Article Re:"Why Sony's PSP2 (NGP) will fail"

Thought I might try another piece idea. Commenting on another article from another site. Not necessarily always agreeing or disagreeing, but just analyzing the arguments and points being made, and giving my stance on the subject. 
 
This piece is a point-by-point response to this article over at Destructoid.com, titled "Why Sony's PSP2 will fail."


For starters, the article has a sensationalist title. Good tactic for grabbing attention, but I think it just brings about a less intelligent dialogue as some passionate supporters of the subject at hand post their knee-jerk reactions, and people who are passionately against the subject at hand post their knee-jerk reactions, at which point the groups hurl insults at each other rather than discussing anything.

The article begins with a paragraph running through the various technology in the NGP, so we'll cut to the first point of interest;

"Is Sony misinterpreting the handheld market by betting, as usual, on technological superiority?" "As a company, Sony is adept at building sleek devices laden with bleeding-edge technology. But they have proven themselves less skilled at selling the mass market on those high-tech gadgets, especially in the gaming space since the last console generation. Of course, those issues are related: filling gaming devices with the latest and greatest tech ensures that they will be prohibitively expensive at launch and for many months thereafter, which, in turn, limits the potential market to technolust-afflicted early adopters. That was how the early years of the original PlayStation Portable and PlayStation 3 played out, which is to be expected when you price your hardware at $249 and $499/$599, respectively."

Has the NGP Killed All Hope for 3DS First-Person Shooters?

To keep things simpler, I'm just looking to compare first person shooter games; that is, a game viewed from the first person perspective where your most frequent task is shooting, and you play as a human or humanoid figure that you have full control over. There are certainly some games that include first-person gameplay sections, such as TRON 2.0 Killer App for the Game Boy Advance, maybe you could play a third-person shooter in first-person perspective if you wanted, or something like Touch the Dead that is most definitely first-person, but fully on rails. I'm looking at the most frequent, default gameplay style. 

Video games let even her do this.

It may surprise you to know that the DS has more first person shooters than the PSP. Though, maybe not. Maybe you see the "one analog stick and it's on the wrong side" thing as a big enough hurdle for first person shooters, so it just makes sense, even if it seems like the PSP has the processing power to better accomadate the genre. Despite those considerations, it may still surprise you to know that the DS has almost twice as many first-person shooters as the PSP, and the PSP only beats out the GBA in first-person shooter count by one.

NGP Getting 3G-less Version in Europe

Andrew House, the head of SCEE said they are working with wireless carriers in Europe at the moment, and also stated that there would be a version of the NGP with 3G, and one without in Europe. It has still not been mentioned whether there will be a subscription fee associated with 3G use on the NGP.

From hearing some more talk about the subject of 3G subscription fees, it seems pretty unanimous that Sony can't afford free 3G for the kind of data transfers that would be taking place. But I'm kinda shocked that they wouldn't just include the 3G in all models to make a subscription later fairly painless; it just seems like the kind of technology push that Sony would make, even if it meant it was a bit more expensive for users that swear not to use it. But maybe Europe (and Australia) is a different beast, and both Japan and the U.S. will get 3G only versions.

Source

Podcast Review - Podcast Beyond!: PSP2, NGP, and You (ep. 172)

Lots of little subjects this week about one big subject; the recently revealed NGP from Sony.

Hear the podcast here.

(right-click to save)

January 27th Sony Conference - My Thoughts

So late last night (for the U.S.) Sony blew the lid off of their new portable gaming machine. Codenamed the NGP (Next Generation Portable), this bad boy has a 5 inch OLED capacitive touchscreen, two "micro analog sticks", the usual array of cross, circle, triangle, square buttons, cross-pad, 2 shoulder buttons, hardware for motion and gyroscopic controls, a digital compass (for the LiveArea functions, I presume), 1 camera on the front, 1 on the back, a 5 inch touch-panel on the back, built-in microphone, Wi-Fi (n/g/b compatible), 3G, GPS, bluetooth, a slot for a flash-based cards, stereo speakers, standard 3.5mm headphone jack, and all this while promising "close to PS3" level graphics with a "target" battery life like that of the PSP 3000 (4 - 6 hours).

What's New (pussy cat)?
Not much, honestly. As far as stuff that wasn't leaked before the conference we got info about the LiveArea functionality, Near functionality, a look at the UI, and a look at some games/tech-demos. Otherwise we got a spot on list of specs, spot on info about the controls (dual analog, touch-screen, touch-panel), and a fair representation of what kind of graphics to expect before the event even happened. The confirmation is nice, but I really wish Sony could keep their secrets a secret.

Reminder - Sony Holding a Press Conference Today/Tomorrow (depends on where you live)

No official confirmation of the subject of this conference, but a likely highlight seems to be a big reveal of the next PlayStation Portable, likely not the phone one. The conference is supposed to start at 10 PM for the West Coast (U.S.) and 1 AM for the East Coast (U.S.), so that means some of us will be staying up later than others. The time won't be horrible where I live, so I plan on staying up if only to see some message board reactions.

You can likely hit up the nearest friendly message board to see which of your favorite outlets are live-blogging the event, but I know Kotaku plans to live-blog it.

I really hope it's an info blowout, but I could definitely see them holding quite a bit of info back to use at E3 this June. Are you guys staying up? Leave me a comment and let me know.

PSP 2 to Have 3G and OLED Touchscreen, if You Believe this Japanese Newspaper

Nikkei, a Japanese newspaper has claimed that the new PlayStation Portable (PSP) is to have 3G support, for use in playing games and downloading movies and software (such as games), but not for phone calls. The paper says it will have wireless connectivity for LAN, but there is no mention if the 3G needs a subscription fee to use or if there will be a version without the 3G. The newspaper also claims that the system will have an OLED touch-screen, but doesn't specify if it's capacitive (like an iPhone/Pad/Pod) or resistive (like the DS, DSi, and 3DS).

If everything so far is to be believed, including the touch-panels on the back of the unit, and PS3 (at launch) quality graphics, then this could be one monster of a device. Especially in price, though Sony is very receptive to selling hardware for less than it costs to make (selling at a loss) so it could be priced competitively with the 3DS. There's no doubt in my mind that the PSP 2 will have a higher resolution screen and be capable of more detailed geometry and effects than the 3DS (powering stereoscopic 3D), but to me the rest is completely up in the air. It's fully debatable whether Sony would be willing to pay for the 3G service themselves (no subscription fee) or if that would make it out of Japan in subscription free form. The price is perhaps more volatile, mostly because we're missing a lot of details.

I'm sure there are lots of people that are interested and/or excited about the possibilities of the PSP 2, so lets hear those theories. And make sure to pay attention to the PlayStation Meeting 2011 on the 27th of this month!