It’s been a few hours but the video game industry and gamers alike are still buzzing over Sony’s reveal of the NGP i.e. the PSP2. Everyone knew that Sony would show their PSP successor at some point, but I think we’re all still shocked because for once the pre-reveal hype and initial hardware rumors didn’t fall apart when the actual news came in. If anything, the NGP somewhat surpassed the initial expectations gamers had for Sony’s latest handheld unit.
Sony didn’t reveal a few key details about the NGP during the PlayStation Meeting, but a few details have arisen after the show which should alleviate certain fears gamers have. I think the first thing everyone thought of when seeing the NGP was that “It’s awesome but is going to be crazy expensive.” When the original PSP came out the device had a $299 price point that made quite a few people gasp if not entirely laugh out loud over Sony’s somewhat presumptuous attitude to think that consumers would pay such a high price. Now with the Nintendo 3DS being priced at $250 in North America/Europe and $300 in Japan, Sony is going to have to find the sweet spot with their pricing and apparently they’re willing to take a risk. According to Eurogamer’s chat with SCEE’s Andrew House, the NGP will be sold at an “affordable price that's appropriate for the handheld gaming space.” Knowing Sony that could mean we’re going to see a $400 handheld, but sources close to Sony have commented that the Sony will be selling the device at a loss so maybe we could see Sony sell the NGP around the $250-300 range.
The battery life of the NGP is a very big question gamers have and as of now we only have unofficial comments regarding just how long we’ll be able to enjoy games like Uncharted before the battery runs dry. Supposedly the battery life of the NGP will last between four to five hours, a somewhat short amount of time, but it almost seems to be the norm this gen on the handheld front as the 3DS has a similar battery life.
On the game front Sony is blowing things up with games like Uncharted, WipeOut, and Resistance. Presumably SCEE and the remnants of the WipeOut Pure/Pulse team will be handling the latest of WipeOut, but Sony Bend (Syphon Filter) will be tackling Uncharted while Nihilistic Software (PlayStation Move Heroes) will be tasked with adapting the fps action of Resistance for the NGP. It still remains a mystery who is developing Killzone for the NGP but I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s another studio within the SCEE branch. That’s unless Guerrilla Games are absolute masters and are doing the NGP version themselves.
As you can tell by the video above, the NGP is very impressive graphically at this stage. Not all of the games are quite on the PS3 level, but some such as Uncharted do look like they’re a few steps away from the 1st gen games that we saw appear on the PS3. The only thing that greatly concerns me about the NGP and its games is how the touch controls will be implemented. The Uncharted demo may have been a bit cut & dry, but having to tap the screen to climb a ledge or do a climbing motion on the back touchpad of the NGP in order to climb a vine seems a bit off if not silly. It hasn’t been said if developers will have otherwise simple moves assigned exclusively to the touch features of the NGP or if gamers will have the option to go “old-school” and use actual button method inputs.
It’s January and already I think everyone wants it to be November or whenever the hell Sony plans on releasing the NGP. Sony certainly stumbled with the PSP a bit, mainly in terms of software, but if developers can easily port over their PS3 assets and then use them to create either ports/spin-offs or sequels then we could see the handheld get a wealthy amount of support from 3rd party devs, which hopefully will lead to a successful handheld.
I see a $350-$400 price point. No way they are selling this for less than $300.
Uncharted PSP alone has sold me on this system already.
If games like Uncharted & MGS 4 are ports then why are you going to buy them again just to play them again on the NGP? What system is going to end up doing is have people choose to put aside their money just to buy this or use that money to buy games like Uncharted 3, Mass Effect 3 & Elder Scrolls V which will be release around the same time.
I am concerned by the rumors that it will only have 2 hours battery life on a full charge... that doesn't seem like enough in today's personal gaming race.
I am concerned by the rumors that it will only have 2 hours battery life on a full charge... that doesn't seem like enough in today's personal gaming race.
Completely false and it's silly to think it would only last that long. Probably going to have 5 hour tops gaming, and maybe 8 while watching movies or listening to music. Wouldn't be too surprised if the battery lasts longer if certain features are turned off like as is the case with some smartphones.
NGP + Video Calling = screw iphones
I was also thinking about a 400 USD price point. That would be the ideal considering the development costs for that thing, just like four years ago with the PS3. If they manage to give it a price of 250 USD, then great, but I certainly won't be bothered with it being at 400.
Even though they mention a potential holiday 2011 release, they haven't exactly if this will be a worldwide release or if certain location will get it first while the rest have to wait until 2012 for it. I wouldn't surprise if Japan gets first crack at buying since I'm pretty sure this will do way better in sales in Japan than in the states
Impressed although two things bother me;Price and launch titles.So far it has a lot of awesome features and looks sexy.If MW3 or something not Treyarch COD is in production then its icing on the cake.
there is a COD in development for th NGP, it is rumoured to be MW3.
CoD? Ha, Resistance or Killzone all the way. I still don't know why people like it so much.
I knew COD is in the works,but which one.If its by Treyarch then consider my expectations low.I love Killzone and Resistance so ill be getting both as I got Liberation and Retribution for my PSP so win win for me.
If games like Uncharted & MGS 4 are ports then why are you going to buy them again just to play them again on the NGP? What system is going to end up doing is have people choose to put aside their money just to buy this or use that money to buy games like Uncharted 3, Mass Effect 3 & Elder Scrolls V which will be release around the same time.
Well not every game on the NGP is going to be a port and MGS4 itself was only a port as far as technology is concerned to show the audience that developers can easily use the tools and tech that they're familiar with on the PS3 but on the NGP. The Uncharted game for the NGP is an entirely new game (new story, new everything) that may or may not utilize assetts from the PS3 version of the game (just tech, tools etc.)
I don't think we're going to face the same amount of direct ports of major games like we had on the PSP, but I think developers may be keen to produce games on the NGP since they won't necesarrily have to entirely rebuild their assetts, which could curb down on development costs a bit. All the 3rd party stuff shown last night (MGS4, Yakuza, Monster Hunter, Dynasty Warriors) aren't games in production but were merely shown to iterate how PS3 tech can be used on the NGP.