Surely must be tough fitting all that PS3 graphical capability into a handheld. Take your time Sony...
Surely must be tough fitting all that PS3 graphical capability into a handheld. Take your time Sony...
No UMD? No buy!
http://kotaku.com/5675525/psp2-will-...-in-horsepower
The Playstation Portable 2, rumored to have dual analog sticks, a bigger screen and touch controls, will also rival the Xbox 360 in processing power and ditch the UMD format, sources tell Kotaku.
Earlier this week multiple sources detailed meetings with Sony during the Tokyo Game Show about the long-rumored PSP2.
In those meetings about the portable, we were told, the device was shown to have a touch panel on the back of the system what looked like a mouse trackpad. The PSP2 also had dual analog sticks and a larger display which Sony touted as being "HD."
While the device was shown in two form-factors, one that looked like the PSPgo (seen above) and one that looked like the PSP, Sony told attendees that they have not yet settled on the final design for the system.
Since breaking the news earlier this week, a few more details have shaken loose about the device, which our sources have verified.
One of the key ones is that the PSP2 will not have a UMD drive. The UMD (Universal Media Disc) was launched in 2004 for use in the PSP. Initially, the format was used for movies, but slow sales of UMD films lead to studios dropping support for the format.
Sony's PSPgo is UMD-free version of the PSP, and sources tell Kotaku that the PSP2 will follow in the footsteps of that portable. Games will be stored on a Memory Stick, according to one source. Though we've also been told that Sony is still puzzling out what the final non-UMD storage solution will be for the PSP2.
We've also learned that the PSP2 will be a much more powerful gaming device with twice the RAM of the Xbox 360.
While we don't yet know all of the portable's system specifications, we have been told that the PSP2 will feature 1 GB of RAM. That's compared to the 64 MB of RAM the PSPgo and PSP 3000 have. Both of those portables use a MIPS R4000 CPU clocked at up to 333 MHz. By comparison the Xbox 360 has 512 MB of RAM and runs a 3.2 GHZ CPU.
The specs for the yet-to-be-released Nintendo 3DS haven't been officially detailed but we've heard it will be as powerful as the Nintendo Wii which features 64 MB of RAM, and a special processor clocked at 729 MHz.
It's starting to sound like someone at Sony is listening to the murmuring about the Playstation Portable and doing something to fix the issues some have with it. Dual analog sticks. No UMD. A bigger screen. More powerful tech. Touch controls. We're not hearing a single thing we don't like so far.
http://images.encyclopediadramatica....7b/Icame66.jpgrival the Xbox 360 in processing power
dual analog sticks and a larger display
I'm more worried about the battery life than anything else at the moment if they really wanted a CPU that rivals what's in the 360. Wouldn't surprise me if they underclock the system for the first half of its life like they did the PSP1.
I'd love to see what battery powers that.
http://i53.tinypic.com/op9ws1.jpg
Of course these are all from "sources." I also don't want a PSP2 without a physical media format, but let's keep in mind that even if they say "no UMD" that doesn't necessarily preclude some physical storage. The people saying it will be on memory cards are just another "source" so everything is up in the air anyway.
http://www.joystiq.com/2010/11/02/ea...talk-about-it/
At this point, we can probably all safely believe that developers are already working on games for the next generation of Sony handhelds, much like we can be pretty confident that a PlayStation mobile phone device is real. The Mortal Kombat team has already claimed to have a PSP2 development system, and EA senior vice president Patrick Soderlund recently told CVG that EA has had contact with the as-yet unannounced device as well.
"Well, obviously as a developer we have had that" -- referring to "exposure" with the PSP2 -- "but I'm not allowed to talk about it." He refused to offer anything more specific, saying that "We can't talk about it because of our relationship with Sony obviously, which is ... That's just the way it is." Not that we're complaining, but we're pretty sure Sony wouldn't want Soderlund blithely acknowledging the existence of something he's not supposed to talk about.
http://www.vg247.com/2010/11/17/psp2...icks-trackpad/
http://assets.vg247.com/current//2010/11/front.jpgVG247 has obtained the world’s first images of a PSP2 dev kit.The shots clearly show the device’s forward- and rear-facing cameras, as well as the much-discussed trackpad on the rear of the unit.Note that this isn’t the console’s final form factor. As you can see, some developers are working with a kit with similar construction to a PSP go at the moment – see the update below – with a sliding screen over physical controls. We don’t know when the final physical spec will be nailed down, only that this isn’t it.We were first told PSP2 kits were in developers’ hands early this year.It has an HD screen. The last set of rumours surrounding the handheld said the chipset has yet to be finalised.The machine is rumoured to be extremely powerful, with approximately twice as much RAM as a 360.EA has confirmed it’s had “exposure” to the unit, and developer Netherrealm has openly admitted it’s working with a kit.PSP2 is supposedly heading for release in late 2011.If you’re in any doubt as to the authenticity of these images, don’t be. It is what it is. Enjoy.Update: We’ve been told by a source that these images are from the last kit. There’s a newer one, which is a single, non-sliding block. Remember those last Kotaku rumours of the unit overheating? Sony switched back a form like PSP-1000 in order to cool it down.
http://assets.vg247.com/current//2010/11/back.jpg
I love the giant NOT FOR SALE on the back of the sliding panel.
should say "DO NOT LEAVE IN A REDWOOD CITY BEER GARDEN"
two thumbsticks, back to the original form factor, an HD screen, and twice as much ram as a current-gen console? you don't have to go out of your way just to please me, sony
Shame the newer dev kit is back to the PSP-1000 style, I quite like the sliding mechanism a la the PSP Go. Oh well, whatever they gotta do to get it to work and function properly without it overheating I suppose. Xbox 360 has 512mb shared ram between the CPU and the graphics card, so I'm guessing this thing will have approx 1gb? That's pretty insane.
I'm glad it's back to the old design, I really dislike the PSP Go setup. I hope they keep the analogue placement from those photos though, seems like it would be much better that way round since more games use analogue than dpad.
Given the kind of games the PSP had, ones not lending themselves to pickup-and-play gaming, I don't see why they can't just basically design it as a dualshock with a screen attached so I can at least play the games comfortable.
That or at least have bluetooth built-in so I can hook a dualshock up like you can with the Go.
I agree with you on this one but...i think we're in the minority on this. But thinking about it, unless there was some HUGE counterweight on the bottom of the controller, i don't think a dualshock + screen would be very functional....unless the screen wasn't attached if only for a wire...and the screen had a stand...and the screen was like 19 inches....fuck i got myself excited ._. (but then it wouldn't really be portable i guess.)
For serious... holy shit I came.
Definitely will not make the same mistake of sticking to a Nintendo handheld this time around. The games I've played and enjoyed < games I've wanted to play on PSP.
I would like for them to swap the DPad/Buttons position with the analog sticks just to keep things in line with their controllers.
I'm betting that there's a good chance that games may be released on flash cards (especially if retailers get pissy about it like they did with the PSPgo) but really do they need to? Game companies hate gamestop style business practices because they earn nothing from used game sales. Digital downloads is the way to go and looking at iphone and other app based phones people are embracing it quickly.
PSPgo just wasn't marketed well at all and instantly was shot down by gamers and retailers. If they had rolled out better PSN support for the PSPgo and a way to get free DLs of the UMDs you owned it would have done much better imo.
I never understood why retailers shot down PSP Go so badly. It's not like iPod Touch plays out in the exact same situation, granted it was being toted as a music player first, games second, with both systems having currency-cards to buy and put into your account. For me, the biggest problem with the Go was the price, but that's pretty much fixed nowadays with the price drops and bundled software.
Well and that's why I think it was mostly bad marketing and unless you're Apple you can't really get away with selling overpriced hand held media electronics. The odd thing is though no one thinks twice about the fact that cellphones with less or different capabilities than the Go are twice as expensive. Contracts I suppose mitigate the cost of cellphones but really the PSPgo wasn't that overpriced all said and done. Just it should have been marketed as sooooo much more than just a gaming console because no gamer would buy a PSPgo likely because they already had a PSP or the fact the PSN support really sucked/sucks atm.