http://www.engadget.com/2009/04/07/latest-psp2-rumor-covers-familar-ground-adds-pre-xmas-release-d/ http://www.engadget.com/2009/02/26/psp-2-is-ready-and-umd-less-claims-earthworm-jim-developer/ Extremely happy to see rumors shifting towards reality with this. I know they've made some light tweaks since the 2004 release and that they're still making good money milking the cow, but I've been jonesing for a generational jump with the PSP. For instance, I've been thinking that merging the mylo into a new PSP would be a no brainer. That said, I don't think they're adding a qwerty keyboard; maybe a touchscreen keyboard though. Anything would beat the incredibly frustrating method of typing things in on the current model. What's rumored: November release No UMD slot (wireless upload? USB?) Sliding Touchscreen to reveal the controls What I'm speculating: 8+ GB flash memory Probably sticking exclusively to Sony Memory sticks (blegh) microphone for possible Skype phone service Netfront browser Major web-centric focus, including an App Store, PSN, etc Maybe a Dock that attaches to PS3 or computer?
Looks fantastic but realistically the battery life on that thing is going to be horrible. I love concepts because they are glimpse into the distance future. They would dominate the market if they allowed a hack like the NDS For testing purposes of course. 3 NDS + 3 types of R4 cartridges = Happy little ones.
PSP2? bah! these need to make a comeback in the biggest way possible! I still have this one in my parents' garage
Just to be clear, that PSP concept image is fan-made...and pretty old IIRC. Don't really think much of it.
Yeah, it's the single analog stick that makes the PSP horrible for the most popular type of game - fps's. Seriously, what were they thinking?? Two analog sticks, if they get that one simple thing through their heads, will equal sweet sweet gaming goodness.
Right. I doubt it will look like that at all (as fan made stuff usually goes). Still, should be a nice upgrade.
Never really looked into how easy it is to hack the DS (or even current PSPs really), but the PSP has been pretty easy to hack. In fact, it seems as though that is why it isn't doing as good as it could be doing (lots of piracy with PSP games). So it likely wouldn't be dominating the market. Still seems a bit early for a completely new PSP. Maybe some public announcement this year, but it would seem a bit too fast to release it this year (unless it is only in Japan or something). Of course, that is assuming major changes. I'd like to see no UMD drive, although I don't know if that would work out. Seems like Sony is testing how the market would react to download-only PSP games. They seem to be putting up a lot of PSP games online too, so while the successor wouldn't be able to play UMDs, it might still be BC in a way, which would be nice. Dual-analog sticks would be great of course.
Although I would personally love to for a "PSP2" to come out, is it really feasible for Sony though? It seems that the handheld market is geared towards young and casual gamers. There really doesn't seem to be a point for them to make a portable super-computer. If anything, raise your specs too high and people will start using it for something other than original games. I know I've been doing that for a while now.
PSP owners do seem to be "older" and/or more "hardcore" than what you might think given sales (or ...um...downloads) of some PSP games (Crisis Core, God of War, GTA, Dissidia, etc.). I think it is certainly more likely for these type of users to use the device for more than just games, or even instead of games. I don't think this is a bad thing per se, but Sony does have to take this under consideration. Their business plan must be able to handle some/many users not buying any/few games. I've actually been wondering what sort of hardware jump to expect. I don't really think it has to be that much more powerful than the PSP to be successful, especially if this would allow for great battery life and a relatively affordable price tag.
Yeah, but isn't that a bad business plan? Especially since Sony has to rely so much on 3rd party developers, who are not going to make games for a system with so few ownership. I think the only way PSP is going to compete with NDS is to be powerful enough to handle an NDS emulator. Then they can just market as a machine that let you play free DS games too.
It isn't a bad plan if it matches up with what the owners are actually doing. If they plan on selling ~50M systems either way, and they sell it under the assumption that consumers will buy 3+ games, but they really only buy 1-3 games, then it would be a bad business plan IMO. To correct it, perhaps they should sell the system at a profit (or at least break even), and maybe offer some other nongaming services. Might even be a good idea to try to sell cheap ($5-$15) "casual" games. Of course, ideally you would probably do all that AND have consumers buying 3+ games. I guess Sony could just try to prevent such a situation (somehow make it undesirable to own a PSP if you're not going to buy 3+ games), although if handled correctly, I don't know why they'd want to do that. Hehe...that does sound like a great idea.
Press conference starts at midnight CST in Tokyo for the PSP2 announcement. Supposed to be bad ass from what has been said in the rumors. Link to live blog: http://www.engadget.com/liveblog/live-from-sonys-tokyo-event/
http://kotaku.com/5744297/live-from-sonys-tokyo-press-conference http://psp.ign.com/articles/114/1146221p1.html Kotaku and IGN are also live blogging for anyone who wants to use them.
