If your going to make a handheld this powerful you need to be able to buy a game on your PS3 have it licensed to play on your handheld so if you travel you can take your save game and such with you. Otherwise its kind of a waste, Yeah its cool you can have a portable that is as powerful as a console and can play that type of game but if your going to put 14 hours straight into a game and your choice is on a console or a portable I will go the console route every time. Keep the shorter more casual games on the handhelds that can occupy you on trips and such.
Battery life comparable to the PSP-3000, they say. I'm not expecting that measure to be like Nintendo's, which was running the heaviest services and games constantly until the juice ran out on the 3DS, but still, nice.
One thing that's really interesting to me is if they can get it interacting with PS3 games. Kojima was talking about having a MGS game that you can play on PS3, carry your save over to NGP and play there, and basically switch between whatever system you like. That's really awesome if they can get something like this working. Also, I'm interested to see if this will have a TV hookup. The screen has a resolution of 544 pixels. That would look pretty decent on a hd flatscreen and many big games this gen have been running at similar resolutions and still looked good. What I'm thinking is if you can hook up to a TV and sync up a dualshock (like the Go), you basically have a travelling PS3.
It will likely be the price of the highest-end iphone or even ipad territory. Sony has a history of flooring people with insane prices on new hardware, going back to the original PSP. I wouldn't be surprised at all if it were $400-$500.
It does look nice though, although the issue remains that playing console quality games on a portable isn't fun, something they should have learned from the last go around. Portable gaming is about short bursts of play that you can start and stop and don't need or care to devote your full attention to playing. It's why the DS did so well, because it offered games that you couldn't and necessarily wouldn't play on a console. It's also why the PSP did so poorly, because it was trying to sell detailed console games that required your full attention and were hours long. I don't want Metal Gear on a portable, I want fun little games that I can turn off at a moments notice and not care if I lost my progress.
@DukeTogo: i'm not sure the dsi could offer the full console experience if it wanted to the 3ds is doing the opposite of what you just stated though metal gear, zelda, street fighter and a bunch of other games sure look like console games to me
Amount of extra tech in this thing is insane (gps, sixaxxis & more), guessing it's going to be about the same price as the PS3 when it launched & no thanks.
It's all going to come down to price. The specs are awesome and I can see it having a lot of developer appeal in terms of giving them options in game mechanics.
This has me genuinely excited, but I also wish they would have stuck with the flip up design of the PSPgo. I mean, if you're carrying that thing with you, how long will it take for the joysticks to become fucked up and skewed? Bad portable game device design is a bad portable game device design. I was really hoping Sony was taking some time to enhance the design and well... actually change it up a bit. Also, having a touch screen seems entirely useless considering you already have a gamepad on the sides. The touch screen came around because of the iPod Touch and iPhone where there were only a couple physical buttons.
I actually like the design, and the size isn't a bother since if I don't have a bag on me it's a weird day. Giving me something for UMDs would be nice, but I have nice working PSP3000s. Much like the 3DS, I'll just be keeping the version before last around :)
Now the question of price will lead me to when I get this, for once I wouldn't mind NOT being a early adapter. Price drops are your friend, even more when getting 3DS too.
This sounds awesome - but so did the psp - the problem is that the 3DS will have a bigger market share. Nintendo has done a great job in ingraining themselves into the market's collective consciousness. When it comes to games, especially handehelds, Nintendo is the go-to name and anyone else who tries to get into the market comes off as "riding the coattails" unfortunately. The PSP has some amazing games on it; nearly every one of the high-tier games from major developers have felt great on that system and offered a lot of "game" as far as handheld games are concerned.
Nintendo seems to be sticking with their approach of moderately upgrading the hardware in their next system whereas Sony is still going balls-to-the-walls style and making what is basically a portable PS3. Nintendo keeps their overhead down AND they already have a name that makes the handheld market salivate at the mere mention of new hardware - meanwhile Sony is still focused on pushing the envelope - but to what end? Sony didn't fare as well this generation as times before. The lead they got during the PS2 era went out the window due to the PS3 releasing at a higher price point and later in the game than the two competing consoles. The point of mentioning all of this is that consumer confidence has trailed off with Sony and they have become stagnant in terms of innovation - Sony just isn't delivering on what people expect.
I am excited to see how things pan out for Sony and I think this handheld will have the potential to be the most amazing portable device released (at that point in time) but all that potential might be for naught if Sony can't establish a realistic reason for consumers to choose their handheld over Nintendo's. With the adjustable, glasses-free 3D gimmick and an impressionable market all working towards Nintendo's gain, Sony is going to be hard-pressed to convince the market to choose them over Nintendo IMO. Sure, they got tons of processing power, but we've all seen how benchmarking plays out - just look how things panned out on PCs. Sometimes tacking on more processors just isn't the answer unfortunately.
Nintendo reels in the player base with gimmicks that have a huge amount of appeal at their onset but whose charm quickly peters off. They get people to adopt their "latest and greatest" and by the time the charm has worn off the adopters have already bought 4-5 games and are well invested in the system. It really seems like Sony is about to repeat history by releasing after Nintendo and with no real "hook" to bring in the players other than more processing power.
Whoever came up with the idea for a rear touch pad is very clever. It's great to see out of the box thinking like that.. I just hope the battery life doesn't suck. Less than 7 hours from a full charge and I probably won't consider it.
Thanks for crushing the deal; I'm not investing in 3G service for this thing anymore. By Xmas of this year, all the networks except AT&T (who claims their LTE service is going to be no faster at the start than HSPA+ 3G) and TMobile (who isn't getting 4G) will have rolled out some form of 4G.
@Napalm: I agree on the touch screen. There's so many other control methods on this that it does seem a little pointless. However I think the pricing has probably become affordable enough that they're just like "why not". On the form, I like that they stuck with the bigger size. I think this is getting in that mini tablet area where you need to throw it into a bag instead of using a pocket or something. I think the bigger size also let them stick some actual real analog sticks in there as opposed to a flat nub. You gotta admit those are some nice looking sticks for a portable.
" @Napalm: I agree on the touch screen. There's so many other control methods on this that it does seem a little pointless. However I think the pricing has probably become affordable enough that they're just like "why not". On the form, I like that they stuck with the bigger size. I think this is getting in that mini tablet area where you need to throw it into a bag instead of using a pocket or something. I think the bigger size also let them stick some actual real analog sticks in there as opposed to a flat nub. You gotta admit those are some nice looking sticks for a portable. "
The problem is it seems they just made it as clunky and just... not-portable as something like the Nintendo DSi and the iPod Touch. I'm always on the move, and so I can just clip my iPod Touch to my pocket and go. With this, I have to throw it in a bag, hope that maybe the way I laid it doesn't press the analogue sticks and completely mess up the center position. This design would make sense if there was no touch screen on it. It would make more sense to have a flip up design. When the flip is closed, only on-screen controls that are guided by the touch screen. Flip it up when you want to play an actual game.
I really, really think, aesthetically speaking, Sony had a great opportunity to make an awesome looking design that was sensible and logical and they really dropped the ball. I think the only way for this design to truly work, be awesome and still be sensible and make sense from a design and portable, carrying perspective was a flip screen.
Maybe I've been spoiled by the portability, power, and convenience of smart phones, but when it comes to the new PSP and the 3DS.......
I'm just not interested.
I don’t want to buy physical media. I don’t want a clunky device that needs its own case to carry around. I don’t want to replicate the home console experience on the go.
I'll pay whatever it is, but would really like to see it close to $299.99. It's definitely what I was hoping for, in a PSP2, and then some. Can't wait to have one in my hands, but will most likely have to wait til March 2012. :(
This thing sounds awesome, but the obvious concern is price. I'm definitely thinking $400, and knowing that Sony isn't afraid to push pricing limits, maybe $500? I mean, if you think about how much other smartphones cost on their own, this thing would be a steal at $400, so I'm kind of worried.
For all the technology they packed into this, none is more important than those beautiful analog sticks. I thought for sure that they'd stick with sliding nubs, but instead they hit it out of the ballpark by using sticks. Sony has basically built my dream handheld.
Maybe I've been spoiled by the portability, power, and convenience of smart phones, but when it comes to the new PSP and the 3DS.......
I'm just not interested.
I don’t want to buy physical media. I don’t want a clunky device that needs its own case to carry around. I don’t want to replicate the home console experience on the go.
For now, just count me out guys.
"
@mcdrew77 said:
"It's all about the games. Hardware looks fine but what about the games. "
I think these two summed up my thoughts pretty well. I have an iPad, I'm about to get an iPhone. I have a PS3, an XBOX 360, and a decent Gaming PC. Where can a "NGP" fit into all of that? Honestly I like the look of it, the features sound nice, and the hardware seems cool as well. That said, what the heck would I do with it?
Eh, 10 years too late I guess. If they had caught me when I was young, single, and not working as much as I do maybe. But then again back then I couldn't have afforded this. :)
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