PSP successor confirmed
About five hours ago, Sony held a press conference in Japan to announce the PSP2, also known as the NGP (Next Generation Portable). Given that the current PSP had its share of misguided flaws, especially the PSPgo, it's encouraging to browse through the features currently announced and see that Sony has managed to fix a few of them, especially when I look back through my wish list of PSP2 features from early last year; there's no Cell processor in there, but a quad-core ARM processor will do just as nicely. And there's a few other things that have left me feeling impressed:
A touch pad on the rear
I called this months ago, less because I thought that Sony would actually implement it and more because it's a great idea; frankly, its inclusion has given me hope that Sony still has it in them to deliver smart hardware choices that its rivals don't offer, after playing catch up for the last few years with the PS3 and generally flailing about with the PSP.
Anyone with a modicum of hand-eye coordination will be able to match their fingers behind the console to points on the screen in front of them, theoretically meaning that we could play fully-functional touch screen games without our fingers obscuring and smudging the screen. This is a step forward that not even Apple have thought to do yet, and if it works it'll reflect well on Sony as a console maker.
Flash card storage for games, updates and DLC
The removal of the UMD is no great loss, but even better than the switch to flash drive is that all updates and DLC will be stored and integrated with the game on the same cartridge, making data transfer between systems an absolute breeze. The original PSP stores such data on the memory stick, which means that actual downloaded games tend to get lost amidst a forest of separate icons for updates and DLC; it may amount to housekeeping more than anything else, but for the sake of convenience this is an important feature.
Infinitely better analogue sticks
Aside from the fact that there are two of them, pictures clearly show that the analogue sticks are just that: proper sticks, not just sliding nubs that cripple your thumbs. They'll be more prone to damage when being shoved in bags or pockets, but I'd be very surprised if the inevitable carry cases don't account for that.
Key franchises right from the off
Enough said. Even if they don't make the console's launch, names like Killzone and Uncharted carry a lot of weight. The fact that they're on their way and comparable to their PS3 counterparts is enough to have faith that the console will have a few essential titles in its first year.
No news yet on the price (expensive) or battery life (short) or even the release date (er... not yet), but head over to Kotaku for big, glossy pictures of the unit. It sounds like a console with potential, and it'll remain to be seen if Sony can overcome its predecessor's stagnation and keep pace with the 3DS. Expect to hear more about this in the coming months.
About five hours ago, Sony held a press conference in Japan to announce the PSP2, also known as the NGP (Next Generation Portable). Given that the current PSP had its share of misguided flaws, especially the PSPgo, it's encouraging to browse through the features currently announced and see that Sony has managed to fix a few of them, especially when I look back through my wish list of PSP2 features from early last year; there's no Cell processor in there, but a quad-core ARM processor will do just as nicely. And there's a few other things that have left me feeling impressed:
A touch pad on the rear
I called this months ago, less because I thought that Sony would actually implement it and more because it's a great idea; frankly, its inclusion has given me hope that Sony still has it in them to deliver smart hardware choices that its rivals don't offer, after playing catch up for the last few years with the PS3 and generally flailing about with the PSP.
Anyone with a modicum of hand-eye coordination will be able to match their fingers behind the console to points on the screen in front of them, theoretically meaning that we could play fully-functional touch screen games without our fingers obscuring and smudging the screen. This is a step forward that not even Apple have thought to do yet, and if it works it'll reflect well on Sony as a console maker.
Flash card storage for games, updates and DLC
The removal of the UMD is no great loss, but even better than the switch to flash drive is that all updates and DLC will be stored and integrated with the game on the same cartridge, making data transfer between systems an absolute breeze. The original PSP stores such data on the memory stick, which means that actual downloaded games tend to get lost amidst a forest of separate icons for updates and DLC; it may amount to housekeeping more than anything else, but for the sake of convenience this is an important feature.
Infinitely better analogue sticks
Aside from the fact that there are two of them, pictures clearly show that the analogue sticks are just that: proper sticks, not just sliding nubs that cripple your thumbs. They'll be more prone to damage when being shoved in bags or pockets, but I'd be very surprised if the inevitable carry cases don't account for that.
Key franchises right from the off
Enough said. Even if they don't make the console's launch, names like Killzone and Uncharted carry a lot of weight. The fact that they're on their way and comparable to their PS3 counterparts is enough to have faith that the console will have a few essential titles in its first year.
No news yet on the price (expensive) or battery life (short) or even the release date (er... not yet), but head over to Kotaku for big, glossy pictures of the unit. It sounds like a console with potential, and it'll remain to be seen if Sony can overcome its predecessor's stagnation and keep pace with the 3DS. Expect to hear more about this in the coming months.
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