The PSP Turns 6! Happy Birthday!

6 years ago today, Sony took the first steps at transforming the PlayStation division and being Nintendo’s first true competitor in the mobile gaming segment with by releasing PSP-1000 in North America. Offering at the time unmatched graphics which frankly, the just released Nintendo 3DS still cant compete with, Wifi, Bluetooth, online gaming and movies, music and photo viewing capabilities, the PlayStation Portable has come to sell over 67 million unit’s during these last 6 years. During that time, the PSP has seen a fair share of tweaks, with the PSP-2000 and PSP-3000 getting slimmer and yet offering a better screen and battery lifetime. Sony has also tweaked the PSP via firmware updates, giving the handheld access to the PlayStation Network which gives allows users to downloadable movies, games, themes, comics and more, directly over the air. Over a year ago, Sony would also release the PSPgo which was based on the PSP platform with one noticeable difference, a lack of UMD drive which had powered all the previous PSP models and current PSP-3000 in favor of downloadable content only. Though the PSPgo has not been the success that Sony had hopped for, Sony has always stated that the PSPgo was more of a test and an advent to the upcoming NGP. Recently, Sony dropped the price of the PSP-3000 to $129 and with exclusive games like God of War, Metal Gear Solid, SOCOM, Final Fantasy, Killzone and LittleBigPlanet, the PSP continues to be the corner stone of what a next generation portable should be.

PSP Launch, March 24th, 2005

 

Sony NGP to Release on November 11th in Europe?

The NGP is a hot tech topic. Announced a little over two months ago, the PSP successor, previously dubbed as the PSP2 and currently codenamed the NGP which is an internal codename and not the products actual name was met with great reactions from all over. The latest handheld from Sony packs some of the most state of the art technology in any device with many components of it not yet released into the market, like a quad core CPU and graphics card. Originally Sony’s Kaz Hirai had indicated that the NGP would launch during the 2011 Holiday season. We now know, thanks to clarification from SCEA Jack Tetton that Sony is looking to launch the NGP in at least one territory in 2011 with others to follow through. Part of this is the limitation in resources which make building large quantities of a unit like this extremely hard.

it’s very difficult to have the quantities to be able to launch on a worldwide basis on the same date” and that “our goal is get at least one territory out by the end of holiday 2011”.

When it comes to product launches, Sony users are no doubt accustomed to Japan, Sony’s home territory to receive a product with Europe and US to follow a few months after. This is especially true in the PlayStation division where all unites, including the PSone, PS2, PS3 and PSP launched in Japan and were eventually followed with a US release date. With such a track record, many assumed that the NGP would fall in line and Japan would receive the product sometime during the 2011 Holiday with Europe and US receiving shipments in the Spring. Now an online leak is pointing towards Europe receiving the honors and being the first territory to receive the NGP. This should partially come to as no surprise as Europe is one of Sony’s strong holds where the company sold over 9 million Sony Ericsson Android devices and the PlayStation 3 has continued to stay ahead of the Xbox 360. Still, this early on, it’s hard to take any leaks seriously as I’m sure final configuration and logistics of the NGP are still being sorted out.

[Via MCVUK]

ncmogo CEO Thinks ‘NGP Will Be Dead on Arrival’

Coming into the spotlight a little over three years ago, ngmogo is the game developer behind such popular iPhone games like Dropship, Star Defense, We Farm and We Rule. Since then, the small developer has grown to provide games for the full range of iOS devices (iPod Touch, iPhone, iPad) and Android. With their bread and butter invested into mobile games for cellphones, it’s no surprise to hear ngmogo CEO Neil Young bash the upcoming handheld from Sony, the NGP. The CEO thinks that the NGP which previously was called the PSP2 will be “dead on arrival” because the system wont be able to keep up with the advances in the iOS and Android ecosystem. Of course, every time I hear random CEO’s taking a shot at their competitors, it’s because they need some attention or they actually know there is real competition coming.

“I think they are hurt; I think they’re clearly hurt,” Young said of the traditional portables from Sony and Nintendo. “I think PSP is done and the new [NGP] is dead on arrival. It’s really difficult to compete with an app store that has hundreds of thousands of applications and a wide range of options where the average price paid is around $1.20 and there are tens, if not hundreds of thousands of free applications that are really high quality. So I just don’t think Sony’s going to be able to compete with that.”

The PSP Drops to $129

Well ahead of the NGP, Sony has dropped the price of the PSP-3000 down to $129.99 MSRP in hopes of spurring up sales and cleaning out inventory slowly. Now you can find older games at $9.99, greatest hits at $19.99 and brand new titles at $29.99.  This is great for those who want to experience some amazing AAA games like Killzone: Liberation, Crisis Core: Final Fantasy 7, God of War: Ghost of Sparta and Gran Turismo to name a few. Fans can also expect the PSP to live beyond the release of the NGP (PSP2), much like the PS2 currently still lives on with new releases. Despite the stigma, with nearly 67 million units sold, the PSP has been an extremely successful handheld, despite its lack of 3rd party publisher support, something that Sony is looking to change with the NGP.

No PS4 in the Immediate Future

Many would agree that there isn’t a need for a PlayStation 4 yet. The PS3, year after year continues to expand on its offerings. The little console that started out with games and Blu-ray playback can now deliver a new and much improved PSN store, Netflix, Hulu and Vudu movies services. Sony also via software has added 3D gaming and 3D Blu-ray capability to every PS3 and has taken motion control gaming to the next level with the release of the PlayStation Move a little over 6 months ago. With Sony’s  Qriocity Music and Movie streaming service expanding to countries, and games continuing to improve upon their last year counterparts like Killzone 3, Uncharted 3 and LittleBigPlanet 2, there seems to be little getting in the way of the PS3 staying fresh, up to date and cutting edge, 5 years after its release.

Because of that, there seems to be little point for Sony to start working on the PS4. If work began on the machine now, we could see a 2013 or 2014 release date and I don’t think the consumer is ready for another machine yet and frankly with Sony focusing on the NGP, their Tablets and Sony Ericsson lineup, I think the company has enough going for them. Luckily, Sony seems to be on the same page.

 

Our NGP Video Overview Including HD Pictures, Specs and Game/Device Footage

For those of you who’ve been waiting for any spec of detail you can get about the upcoming handheld device from Sony, the NGP aka PSP2, we’ve finally got our video uploaded to YouTube after some technical difficulties and you are in for a treat. We not only go over some of the announcement, but we have all HD Pictures of the NGP and the current spec list. We also have some great game footage and some videos showing the devices different functionalities used in different game scenarios. Expect more videos from us as we cover the device in more depth and detail.

The NGP aka PSP2. Full Game List, So Far (updated)

One thing should be apparent about the NGP, that it’s crazy powerful. It has Quad Core ARM Cortex-A9 core with a SGX543MP4+ graphics card. All that should really mean nothing to the average person but what should mean something to you is Uncharted and Killzone which are synonymous with crazy graphics and thats exactly what the NGP is going to deliver. As shown with Hideo Kojima onstage, he was able to port over MGS4 from the PlayStation 3 and have it run on the NGP with no problem. What kind of game franchises are already being developed for the NGP and by who? Besides the obvious being Sony and it’s first party studios who have brought you games like God of War, Killzone and Uncharted, some third party studios include:

• Capcom
• Sega
• Tecmo Koei
• Konami
• Epic
• Activision
• Square-Enix

All of these companies have  announced games in development for the system. Hit the jump to see a full list of the currently announced titles that are in development, as well as a full publisher breakdown.

The NGP aka PSP2. We Have Full HD Pictures

Want to look at some pictures of the NGP aka PSP2? We got all of them in full HD galore for your viewing pleasure.

Checkout the full gallery  below and if you’re looking for NGP specs, we have those too!

The NGP aka PSP2. We Have Full Specs

The PSP2 which is actually called the NGP (Next Generation Portable) although we are not sure if this will be the official name when it launches this Holiday season or not was finally shown off last night in Tokyo and we have both specs and official pictures to show you. First, the device is crazy powerful and packs a lot of up to date technology, something that the PSP and PSPgo both lack. In comparison to the Nintendo 3DS, there really isn’t one. The NGP is for people who take gaming, media and the connected life serious. But more on that later. Lets get some specs out first like the fact that this thing has a Quad Core processor inside.

CPU: ARM Cortex -9 core (4 core)

GPU: SGX543MP4+

Multi-touch 5-inch organic light emitting display (OLED) as the front display ( Resolution 960 x 544)

Read touch pad

Two cameras (front and rear)

Sound: Built in stereo speakers

Dual analog sticks

Built in Microphone

Sensors: Six-Axis motion sensor with accelerometer. Same internals of the PlayStation Move

PlayStation Network access, including ““LiveArea™”, “Near” and “Activity” log features Trophy Support

NGP will be able to play PSP titles, minis, PS one classics, video and comics from the PlayStation Store.

3G

Wifi (802.11 b/g/n)

Bluetooth 2.1 +EDR

Now how a full spec breakdown.

Live Blogging the PlayStation Teams “Live From Japan: PlayStation Meeting 2011” (Pictures and Specs)

Well, I can’t say that our site was magically able to afford a ticket to Tokyo and attend the PlayStation meet so instead, I’ll be going through all the news provided by Sony and other media sites and will be reporting them here. So check back now and especially in the following day and we gather all the bits of information that is likely to be the PlayStation Portable 2 (PSP2) or the PlayStation Phone.

10:10: Video montage of the PlayStation vision that was shown at the 2005 E3 is being shown. This is to show what their vision was then and where they are now, almost 6 years later.

“Let me start off by showing you video footage. It is the same clip we showed at E3 5 1/2 years ago, because we want to revisit the image of the future we revealed in 2005”

10:12 Kaz Hirai: “I believe a lot of what we envisioned back then has materialized for our users.”

10:13 Kaz is setting the audience up for the new device they are looking to introduce.

“Today, I’d like to speak about a whole new world that PlayStation is about to bring to reality”

Kaz believes that the PlayStation 3 “has won its place as the center of the living room” and that the next challenge for Sony will be to win what device is in peoples hand.

10:15 A whopping 80% of PS3’s are connected to the internet.

10:16 As of January 25th, there is over 69 million PSN accounts. This includes PS3, PSP and accounts created to access PlayStation content online like the PlayStation Blog.

“When we released PSP, cell phone providers were unable to deliver PlayStation quality content. After 6 years, these multi-function handheld devices are ready for PlayStation-like experiences”

10:20 Sony wants to deliver the PlayStation experience to a wider audiences, something that was not possible in 2005, especially with phone technology.

10:21 Sony has announced the PlayStation Suit. It is a cross endeavor platform.

“PS Suite will make PS content available on Android smartphones and tablets”

Hit the jump for our continuing live coverage and additional photos.

NGP: With Front/Rear Camera and Front/Back Touchscreen

PSP2 to Have OLED Touchscreen and 3G Connectivity?

If Nikkei, the Japanese news giant, is to be believed, not only will the PSP2 be announced this week on the 27th, but that this hotly anticipated and better kept secret from Sony will come with an OLED Touchscreen and 3G cellular connectivity. First, let’s talk about the announcement date. Although nobody is expecting to unit to actually go on sale soon, the announcement time does make sense if Sony wants to take some steam out of the recently-announced and soon-to-launch Nintendo 3DS. If Sony can really offer consumers something different and comparable in price, many might deice to skip out on the 3DS and wait for the Sony handheld. Now, when it comes to a OLED touchscreen, I think this one is a no brainer. Sony recently launched a new Cybershot model during CES which also happens to come with an OLED screen. This is a clear indication though it doesn’t prove that Sony is now producing these  in smaller sizes, something that will be perfect for the PSP2. As for a touchscreen, after the iPhone and iPod Touch craze, that is as good as a requirement, especially if Sony wants to draw in more independent developers like those seen on the Apple App store. In respect to the 3G, this again seems like the obvious evolution of the handheld. So many of today’s devices have internet connectivity and the brilliance of an iPod Touch as an example wouldn’t be seen if it didn’t have access to the internet. Now of course, the iPod Touch only has Wifi and not 3G like the original PSP. The difference is with the original PSP and PSPgo, internet connectivity was never a convenient thing, unlike the iPod Touch. Also, Sony needs to offer users something different and the ability to have a 3G data plan in order to play online and download new content at any time will truly set aside the PSP2. If all this holds up though, I’m curious as to which carriers will have access to the PSP2.

[Via Nikkei]

First Official Pictures of the PSP2?

Though by now we all know what the inevitable PlayStation Phone will look like, the PSP2 has been guarded more closely by Sony. We’ve received bits and pieces of information here and there with a supposed spec sheet and rumors of the unit losing its UMD drive (a no brainer really) and being as powerful as the Xbox 360. Starting last week, new rumors started to go around that Sony is planning on announcing and showing off the PSP2 for the first time on the 27th of this month. That puts it at just 2 days away by the time you read this and it might lead some to believe that the above picture is indeed legitimate. I for one am not buying into the rumor. If it’s indeed a scan of the press photo that will be handed out on the 27th, and that is what those behind this leak claim, then why it it at such a low resolution? Better yet, why do some parts of the image appear more crisp then others? Also, a stylus? I just don’t see Sony releasing a gaming device that is meant to go toe to toe with the iPod Touch being released with a stylus. Still, we are only 2 days away and we will find out soon enough.

The PSP or Playstation Phone, Leaked. We Have Full Details and Specs

It seems like the Playstation Phone is indeed real. We’re still not sure if the Playstation Phone or PSP phone is the same as the PSP2 or if these are two different projects Sony is working on. If they are the same thing, I would very much hope that the only way to get your hands on it is not by having to activate a phone. This makes me believe that either they are different projects or that you may get the next PSP in a phone version or just a handheld gaming console.

The following images are courtesy of Engadget who through reliable sources has been able to snap of plenty of pictures from this internally dubbed “Zues” project from Sony. As you can tell, the device is a mix of the Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 and the PSPgo. The device is currently said to be running some version of Android 2.0 but many believe will actually ship with Android 3.0 once it’s set to launch. If you look at the pictures, you can tell that the device slides open like the PSPgo to reveal the gaming controls. Instead of the cingular thumb stick found on the current PSPs, there is now a sleep touch track pad which will probably allow for dual thumb stick controls, as well as singular. You can also note that on the sides, the device also has the trigger finger, exactly like the PSPgo. If based on the Xperia X10 and some of the leaked information, we can put the following specs together:

• 1GHz Qualcomm MSM8655
• 512MB of RAM
• 1GB of ROM
• 8.1 Megapixel Still Camera
• HD Video Recording
• 4.0 Touch Screen
• Image Stabilization
• MicroSD Card

We will bring you plenty more as it comes but for now, hit the jump for more pictures of this device. For the record, Sony is probably the worst company when it comes to keeping secrets. Way too many leaks. It should also be noted that the device we see here is still a prototype so the final design will probably very different, especially when it comes to aesthetics.

[Via Engadget]

PSP2 Specs Revealed?

Artist Rendering

There have been plenty of sites reporting on some of the leaked specs of the PSP2. Although nothing is solid, reports are coming from supposed developers who have seen early versions of the eventual PSP successor. So far, the new PSP is said to have:

• High definition screen
• Larger/wider (probably proper 16:9)
• Backside panel touchscreen

The screen resolution is not so much a rumor as it is a no brainer. I could have told you in 2004 when the PSP originally launched that the next version would have a higher resolution screen. As far as the back panel, the iPhone 4 was rumored to have that as well and that didn’t come to fruition. What the actual use might be of something like this might be limited by the cost. Other no brainers are: a more powerful processor, a graphic engine, and the probable use of touchscreen and a camera. But in all reality, anything you hear in the upcoming months will be nothing more than speculation, really.

Sony Not Pulling PSP Dev Kits Because of PSP2

A lot of websites the last few days have been reporting on the fact that Sony has notified publishers out there that pst November 15th, they will no be able to purchase a developer kit.

SCEE will no longer be selling the PSP Development Tool (DTP-T2000A) or Testing Tool (DTP-H2500A) past November 15th. Please order in advance if you require these development units.

We will advise you when a new model becomes available.

Now many people assumed that this had to due with the fact that there has been many rumors about the inevitable PSP2. While this sounds good and I’m not denying that there is a PSP2 in the works, why would Sony stop all support on the current PSP? Last I checked, there is over 50 million of them out there. Remember for how long the PS2 continued to sell and outsell current generation units? Anyways, the real reason, straight from Sony:

“Due to the certification on the current development and test tools expiring, we will be stopping selling them on the 15th November. However, we will continue to provide loan stock for registered and new developers, until a new certified model is available.”