Why I Was Wrong In regards to the PSP2…And Why I Don’t Care [Psp2]

In case you’d have asked me a year ago if I might buy a new PlayStation Portable from Sony that wasn’t a phone, I’d have scoffed. So why am I desperate for the NGP-the PSP2?

Nintendo and Sony are in a pickle. While they’ve both been milking their portable gaming lines during the last three years, Apple swooped in and adjusted the gaming market considerably, with a touchscreen-based iOS platform that has put thousands of games available on the market at prices low enough to cause a gaming industry executive many sleepless nights.

Add to that the great web browsing, media playback, and the otherwise jack-of-all-tradeness of iOS devices and it’d seem silly for Sony and Nintendo to ignore the immediate have to co-opt iOS’s best qualities: one-stop digital downloads at a central marketplace, at a minimum.

Two years ago I even went to date as to indicate that Sony’s next PSP should simply be an iPhone with a pleasing dual-analog gamepads. Interestingly, all of the bullet-point requirements I suggested for the PSP2 then-GPS, cameras, touchscreens, accelerometers and compass, 3G, flash-memory based-are within the NGP/PSP2. I just had the form factor wrong.

And I’m glad Sony didn’t hearken to me, because I feel the PSP2 could be built perfectly for what it truly is meant to be: a transportable gaming powerhouse.

Dual-analog control nubs. All of the sensors and cameras and touchscreens. A by-all-reports gorgeous, high-resolution OLED screen. The PSP2 is going to be as close as we’ve ever seen to having an entire-on console experience on the go.

It’s clear Sony sat down and said, ” We are able to make the PSP2 a killer all-in-one device or a killer gaming device, but not both.” Two or three years ago after they were probably first sitting right down to put together early designs, I wouldn’t be surprised if they made some prototypes that were far more iPhone-like. And if the leaked ” PSP Phone” prototypes are any indication, I bet they realized they were kind of awful.

(I still think Sony could make a fabulous PSP Phone, but not until they finally put a bullet inside the Sony Ericsson experiment. Maybe next generation.)

So instead Sony is going to launch a beast of a handheld device with a purpose to manage to do every kind of things we think a contemporary device to do-browse the online, play movies, etc.-but will likely be firstly a gaming device. The PSP2 won’t have to fit to your pocket because it’s not seeking to replace your phone. It’s not even exactly seeking to replace your iPad. It’s simply seeking to become the ideal portable gaming system on this planet. And if initial reports of the Nintendo 3DS’s three-dimensional screen and its attendant headaches are true, Sony may also have a shot of turning into the market leader over Nintendo.

Now there are quite a lot of cards yet to be played. Sony could hurt initial uptake of the PSP2 if they decide to charge too much. (Anything over $300, probably.) But if they could get it near the 3DS’s $250 launch price, there’s an excellent chance that in a facet-by-side comparison Nintendo’s unit will look anemic or simply gimmicky. Nintendo has strong software, traditionally, especially in handheld. Sony’s portable software-especially first-party titles-has struggled every now and then.

Plus Apple will more than likely continue to do tremendous unit sales, revenue, and software sales on iOS, so although Sony can get on top of Nintendo in this generation of handheld gaming devices, Apple and its App Store partners may make more actual, you know, money.

Nevertheless, there’s something about seeing the PSP2 in corporeal form that makes it make sense in a method an inventory of rumored or wished-for specs do not. Even the rear touchpad seems kind of intriguing!

Sony isn’t giving up on the dedicated, dare I say hardcore portable gaming market. And for as much as I admire my iPhone and its games, something in my gut tells me that I’ll be buying a Sony PSP2-and I’d not be alone.

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This post is tagged: accelerometers, central marketplace, gaming industry, gaming powerhouse, many sleepless nights, playstation portable