As I'm sure some of you know, Sony was to hold a press conference today, and many suspected that the successor to the PSP would be shown. I didn't get to see the live event, but it seems like they indeed showed it. The codename is NGP (for "Next Generation Portable").

Dates leading up to this event, it was claimed that the graphics would rival the PS3. You can judge for yourself by looking at this video of an Uncharted game with actual gameplay footage (it's in Japanese). The official specs are here, on Sony's site. Some big ones are (in no particular order):

• Dual analog sticks
• Backwards compatible with PSP games from Playstation Store
• 5-inch OLED (960 x 544), 24bpp (as a comparison, the original was 480 x 272)
• Multitouch
• 4-core CPU (ARM)
• SGX543MP4 GPU
• Games will come in dedicated flash memory cards (Yay, solid-state!)
  Well, I've got to get to work, but I'll be checking back on this thread.

As I'm sure some of you know, Sony was to hold a press conference today, and many suspected that the successor to the PSP would be shown. I didn't get to see the live event, but it seems like they indeed showed it. The codename is NGP (for "Next Generation Portable").

Dates leading up to this event, it was claimed that the graphics would rival the PS3. You can judge for yourself by looking at this video of an Uncharted game with actual gameplay footage (it's in Japanese). The official specs are here, on Sony's site. Some big ones are (in no particular order):

• Dual analog sticks
• Backwards compatible with PSP games from Playstation Store
• 5-inch OLED (960 x 544), 24bpp (as a comparison, the original was 480 x 272)
• Multitouch
• 4-core CPU (ARM)
• SGX543MP4 GPU
• Games will come in dedicated flash memory cards (Yay, solid-state!)
  Well, I've got to get to work, but I'll be checking back on this thread.
  

This seems like what I wished the PSP would have been.

I still think the 3ds is more appealing to me because it's a different experience that I won't really get at home, and it's got a great retro library. The new PSP has definitely gone from meh to one to watch in my book though.

I am really looking for handhelds to remake a lot of retro games, so whichever one does that best for me is the one I'd buy. Right now Nintendo is ahead in that regard.

And I know it's a tech demo, but some of those controls just seem excessive.

Having never owned a DS, and having enjoyed the PSP-3000, I'll probably get a 3DS and NGP.

Here are my thoughts:

• Good to know it's different from the PSPPhone. The specs for that didn't seem right for a true successor.
• I'm glad they kept a form factor similar to 3000
• I was waiting for OLED to make it into a mainstream handheld. So, I'm thrilled about that because it basically means it's now standard going forward.
• Multitouch and faster WI-FI will make for a better browsing experience. I hope they support at least Flash 9 this time around, because in this day and age, video is a first-class citizen.
• I hope they either allow movie streaming outside the browser or support more movie formats (PSP is very strict about the type of MP4 you put on it).
• I know what was shown was a prototype, but I hope the "Start" and "Select" don't remain flat. I find it troublesome to play a PSP in the dark for that reason. (Yes, I read the warnings that say not to do that.)
• The increased amount of memory will allow more Flash games to be played. Great for the little guys.

Having never owned a DS, and having enjoyed the PSP-3000, I'll probably get a 3DS and NGP.

I'm actually a little upset about all the less than useful stuff they stuck in it.

It doesn't need 2 touch surfaces, compass, accelerometer, and gps. The specs make me think they are trying to go for the core market, which is super. There hasn't really been a well made core handheld yet. Give college kids the ability to play CoD on the go and you'll sell tons, but all the extra features feel like they are going to price the NGP out of the handheld market altogether. With the 3DS coming out at $250, this will probably be in the $300-400 range, and that's just a bucket load of cash for a handheld. I could buy a PS3 for that.

With their selling point being like a mobile PS3 it also makes me feel like, "Well if I buy this... why buy a PS3?" or vice versa. Feels almost like they are competing with themselves. Lord knows I'm not going to spend $700 to be able to play the same game on two different platforms.