Say Hello to Sony's Next Generation Portable

Following a series of rumors in the past year, Sony has finally unveiled the supposed successor to the Playstation Portable. Say hello to Sony’s latest handheld, dubbed “Next Generation Portable” or NGP for short, in which they claim it to be as powerful as the Playstation 3. The publisher made the announcement at the Playstation Meeting 2011 held in Japan, earlier this afternoon. Official images are provided below:

 

 

NGP’s design is similar to that of the original PSP, with some significant changes. First and foremost, NGP’s got two analog sticks, which I’m pretty excited about. That means better control mechanics for games, allowing for a higher accessibility for games on the go. Other features include two cameras, a smartphone-esque touch screen interface, as well as an additional touch pad on the back of the handheld, for more control schemes. Oh and yes, NGP will have trophy support.

 

Sony also released the full specs of the NGP. Check it out (courtesy of Giantbomb):

 

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 Communication:	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）

 

Sony also revealed the initial games that will grace the NGP platform. Hideo Kojima was at the conference showing off a Metal Gear Solid trailer and a representative from Epic Games was showing the Unreal Engine running on the handheld. Sony’s exclusive franchises such as Uncharted, Resistance, LittleBigPlanet, and Killzone will appear on the system as well. A Call of Duty title was also announced in the conference. Additionally, more than 80 publishers have already signed on to support the NGP.

 

Next Generation Portable might not be the final name of the product, nor are they referring to it as the PSP2 anymore. Naming aside, this is actually interesting. If Sony can improve on what the original PSP lacked, sign me up. Only things missing now are the battery life (hopefully longer than the 3DS) and price point, which Sony didn’t divulge any details on. I’m calling it on NGP retailing for $299.99. If anyone else has got a different price in mind, start placing your bets!

 

The Next Generation Portable will launch Holiday 2011, most likely first on Japanese store shelves.

 

Also, much love to NoobFeed user Dramus for the images!

 

David Gabriel, NoobFeed