That's right, word is officially out on the Sony PSP2 - again codenamed Next Generation Portable or NGP for short.
This PSP brethren packs an impressive list of features:
- Multi-touch 5-inch organic light emitting display (OLED) as the front display
- Multi-touch pad on the rear of the device
- Dual analog sticks
- Two cameras (front and rear)
- Software titles on small, dedicated flash memory-based cards
- Three motion sensors, gyroscope, accelerometer and electronic compass
- Wi-Fi and 3G network connectivity
- PlayStation Network access, including ““LiveArea™”, “Near” and “Activity” log features Trophy Support
- NGP will be able to play PSP titles, minis, PS one classics, video and comics from the PlayStation Store.
The new handled is supposed to perform at the same level of the PlayStation 3 according to Sony representative at the Tokyo press event thanks to the quad core ARM Cortex A9. That's right - the NGP is more powerful than your desktop. No word on price, but analysts are projecting somewhere in the $300 to $350 range, a full $50 to $100 more than the upcoming Nintendo 3DS. No word on 3D functionality at this time.
Presumably, Sony has distributed development software to publishers which can easily port PlayStation 3 titles on NGP or perhaps allow for PS3 downloads on the PSN.
The NGP is certainly an intriguing new handheld, but can it beat the innovation of the Nintendo 3DS? The PSP's pitfall is its lack of a robust software library, can the NGP succeed with its predecessor faltered?
