Next Generation Portable (AKA: The PSP2), Sony’s Answer to the 3DS.

My history with Sony can only really only be described as one of their fan boys. It all started well over a decade ago when I picked up my first Playstation, several years after they had been released. I loved that console dearly and when the Playstation 2 was announced I threw myself into wild amounts of debt with my parents so I could pick up one of the consoles on launch day. This extended to the time when they released their first portable gaming system, the Playstation Portable, as I convinced my then boss to let me take one home before the official release date. I’ve spent a good chunk of time with my PSP over the past few years and even still use it today for the odd game of Lumines or Guilty Gear. Still ever since some teaser images were released of it’s successor I’ve been eagerly awaiting its debut and yesterday afternoon finally saw an official announcement from Sony.

That there is the next generation of Sony’s portable gaming systems. On the surface it doesn’t look to be much more than an overgrown PSP with an additional analog control stick but the real meat of this device is in what’s under the hood, as shown by it’s impressive specifications:

Such specifications are becoming somewhat of a trademark of Sony, opting to go for the most powerful system they can deliver on a chosen platform. It’s been a double edged sword for them as whilst they can always claim the specifications crown their products are then hampered by their high cost, as illustrated with every console they’ve released. Still this thing is mightily impressive with connectivity rivalling that of today’s smart phones and processing power that hasn’t been seen before in a device of its size.

There are a few notable things to mention about Sony’s next handheld and one of them is shown in the picture above. That’s a capacitive touch panel that allows you to interact with the NGP, much like the touchscreen on any modern phone. Many companies have experimented with these in the past as a way to forego having a touchscreen, eliminating the need to touch the screen and leave fingerprints all over it. Interestingly enough though Sony decided to include a touchscreen on the front as well, meaning you can interact with it via both ways. How this is going to be used remains to be seen but its addition does make for some interesting possibilities.

Of notable absence is also any form of a media drive, ala the UMD. Whilst the format seemed like a good idea initially it was plagued by problems like reducing the battery life in half and lack of blank media like other formats. The former was an unfortunate problem that could never be worked around and the latter an attempt to stop piracy which failed miserably. Sony then attempted to revamp the PSP brand with the PSP Go which did away with the UMD in favour of digital distribution. However the PSP Go had abysmal adoption rates with many users outraged that their UMD collections were now completely useless. Still the PSP Go has paved the way for the NGP much like Windows Vista did for Windows 7 and the lack of any kind of media drive on the NGP shows that Sony is committed to a fully digital distribution network going forward.

Sony’s had a hard time in the portable gaming world but the fact remains they’re the only other company who’s still trying to take on the king of the market, Nintendo. Whilst the 3DS does look good on the surface its high price and the publics general disinterest in 3D means that Sony has a real chance to make a grab for the handheld crown with the NGP. However they have a real uphill battle ahead of them, especially when you consider that their new hand held will probably be more expensive than the 3DS. For a rabid Sony fan like myself it’s a no brainer, I’ll definitely be grabbing one of these on launch day just because it looks like such a versatile piece of kit. We’ll have to see if its worth buying as a game console when the time comes but it’s shaping up to be an interesting year for the handheld space.