Release Date:Holiday 2011 Price:TBA
Last week Sony revealed the predecessor to the PSP codenamed NGP (Next Generation Portable). The system has some pretty Impressive specs that will change they way we play on the go.
- 5 inch OLED Screen (960×544) multi-touch capacitive touch screen
- 2 dual front and rear cameras
- Wifi GPS & 3G network signals (separate Wifi & 3g variants)
- dual rear touchpads
- dual analog sticks
- Built-in microphone and stereo speakers
- Six-Axis motion sensor system (3 gyroscope & 3 accelerometer sensors)
- Flash based memory card game form factor
- ARM Cortex A9 Core (4 core)
- Playstation Suite Compatibility
Sony seems to be gearing the NGP toward making gaming a social experience. With the Near app you can see what games are being played around you. With the 3G version of the devices Near will track you and your game play everywhere you go (scary much?). You can switch between games and LiveArea (The NGP‘s Interface) at any time to chat with others playing the same game or see what friends are doing. Speaking of LiveArea, I believe it is the one area that the NGP is lacking. The Interface is like the iOS flipped on it’s side but instead of having a perfect 3×4 grid you have 3 icons on the top and bottom of the screen and four in the middle, it will have to take some getting used too.
Shuhei Yoshida, President of Worldwide Studios of Sony Computer Entertainment, shows off the NGP‘s 6-axis technology by aiming down the scope and moving the unit around to find the enemy. This is a cool tech demo that I would like to see in a Mini, or something of the sort, but not utilized in every shooter game on the NGP. I also noticed one thing while Mr. Yoshida was playing and describing Uncharted on the NGP and how the controls work. When he described most of the touch controls he stated that you ‘could’ touch the screen, or simply press a button. I hope that Sony and other publishers force me to use the inovative controls they are provided with if they are going to include them in the game, not put them as icing on the cake.
The NGP also supports a hefty list of developers already making games for the system. They Include:
- Capcom Co. Ltd.
- Gameloft K.K.
- Namco Bandai Games Inc.
- Sega Corporation
- Square Enix Co. Ltd
- Activision Inc.
- Epic Games Inc.
- PopCap Games
- Rockstar Games
- Ubisoft
- 2K Games
- 2K Sports
- And Many More…
The NGP can be described as The PSP2, A Portable PS3. I would describe it as revolutionary, A true competitor with Nintendo’s 3DS. With the 3G integration, dual touch interfaces, and dual joysticks there are plenty of control options that could be achieved with this universal device.
Written by Jake Stewart
