This morning Sony announced the successor to their Playstation Portable gaming system, more commonly referred to as the PSP. The new device, codenamed NGP, intends to bring us the next generation of portable gaming. It features a 5" OLED touch screen and graphical capabilities similar to that of their home console, Playstation 3. It also has a touch pad on the back of the handheld, allowing gamers to control their games without obstructing the beautiful screen. The device has a built in GPS unit, allowing gamers to interact with each other on the street using the new LiveArea and Near functionality. LiveArea allows you to see what other nearby NGP owners are up to and communicate with them like a social platform. Near will show you the most popular software in your area and allow you to link directly to the store and purchase anything that looks fun to you. Also expanding gameplay opportunities are the included 6 axis motion sensor and microphone.
Sony isn't a slouch on the software front either, offering a Uncharted demo to the press, as well as announcing new entries in several of their other popular franchises. There will be a new Killzone, LittleBigPlanet, and WipeOut coming out for the system, as well as third party greats like Metal Gear Solid and Call of Duty.
While all of this sounds great, I am interested to see what Sony has learned from their last gaming handheld- if anything.
Sony isn't a slouch on the software front either, offering a Uncharted demo to the press, as well as announcing new entries in several of their other popular franchises. There will be a new Killzone, LittleBigPlanet, and WipeOut coming out for the system, as well as third party greats like Metal Gear Solid and Call of Duty.
While all of this sounds great, I am interested to see what Sony has learned from their last gaming handheld- if anything.
This quite literally looks like a portable Playstation 3, leaving me wondering why any adult man, its seemingly intended audience, would bother with the device. My days of playing Game Boy in the back of the family van are long over and I don't use public transportation either. When home I'd rather play something on a console. What would be the point of playing this if it is simply going to mimic the console experience on the go? There is a reason why the iPod Touch, iPhone and even the DS have become such successful mobile gaming platforms- because they offer games tailored to that experience. Pick up and play games that are easy to get into and play in bite sized chunks. It's a shame that Sony didn't go all the way with the device and make it a phone, offering functionality that would make it a necessity to take with you. It supports 3G service already, why not take it just one step further? As it is this device will probably be far too expensive for handheld's main market, children. The only comment we have on pricing thus far is from Sony Computer Entertainment president of worldwide studios Shu Yoshida who said,"It's not going to be $599." That's reassuring, but still far too expensive for the average person.
This announcement is very reminiscent of the PSP's. Sony fans and technophiles are probably really excited about the NGP and will surely pick up the system at launch, but everyone else seems apathetic. The NGP is much more powerful than the 3DS, but will it really matter? The 3DS already looks really impressive for a handheld, much more so than the DS did at launch. As this past console generation has proved, graphics aren't everything. After a few impressive launch titles the system will likely go the way of the Game Gear, another system that was more powerful than its competitor, or at best perform similar to the first PSP. There simply is not enough potential market for a device like this. The development costs versus the potential reward for developers just won't be there. Sony did fix one nagging issue of the PSP, it no longer uses a UMD drive for games, instead using flash memory like the 3DS. This surely helps with the battery life, which is said to be between 4-5 hours, similar to its competitor the 3DS.
Despite my doubts about the market success of the NGP, I am excited for it. There will be some great games out for the device, meaning that even if it doesn't turn out well for Sony, it will definitely turn out well for us gamers. My main concern is how Sony will differentiate the device from the home console experience and really make it something worth owning.
This announcement is very reminiscent of the PSP's. Sony fans and technophiles are probably really excited about the NGP and will surely pick up the system at launch, but everyone else seems apathetic. The NGP is much more powerful than the 3DS, but will it really matter? The 3DS already looks really impressive for a handheld, much more so than the DS did at launch. As this past console generation has proved, graphics aren't everything. After a few impressive launch titles the system will likely go the way of the Game Gear, another system that was more powerful than its competitor, or at best perform similar to the first PSP. There simply is not enough potential market for a device like this. The development costs versus the potential reward for developers just won't be there. Sony did fix one nagging issue of the PSP, it no longer uses a UMD drive for games, instead using flash memory like the 3DS. This surely helps with the battery life, which is said to be between 4-5 hours, similar to its competitor the 3DS.
Despite my doubts about the market success of the NGP, I am excited for it. There will be some great games out for the device, meaning that even if it doesn't turn out well for Sony, it will definitely turn out well for us gamers. My main concern is how Sony will differentiate the device from the home console experience and really make it something worth owning.