gaming preferences lean towards action rather than RPG. In the last three years I've only found three titles of sufficient quality and interest to persuade me to open my wallet: Resistance: Retribution; MGS Peace Walker, and; Madden 09. I know it's an apples and oranges conversation in some ways, but I've found about a dozen for the PS3 in exactly the period.

The sad truth is that Devs abandoned the PSP in its old age; just left in the corner, sitting in its own urine, like a forgotten aunt.

4) Related to the above, I wonder whether this new device might acually be the nail in the coffin for console-quality portable gaming. I've read Andrew House's other comments - where he talks about 'asynchronous gaming' and whatnot - and it seems to me that this device is all about the jumping on the apps and quick/casual games market. That, sadly, is where the revenues are.

detroit20 wrote:

3) I share CptGlanton's doubts about the willingness of 3rd Party Developers to commit to this device. Things have changed a lot since the PSP. The DS and the iPhone - the latter in particular - have demonstrated that high selling games can be developed and published cheaply... if developers pick the right system.

I haven't seen this brought up anywhere, but isn't it possible that hardware was designed in such a way that porting a PS3 game to the platform would be simple and relatively safe financially?

NGP Battery Life Will Be Comparable To The PSP's

Kotaku wrote:

The sight of Sony's new NGP gaming handheld running demos of PlayStation 3 games is both exciting and terrifying for those concerned about the so-called PSP2's battery life. Sony tells Kotaku that we can expect a decent amount of charge.

The battery life target is the same as that of the current PSP 3000 model, Sony exec Shuhei Yoshida told Kotaku in Tokyo after the NGP was revealed. That PSP model gets between four and six hours.

If Sony achieves its target, the NGP would have a battery life that's also comparable to the less powerful 3DS, the next handheld gaming machine from Nintendo. The makers of Mario estimate that their machine will last 3-5 hours with its 3D functionality activated and up to eight hours with it turned off.

A game creator familiar with the NGP development kit told Kotaku that Sony's powerhouse portable is proving to have better battery life than the PSP 3000 on current kits, though readers should note that finished gaming hardware doesn't always run at the exact same specs as development kits. Our source credits the NGP's efficient chips and the fact that its games run off of flash media, as opposed to the discs that spun in most models of the PSP.

The NGP is expected later this year.

Dual analog seems cool. And that OLED screen is sexy.

Otherwise, I'm not sure. Price will probably be an issue. Will check back in a few months.