The Next Portable Generation
Sony finally unveiled the successor to the PlayStation Portable in Japan last night.
The powerful handheld, currently code-named NGP, will be released before the end of the year and features a five-inch organic light emitting display (OLED) touch-screen capable of displaying 16 million colours as well as a unique multi-touch pad on the rear.
More traditional 3D console games will be able to be controlled using the device’s twin analog sticks.
Sony says the handheld offers similar power to a PlayStation 3 console, and unveiled games including new instalments in the popular Call of Duty, Uncharted, Wipeout, Resistance, Everybody’s Golf, Monster Hunter, Dynasty Warriors and LittleBigPlanet franchises.
New titles include Gravity Daze, Reality Fighters, Smart As, Broken and Little Deviants, while Metal Gear Solid creator Hideo Kojima is also working on a new handheld game to be unveiled soon.
Epic Games, creators of the Unreal Engine, claim the new device is roughly four times as powerful as any portable previously seen.
Sources suggest the battery life will be between four and five hours, but Sony has made no official mention of the device’s battery.
All versions of the device will offer Wi-Fi, while the top-of-the-line model will also feature 3G network connectivity.
Every game will feature a space called LiveArena for facilitating multi-player action with other handheld owners, including an activity log constantly updated with achievements from users playing the same game.
Sony will also provide location-based services using a new application called Near. It will let users find out what their friends in the vicinity are playing now and meet new friends virtually.
The new handheld dispenses with the PSP’s proprietary Universal Media Disc format but avoids forcing users to download everything like the unpopular PSPgo. Games will be sold on small flash memory cards which can store games as well as add-on content and user data.
Sony says that by adopting a flash memory format, it will be able to provide game cards with higher capacity in the future, allowing developers to release larger games.
Games will also be downloadable from the online PlayStation Store.
The unit features two cameras on its front and rear, plus a microphone and stereo speakers. It also has three motion sensors: gyroscope, accelerometer and electronic compass, plus built-in GPS.
It measures 182mm by 18.6mm and has a depth of 83.5mm.
The price of the console has not yet been announced but Sony has promised it will be “affordable”.
Sony also announced a new service that will bring PlayStation games to Android-based smartphones. PlayStationSuite will feature newly developed “more casual” games in addition to PSone classics. All content will be playable on the Next Generation Portable as well as Android devices, and is an obvious play to combat the huge success of Apple’s App Store.
Sony released the first PlayStation Portable in Japan in December 2004. Over 64 million PSP consoles have since been sold, making the device the most successful gaming handheld ever released by a company other than Nintendo.
But throughout the PSP’s lifespan it has struggled to compete with the rampaging Nintendo DS, which has sold over 135 million units, including over three million in Australia. The DS is the biggest selling video game console ever released in this country, and has been Australia’s number one selling games machine for the past five years in a row.
Nintendo next month will launch the 3DS handheld in Japan, which can produce 3D effects without the need for the user to wear glasses. It will be released in Australia in March, and is expected to cost between $350 and $400.
Sony has been a very strong supporter of 3D technology with the PlayStation 3 and its Bravia television range, but the new NGP will not support 3D.
The device also will not make mobile phone calls, although Sony is heavily rumoured to be about to unveil a PlayStation Phone called Xperia Play.