During the Sony PlayStation Meeting 2011 in Tokyo, Sony finally revealed the successor to the PSP. What many believed is going to be called the PSP2 is now the NGP which stands for Next Generation Portable.
From the initial looks of the NGP, it is the most sophisticated and powerful portable gaming device we have right now. Next generation indeed with the usual PSP buttons and dual analog sticks, a capacitive touchscreen display rear capacitive touchpads, front and rear camera and a six-axis motion sensing system.
Here’s a rundown of what’s new with the PSP 2 (or NGP). Caution, the following specs might induce drool.
Better display
The design still looks a bit more like the PSP Slim but more elongated to fit its 5-inch OLED touchscreen which sports a 960 x 544 resolution. That’s four times more than the PSP.
Powerful specs
The Sony NGP will be running on an ARM Cortex A9 quad-core CPU. Quad Core!! Dual-Core on smartphones are still rare these days yet the NGP will be having a quad core CPU.
If that’s not enough, the graphics on the NGP will be handled by a quad-core GPU (Imagination Technologies’ PowerVR SGX543MP4). That’s like having the graphics of the original Xbox on your portable gaming device. The iPhone 5 is rumored to have the dual core version of the SGX543MP.
Aside from WiFi, the NGP will also have 3G mobile network connectivity, Bluetooth 2.1 and a built-in GPS.
More control options
The most dramatic change physically is the inclusion of the rear left and right touchpads. This brings a new dimension (or complexity) to gaming controls.
Aside from the typical d-Pad, shoulder buttons and analog sticks, you also have the touchscreen and rear touchpads to think of when you play a game. Then there’s the six-axis motion sensing system (3-axis gyroscope, 3-axis accelerometer, 3-axis electronic compass) that you can also use to play games.
LiveArea
The LiveArea is a game-oriented communication platform which acts as the main UI of the NGP. Although I prefer the old XMB better, I guess this works because of the touchscreen.
You can check out your friend’s gaming activities, their achievements and trophies as well as recently played or purchased games. Thanks to its built-in GPS, you can also keep track of games being played in the area. See what’s popular in your area so you would know what’s your next game purchase should be.
The PSP 2 or NGP is still not yet final. Sony is planning to release this during the holiday season this year so there’s still a lot of time for some tweaking, including changing the hardware design. But based on the initial showing, Sony has really changed how a portable gaming device should be made in this generation.
Check out Engadget’s Live Blog to see more NGP goodness from the PlayStation Meeting.
