PSP2 to be unveiled January 27th, 2011

[Stu]

Prototype?!

*yawn*

[Vector]

Sure, the list of games is fantastic, some real heavy hitters in there. But how is that any different from the current PSP?

Well...

Key NGP features:

* Multi-touch 5-inch organic light emitting display (OLED) as the front display
* Multi-touch pad on the rear of the device
* Dual analog sticks
* Two cameras (front and rear)

* Three motion sensors, gyroscope, accelerometer and electronic compass
* Wi-Fi and 3G network connectivity
* PlayStation Network access, including ““LiveArea™”, “Near” and “Activity” log features Trophy Support
* NGP will be able to play PSP titles, minis, PS one classics, video and comics from the PlayStation Store.

Some of the touch screen functionality they showed off was pretty damn impressive, like that Little Deviants game, raising and lowering the level of the ground. Let's not forget Sixaxis capabilities also. If they're implemented well(key word being IF), there could be some truly unique and special games.

Another thing...I highly doubt this thing will launch with the title "Next Gen Portable." I'd expect a real title at E3.

[Stu]

CR29, give me some credit. I'm comparing the range of software, not the machines themselves.

My point was that you can have all the AAA games you want (like PSP did) but in reality it didn't help Sony all that much with the first PSP.

[Vector]

Okay, sorry, I'm not looking at it from a business standpoint. I'm looking at it as a gamer.

[Alexia_Ashford]

This is the only thing that worried me from watching the presentation last night...the games and videos they showed seem to be mostly either ports of PS3 games or tech demos of PS3 games just to show off the graphical capabilities. Then again, the launch is still a ways away, so I'm not gonna judge the lineup just yet...kind of like how the 3DS's lineup is loaded with N64 remakes.

There's a difference though. The 3DS isn't trying to port games from the Wii/360/PS3, it's remaking old classics with new features and better graphics, which is why people will buy them. The franchises they're bringing to the NGP are new ones and they will be demakes, not remakes. The NGP is never going to compare to the monstrous power of the PS3 so it will just be like Uncharted 4 but with worse graphics. I don't understand the USP for the games or the console, and it seems only people who are fans of the series will buy the games, much like I did with the two GOW handheld games on PSP because even though they were of a worse quality to the PS3 version, they were still fun. I don't see what's going to appeal to people outside of the Sony fanbase though other than playing almost-PS3 calibre games while having a poo or on a train. Like Stu said, they did that last gen and although the PSP is fun and has some gems, it seems to me to have a limited target audience whereas the DS is everywhere and just annihilated them in the handheld market. I just hoped they'd have done something a bit different this time so we don't get a repetition of this gen and they realise it's not profitable making a really powerful, really expensive handheld that has a limited target audience and stop making them.

[Dracarys]

CR29, give me some credit. I'm comparing the range of software, not the machines themselves.

My point was that you can have all the AAA games you want (like PSP did) but in reality it didn't help Sony all that much with the first PSP.

It did early on and and always in japan where piracy isn't as bad. Piracy is what killed the PSP, support dropped heavily for it.

Little kids with Nintendo DS though not likely to pirate, look at sales of games that target older gamers on DS. Pretty poor, not that many even exist.

The NGP hardware seems to have some features that will appeal to kids more than adults, just most of the games shown far don't appeal to them. I bet E3 shows off a bunch though.

[Pikminister]

organic light emitting display


^^^ As I feared, they went with OLED....

Fuck the quality of the camera. This is the only real problem I see with the new handheld. The lifespan of that display will be shorter than a regular LCD, LED display. Because it uses organic materials.

[Rombie]

They've stated that the expected battery life is about that of the current PSP, which depending on it's use is exceptionally varied. I guess we wont know for sure until units start popping into reviewers or consumers hands though.

We started this thread with a topic of how the platform would be with just DLC media, but I see Sony's now given a reason as to why they picked up producing flash media cards last year; so that people can purchase the game on a card in store. Personally if I was interested in picking this new platform up, this would convince me that I can still go and purchase and own a game and I'm happy with that.

But their still touting now, like Microsoft was, that Digital Distribution is the future when I think the idea of this is too complex to handle when they will come under pressure from retail.

[Dracarys]

I don't understand why retail has so much weight with video games. Whenever see retail games published as digital releases they are always higher priced than retail with the excuse that retailers will not stock is digital is cheaper.

Bullshit, DD for games isn't that big yet especially with storage space and net speed issues in many countries still, most people still prefer disc releases too.

Ignoring all that, didn't get this crap with music when DD took off, HMV didn't say 'stuff you no more selling CDs then'. They still do sell them and DD in music has been cheaper for many years.

[Pikminister]

NGP to sell for $299 says GameStop

According to Gamestop, the NGP will be sold for $299 us dlls.

It's not the official price, though.

Source: http://www.psxextreme.com/psp-news/2193.html

So we can forget about this:

[Rombie]

Kylie - I hadn't thought about the music part... you're right, but I guess the difference between gaming and music though is the majority of stores selling CD's aren't also selling 2nd hand titles to make the majority of their profit.

Music is a passive medium; you can listen to it alone but often you listen to it while traveling in a bus or car, while doing something around the home, and the like. It's costs are a lot cheaper than gaming normally (unless you're buying new release vinyl I guess), it's generally found when not in digital in a form that is now around 30 years old and can be accessed by a lot of people in a lot of ways. You can rip it and convert it to a digital form to take on device which only play digital forms, or you can purchase it and download it. On top of that, when you purchase it as a DD you can get the specific track or tracks you want rather than perhaps having to purchase the whole album in a store. This means it's a lot harder not to be competitive in pricing.

To compare that to games... well first, a lot of stores who sell games sell it at next to no profit, so most rely on a second hand market, as mentioned. The biggest retailer for gaming in the world is paramount on this being their business model. Unlike music you're involved in an interactive medium, and when you purchase a game it's non-transferable to other formats other than it's single intended platform. And it's charged at a much more expensive rate than music is. And unless it's DLC content or a game that is only released online, then you always have to purchase the whole thing so you can't be as flexible on the costs.

Because the gaming industry relies on such a heavier amount of direct sales and one which doesn't give much in the way of profits for new sales to the retailers, it's one thats held to ransom quite a bit over large distribution. Especially the monopoly worldwide that GameStop/EB has. It's weird, for it to work both parties have to be involved and one can't work without the other.

In the future perhaps everyone would have the ease of means to get DD gaming but I think that's a long way off and not coming as quickly or easily as music had it (which was also forced in a lot of ways by file sharing) because of the stupidly complex ways the sales are handled.

[Agent_Wong]

I'm curious why they didn't make this 4g compatible...other than that everything looks to be excellent.