Sony's NGP

[Izuno]

No thread on NGP yet?

official site as of now: http://us.playstation.com/ngp/

some coverage at IG: http://www.industrygamers.com/news/john-carmack-says-ngp-is-a-generation-beyond-smartphones/

Basic info courtesy IG at http://www.industrygamers.com/news/sony-reveals-its-next-generation-portable/:

External Dimensions: 182.0 x 18.6 x 83.5mm (width x height x depth) (still tentative)

CPU: ARM Cortex-A9 Quad-Core

GPU: SGX543MP4+

Screen: 5 inch front OLED multi-touch screen (16:9), 960 x 544, 16 million colors, OLED

Controls: Rear touch pad. Directional Pad, Dual analog sticks, two shoulder buttons, four face buttons, Six-axis motion sensing system (three-axis gyroscope & three-axis accelerometer), Three-axis electronic compass.

Cameras: Front camera, Rear camera

Sound: Built-in stereo speakers & microphone

Connectivity: 3G, 802.11 b/g/n WiFi, GPS, Bluetooth 2.1

Games will come on a brand-new Flash-based storage medium, with UMD being sidelined for this generation. No price or specific release date for the system was given, though Sony expects the system to be out in Japan this holiday season.

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.

[2d-chris]

I wonder how long the battery would last with something like uncharted ;P

[-HP-]

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!

[Sentura]

so is this basically just a psp2 or something? i too am interested in the battery life...

[-HP-]

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

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

That rear touch pad is such a neat idea

[Jetsetlemming]

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

[Izuno]

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?

[Zyn]

PSP 720, calling it now.

[Mazy]

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

[Mazy]

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.

[Furyo]

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

[Warby]

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 !

[sarge mat]

Does each core run at 2.4GHz or is that all four working together?

[Steppenwolf]

That touch pad on the back looks very unergonomic to me. Awkward way to hold and control the thing.

[Jetsetlemming]

At least presumably the touch screen is multitouch, since it stretches across the left and right hand area. The DS's lack of multitouch is annoying.