PSP2 Discussion

According to one of IGN's developer sources, Sony's upcoming handheld (known in-house as "Project Veta") will be a graphics powerhouse with titles looking as good as the first wave of PS3 games. The same source also confirms that recent images leaked to VG247, are in fact real.

IGN:

"We've heard a lot of rumors regarding the PSP 2 but it has been limited largely to isolated reports regarding specific features; today, however, we've received a comprehensive rundown of the device's features from someone with direct hands-on experience with the forthcoming handheld.

According to our source, current iterations of the PSP 2 feature dual analog sliders that are comparable to those found on the existing PSP but are unique in that they have concave indentations rather than convex. It maintains the slider design of the PSPgo, but increases the overall size to accommodate the new features and a slightly larger touch-enabled display.

As would be expected, the PSP 2, like the PSPgo, lacks a UMD drive and will run downloadable or expandable memory-based games. The device also incorporates both front- and rear-facing cameras, presumably for pictures, video recording and communication, and augmented reality-based games.
Notably, the frequently rumored rear-mounted touch panel is real and features a smooth glass-like surface, which our source says can be used for a variety of input functions such as analog thumbstick-type controls, taps, swipes and other gesture commands like a swipe to reload motion.

Our source also confirmed the recent batch of leaked images from VG247, which detail the state of current development units. As far as graphics are concerned, the PSP 2 is a beast, packing enough processing hardware to produce graphics comparable to early PlayStation 3 titles. The processor, we're told, is just over half as powerful as the PS3, though the specific framework of the cores and the clock speed was not revealed.

While the device isn't as powerful as the PlayStation 3, its components should allow it to sufficiently play games of comparable graphical quality due to the fact that it is rendering to a smaller, lower-resolution display than a full 1080p HDTV.

All things considered, it seems that Sony aims to allow developers to port or custom-tailor PlayStation 3 titles for use on the handheld, potentially to create a ubiquitous gameplay experience that could sync seamlessly between the console and the handheld. In other words, players could potentially start games on their PlayStation 3 and continue them on-the-go with the PSP 2.

Despite all we've learned, several key questions remain - namely how much it will cost and when we may see it publicly unveiled. Naturally, a device as powerful and full-featured as this would fetch a pretty penny, perhaps as much as the PS3 itself, and we wouldn't be surprised to see its official debut at E3 2011."

Front:

Back:

Thanks to IGN & VG247

Thoughts?

( Edited 08.12.2010 10:44 by Squidboy )

Oh god no, no umd drive!

The main issues will be lack of backwards compatibility with UMDs and the price. Both are likely to put a lof of people off for a while. I would say the 3DS is gonna be much cheaper but Nintendo have already said they're upping the price due to how well it's been received.

Luke (guest) said:
Thank god, no umd drive!

Fixed.

Sucks for backwards compatibility but honestly it's a handheld system, if you wanna play old games it's not a hassle like setting up old consoles.
But it definitely needs to go, flash memory these days is more than enough to meet handheld needs.

( Edited 08.12.2010 15:24 by Jimmy2000 )

If they're going download only, they really need to rethink the pricing.

This worries me as now with high street competition on UMDs, the games are usually overpriced on the PlayStation store. With PSP2, there will be no where selling the physical media, and so Sony can charge whatever the hell they want for the game and players will have to get it

Didn't they say somewhere that it will be downloads and something similar to the cartridges the DS has? Regardless of what it is though, people who want to play PSP games on it are going to be screwed. UMDs were just a bad idea to begin with. They could offer downloads for all those games but people would have to pay again for it which would be annoying. Not to mention, it would need a huge storage for all those digital games. I wonder how they are going to handle that.

That aside, it seems to me that all Sony does again is throwing more processing power in its handheld and that's pretty much it. I'm also worried about the price if it's going to be THAT powerful.

To sum up: Don't screw this up Sony, the 3DS needs a worthy opponent(to obliterate).

I'd really appreciate backwards compatibility. Plus, I am extremely cautious about believing those specs. Almost PS3 level visuals? I highly highly doubt that. I know it's been a few years, but Sony had such problems making the PS3, I'm not sure I can believe they can make such a powerful handheld this soon.

Ah well, we'll wait and see I guess...
If it's download only they can probably count me out anyway. I thought Sony were going to be more cautious with their finances after this gen, but this makes it sound like they're just going to keep losing money.

Lrrr said:
If they're going download only, they really need to rethink the pricing.

This worries me as now with high street competition on UMDs, the games are usually overpriced on the PlayStation store. With PSP2, there will be no where selling the physical media, and so Sony can charge whatever the hell they want for the game and players will have to get it

Thats true, you can see this happening on the 360 with the down-loadable 360 games, there usually way above what you would find in second hand or brand new months down the line.
I mean jesus christ

http://marketplace.xbox.com/en-GB/Product/Batman-Arkham-Asylum/66acd000-77fe-1000-9115-d802534307f6

http://marketplace.xbox.com/en-GB/Product/STREET-FIGHTER-IV/66acd000-77fe-1000-9115-d802434307e1

You can get batman off amazon uk for �£10 and Street FIghter 4 for about �£12!

Hopefully they either go with flash cards like the 3DS or the AppStore provides some competition.

( Edited 08.12.2010 19:51 by Jimmy2000 )

I highly doubt that too, not because of what SuperLink said, but because if the games don't sell through the PSN then do you really think that any developers, will develope for the system?

Funny they stolen another idea, from Nintendo too. The two cameras, and a microphone, on the system. but the cameras are in shitty positions though anyways, and how will you even be able to use that touch pad? Also what about the battery life, with that much tech I can't see it surviving long enough to get you really far on a PS3 game. And if it's plain download, then how will people, who don't have internet, even be able to play the games, on it? you do have to remember, there's a lot of families out there, that wont get internet, for safety reasons.

( Edited 08.12.2010 21:51 by Wolvesgod )

Wolvesgod said:

Funny they stolen another idea, from Nintendo too. The two cameras, and a microphone, on the system. but the cameras are in shitty positions though anyways, and how will you even be able to use that touch pad?

SuperLink said:

Wolvesgod said:

Funny they stolen another idea, from Nintendo too. The two cameras, and a microphone, on the system. but the cameras are in shitty positions though anyways, and how will you even be able to use that touch pad?

They're not stolen ideas, if anything Nintendo "stole" that idea from the other millions of handheld devices that have been using them for years.

Nintendo may have taken the ideas from the industry, sure. But they're often the first to apply them to gaming in a serious way. That's what Nintendo does. They take existing technology and they innovate with it when it comes to gaming applications.

...and then Sony sees what Nintendo does and decides to put it on their systems too.

That said, you can't really chalk cameras up as a big innovation from Nintendo. Its kind of a given on nearly every device out there these days.

Wolvesgod said:
I highly doubt that too, not because of what SuperLink said, but because if the games don't sell through the PSN then do you really think that any developers, will develope for the system?

Funny they stolen another idea, from Nintendo too. The two cameras, and a microphone, on the system. but the cameras are in shitty positions though anyways, and how will you even be able to use that touch pad? Also what about the battery life, with that much tech I can't see it surviving long enough to get you really far on a PS3 game. And if it's plain download, then how will people, who don't have internet, even be able to play the games, on it? you do have to remember, there's a lot of families out there, that wont get internet, for safety reasons.

The App store gets by just fine with being completely digital.

SuperLink said:

Wolvesgod said:

Funny they stolen another idea, from Nintendo too. The two cameras, and a microphone, on the system. but the cameras are in shitty positions though anyways, and how will you even be able to use that touch pad?

They're not stolen ideas, if anything Nintendo "stole" that idea from the other millions of handheld devices that have been using them for years.

what other products have two cameras, on one product with one facing the user and the other facing away? and you can't sit there and tell me the physical appearance, of the first PSP (and some of the button positions and the location of the speaker), doesn't look like the original GBA.

And really I wasn't saying anything bad about it, I was just stating what came to mind, if there are other products with the camera configure, as the DSi then I'll happily say I was wrong. Also I wasn't talking about their touch pad, and I know who the first handheld was that used touch control, it was by the tiger electronics.

And about the physical appearance, of the original PSP I thought it was a GBA when I first saw it, before I even knew that there were multiple console manufacturers.

( Edited 08.12.2010 22:14 by Wolvesgod )

Jimmy2000 said:

Wolvesgod said:
I highly doubt that too, not because of what SuperLink said, but because if the games don't sell through the PSN then do you really think that any developers, will develope for the system?

Funny they stolen another idea, from Nintendo too. The two cameras, and a microphone, on the system. but the cameras are in shitty positions though anyways, and how will you even be able to use that touch pad? Also what about the battery life, with that much tech I can't see it surviving long enough to get you really far on a PS3 game. And if it's plain download, then how will people, who don't have internet, even be able to play the games, on it? you do have to remember, there's a lot of families out there, that wont get internet, for safety reasons.

The App store gets by just fine with being completely digital.

that's different, the app store is cheap is small games, not full blown, like you'd seen
with the PSP go.

Sorry for double posting.

( Edited 08.12.2010 22:16 by Wolvesgod )

The problem with this, as was the problem with the original PSP, is that it is simply trying to emulate home gaming on a portable machine. Games on portable machines need to be made specifically for on the go, otherwise it may as well be on a home console. Had Metal Gear Solid Peace Walker been on the PS3 I'd have completed it already, instead of putting it off. There was nothing about that game that couldn't have been done better on the PS3.

They're two different mediums and needed to be treated as such.

Angus said:
The problem with this, as was the problem with the original PSP, is that it is simply trying to emulate home gaming on a portable machine. Games on portable machines need to be made specifically for on the go, otherwise it may as well be on a home console. Had Metal Gear Solid Peace Walker been on the PS3 I'd have completed it already, instead of putting it off. There was nothing about that game that couldn't have been done better on the PS3.

They're two different mediums and needed to be treated as such.

Exactly. Almost all PSP games I've played left me with the feeling "This is nice but I wish this would be on a home console instead". I'm sure that there are many other people who feel the same regarding that.

what other products have two cameras, on one product with one facing the user and the other facing away?

iPhone 4?

And the App store isn't just small games. Some of those games have more gameplay than some DS games. There are plenty of 'big' games from major developers

Lrrr said:

what other products have two cameras, on one product with one facing the user and the other facing away?

iPhone 4?

And the App store isn't just small games. Some of those games have more gameplay than some DS games. There are plenty of 'big' games from major developers

Okay, but is Iphone 4 even out yet? and I haven't seen much of a big game, on a phone yet so really is hard to say. because most of the games I saw were really small, that were linear.

At least we know the cameras on the PSP2 won't be as s**t as the ones on the DSi/3DS. Still can't believe Nintendo cheaped out on the 3DS cameras.

( Edited 08.12.2010 22:42 by Ifrit XXII )

Ifrit XXII said:
At least we know the cameras on the PSP2 won't be as s**t as the ones on the DSi/3DS. Still can't believe Nintendo cheaped out on the 3DS cameras.

With the amount of people complaining about the relative high price of the 3DS already, I doubt that they would like to pay even more for it because Nintendo put expensive cameras in them.

I actually couldn't care less about the cameras. If they do their job, then fine. Nintendo isn't the company to release a All-in-one device for an insane price.

Wolvesgod said:

Jimmy2000 said:

Wolvesgod said:
I highly doubt that too, not because of what SuperLink said, but because if the games don't sell through the PSN then do you really think that any developers, will develope for the system?

Funny they stolen another idea, from Nintendo too. The two cameras, and a microphone, on the system. but the cameras are in shitty positions though anyways, and how will you even be able to use that touch pad? Also what about the battery life, with that much tech I can't see it surviving long enough to get you really far on a PS3 game. And if it's plain download, then how will people, who don't have internet, even be able to play the games, on it? you do have to remember, there's a lot of families out there, that wont get internet, for safety reasons.

The App store gets by just fine with being completely digital.

that's different, the app store is cheap is small games, not full blown, like you'd seen
with the PSP go.

Sorry for double posting.

Still shows that theres a lot of plenty of people that have access to internet, thats not really a problem in this day and age.
Beside the types of people buying a dedicated gaming platform will most likely have access to a fairly fast internet connection.

Ifrit XXII said:
At least we know the cameras on the PSP2 won't be as s**t as the ones on the DSi/3DS. Still can't believe Nintendo cheaped out on the 3DS cameras.

TBH, I'm surprised how good they were to use, considering their spec. But yeah, horribly underused gaming-wise at least.

I agree with the sceptical over the 'PS3 Power' bit, having that tech in a handheld with even the current PSP's battery life would rocket up the cost considerably.

Jimmy2000 said:

Wolvesgod said:

Jimmy2000 said:

Wolvesgod said:
I highly doubt that too, not because of what SuperLink said, but because if the games don't sell through the PSN then do you really think that any developers, will develope for the system?

Funny they stolen another idea, from Nintendo too. The two cameras, and a microphone, on the system. but the cameras are in shitty positions though anyways, and how will you even be able to use that touch pad? Also what about the battery life, with that much tech I can't see it surviving long enough to get you really far on a PS3 game. And if it's plain download, then how will people, who don't have internet, even be able to play the games, on it? you do have to remember, there's a lot of families out there, that wont get internet, for safety reasons.

The App store gets by just fine with being completely digital.

that's different, the app store is cheap is small games, not full blown, like you'd seen
with the PSP go.

Sorry for double posting.

Still shows that theres a lot of plenty of people that have access to internet, thats not really a problem in this day and age.
Beside the types of people buying a dedicated gaming platform will most likely have access to a fairly fast internet connection.

That's on 3G isn't it, and isn't it, statelite and different then wifi?

The iPhone 4 was out in June...

And iPhone/iPod/iPad use either 3G or wifi, depending on what the user wants

Wolvesgod said:

That's on 3G isn't it, and isn't it, statelite and different then wifi?

There are 3 ways to download things for iOS. As has been said above, it can be either 3G or Wi-Fi. Everything over 20Mb (and there quite a lot of things that are) has to be downloaded over Wi-Fi direct to the phone. You can also download through iTunes itself.

Apple are trying to unify things a bit now with Game Centre, which functions somewhat like Live, and has achievements et al.

There are numerous full games, as well as ports of PS1/PS2 games.

the reason for all the little games on the store is simply that Apple allows anyone to develop for iPhone for a small fee, and take a cut of the sales of their apps. The development tools themselves are intuitive and simple to use.