The successor of Sony's PlayStation Portable (PSP) has been announced from the PlayStation Meeting 2011 press conference yesterday, codenamed Next Generation Portable (NGP).
Let's cut to the chase, specifications of the NGP has been announced as below:
Source: Kotaku
One of the most obvious changes from the PSP is that NGP has two analog sticks instead of just one. The new NGP is said to be larger than the current PSP-3000, but also "surprisingly light", as quoted from Brian Ashcraft of Kotaku who has his hands on it yesterday.
Visual effects on finger motions show where and how the Multi Touch Pad on the NGP can be interacted
The Multi Touch Pad can be seen on the back
A certain socket unknown to me and a power jack can be seen at the bottom edge of NGP
On/off button as well as volume control are on the upper edge of the NGP.
Capcom's Monster Hunter Portable 3rd will be available on NGP as a downloadable game.
Yakuza directly ported from PS3 to NGP. There are no announced plans to officially release the game to NGP, but the video is to show the quality of PS3 games on NGP. Porting is also said to be easy too, which will be a good thing for game developers.
HOT SHOTS GOLF NEXT (みんなのGolf in Japanese, i.e. "Everyone's Golf") on demo.
It has been shown that you can hit the ball in the game by swinging the NGP in the motion of a golf club, utilising the gyrosensor and motion sensor inside the console.
The Near application utilises the GPS integrated in NGP, and can be used for maps and directions.
You can also use Near to see what gamers are near your location and what they are playing. You can then find and join them to play cooperative or competitive games.
For those who are big fans of the Monster Hunter Portable series, this would be a very potentially convenient function to look for players to play together on harder missions / monsters; lots of people I know in Hong Kong hang out in McDonald's and look for players left and right. Maybe this new application will makes things easier for people to find players and jump in.
The new Next Generation Portable does sound very ambitious and that it has a lot to offer, while trying to win the gamers' hearts as Nintendo's 3DS is soon to be released. However, a lot of things are still not announced, such as the price, online service fees, RAM, or memory card slot. We just have to wait until more info is out.
Info and pictures via OurToysLand. Thanks to Yui (aka yui_style) on compiling the info!
I'm actually pretty keen on this, but will have to wait till it's out before I actually decide.
ReplyDeleteseems like they've sealed the unit so we can't use any spare batteries and thus, no hacking =/ the mhp players won't be able to mod their battery packs to play longer either.
http://www.sankakucomplex.com/2011/01/28/no-battery-changing-for-psp2-because-of-pirates/
Not sure if I'm gonna get this. Never was a PSP fan. Especially if this is gonna be equally or more expensive as a PS3.
ReplyDeleteThat Near application makes me want to get a second NGP so I can get the second one running and finding players close by...
ReplyDeleteI'm most likely going to get it and play Lost Planet 2 locally ^^
I'll buy it just for Monster Hunter...but I'll end up getting that on PSP1.
ReplyDeleteIt looks pretty awesome, that's for sure. I like how thin it is. It'll be interesting to see what Gundam games come out for it.
That is a gorgeous looking machine... Good thing I haven't decided on picking up a PSP yet. Though I think I'll rather wait for the 2nd or 3rd gen, knowing Sony machines ^^;.
ReplyDeleteAll those tech are mighty impressive and all but they sound like battery guzzlers to me; it might be portable but it doesn't sound like the battery will last even one outing.
Never been much of a Playstation Fan and since the games on Nintendo Handlhelds are the stuff I am looking for and not downported Home Console Games my Choice is going to be pretty obvious ^^;
ReplyDelete@ Zhe:
ReplyDeleteI won't brush Sankaku Complex's post aside completely, but its credibility is often questionable. The specifications and physical appearance are not final apparently. We would have to wait for more solid info. Non-exchangeable battery will be highly undesirable though.
@ Tom:
We all have our own preferences. The price will be a very important factor for gamers, and we won't know what are fees there will be when it's out.
The fact that Nintendo 3DS costs about the same as my PS3 is a little hard to believe when I first read about it... I can't imagine how much NGP will cost to be honest.
@ Robostrike:
Two NGPs?! I would assume that they should be able to run both a game and Near at the same time, or else it would be rather cumbersome to search for players to play with while playing at the same time. Well, we shall see once more info are released.
@ Apt-1B:
It looks pretty awesome, that's for sure. I like how thin it is. It'll be interesting to see what Gundam games come out for it.
I'd imagine Monster Hunter Portable 3rd on NGP will just be a graphical boost of the one on PSP. Besides, the Monster Hunter craze on PSP will definitely last for a good amount of time, possibly even after NGP gets released :o
Console version of Gundam Extreme Vs is likely to go on PS3, and given Sony's clain of easy porting from PS3 to NGP, I would suspect NGP will have a good chance of getting Extreme Vs too. Hopefully more good games will appear on NGP too.
@ Z:
The current portable gaming consoles are pretty popular for their... Ease of hacking I suppose ^^; It may not be likely that NGP will be as easy to hack as the current PSP.
The features and graphics do look pretty impressive and ambitious on this newly announced NGP, but as you said there its battery life and power consumption will be a big concern there, not to mention the price.
@ Blowfish:
Different consoles suit different audience. ^^ Nintendo does aim more and more for a greater range of players, and more especially for the casual ones or even 'non-gamers'. So you'll go for the 3DS? Even though I may not plan to buy one, I do want to see how its 3D effect will work in person!