The PSP2 Is Here: Dual Analog Sticks, Touch-Sensitive OLED, 3G & more

The PSP2 Is Here
The PSP2 is finally here. Sony revealed its brand new PlayStation Portable at an event in Tokyo today, our first official look at the PlayStation maker's next foray into handheld gaming, the NGP or "Next Generation Portable." First details below.

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The Hardware
Sony confirmed many of the features of the PSP2 that we've already heard in the form of leaks, rumor and speculation. The PSP2 features a high-resolution, touch-sensitive OLED screen that's larger than the original PSP screen, tilt-sensitive SIXAXIS controls, dual analog sticks, front and back-facing cameras, and a touch sensitive back panel.

Sony boasts that the new PlayStation Portable is as powerful as a PlayStation 3. The device features built-in WiFi and 3G wireless connectivity and uses an all-new form of media storage for games—no more UMD.

Here's how Sony describes it: "NGP adopts a new game medium, a small flash memory based card, dedicated for NGP software titles. Taking advantage of the flash memory feature, this innovative card can store the full software titles plus add-on game content or the game save data directly on to the card. By adopting flash memory based card, SCE will be able to provide game cards with higher capacity in the future, allowing developers to store more game data to deliver rich and immersive games."

For now, Sony is officially calling the new PlayStation Portable by its codename, Next Generation Portable or NGP. It will be out this holiday in Japan.

The Full Specs

CPU: ARM® Cortex™-A9 core (4 core)
GPU: SGX543MP4+
External Dimensions: Approx. 182.0 x 18.6 x 83.5mm (width x height x depth) (tentative, excludes largest projection)
Rear touch pad: Multi touch pad (capacitive type)
Cameras: Front camera, Rear camera
Sound: Built-in stereo speakers, Built-in microphone
Sensors: Six-axis motion sensing system (three-axis gyroscope, three-axis accelerometer), Three-axis electronic compass
Location: Built-in GPS, Wi-Fi location service support
Keys / Switches: PS button, Power button, Directional buttons (Up/Down/Right/Left), Action buttons (Triangle, Circle, Cross, Square), Shoulder buttons (Right/Left), Right stick, Left stick, START button, SELECT button, Volume buttons
Wireless communications: Mobile network connectivity (3G), IEEE 802.11b/g/n (n = 1x1)(Wi-Fi) (Infrastructure mode/Ad-hoc mode), Bluetooth® 2.1+EDR （A2DP/AVRCP/HSP）
The Games
Sony showcased a handful of games alongside the reveal of the new PSP, including new titles Little Deviants, Reality Fighters and Gravity Daze, plus games based on the following PlayStation franchises.

Uncharted
Killzone
WipeOut
Resistance
LittleBigPlanet
Hustle Kings
Hot Shots Golf
Sony says the new PlayStation Portable will also play PSone games supported via its PlayStation Suite platform and will be backwards compatible with downloadable PSP games. To demonstrate this, Capcom's Jun Takeuchi demoed Monster Hunter Portable 3rd for the PSP on a NGP.

Third parties have shown demonstrations of Yakuza 4 and Metal Gear Solid 4 running on the system, with Activision announcing a Call of Duty for the new PSP.

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I'll b getting 1 of those for Xmas! Love my psp.

I personally think it looks great and am very impressed. Wonder how much it'll cost. Can't imagine it will be cheap! They may have learnt a lesson from the ps3 launch though and if they can get it around the same price as the 3ds they they will do very well.

I'm getting massive PSP(1) deja vu personally, attractive on paper, awesome specs, sexy design and probably slightly more expensive than the competitor.

The strength of the PSP2 will be continuing the successful franchises that have really come to their own on the original model, so hopefully it will do well. For me, only the 3DS has first day purchase appeal so far.

On maxconsoles they are saying gamestop have priced it at $999.

But they do state the price mite change.

Looks like I won't b getting it for Xmas.

I wasn't far off with my 3DS price predictions, so, I'll take a stab at £249. The first one was released at £179, to the DS's £100 but i think they have much more momentum this time so they can probably push the price a bit.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by scoobypatch

On maxconsoles they are saying gamestop have priced it at $999.

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I hope they are wrong, thats unbelievable!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by scoobypatch

On maxconsoles they are saying gamestop have priced it at $999.

But they do state the price mite change.

Looks like I won't b getting it for Xmas.

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No way is that right. I'm sure Sony have learnt their lesson from pricing the ps3 so highly at launch. If they priced it that high it would be suicidal.

$300-$350 according to this analysyst http://www.gameinformer.com/b/news/a...e-300-500.aspx

For a portable piece of kit you cannot go over £250
If it is as powerful as a PS3 they should be making it playable on the TV screen also and give it multi Six Axis control pad use.

Then it would be a killer!

personally i wont be getting one as i found the original PSP to be very uncomfortable to play and can see this being the same for me but i must admit it does look cool, cant see them pricing this above £249.99 as people just wont have that kind of money to spend at the moment on a portable gaming system

I read somewhere that a source said they will sell at a loss in the UK

sony have sold all their consoles at a loss, so thats not a surprise.

The claim of PS3 quality visual should be taken with a pinch of salt, its a broad statement, considering the screen size, to achieve similar looking visuals will take a lot less processing power, textures can be lower quality etc. It also should be said that sony have ALWAY over exaggerated the graphics power of their consoles. The PS2 was supposed to be able to render the FF8 ballroom scene in real time, the PS3 was shown with the incredible kill zone 'demo' and so on.

sorry it should of said a BIG loss

well considering i paid a fortune for my old psp and used it once i dont think i will be buying, got to do something really cool for me to waste my money again :(

No interest for me. Gonna be expensive and I have a Wii, PS3 and a 360 to play games on. Don't want the same games on a small device. Had a PSP and played a few games and did some dev stuff then got a DS and I actually PLAY games on it lol.

This does look nice but the only hand-held I play games on nowadays is on the portable device I actually carry around with me (with ease) every day - an iPhone. My original PSP hasn't even been booted in about 2 years! Plus I suspect future iterations of smart phones will soon surpass the NGP - developer support and quality games for smart phones continue to grow.

Another gadget for a lot of pounds that will sit on my desk looking pretty.