PSP2 finally announced

[zerocool84]

Betcha didn't think this day would come, but it finally has. Sony has just come clean with its next-generation PlayStation Portable. It's actually codenamed NGP and will revolve around five key concepts: Revolutionary User Interface, Social Connectivity, Location-based Entertainment, Converging Real and Virtual (augmented) Reality. It will be compatible with the PlayStation Suite.

Specs include a quad-core ARM Cortex-A9 processor, 5-inch touchscreen OLED display with 960 x 544 resolution, dual analog sticks (not nubs as on the current generation), 3G, WiFi, GPS, a rear-mounted touchpad, the same accelerometer / gyroscope motion sensing as in the PlayStation Move, an electronic compass, and cameras on both the front and back. Available this holiday season. Wait... what?!

Games will come on "new media," not UMD anymore, but we're unclear on what sort of flash memory is being used. Sony's rather proud of the fact it's offering the world's first dual analog stick combo on a portable device, though we're more geeked about the quadrupling of pixel count from the original PSP.

Sony's live event has been graced by demos of some pretty popular games, including Killzone, Resistance, Little Big Planet, and Uncharted -- with the latter serving as a demo platform to show off how the NGP's rear touchpad can be used to more intuitively climb up some vines. That touch panel on the back is the same size and positioned directly under the front OLED touchscreen, which allows for some pretty sophisticated controls when using the two simultaneously.

The new console's UI will be called LiveArea, which has a bunch of vertically navigable home screens and built-in social networking (presumably through PSN). You can jump between games and the LiveArea without losing your progress and comment on your buddies' great feats of mobile gaming.

In closing its presentation, Sony trotted out Hideo Kojima to show off a cutscene from Metal Gear Solid 4 rendered in real time on the NGP. It was pulled directly from the PS3 version of the game and ran at 20fps, which looked very smooth indeed to our liveblogging eyes.

http://www.engadget.com/2011/01/27/the-sony-psp2/

Link to images of PSP2:

http://www.engadget.com/photos/psp2-press-shots/
http://www.engadget.com/photos/the-sony-psp2-codenamed-ngp/

Link to images of games and UI:

http://www.engadget.com/photos/psp2-games-and-ui/

 

[artemicion]

Interesting. I was contemplating picking up a PSP 3000 at the K-Mart sale next week but might hold off. Would be a bit disappointed if the "new media" meant the PSP2 won't be backward compatible with older UMDs.

Also wonder if this release is at all being rushed given the security failings of the PSP and PS3.

 

[SolidSnake42]

I personally think it's a gorgeous machine.

 

[Kromis]

Wow that's a lot of tech in such a small device! I'm curious what the price is gonna be though...

 

[Narmer]

Interesting. I was contemplating picking up a PSP 3000 at the K-Mart sale next week but might hold off. Would be a bit disappointed if the "new media" meant the PSP2 won't be backward compatible with older UMDs.

Also wonder if this release is at all being rushed given the security failings of the PSP and PS3.

Rushed? The PSP has been out for 6 years and the PSP2 is coming out on the 7th anniversary of the original PSP debut. Add the fact that the PSP has been hacked for years. Also, Nintendo's 3DS is coming out in the Spring. I don't think it's rushed at all.

 

[Ross Ridge]

Interesting. I was contemplating picking up a PSP 3000 at the K-Mart sale next week but might hold off. Would be a bit disappointed if the "new media" meant the PSP2 won't be backward compatible with older UMDs.

Also wonder if this release is at all being rushed given the security failings of the PSP and PS3.

Well, it definately won't support UMD's. I'm not even sure it'll even be PSP backwards compatible and support downloadable PSP games like the PSP Go. It would need to include a software PSP emulator since the hardware is so different. Sony hasn't decided on a name yet, it's just being refered to by its codename, "NGP" for next-generaiton portable, which means that's it probably not even going to be called the PSP 2.

And the fact that they've announced it but haven't given it an official name also suggests to me that they might have rushed the announcement at least. Though that may be more because of the Nintendo 3DS than anything else.

If you're interested in playing specific PSP games, and you can get the PSP on sale at a good price then I don't think I'd wait for the NGP. It's going to be year before the NGP comes out and from its specs it's not going to be cheap. Assuming the CPU and GPU cores aren't massively underclocked, it makes the $600 iPhone 4 look weak.

 

[ed21x]

very nice specs! however, with the screen is pushing around 3x more pixels than the 3DS, I wonder how the final visuals will compare, as the 3ds has weaker hardware pushing a far lower lower resolution.

 

[Queasy]

I have a feeling this will be much more expensive than the PS3.

 

[zerocool84]

Well, it definately won't support UMD's. I'm not even sure it'll even be PSP backwards compatible and support downloadable PSP games like the PSP Go. It would need to include a software PSP emulator since the hardware is so different. Sony hasn't decided on a name yet, it's just being refered to by its codename, "NGP" for next-generaiton portable, which means that's it probably not even going to be called the PSP 2.

And the fact that they've announced it but haven't given it an official name also suggests to me that they might have rushed the announcement at least. Though that may be more because of the Nintendo 3DS than anything else.

If you're interested in playing specific PSP games, and you can get the PSP on sale at a good price then I don't think I'd wait for the NGP. It's going to be year before the NGP comes out and from its specs it's not going to be cheap. Assuming the CPU and GPU cores aren't massively underclocked, it makes the $600 iPhone 4 look weak.

They already announced the PlayStation Suite which will allow you to play older PSP1 games on PSP2 and phones so you probably won't be able to play the PSP games you already own but you will be able to download PSP1 games.

 

[ed21x]

I have a feeling this will be much more expensive than the PS3.

wouldn't it be justified considering you're getting a ps3 + LCD + 3g in a smaller package?

 

[zerocool84]

wouldn't it be justified considering you're getting a ps3 + LCD + 3g in a smaller package?

Engadget said it's not PS3. The geometry is slightly slower but I'm sure it's about as close as you can get in a portable. Some of those demos of games look sweet but as always, demos always look better than when we actually get the games.

 

[ScottAD]

$500 toy.

I'll buy it eventually but this is not going to be a launch day purchase for me.

It won't be able to use UMD's they are certainly dead now. The new media looks like a SDHC card almost.

I look forward to it but the price eh....

 

[Kromis]

I have a feeling this will be much more expensive than the PS3.

$399 at the least, $499 at the most I'm guessing.

And then we all can say FOUR HUNDRED AND NINETY-NINE US DOLLARS! :whiste:

Since 3DS games are rumored to be $40-50, I'm guessing PSP2 games are gonna go up to $50-60

 

[Tristicus]

Damn what the hell? Quad core? Shiit, sign me up.

 

[blurredvision]

That looks damn sexy, consider me impressed. I cringe at trying to guess the price and battery life, but I had no interest in PSP2 before and now I want one, so Sony did their job. Kudos.

Going to be keeping an eye on this one.

 

[SunnyD]

What caught me off guard immediately was the off-the-shelf parts for the CPU and GPU. I'm sure there's going to be SOME level of customization on the CPU, SOME sort of custom instruction set, but initially seeing an ARM CPU and a PowerVR GPU in it instead of some proprietary shit... wow.

The built in 3G has me slightly worried though. Imagine this this being an AT&T exclusive device requiring a data plan...

 

[Queasy]

The built in 3G has me slightly worried though. Imagine this this being an AT&T exclusive device requiring a data plan...

I actually wonder if this part will make a US release. I can see them hooking up with Verizon or AT&T since they are the two largest but the USA is not like Japan where it is densely populated and it would be easy to cover almost everyone with a single carrier.

 

[Queasy]

wouldn't it be justified considering you're getting a ps3 + LCD + 3g in a smaller package?

It's not a PS3...

Just because something has costly hardware doesn't make it a good consumer item.

I honestly think Sony and Nintendo have gone bonkers releasing handhelds at unprecedented price levels during the middle of a global economic downturn.

 

[BD2003]

This thing HAS to be monstrously expensive. It's specs are way out in front of $600 smartphones, and it seems to have every feature they have and then some. Surely they're going to sell it at a loss for a while, but I cant see this coming under $500.

 

[BD2003]

What caught me off guard immediately was the off-the-shelf parts for the CPU and GPU. I'm sure there's going to be SOME level of customization on the CPU, SOME sort of custom instruction set, but initially seeing an ARM CPU and a PowerVR GPU in it instead of some proprietary shit... wow.

The built in 3G has me slightly worried though. Imagine this this being an AT&T exclusive device requiring a data plan...

I think it's a recognition of the shift towards mobile gaming on smartphones. They all use ARM, and many are on PowerVR. This should make porting to the PSP2 a cinch. They certainly appear to be more than capable chips.

 

[vhx]

I wonder if this means games will now have online play (playing people from around the world). One thing that was kind of annoying for PSP is that none of the games really supported any sort of online play. I can expect that 6 years ago when it first came out, but in this day and age with PSN and Xbox Live, online play is almost a necessity in today's games.

Looks expensive. Hell, iPhone and other high end smartphones can run as high as $600+ and people still pay for them.

 

[dpodblood]

Wow those specs are pretty impressive. I'm not really surprised at the announcement with the 3DS coming out soon though. I just wonder what the price point will be. I know it will be more than the 3DS But if it's more than ~$400 I wont be getting one for a while.

 

[IndyColtsFan]

Interesting. I was contemplating picking up a PSP 3000 at the K-Mart sale next week but might hold off. Would be a bit disappointed if the "new media" meant the PSP2 won't be backward compatible with older UMDs.

Also wonder if this release is at all being rushed given the security failings of the PSP and PS3.

The article states that it has 3G connectivity so my guess is that it will have an app store.

 

[dpodblood]

Even if games aren't backwards compatible we will probably see a lot of games re-released for the PSP2, just like they did with some PS2 games for the PS3 (Ex: God of War 1&2).

 

[R Nilla]

This is certainly an impressive piece of hardware. I'm not sure what else anyone could ask for from a PSP2, but I can't fathom how it could cost less than $500.

Also, there's this whole thing:

PS Blog

Also announced this evening was PlayStation Suite, an entirely new initiative from PlayStation that will provide fans with the opportunity to enjoy PlayStation content on an open operating system for the first time in PlayStation history. PlayStation Suite will work with Android based, “PlayStation Certified” portable devices – including mobile phones, smart-phones, and tablet PCs – to offer “PlayStation quality” content to users worldwide. In addition to providing a selection of PS one Classics, we are also working with developers to create new and exciting content that will be available on both PlayStation Certified devices and the new NGP when it comes to market