I worry about Sony’s new PSP. After the shock of the impressive visuals of Sony’s next-generation portable, the PlayStation Vita, had become familiar, after the pleasant surprise of the new handheld’s price settled in ($US249), I started thinking about the reality of the Vita. Is it just another PSP?
Strong evidence that Sony’s Next Generation Portable would actually be called PS Vita emerged earlier this week. That’s still unconfirmed, but Vita is now looking more likely, thanks to a new source: Sony itself.
Insomniac Games, creators of PlayStation staples Ratchet & Clank and Resistance, say they’ll continue to stick to console games for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, but not the next PlayStation Portable, Sony’s NGP.
Sony brought one of the most dazzling games for its new NGP system, Uncharted, to its talk at GDC 2011. While we’ve seen some of this gameplay before, even shaky cam footage that doesn’t capture the NGP’s big, bright OLED screen is exciting.
The next PlayStation Portable, Sony’s recently announced NGP, won’t rival the PlayStation 3 in terms of raw computing power, despite its impressively good looks. Sony engineers say the NGP instead sits about “halfway” between the original PSP and PS3.
Launched earlier this week, Sony’s hefty NGP already has quite a number of game developer fans. Among them is the company behind Gears of War, Unreal Tournament and Bulletstorm.
Today, Sony is on the handheld gaming campaign trail, preparing for us to vote with our dollars later this year. Should you buy an NGP – the successor to the PSP – in late 2011?
Sony’s Next Generation Portable has a lot of fancy, no doubt expensive new equipment inside it. And you know what? None of it matters. Why? Because the thing has two thumbsticks.
