A new console was unveiled this Thursday by Sony, under the codename NGP (Next Generation Mobile). It will be released in Japan before Christmas and probably a little later around the globe. It will replace the PSP and PSP2 as it may end up being called by most. Not a stellar performer by any measure and with sales estimated around 65 million copies, the PSP cannot be called a blatant failure, even if it never quite reach the achievement of its best competitor, the Nintendo DS with about 144 million units sold. But the PSP’s downfall if you will was its lack of an outstanding game library. Apart from a few key titles, the catalog of games never had real sparks , leading to a slow sleep for the device, technically successful, but gradually forgotten by the players. And Western developers.
Despite several facelifts (PSP 3000) a strategic retouching (PSP GB version, which threw the UMD disc out the window), nothing could seriously boost sales for a machine that was also dealing with competition from mobile devices including late generation phones. It is therefore logical that the fundamental characteristic of the NGP starts with its touch screen.
But that’s not all specifications also announced were two cameras, a motion recognition system (accelerometer, gyroscope), WLAN, GPS, 3G, etc.. And above all and important news for gamers, two real analog sticks, a first on a handheld. Also here is hint of the future of media in general: After having imposed the CD as the near-universal storage for games with the PlayStation One, Sony has finally surrendered to virtual storage, where games will be downloaded and stored on a small flash memory card. The price of the device is not yet known but may be high and, insofar as it lacks a phone, it will not be subsidized by providers the question on everyone’s lips is: what will become of the Playstation Phone which is due out even before the NGP?