Sony Unveils "Next Generation Portable" In Japan

Two analog sticks, a touch screen, a touch-sensitive back, two cameras, tilt controls... just about everything we've heard lately about Sony's next portable gaming platform has turned out to be true according to reports from the PlayStation Meeting 2011, which took place in Japan on Thursday afternoon, according to their crazy, futuristic clocks.

As expected, Sony is touting the platform's power, claiming that it's as powerful as the PlayStation 3. Also, Sony isn't referring to it as the PSP2. Rather, they're simply calling it by the non-final name of "Next Generation Portable." Well, anything that reminds me of the Neo Geo Pocket can't be all bad, I guess.

Games from big Sony franchises like Uncharted, Killzone, LittleBigPlanet, and Resistance have been confirmed to appear on the platform, and Hideo Kojima was on hand to show off a brief, Metal Gear-related trailer. Epic's Tim Sweeney took the stage to show a live demo of the Unreal Engine running on the platform, and Activision's Phillip Earl announced an unnamed Call of Duty game for the device.

Here are the 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）