For all of Sony’s success in the console wars, the company hasn’t gotten much mileage out of its latest offerings. The PlayStation Portable, Sony’s hand-held offering, was a dud. The future-proofed PlayStation 3 is incredible, but expensive and slow to be adopted by gamers who already own Nintendo’s Wii and Microsoft’s Xbox 360 systems. Still, Sony is trying, as Sony has announced the PlayStation Portable 2, codename NGP (next-generation portable), for release near the end of 2011.
Sony is throwing a ton of impressive hardware at gamers with the PSP2: a 5-inch organic LED touchscreen on the front, a multi-touch pad on the rear, two analog controllers, motion sensors, a gyroscope, accelerometer, front and back cameras, WiFi and 3G Internet access, and the promise of PlayStation 3-quality games on the go.
As if that’s not enough, Sony is also heding its bets by getting into the phone game market as well. The company has also announced the PlayStation Suite, a branded way to play PlayStation games on Android Phones, like the upcoming PSP Phone (AKA Sony’s branded Xperia handset). The new PSP2 will also feature a wide variety of social gaming features, like Sony’s “Near,” which shows what nearby friends are playing, and “LiveArea” which shows what gamers available via PSP’s network are playing the same game you are.
Basically, Sony is throwing everything it can into this new portable in an attempt to lure gamers away from their Nintendo DS units. Will it work? Well, that remains to be seen, but give Sony points for trying.
Tags: video games, Sony, PlayStation Portable, PSP, next-generation portable, NGP, PSP2, PlayStation Portable 2, technology, portable video games, entertainment systems, PSP2 to play PS3 games, PlayStation 3, PlayStation Suite, PlayStation Games on Android Phones, PSP Phone, Near, LiveArea