Sony's NGP

    No thread on NGP yet?

    official site as of now: http://%7boption%7d

    some coverage at IG: http://%7boption%7d

    Basic info courtesy IG at http://%7boption%7d:

    My take is that this could potentially be the portable hi-def gaming system I've been waiting for due to the processing power and the dual analog sticks that makes console style action and shooter games realistically playable. I never liked SOCOM etc on the original PSP, and the virtual shooter controls on iPhones is totally meh. The price may be an issue since many are speculating that it will be at least $299 which is a lot for a handheld...but imagine being able to play games like Uncharted wherever you want? Definitely something to think about despite that this system is unproven as of yet. And there are other issues around software cost for portable games, actual battery life, how rugged/durable it will actually be, will the optional 3G be worth it or even effective and etc.

    I'm definitely looking forward to know the price, coming from Sony it will be expensive but it will also be top of the line tech! I love my PSP, even though I play manly vintage games on it, ahah!

    It is PSP2, yeah. It's just called NGP.

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    I am so glad it's slightly bigger than PSP1. PSPgo was waaay too small.

    That rear touch pad is such a neat idea

    Quote from Jetsetlemming

    That's what NGP stands for? There is no groan big or loud enough.

    Yeah at first I heard "NGP" was not the final name, kinda like back in early 2005 Microsoft was still calling the 360 the "Xenon" until they unveiled the actual name..."Xbox 360" and we said, "wut about Xbox 2" and they were like "no we done research of the markets and 360 is like better than 2" and we were like..."oh. whatever."

    Anyway...now it seems like "NGP" is it? Fo' real?

    Although I think all the odds are against Sony (As it looks right now, smart phones and Nintendo pretty much have the entire market locked down as it is), then I really hope this will be something interesting. They kinda had to do the dual analog sticks, and they kinda needed a touch screen as well, but the one on the back? Really? Although it sounds kinda cool for the use in Little Deviants, then it just makes it feel like they've taken the everything-but-the-kitchen-sink approach. They do still have the big advantage of actually having tactile feedback, they can do games well that the touch based devices cant.

    But the really interesting bits from their press conference were Playstation Suite (which could be HUGE for Android phones), and the fact that they emphasized that you could almost port PS3 games for the NGP. I heard some people talk about the prospects of then being able to play the same game on your PS3 and NGP, so that you'd be able to start it up on your PS3 at home, and progress through it on NGP while you're away from home. It's a beautiful idea, but it seriously sounds like a pipe dream to me. Imagine how much cross referencing and how much parallel QA you'd have to do to get it working, sounds like a huge job for the developers unless the NGP features some dream tech that makes it possible to run on PS3 test kits.

    Anyway, I'm quietly rooting for Sony, but I seriously doubt that the NGP or PSP2 or whatever will be the success that it needs to be.

    And I am absolutely certain that the price will be way too high, after all, this is Sony we're talking about. They said that if you thought the PS3 was pricey at launch (which it was), then you should just work harder to be able to afford it

    Oh yeah, regarding battery life, can't remember where I read it but its supposed to about 4-5 hours while playing games. I think that's pretty decent considering what kind of CPU it'll have to handle.

    putting the touch pad on the back is a stroke of genius if you ask me !

    i hate how i cover the screen with a pen or my huge "wurst-finger" on the ipad and the ds ! sometimes completely occluding the thing i want to/need to target !

    Quote from Furyo

    Kotaku posted a quote (apparently) saying battery life was comparable to that of the PSP

    I can play MGS which is a very demanding game on my PSP for about 5/6 hours without the battery dying, and the battery is not exactly brand new.

    Quote from Psy

    Another new memory format. Fucking hell, Sony. When will you ever learn?

    Well that brings up an interesting question. Obviously the UMD was a failure. And for the NGP, Sony is talking about it running PS3 games like Uncharted etc. Isn't that a multigig game? And any other major PS3 retail game will also be multigig so anything like that for the NGP will not sell well over 3G or WiFi connected download (is any PS3 game you buy in a BluRay not multigig?) The NGP is not a stationary PC and shit, how much do digitally distributed retail sized games sell through non retail channels?

    So once again Sony has the same issue as any past dedicated handheld game device (or console): distribution. Given the size of the games, that means retail. Now, if the new format works fine and is easy to use, is it really any different from any other format just because it's new? Sure, the UMD failed as a new distribution method for movies, but if you want a PSP game and buy the game at retail, does the UMD totally let you down? I mean, you get your game, you stick it in the PSP, you play. Same deal as a DS game you buy at retail.

    I'm taking this on a tangent and I don't mean to sound like I'm invalidating your comment. I think you are dead on about the unspoken concern that Sony once again might try to come up with some new standard they want everyone to use for non gaming applications...such as Blu-Ray which is the only Sony standard that really took off. I'm hoping Sony gets the sentiment you and so many others have expressed and just make the format really good for what's needed with the NGP and if other devices or companies adopt it then awesome. Gold star for Sony.

    But if the thing works and is convenient, I don't really care what it is.

    Yeah, like the 360 with the DVDs then that's gonna end up biting them in the ass. If the games are near PS3 level quality thats gonna take plenty of space, and AFAIK flash prices aren't really affordable enough that they can just include a 10 gig stick with each game, even if they do it in huge numbers. Then again, you can get extremely far with compressing stuff.

    Btw, videos of the press conference

    http://www.engadget.com/2011/01/29/sony ... s-the-web/

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