TOKYO—The major refresh of the PlayStation Portable unveiled on Thursday here in Japan is the result of a two-year effort to rethink the basic gaming platform, according to Kaz Hirai, the chairman of Sony Computer Entertainment.
The new device, provisionally called the NGP (next-generation portable), should be out before the end of the year and presents some big changes from previous models. After the launch news conference in Tokyo, Hirai discussed the NGP and his plans for the device with journalists.
The portable device is the product of work that began about two years ago, Hirai said. At the time the company was about to launch the PSP Go, but while that device presented some hardware changes from early models, it didn't move the basic platform beyond that set in late 2004 when the PlayStation Portable first went on sale.
"We started getting consumer feedback like, for example, why don't you have two sticks?," Hirai said. "Well, you can't change it once you put out the platform."
The new device was a chance to rethink the PSP platform, and it add features that gamers had been requesting--like the dual analog sticks that made it into the final design.
Brainstorming sessions with developers and engineers resulted in the proposal and discussion of new technologies.
"We had a lot of different ideas that we felt would be points of differentiation," said Hirai. He said the aim was to "really change the game experience."
One of the ideas was the rear touch panel, which turns the back of the NGP into another input device.
"It seemed like a great idea conceptually," Hirai said. "We prototyped it, and it looked pretty good. We played it, and it's actually pretty fun, so we said this is a feature that's going to make it right into the actual product."
One feature that didn't make it into the NGP is 3D.
Competitor Nintendo is about to launch its 3DS device that includes a screen that can provide the illusion of 3D without special glasses.
Sony has been putting a considerable amount of effort into the technology, and last year it added the capability to play 3D Blu-ray movies to PlayStation 3 consoles.
"We looked at the possibility of doing 3D on the NGP," Hirai said. He added that discussions with software makers convinced the company not to include it.
Source: Daily News from GamePro.com
Thursday, January 27, 2011