John-ShepardThe PSP2 and PlayStation Phone have become hot topics of conversation and despite no official announcements, Sony isn't afraid to reference possibilities.
Sony boss Kaz Hirai recently spoke to the New York Times , and suggested that if Sony were going to do another gaming portable (hint hint, the PSP2), it would have the advantage in terms of control. Hirai was speaking in regards to competing with mobile gaming devices like Android and iPhone, and it's clear that Hirai is talking about touchscreen controls:
"Depending on the game, there are ones where you can play perfectly well with a touch panel. But you can definitely play immersive games better with physical buttons and pads. I think there could be games where you're able to use both in combination."
Concerning the PlayStation Phone, which may have been prematurely leaked , Hirai said that "if" Sony released such a unit, Sony would have to make an obvious distinction between the capable smartphone and the PSP2. Said Hirai:
"We don't want gamers to be asking, 'What's the difference between that and a PSP?' We have to come up with a message that users will understand. It would have to be a product that keeps the PlayStation's strengths intact."
At this point, one may assume both the PSP2 and PlayStation Phone will be available in 2011, which might allow Sony to push forward in the portable/mobile gaming market. But it's certainly true they'll need to keep consumers informed…let's not go confusing "PSP2" and "PS Phone."
that's as close as you can get to an official statement without officially stating it if Kaz Hirai himself said that.
Sony must be hiding something that differentiates the PS Phone even more from the PSP2. they still seem a bit too similar if you ask me.
I think the distinction will be the games. the Phone will only run original PlayStation games, but the PSP2 will run PSP software, PSP2 software, and of course PlayStation games.
*If* Sony has managed to keep a surprise up their sleeve, they might have somehow managed to create an ultra low power PS2 chipset. That would make the PSP2 PS2 compatible. If you combine that with the recent patents that Sony has had published, could the PSP2 link to the PS3 to provide PS2 compatibility as well? Pie in the sky I know, but you know how speculation is…
that's a possibility, i was thinking since the PS Phone will be on a network maybe even on verizons, at&t's, sprint, or t mobiles new 4g network they will be releasing or have released. if online multiplayer would be a possibility. in terms of data transfer speed it will be possible, the only thing that concerns me will be the ping.
I have to admit Highlander… that is a possibility, but how to get PS2 media onto the low powered PSP2 device. We still have th situation where gamer collections can't be ripped to hard disk or flash drives. At the moment managing your PSX or PS2 games – other than having the original PS3 models to play them on – is nigh on impossible.
Q!
"play.experience.enjoy"
If the PSP2 had that soft of functionality Qubex, it would truly set it apart from other hand-helds, and the PS Phone.
There definitely needs to be a distinction between the PSP2 and a PlayStation Phone.
Personally I suspect that a PlayStation Phone will run PSX games and Android games. I don't think it will run PSP software simply because that blur's the lines too much.
I think that there will be a specific PSN store for the phone that sells only suitable video, music and PSX games.
Until someone comes out with a PSP emulator for it of course.
Assuming that Sony hasn't locked it against that kind of thing…
well, like every Sony console hardware released… it will only be a matter of time before it is hacked as well… that is almost a certainty unless they have really done something with security…
Q!
"play.experience.enjoy"
Well, if you're fair and accurate, the PS3 hasn't actually been hacked. I know that there is an exploit that uses the USB port and cloned service key, but in reality, that's not a hack, it's more of a work around. The weakness there isn't in the PS3 itself, it's the human component that allowed the service key to make it into the wild and be cloned. So, in most senses, the SP3 remains secure, and remarkably unhacked. So it's not like there is no precedent for producing a secure device. I believe that the PSP-3000 is pretty hard to crack since it can't have a persistent CFW, and the PSP-Go hasn't (AFAIK) been hacked. The PS3 was released two years before the PSP-3000. IIRC the PSP-1000 and PSP-2000 were subject to a couple of attacks that exploited service modes, but by the PSP-3000 Sony had learned some lessons about that and the PSP-3000 isn't so easy to crack. The PS3 design and software was locked down by Summer 2006.Sony still hadn't recognized and fixed the service mode exploits and whatnot on the PSP, so it's not a surprise that the PS3's only real vulnerability lies in that department.
Since then though the PSP-300, PSP-Go and the more recent PS3 firmwares have shown increasing resistance to such tactics. It wouldn't surprise me if Sony actually manages to lock the PlayStation Phone and PSP2 systems down enough to cause extreme inconvenience to anyone trying to exploit them in the same manner.
PS Phone, I'm definitely waiting for that.
My friends are urging me to upgrade to a new phone.
Mine too! They get so embarrassed when we hit a bar and I place my old tan-colored brick on the table.
Mine looks like the one they give back to Gordon Gecko in the new Wall Street movie.
So, you want me to get both the psp phone that plays only ps1 quality games that shares and offers the same userface as the ps3, with the exception to the high def stuff, and the mysterious psp2?
Then sony is letting these rumors spread that the psp2 can play ps3 games, or just the early games.
Now, which is it? Can it play ps3 games or not? Is money an issue with sony or what? Are they worried we won't pay the high cost to play equally ps3 quality games.
I think people will pay 400 dollars for a psp2. If they had that, they don't need a touchscreen in my opinion. I just hope it's not as small as the psp go. See ya.
why would sony worry about rumors spreading that the PSP2 can play PS3 games when they didn't make the rumors? did they?
sure, people will buy a $400 PSP2, the question is, how many? so i am pretty sure they are worried we won't be willing to pay the high cost because Sony knows it will cost more than $400 to produce a PSP2 that can play PS3 games.
I'm almost 100% certain that the PSP2 will not cost more than $299 retail.
What was price of the PSP-1000? $250? I can't remember.
I think $250 is right, but I got mine at Xmas and in Canada. There was a $200 version soon after launch with minimal accessories.
Fane, $299.99 with the bundle, and $250 for the 'core' unit at launch?
"sure, people will buy a $400 PSP2".
Heck no, that's to expensive. And if their planning to put the PS3 chip inside the PSP2, it will cost much cheaper.
Last edited by AcHiLLiA on 12/23/2010 8:36:45 AM
@Alex,
The PSP2 will not contain a CellBE processor, there is no version of the Cell that uses a small enough amount of power. There are other possibilities, but a Cell isn't one of them. Well, that's assuming that Sony/IBM haven't managed to create an ultra low power CellBE with less cache, fewer SPEs and is clocked below 1GHz. Of course a CellBE with all those changes would be a mere shadow of the performance of the full spec Cell in the PS3.
good info. dude.
First off, hello psxe fam. I hope everything is well with all of you. Now, this is a very interesting situation that sony is in. With all of the speculation going on, and the leaked pictures, the average consumer is confused;thus, lacking judgement to differentiate these two products. With this new statement from Hirai, this well begin to help clear things up. I personally, agree that the biggest differential will be how the software is distributed for each device. Meaning, how the games will be made and produced for each device. I feel like since the Android OS and Market is a place were developers can run free and create great things for phones and their consumers;that sony will somehow integrate the Android Market and demographic with the sony games and software. I see the android os as an outlet to help sony get their vision and games out to the casual gamer;thus, creating more fans and potential product buyers of future and past released products. I feel like the games, hardware, and look will be the core differentials that set these two products apart. The playstation phone having a touch screen and physical controller will allow the casual gamer to grab games via 4g/3g through the market and over the air. The psp2, i hope will be a grade a device with its main focus being power and processing. Because windows has just released their windows "xbox live" gaming phones, i see that sony should go ahead and combat that asap. But to take things a step further, the psp2 will take the world by storm. Features i hope to differentiate it from the psphone: larger screen with touch capabilities, larger internal memory with external memory capabilities as well,physical games to actually go out and purchase(most people missed that aspect that we didnt get with the psp go). I also hope that the ram is actually 512 or higher with atleast 2ghz worth of processing power. With all of these internet tabs on the rise, i think sony should strike with a lot of power and revamp the face of portable gaming. And to add on to what Highlander as stated, to integrate past-present-and future with all of these devices(ps2, ps3, and server for online with psphone), would be genius. Thus, eliminating the cries of "aww no backwards compatibiity sucks". Game on!
Last edited by Need4Speed11_11 on 12/22/2010 10:30:05 PM
We appreciate the effort in your reply, but please remember to separate the text for the purpose of easier reading. Paragraphs are your friend. 🙂
tl, dr
Sorry psxe fam for the lengthy unspaced post. I will keep in mind to separate for the sake of all our eyes lol. Thanks
PSP2 won't use a 2GHz processor, no low power device can reach that clock without killing the battery.
Besides, 4 cores running at 666MHz would be faster and use much less power.
You are right. 4 cores running at that speed would suffice. I was just a kid in a candy shop, dreaming away at the possibilities.
However they decide to produce some high speeds of processing, im fine with it. Im sure they will find an effective way to power it.
Though battery life will always be a challenge when incorporating, wifi, weight, cpu, and other ongoing tasks that would weigh in on the battery.
In this world, gaming devices aren't just used for that particular purpose. Watching movies, browsing the web, and gaming even more powerful and graphical games will indeed be a challenge with power consumption. But hey, you cant win them all right?
There is a lot more competition now around for the PSP2 and PSP Phone… it will never be a one sided victory again for Sony. They have a loyal fan base but they will have to work hard to keep them, real hard… and Apple and Android, and Windows 7 mobile are not going to go away anytime soon… if ever.
Its not an "easy" environment for Sony anymore – we can only hope the suites at Sony do a good job playing catch up and leading the industry once again, rather than having to put up counter measures…
Q!
"play.experience.enjoy"
Last edited by Qubex on 12/23/2010 12:49:26 AM
Indeed Qubex. But, I think that most of the competition that you refer to is a market that wasn't there for the DS/PSP. It's a new market that Nintendo and Sony would love to tap into because while gamers want to have a gaming specific hand held, everyone wants a mobile phone, and if it can do other things it's a bonus to them. There's obviously an overlap, but as long as hand held gaming units can do things the phones can't either because of physical design limitations to the controls, or hardware limitations to the performance in games, the hand helds will be OK.
I agree though, that both Nintendo and sony must offer something distinct and game oriented with their new hand helds that the phones cannot match. Both are going to be physically larger. Nintendo has hitched it's wagon to the 3D screen. Sony appears to be going for a larger screen with far better controls. That won't do it though, both units need great games. Both need to pretty much do it all, they have to be capable of Internet browsing, online play, playing video, music or displaying photos, taking pictures and everything else that a smart phone can do. They can probably get away with skipping the GPS locator, but personally I feel like that's a minor tick box on the spec list from a cost stand point, and it should be included. About the only thing neither *needs* to offer is voice capability. They most certainly need 3G/4G data capability and Bluetooth would be a great idea for headsets and other accessories. Can you imagine using a decent bluetooth mini-keyboard with a PSP2 sized device?
Personally I think that both should (and in the case of the PSP *must*) support other applications such as personal productivity ones. In an ideal world, the PSP2 should have the ability to run Android in a sandbox, allowing ti to run applications from the Android Market place. If not ideal, then Sony must at least provide some basic personal productivity tools.
But the biggest differentiation has to be the games. The games are the killer apps, and both Sony and Nintendo need to have a killer line up. A lot of third parties have been entranced by the iPhone App Store and Android Marketplace. I wonder how users of iPhone/iPad and android will react to full price games when everything else for their phone is free or costs under $5. Consumers of hand held gaming with DS and PSP are used to the sticker price of full games, and that may be an inherent advantage allowing more complete games to be implemented on the PSP2/3DS.
It's gonna be an interesting year.
Lol Thanks B-Dut! Im new here and am learning, thanks for the heads up. Your work ethic is greatly appreciated, as well as the staff. Keep up the good work.
Don't really care about the phone. More interested in the PSP2.
Same here… I am much more interest in the PSP2… always have been, but I still doubt the popular claims that it is as powerful as a 360… I just cant imagine it… the power issue alone would never allow it unless constantly plugged in somewhere…
Q!
"play.experience.enjoy"
that's the problem, so many phones out there.
Who needs a psp phone, assume everybody in the world owns a cell phone. Then again, MONEY.
Man people are stupid if they can't separate the two devices.
It is funny though how everything Sony does gets leaked like United States military intel. Then they go and talk about it like it isn't absolutely imminent.
Really. Do people confuse the iPod Touch and the iPhone?
However, if the devices have different capabilities (e.g., what type of games each can run), people might not keep those straight (more like iPod vs. iPad).
Last edited by Fane1024 on 12/23/2010 3:12:22 AM
Old people confuse them.
Old people get a lot of things wrong, why would this be different? This is exactly the same as Apple's strategy to produce the iPhone and the iTouch. Why not rule both markets? Only difference is one is a phone. Both run the same games off the same operating system. Simple.
I think that the PSPhone will come first, and the PSP2 a little later down the track. The PSPhone will probably be a more open platform with a similar power scheme to the PSPGo. It won't be a huge improvement over what we already have, with the exception of the phone capabilities, which I believe will be added in via the now-standard touch screen interface, rather than overburdening the device with even more buttons.
It will play largely the library of PSP games that are available online, and will have no external media aside from an M2 port. I also doubt that it will have more than a 2GB hard drive, as the primary focus will be on making sure people know it is a phone, with the caveat that it can play PSP games. That will be what sets it apart. Also, if it does have Android integration, it will be able to run any games or apps from that store, further emphasising the phone aspect. Of course, this is debatable, as many phones are now considered on par with the old GBA in terms of what kind of games they can run.
The PSP2, on the other will feature some form of external media port, my guess is most likely a read-only Memory Stick, and this, alongside downloads will be the distribution method for games. I think it will… Oh crap. My niece and nephew are back… Cutting it short.
Peace.
The PS Phone will not contain the PSP chipset, so playing existing PSP games would require emulation which is kinda dodgy on the modest Android hardware inside the PS Phone. Besides, if it can play full PSP games, what set's the PSP2 apart from it?
The phone will be Android based, and I am thinking it will feature a virtual machine architecture to allow PSX and PS minis to run in their own virtual machine so the phone can continue operating even if the game crashes. It should be capable of playing/running any Android app, and the extra controls give devs the opportunity to put fully fledged control schemes into games on the phone.
Is there such a thing as "Android hardware"? Is Android a hardware platform (as the article indicate as well)? I thought it was just an operating system?
Android is primarily a software platform that has what they call a reference platform. The reference platform is the baseline hardware for the task. Anything that meets or exceeds that reference platform specification will run Android happily. In these days of platform independence, there is no specific underlying CPU that is required, only a certain amount of performance. Android 3.0 for example requires (as far as I can determine) 1GHZ CPU, 512MB or RAM, displays from 3.5†and higher.
Interestingly, there's a rumor that Motorola will ship an Android 3.0 phone with a bigger screen, greater than 5MP camera, and a 2GHz processor – probably the Tegra2 from Nvidia. I've also seen reports that the Tegra2 is the 'reference' platform for Android 3. The thing is, the last major news about Tegra 2 was that it was way over it's power budget, and since then I've seen nothing to suggest that has been resolved.
We'll see. There is a persistent rumor that sony will put a 5 or 6 inch display in the PSP2. If that is the case it will be larger than a smartphone and smaller than the current crop of tablets. However it would also be physically large enough to house a bigger battery that could potentially allow a more power hungry CPU to be used.
PS phone is a serious waste of money, apple are going to wipe the floor with them!
the Iphone 4 has been out for 6 months and its STILL sold out!
you honestly think the PS phone can compete with that?
GOOD LUCK!
as for the PSP2, i really do hope they release it later next year but price is key.
please sony for once in your life learn from your mistakes!
if its really expensive than its going to sink faster than the titanic!
o, and needs a good launch lineup, and i mean new games, as in games i cant play on my ps3 none of this ps3 to PSP ports like LBP or MNR!
As I pointed out to someone else recently. When the PSP launched people whined that it had too many ports, so the devs concentrated on new games. Then people whined that they couldn't play their favorite franchise on the PSP, and so devs started doing more derivatives of home console games again. They're darned if they do and darned if they done. If the PSP2 launches with an innovative, but unfamiliar game line up, people will whine that there are no established franchises. If the PSP2 launches with a slew of PS3 inspired ports and some PS1/PS2 games for good measure, people will whine to high heaven that there are too many ports.
Perhaps it'd just be easier to evaluate the games that arrive, based on their own merits?
Last edited by TheHighlander on 12/23/2010 2:44:24 AM
Or just link the past-present and future together.
Let developers continue to make fresh new games for the psphone. And the android market will be a great launching pad for these developers.
And let the psp2 have access to all ports via the ps store. One thing that people love are options. Lets not just give you new games, and leave out the old ones. Or just make remakes of old ports, and leave out the fresh ones.
Combine them all effectively, while giving the user options and let them buy what games they want. This will keep the game library fresh. While taking a load off developers backs. Letting them have fun while making fresh games for new comers in the sony community.
Great Post __________ Happy Holidays
why not do both?
that way everyones happy!
i dunno about anyone else, but im not going to spend 300 bucks on a PSP, than 50,60 sometimes 70 bucks on a game just so i can play a game that i have played already on my ps3.
if thats not a waste of money than i dont know what is!
they need to put some new IPs on there, AND some series on there but make them completely different.
make it like ghost of sparta, or peace walker.
yea there series you can play on the ps3, but there not games you can play on the ps3.
thats what the PSP2 and current PSP need games you cant get on the ps3.
the PSP version of LBP and the PSP version of MNR is near identical to the ps3 versions so why own both?
its like owning a Iphone and a Ipod touch.
pointless, no?
It's funny how they say that it would be a great idea to combine a touch screen with physical buttons. It's not at all a fact that Nintendo brought this idea about five years ago LOL.
But anyways, if it'll be good, and most of all, if I'm not a poor bastard when it comes out, I'm definitely going to get it.
Um…actually, Nintendo were simply copying touch interfaces and systems that had been used in the PC and hand held instrument industry for more than a decade. Applying those concepts to a hand held game console are a bit fresh, but it's hardly a unique implementation.
I agree with you. It does seem that they are a little late on implementing both touch screen and physical buttons for one smooth device.
And like you said, Nintendo is the first one to do it in the mainstream gaming market. They definitely took the world by storm with the DS.
Just like virtual motion in gaming wasn't primarily introduced with the wii. It's just that nintendo are marketing geniuses and know how to place their product in front of the eyes of the consumer.
And I wouldn't call it copying at all. It is called innovation. Taking a mere concept and adding onto it. Making it more appealing, a more smooth user experience. And enhancing it's overall capabilities.
So yes, touch and buttons together isn't anything new. But they way it will be innovated and implemented into the user experience will be what the new psp2/psphone will bring.
Let's wait and see. Great Post Faraga.
Well i hope so, you look at the Iphone/Ipod, The Ipod can do everything the iPhone can other than phone services and its 300 pounds cheaper, i dont want to have to pay as much for this ad the PS3 when it was first released.
Though in all honesty i am still hapyy with my FAT PSP-1000, it can play ps1 games and thats all i really want in al fairness.