As promised, Sony has finally let their sexy new handheld gaming device out of the cupboard. Thousands of PSP owners have being urging Sony to add things like another analogue stick and a camera to the many version of the portable Playstation for AGES now, and thankfully they seem to have been paying attention to your voices.
There’s been a lot of mystery and speculation around this device so I’ll spare you the theatrics and give you the good stuff straight up: Firstly the technical specs.
CPU
ARM CortexTM-A9 core (4 core)
GPU
SGX543MP4+
External Dimensions
Approx. 182.0 x 18.6 x 83.5mm (width x height x depth) (tentative, excludes largest projection)
Screen
5 inches (16:9), 960 x 544, Approx. 16 million colors, OLED
(Touch screen)
Multi-touch screen (capacitive type)
Rear touch pad
Multi-touch pad (capacitive type)
Cameras
Front camera, Rear camera
Sound
Built-in stereo speakers
Built-in microphone
Sensors
Six-axis motion sensing system (three-axis gyroscope, three-axis accelerometer), Three-axis electronic compass
Location
Built-in GPS
Wi-Fi location service support
Keys / Switches
PS button
Power button
Directional buttons (Up/Down/Right/Left)
Action buttons (Triangle, Circle, Cross, Square)
Shoulder buttons (Right/Left)
Right stick, Left stick
START button, SELECT button
Volume buttons (+/-)
Wireless communications
Mobile network connectivity (3G)
IEEE 802.11b/g/n (n = 1×1)(Wi-Fi) (Infrastructure mode/Ad-hoc mode)
Bluetooth 2.1+EDR ?A2DP/AVRCP/HSP?
Got all that? Metal Gear legend Hideo Kojima has said he is very excited about this new handheld. The device is even codenamed NGP (next generation portable). Exciting new functions? Very cool.
We’ve had confirmation that franchises like Call Of Duty, Resistance, Killzone, and Uncharted will be getting a NGP title, so it’s definitely looking interesting. Sony have said that the handheld will be released ‘late 2011’ but have kept quiet about the price of the product for now, I suspect they are keeping a close eye on the 3DS.
The list of third party developers on board for the PSP2/NGP is rather impressive, with Rockstar, Sega, Square Enix, and Namco all gunning for Sony. The new oval shape is supposed to be more comfortable in the hand over long periods, check it out below.
Pachter said it would be “dead on arrival”, I’m not so sure he’s correct this time around…what do you think?
