Ngp (aka Psp2)

[Bobtheduck]

So... It's got two analog sticks, a touch screen on the front, a corresponding multi-touch panel on the back, 3G, runs android apps (? Not sure about this one, but Kotaku mentioned it worked with their android phone apps), has six axis controls, and is nearly as powerful as the PS3...

Still no announcement of price or region locking... Ooh, I'm keeping my figners crossed.

Kojima showed off MGS4 playing on the thing, and it looks REALLY NICE. He said "I'm not announcing a new title" but he did the same thing with the 3DS, and Metal Gear Solid 3 port is real for that system, so I bet the MGS4 port is real for NGP.

Oh, and apparently, there are going to be PS3 and NGP games that share save files, so you can play on your big screen, then save to your NGP and play on the road... I've wanted that for a long time, honestly... YOu can sort of do that with PS1 games on PS3 / PSP, but hopefully they streamline the process because it's kind of a pain to do that now.

Official design:
http://cdnmo.coveritlive.com/media/image/201101/phpgqVje6photo4.JPG

MGS4
http://cdnmo.coveritlive.com/media/image/201101/phpMB2OGUsnake.JPG
http://cdnmo.coveritlive.com/media/image/201101/phpd8ondwphoto22.JPG

Rear touch pads:
http://cdnmo.coveritlive.com/media/image/201101/phpTGl0m4photo11.JPG

[Roberts]

Was following multiple live blogs, and all I can say is...



"I'll buy it at a high price."



...but not too high.

[Cognitive Gear]

Nice features. I'm not convinced that people really want a full console-level experience in their handhelds, but I'm also not convinced that 3D is what people want in their handhelds either. This should be interesting to see how it unfolds.

Kotaku put up a size comparison for handhelds. It looks like the PSP2 is pretty large, but while that is a bad thing for portability, it might be a good thing for usability. I can't imagine using dual analogue controls on something the size of a DS lite.

[Bobtheduck]

I know I DO want a handheld that has that kind of power, particularly if it can connect to the TV too, without having those dumb black bars around it like on the current PSP...

The things I want in games and such don't seem to match with what people today want...

Galznerking iPhone...

I really hope this does well. Really, in a way, Sony and Nintendo are on the same side, because both of their handhelds are made for more traditional gamers, while the Windows 7 phones and the iphone and traditional android phones are made for simple games that are meant to be played in 2 or 3 minute increments. They're both fighting for gamers like me, (not that they won't have iPhone style games too, just that they'll have both) and I hope my kind doesn't become extinct.

[Roberts]

Apparently no video out . However, Hideo Kojima (Metal Gear creator) implied that his next game will be cross-console (on both PS3/NGP) in which you can play the game on your PS3 at home, then transfer your save onto the NGP and play it on the go.

I mean, that's better than nothing, even though I would prefer video out. Providing it is just the one purchase for both the PS3 and NGP versions of the game (instead of being required to double dip), it might turn out to be pretty darn awesome (for me, already having a PS3).


I'm holding off to see more before I make any purchase decisions of course (as it is a ways off yet), but it appeals to me so far.

Oh, and I'm glad they confirmed backward compatibility with PSOne Classics and PSP games (even if PSN downloaded only) -- Monster Hunter Freedom 3 (no more claw camera, thank God) and Final Fantasy Type-0 should keep me busy come launch .

[ShiroiHikari]

When's the release date? I don't even have a freaking PSP yet :I

[Htom Sirveaux]

I hardly ever use my PSP. Or anyways, not as much as I use my DS. I can't see a lot of buying this, especially after the miserable failure of the PSP Go. Nintendo has always dominated the handheld market not with superior hardware, but with a steady stream of superior games.

[ShiroiHikari]

I hardly ever use my PSP.

I'll take it if you don't want it. XD Seriously, I want a PSP for all the import titles. Gundam games galore! Also, alliteration!

[Nate]

What? There's no option to hook up my portable game system to a television screen? Well then what's the point in owning a portable system then? I know I buy my portable systems to hook up to stationary TV screens! If they're not gonna have that option I might as well just buy a regular console! I mean why else would you own a portable system if not to sit in the place where a regular console would go?

[Cloud500]

I'm actually thinking of selling my PSP. I hardly play it either. It seemed like the greatest thing ever at first...

However, this looks like a major improvement over the original system. After seeing a video of someone actually playing the PSP2, I'm getting pretty excited.

Unfortunately, I don't have $300+ to throw around.

[Roberts]

What? There's no option to hook up my portable game system to a television screen? Well then what's the point in owning a portable system then? I know I buy my portable systems to hook up to stationary TV screens! If they're not gonna have that option I might as well just buy a regular console! I mean why else would you own a portable system if not to sit in the place where a regular console would go?

I know I purchase my Portable devices to only ever play them out and about. I never feel the urge to play them at home! Besides, my 58" inch HDTV with 5.1 surround sound is reserved for 'home' console use only, never Portables. It is unfathomable (inconceivable?) that anyone would even want to play their portable system in the relaxed, comfortable, ergonomic manner that you suggest!

[Nate]

Okay, let me clarify. :p I do own such things as the Super Game Boy and the Game Boy Player attachment for the Gamecube. I'm not completely against the idea of playing a portable system on a TV screen, because I own these things.

What I'm making fun of is that being some sort of dealbreaker for purchase of the system. It's a portable system, that's not the focus of it at all. I didn't sit there and go "Game Boy Advance? Pssh, I can't hook it up to my TV and play it, so I'm not buying one!" That's what I'm making fun of. Hopefully that's clearer.

[Roberts]

Yeah, I really should have re-read your post before I replied with mine -- it's pretty clear to see what you were actually getting at. Sorry about that.

I do agree with you, video out should in no way be a dealbreaker for a Portable system. I can see however, how it can be seen as a feature lost from the transition from PSP to NGP (PSP revisions 2000, 3000, and Go all have video out.) It would've been a nice additional feature, no doubt, but I'm not heartbroken about its exclusion.

[Bobtheduck]

I bet the NGP slim will have video out. And that's what I'll be buying, if only because it's going to take me a year and a half past launch to save enough money to buy the thing.

[Rusty Claymore]

@Nate: Well, there is a rare case of Portable release only games. Not only did my folks and I buy 4 PSPs, but also ordered 4 games from Hong Kong in a foreign language, because of this. So in that case, yeah, deal breaker, because we wouldn't have even bought the systems except for this one game.
Never underestimate Otakus. XD

[Nate]

I'm...not sure what relevance your comment has, since I was talking about I can't understand how "I can't play my portable system on a TV therefore it's not worth buying" works logically, since it is a portable system. I'm not saying that it's illogical to like playing a portable system on a TV...as I said, I own a Super Game Boy and the Game Boy Player.

What I'm saying is, I didn't look at the Game Boy Advance and go "Man look at all these awesome games for it! But I can't play these games on my TV so the Game Boy Advance is stupid and I won't buy one!" I'm...I'm aware there are portable system exclusive games? I'm not sure what this has to do with what I was talking about. It doesn't even seem tangentially related.

[Rusty Claymore]

Ah yes, I see where I failed to mention the ability of hooking up to the TV being a big point. Meh, it was meant to be more of a humerous post anyways.

[Nate]

Fair enough. At any rate, I don't see this system going anywhere. Phones are becoming a bigger market, and while there aren't a lot of full-length games on phones, the market is getting bigger.

I mean Secret of Mana got released on iPhone. A massively popular SNES game that is literally unavailable anywhere else outside of illegal means. That's not insignificant. More developers are turning to phones for games, and why not? Cell phones are already immensely popular in Japan, and while the US doesn't have quite Japan's level of cell phone use, we're getting there. Eventually, phones will render the handheld market unsustainable I think.

Nintendo will last a while, because Pokemon. I mean that's a big property and that alone is going to sell units, and as long as it's profitable, Nintendo is going to at least hold on to the handheld market somewhat. But Sony? They can throw all the technology they want into this handheld but ultimately what's the draw? The DS had a couple of "must have" games that really moved the system...Pokemon being the biggest, Dragon Quest 9 (in Japan the game sold hugely), New Super Mario Bros., Mario Kart DS, and while they don't appeal to most real gamers, Nintendogs and Brain Age did a lot for the system.

Sony had...Monster Hunter. And a Final Fantasy 7 game. And that was about it. There was no game like Pokemon or New Super Mario Bros. that really made people flock to the PSP. There was no real "must have" game. The closest there was was the Metal Gear Solid game, the one that came out a while ago. For Metal Gear fans that was a definite must-have I'm sure, but...there wasn't really anything to draw sales.

Let's put it this way. The best selling DS game of all time? New Super Mario Bros. Sold like 26 million copies. The best selling PSP game? Monster Hunter Portable 3rd, which sold a little over 4 million copies. I mean...see a little bit of disparity between those numbers? While 4 million isn't a failure by any stretch of the imagination (to use a phrase Penny Arcade used, if I sold 4 million of a thing I'd consider that a success), it's nowhere even near the DS.

So just looking at DS vs. PSP, I don't think Sony will survive this handheld generation. They'll make sales, absolutely. It's not like nobody is going to buy it. But I will bet that the amount of units they sell will not generate enough of a profit for them to continue their handheld department, especially when you take into account the massive failure of the PSP Go, and the fact that this system can't possibly cost less than the 3DS...and with people already complaining about the 3DS being 250 dollars, it doesn't look good for them. Especially when you consider that people can buy pretty nice phones for about how much their Handheld Thing will cost.

[mechana2015]

isn't there a PSP2 Phone in the works?

[Nate]

There might be but I don't know how it would work in North America. Sony would have to try to strike a deal with one of the US companies to get service for it, and it would probably be an exclusive deal with that company. And remember that one of the biggest criticisms of the iPhone was that it had an exclusive deal with AT&T for a while...and on top of that, Sony would have to make the Handheld Thing somehow more attractive than a phone. While it's obviously a much more powerful gaming system than the iPhone or Droid is at the moment, it's a lot bigger and cumbersome than a phone is, and more expensive (or the same price) as a much smaller phone...and how many other features that a cheaper phone can do will be in the Handheld Thing? Will it have a built in calculator, calendar, notepad, or alarm clock? That's another thing. What's the battery life of the Handheld Thing? Phones usually can last a day or so at least without needing to be charged, making them very handy. If the Handheld Thing only has a battery life of six hours, that's going to make it extremely inferior to a phone, even if it has phone capabilities. Even if it's 10 to 12 hours, that's still less than most phones will last. Plus a lot of the features I mentioned would be difficult to implement on a Handheld Thing anyway. Will it have a full keyboard? If not, text messaging would be a pain, I've used the PSP web browser and it's annoying to have to type in stuff on that. It's not as convenient as pressing a few keys.

So yeah...I really don't see this system doing anything but failing miserably.

[Hiryu]

This is starting to remind me of the N-gage if they try to implement phone service. It's pretty handy to have a system with phone capabilities, but honestly, who doesn't have a cell phone these days?

The back touch screen seems redundant. Why do we need it if there's one in the front? I wonder how many times people will accidentally hit it while playing a game?

[MasterDias]

The PSP might not have been very successful in the west at all, but it was very popular in Japan. That's why all these games were coming out for it (and still are actually.) All of the (Japanese) third parties were supporting it, whereas a good chunk of the DS's major hits were first-party Nintendo franchises. So even though the PSP may not have technically "won" the handheld war, it wasn't a failure.

So, unless all of those developers jump ship to 3DS (and I'm somewhat skeptical of this happening really), or Japanese gamers suddenly decide they actually want more console games than handheld titles, it will probably be business as usual with the NGP. At the very least, it doesn't have the major issue that doomed the PSP Go from the start.

Not sure about mobile phone gaming, but I have doubts it's going to replace handheld gaming anytime soon. I glanced at a couple bestselling game lists for mobile phones, and most of the titles were casual/puzzle games and such. That's hardly the stuff hardcore gamers go for.

[Bobtheduck]

The back touch screen seems redundant. Why do we need it if there's one in the front? I wonder how many times people will accidentally hit it while playing a game?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z5AkjLwqm6I

1. It's not a redundant touchpad. It's an additional one. This is the best example of what you can do with it so far, but you'll see more coming later.

2. This isn't a phone. It will have 3g capabilities so you can play online without being near wi-fi, but there will be a 3g free model (that will be cheaper and doesn't need an expensive data plan) that will ONLY run on wi-fi.

I can't say how this will fare vs phone based systems, but:

1. It's a portable with two analogue sticks. Win
2. The ablility to do the "cloud" saving and play the same game at home and on the go with the same save files is pretty awesome.
3. It has BUTTONS... I hate those phone games that rely on the touch screen.
4. The rear touch panel allows for touch functions that don't cover up your screen

I'm not saying these things will make it popular. I can't judge what will or won't be popular, but you can't rule it out yet.

[Mithrandir]

Until Sony started suing it's customers to stop them from hacking their consoles, I actually considered this device. But given a lot of trouble I've had both with various Sony hardware as well as the way they treat their customers, I think I'll just pass it by. Don't get me wrong - I think this is actually probably going to be a pretty good piece of hardware. But given my experiences (and the fact that I have an iPhone which keeps me sufficiently entertained), it's just not for me.

[Bobtheduck]

I personally think the Geohot thing is a lose-lose for Sony. If they do NOTHING, piracy becomes rampant and they'll lose support from developers and publishers. They do something, and they get the wrath of non-pirates who think (as I do) you should be able to do what you want with your own hardware.

Which is worse, however, is up for debate. I followed PS3 hacking sites (and also ran Geohot's CFW for a while, but went back to OFW because I wanted PSN back) and they did a quick dump of aps, then... Backup managers. No VLC media player. No new web browser. No region free bluray player. Yeah, don't try to tell me that even 10% of people used those backup managers for non-piracy purposes.

[Shao Feng-Li]

Nice features. I'm not convinced that people really want a full console-level experience in their handhelds,

I do.

Overall, do want very, very much. As it is, I love my PSP2000.