Report: Sony will unveil new PSP at E3
Artist's rendition of the PSP Go.
(Credit: 1Up.com)For the past couple months, we've been covering the ongoing rumors that Sony is prepping a new PlayStation Portable.
Well, more details are emerging, with game site 1Up.com reporting that Sony will trot out its new Universal Media Disc-less PSP at the Electronic Entertainment Expo in June, targeting it for a September release in Japan, followed by a U.S. launch in October or November. While the potential name for the new unit hasn't been confirmed, there are indications that it might called the PSP Go.
As previously reported, the new PSP will allegedly slide open to reveal its controls. But those hoping for dual analog sticks may be disappointed--word is the new PSP will retain the same control scheme, as depicted in the mock-up above. Whether or not it has a touch screen is still up in the air, as 1Up says (much as I had previously) that it wouldn't be shocked if Sony borrowed "many design features from their Mylo 2 handheld Internet device, which is seemingly dead in the water."
1Up claims that the new PSP will come in two configurations: one that features 8GB of internal memory and another that has 16GB. There will be a memory card expansion slot, but that old-school UMD drive will disappear, with Sony moving toward a digital-download delivery system for games. "Since the UMD is going away, Sony will have over 100 classic and new PSP titles available for download at launch (Gran Turismo Mobile is said to be one of the premier launch titles)," 1Up says.
Apparently, Sony is looking to E3 to reinvigorate the PSP platform, which has seen fairly strong hardware sales but has lagged in the software department and now must contend with Nintendo's DS refresh, the DSi, and iPhone gaming.
Recently, Sony announced that such titles as Rock Band, Soul Calibur, LittleBigPlanet, Tekken 6, and MotorStorm would hit the console, and earlier this month, Sony Computer Entertainment America's director of hardware marketing, John Koller, told GameSpot that more than 50 percent of the PSP's 2009 lineup had yet to be announced.
This all sounds good, but naturally, we'll wait until we see official specs and pricing for the next-generation PSP before we get too excited.
What do you guys think? If these rumors are true, should Nintendo be worried?
Hunkered down in New York City, Executive Editor David Carnoy covers the gamut of gadgets and writes his Fully Equipped column, which carries the tag line "The electronics you lust for." He's also the author of "Knife Music," a novel. E-mail David. Follow David on Twitter. 
He said that Sony's design was garbage. He said the 3rd part one saved the day.
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We will have to wait and see what the real release brings us.
or at least the ability to port old UMDs without buying them again...
Or would that be too big and dorky? Probably.
I hope they don't reduce the screen size... it's a good size as-is.
You can also buy third-party battery life extenders. Basically it's like an extra battery pack that plugs into the PSPs ac adapter port. I got one off ebay for around $20 (I think), and it extends my battery life to well over 20 hours of continuous use on a full charge.
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13924_3-10155730-64.html
I think sony need to consider this case .
Eric
http://www.1gameconsole.com
Removing the UMD drive would be kinda stupid considering that they're calling this "PSPwhatever". The PSP needs at least 3 different generations before dropping support for it (minor revisions like the slim+lite/3000/whatever don't count as they're just re-designs).
Digital distribution is all fair and good for those who have a decent internet connection. Meanwhile, people who are stuck with only 60KB/s are getting more and more pissed off as software gets bigger and bigger.
If this article is correct, only people without a PSP (or have a lot of money) will buy it. If the looks aren't as horrible as the rendition above and there's a way to play UMD games on it, then it'll sell.
UMD flopped for movies. Not games. It doesn't matter at all that they use UMD or anything else for the games.
And I don't think GT: Mobile is a killer app any more. It's been too long. All the RPGs went to DS, the quirky titles are on DS. Does Rock Band and similar games really make sense on a mobile console?
To match iphone, they would need at least a touchscreen and a few thousand more developers. Sony is becoming the 'luxury brand' of gaming, but there's ironically not enough money in that, as the PS3 is amply demonstrating. Why they would support another overpriced console with poor developer support is beyond me. They should kill either PSP or PS3 and go software only in whichever market they abandon, their first step in going Sega's route.
Wow, you should be seriously considered for the "Ignorant Assumption" of the year award for that one.
While impressive at first glance this is really a drop in the bucket. Keep in mind the PSP is not a console. It's like me trying to compare desktop sales to laptop sales. Their just not the same.
Plus Sony has not even sold half the number of units Nintendo has in the hand held market. The market where the devices actually compete.
http://playstation.joystiq.com/2008/03/09/ridiculous-psp-piracy-numbers/
Now take those and add in the emulator stuff that isn't tracked, and I think it's a fair assumption, but ok, maybe a bit alarmist. Point is, I think the PSP's main selling point is the piracy of games, not the portable games themselves.
Great logic in that comeback. I guess financial success is only determined by what your sales are in relation to the market leader. So therefore, I guess the N64 and GC and all apple PC's and laptops were/are colossal financial failures because it's only a drop in the bucket.
As for PS3 maybe that doesn't outsell, but the PS2 still has more market share than everthing else and it's still supported. Sony has time enough to get the PS3 going.
The "toss on the extra stick" was a general comment and just my way of saying I hope they put another stick on the redesign. Also, the comment about it costing a "few cents" was in relation (if you'd read it the first time) to the production costs overall, and not the research, or development costs before hand.
You should try and find the sarcastic and comedic tones to peoples posts rather than jumping at the first chance you get to insult people's intelligence and assume they have no knowledge of the post topic in question.
It seems you stupid fanboys misconstrue more buttons and controls as a measure of game quality.
16 GBs is a lot of memory for a mobile device? While I'm not so sure about that but lets agree with that for the moment.
If each game is 4 GBs that leaves me with 4 games to use at a time? While that might just *barley* be enough for me what about other people? Their not going to want to download games again when they want to play them.
at 400MB per title, that means you could have up to 40 games on your internal memory.
The article did say that there will be a memory card expansion slot, which means you can get an extra 16GB of memory pretty cheaply ($30 - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820183212), that's another 40 games.
And SanDisk is starting mass production on 64GB flash memory cards soon. (http://news.cnet.com/8301-13924_3-10160085-64.html). So each of those cards could theoretically hold 160 games (I'm assuming the new PSP will support these new X4 cards).
So you won't exactly be limited on the number of games you can have at a time, you just might have to carry around a couple extra SD cards.
Way to make an assumption. What makes you think there won't be? Whats there to stop a third party from developing a device that will allow importing? Think about it.
As for UMDs, one of the rumors going around, I only found out last night, is apparently the idea of in store Kiosks which you can insert your UMD's into, and it will convert and transfer over to a USB drive or memory stick for you. I think this would be a great idea.
I want the second analog stick too, and am still hopeful that part of the rumor just isnt concrete yet, and maybe we'll still get it?
I currently own a Slim, and love it, but will probably upgrade to this new one when it hits.
That is Sony thinking in a nutshell, somebody tell them they should add some "walkman" type features- like a cassette player! David Manning says it's awesome!! Thanks for the betamax, ATRAC, Magneto-optical discs, DAT, and all the wonderful contributions to my closetful of broken electronic CRAP.
but this "new" PSP just doesn't sound like it'll do enough new and different things to justify all of us current-PSP owners to upgrade.
now if the price is right Sony may be able to market it to the not-yet-PSP-owners and sell a few..
- by smokin_Z28 April 29, 2009 10:09 AM PDT
- if it doesn't have dual joysticks, I'll pass.
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- by BCF1968 April 30, 2009 2:29 PM PDT
- really just because it doesn't have dual joysticks? WHY does that matter. No current PSP games even use a 2nd joystick because the PSP doesn't have one so what use is it? Like you're missing out on something.
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- by NaKAhi70 April 30, 2009 3:35 PM PDT
- ...There are shooter games out that have worked around it. I don't mind so much but I would be happy with a second nub as it would make playing shooters on the go more fun expecially if a bunch of your friends had the game (that way you couldn't be convicted of screen cheating.
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