PSP 2, does anyone care anymore?
 

So Sony are set to announce a successor to the PSP, the hilariously blandly named NGP.

http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/image...gp_reuters.jpg

Jumping on as many bandwagons as possible, it will feature a touchscreen on the front, touch pad on the back (This is actually a pretty neat idea), two analogue sticks and cameras and shit. No doubt it'll also chuck polygons around at a comical rate although it's not PS2 fast (One assumes, since they haven't mentioned that). They're also planning on making it compatible with the forthcoming Playstation phone for those of you who like playing slightly shit games.

So is there any point? Sales of UMD games have been pretty poor and most people I know with a PSP use it largely for playing PS1 games or pirate stuff. I'd suggest that making it straight PS1 compatible without the need to jail break it would improve sales if only because of the massive game catalogue they automatically unlock but I for one won't be replacing the PSP I barely use with this unless it does something really special. To be fair I never get public transport any more so I don't have time for mobile gaming and when I'm at home I play Xbox so I'm not really target market but I fail to see exactly who theyy are aiming this at. I think the PS generation that made the PS1 so popular have all grown up a bit and moved on and kids these days are all about the Nintendo. Still, it's nice to see they're still trying...

Edit: There are probably better pictures and videos out there but I'm too lazy to look for them.

I'm personally holding on passing judgement on this until I see a price tag. I admit that everything sounds pretty damn good right now, but if the price of entry is unreasonably high, then there's no features that'll save it. Supposedly, the thing pushes PS3 level graphics, which I find a little hard to believe. If it does, then I expect the battery to kick the bucket or my hands to burn off within the first hour.

Besides, it all depends on the games anyway. The list I've seen includes a bunch of PS3 games, which is okay, but me being primarily an RPG gamer, the list fails to excite me right now.

The worst part about the new name is that every time I read it I just think of this:

http://www.cyberiapc.com/vgg/pics/neogeo_pocket2.jpg

Hopefully there's a better acronym or something later on.

The 3DS has my attention more, honestly.

Will definitely wait for a massive price drop, seeing as I rarely use my PSP outside of a couple games (Ys games, don't hate).

Yes, my thoughts exactly. Poor acronym choice, motherfuckers.

Eh', perhaps not. Being a PSP sequel, it could stand for "No-Games Player".

"No-Games Player", by the people who brought you the Unchartedstation 3.

Well the NGP sounds more appealing to me right now than the 3DS but with all the features it has, I fear the price tag is going to skyrocket and who knows how long the battery is going to last.

I never really had any qualms about the UMD. They never broke on me and it does a good job protecting the disc inside and I like my PSP more than the DS. I also never don't pirate either, so my opinion may count for naught. Honestly, even without pirating there's already plenty of good games available on UMD.

the PSP go should have been amazing but they fucked themselves by not releasing their back catalog of games on the network.

I know that some percentage of it amounts to whether or not the developers allow their games to be on there, but sony should have anticipated that and offered more incentives to release as much as possible.

now you can play like pong or something on there and when a new game comes out there's no guarantee you'll even be able to play it.

Seems like the same principle is going to apply

Apparently it´s going to run ps2 games easily but I dont know... it´s nice to see that they didnt try to copy nintendo with the 3d ish. It´s cool that it´s so powerful but where are the games...? Apparently there is going to be an uncharted game, cool but do people really sit and play these serious games? I dont see the point of doing that if you are home and have a real console with a big tv etc. Iphone really killed these handheld consoles, small quick games you can play on the buss/subway just to kill time... the thing that handheld consoles used to do.

3DS is interesting because of the new tech (im not that hype on the current game line up either) but I can´t see the place for psp.. interesting to see how it plays out.

We're listing the price on it at $300, but again, who wants to rebuild their handheld catalog? No serious gamers have a PSPgo and nobody wants to start over. Again.

Frankly, 3rd party support on the 3DS would render this device useless. At least Nintendo is finally allowing the transfer of digital content from the DSi.

I actually thought of this:

http://cache.gawker.com/assets/image...GE-QD-unit.jpg

N-Gage Pro.

Well the Sony Xperia Play is out next month which is basically their attempt at an N-gage. I'm almost tempted to get one, just because nobody else will.

http://gamingeverything.com/wp-conte...peria-Play.jpg

Nobody should care right now. It's the rational thing, but usually most people get swept up in the hype of a new console or handheld launch. It's logical to not give a crap until the games are out. Without the games, what is it for? I don't buy consoles for potential. I wait until there's at least two games I just have to play. Ideally several more. I can't really remember ever caring about a new console until the games were announced.

The Xperia Play isn't a half bad Android phone, from what I can tell, but Sony seems intent on positioning it as a gaming device, and for that, it's pretty crappy. Android does NOT have the gaming support that iOS does.