According to evidence, we should be mere hours away from a PSP2 unveiling, which would be helpful…we could use the ultimate clarification.
The rumors have been flying; not so much that the PSP2 exists (we already know it does), but in regards to the new portable's potential and power. It seems that Sony, in pushing it in the direction of developers, has been saying the PSP2 is "as powerful as the PS3" and so far, at least a few companies have echoed that bold statement. The latest is Codemasters: in speaking to Eurogamer , Codemasters CEO Rod Cousens started by saying "we're at the tip of the iceberg" in terms of portable entertainment and as far as the PSP2 goes:
"In portable areas, you're going to have statements, which are already out in the press, saying PlayStation Portable 2 is as powerful as the PS3 – which is true."
There are many rumors concerning the structure and power of the next PlayStation Portable iteration; it is said to offer 3D support, have a semi-large high-definition screen, boast analog sticks, etc, etc, etc. Perhaps it'll all be cleared up in Japan very soon and we're really hoping that happens…the amount of speculation has reached ridiculous levels.
Let's hope he knows this because they're working on Dirt 3 for both PS3 and PSP2 that are equally good.
What I don't want are these "ports" from PS3 to PSP2. They will ultimately be the same versions. It'll give developers excuses to cut back on content and to make you buy both versions like in Assassin's Creed for PSP. I want PSP2 only games.
If it means you can get certain games in PS3 quality on the go I actually wouldn't mind some PS3>PSP2 ports as long as they don't butcher'em. Like Uncharted – would you hate on it if they ported over the first game?
Shared trophy support between the two, letting you log on to your PSN account with the PSP2 would be cool as well. Oh and same with the saves. Then it'd be like how the PSX games work right now.
Last edited by Feregrin on 1/26/2011 11:41:19 AM
"As powerful as the ps3" is a really vague statement. Do they mean its equal in raw power (very unlikely), has the some processing power per pixel (more likely), or any other means of measuring it?
Last edited by NoSmokingBandit on 1/26/2011 10:41:13 AM
agreed!
besides, if it is going to be just like a ps3 "supposedly" then what would be the need for ps3 owners to buy a psp2… yeah you could say "you could play ps3 on the go" yeah well i dont really care about being able to play my ps3 whenever!
I too agree
the thing that even if you forced an all PS3 into a handheld device you will get a lot benefit for harvesting its all power since the screen size will not be able to show all elements as it was on a real HDTV , only if we are playing with magnification lenses , that would be funny
I still think the power of consoles should be judged by how many 'bits' they can put out.
Sooooo… how many bits does the PSP2 have?
Is that how many bits per seconf on the Ethernet port, the USB port, the HDMI port? Is it how many bits of processing the CPU has? Are you talking about the fill rate of the GPU? the number of polygons per second? Shader ops per second? Texture ops per second? Floating point operations per second? double precision floating point ops? what 'bits' are you referring to?
I have no clue. NES was 8 bit. Genesis was 16.. or 32… not really sure. N64 was 64.. What did these numbers refer to? Graphics? Processing something… lol I don't know. These are the bits I'm referring to. Throw me a bone Highlander!
Haha, it's not that consoles and portables aren't judged by bits, it's much harder to really play on bits since they're more pc-like than console, boasting most of what a pc is built of. Gpu' s are listed by bits (128 & 256 are common denominators today) but these numbers mean very little in the processing world, since there are so many departments in just an gpu to look at. Then, go ahead and confuse yourself with more numbers with an cpu, which also come in different shapes and sizes…
Long story short, you need to start reading up on an modern console you own and/or others you've played to get an idea of what means what and how it's used… Or! You can keep gaming and not let it bother you.. 😉
That kind of bit refers to how bit a data item the processor can work with. 8-bit, 16-bit, 32bit and 64bit systems. The 8-bit game and home computer systems were those in the late 790's thru the early 80s. In the early-mid 80s we shifted to 16 bit processors in things like PCs, and then ultimately game consoles. Sega and Nintendo used 16-bit technology. Then in the 90s we shifted to 32-bit technology with things like the PlayStation, and then at the end of the 90s the PlayStation 2. None of the present game consoles use 64-bit processors. They're all 32-bit processors. 32-bit processors are generally limited in the amount of memory they can use because the largest memory address they can handle is 32bits long, which means you effectively have a 4GB limitation. 64-bit CPUs are a lot more complex to make. It doesn't actually affect the speed of the system much unless you have to have more than 4Gb of RAM. The CellBE in the PS3 has floating point capabilities that allow it to work on double precision floating point numbers that are 64-bits in size.
To give you an idea of how powerful the SPEs (sometimes called SPUs)in the CellBE are, they can operate on four 32-bit integers, or four single precision floating point numbers in a single clock cycle, as well as performing a memory operation, within the same clock cycle. in the PS3, the Cell has 7 SPEs, and one of them is dedicated to security. Each SPE is capable of a theoretical maximum of 25.6 GFLOPs (billion floating point operations per second). With six available, that means a game can draw on about 154 GFLOPs. Performance on double precision numbers is not nearly so good because the processor has to run multiple operations per calculation to do double precision work.
What it comes down to is that 32-bits can be as fast as you want. 64-bit processors are bigger and more complex, but in the world of double precision math, 64-bits is where you have to be in hardware for the best performance. There are systems with 32-bit processor cores and 64-bit floating point units. So, you can have the best of both worlds…
@Nemo, the 128 bit / 256 bit specs of video cards refers to the width of the memory bus, not necessarily the processing capability.
Oh, and…
Highlander's brain melts…
Last edited by TheHighlander on 1/26/2011 3:06:02 PM
That made my head hurt. I miss bits too. As kids we didn't have a clue what they were except more was better. As such, nobody understood how the Jaguar had 64 bits and couldn't do anything the N64 could so they attacked its structure and said it wasn't really 64 bits.
Loved my old Jag though. Dreamcast too, 128 bits baby. PS2 I think was the same. By that measurement PS3 is probably 640 bits (Just pretending it is a measuring stick.)
Last edited by WorldEndsWithMe on 1/26/2011 4:00:40 PM
Very Unlikely!
As powerful as a PS3?
Oh come on Mr.Cousens. The PS3 has a 3.2GHz processor capable of 200+ GFLOPS! Even if Sony recruited the best minds in the industry and the most leading edge manufacturing techniques, they'd need pixie dust to tease that kind of performance out of anything available or projected to be available in the mobile processor sphere. I mean, you're talking about a CPU with one dual issue Power PC core, and 7 dual issue SPU cores specifically built for floating point performance, all running at 3.2GHz. There really isn't anything in the mobile space that can match that computing performance.
But then again this is a CEO talking, and he says it's as "powerful", not that it offers the same performance.
Last edited by TheHighlander on 1/26/2011 10:59:20 AM
I thought when they say it's as powerful, they meant it can do the same polygons and processing, but with a much lower resolution. Highlander, do you think it's even possible to do so and still maintain a reasonable battery life?
and you can also mention the high power demand by the processor , I think that we should need a car battery to carry along with the PSP2
Even though the PSP2 has roughly half the processing power as the PS3 CELL, it boasts more video RAM than the PS3 and will only need to draw images less than half the resolution as the PS3.
In terms of performance when speaking about "power" of the devices, I'd have to agree that the PSP2 is capable of dishing PS3 quality titles.
Last edited by Nynja on 1/26/2011 12:08:00 PM
@Abu
Oh, I'me mentioned the power envelope before. Even if this thing has a battery twice the size of the one in the PSP it's not going to have enough juice to go 4+ hours with a processor even close to being as fast as a CellBE running at 1GHz.
@Godsman
No, if the CPU has the same number of available cycles as a Cell at 3.2GHz, then it's at best fictional. Anything capable of that many clock cycles either has many more cores of a similar clock speed. Either of which drives the power use through the roof. In terms of the number of polygons per second or fill rates of shader operations or whatever other metric a GPU is measured by, I don't think that it's reasonable to believe that a mobile processor could easily match the total capability of the RSX. The RSX isn't a particularly quick GPU by current standards though, so it's possible that a mobile GPU could get within a significant fraction of the performance of the RSX in some respects.
I mean, there are some very powerful systems on a chip, but they all top out at about 1.2-1.5GHz, which is less than half the clock on a cellBE in a PS3.
@Nynja,
The PSP2 is rumored to have up to 1GB of RAM to play with, and that certainly can help take some of the load off the GPU. It would allow developers to include a lot more graphics data that has been pre-processed instead of forcing the GPU to create it on the fly. But it doesn't make the system as powerful as the PS3. I mentioned a couple of weeks or so ago, that the PSP2 may come with as much as 1GB of RAM. Such a technique could give us games that have a similar visual look as early PS3 titles. But, the appearance of the game is only one aspect of what the PS3 with Cell can do for a game. Without the massive SPU performance of the Cell, some things will be extremely challenging to do on a handheld, even with 1GB of memory to play with.
Last edited by TheHighlander on 1/26/2011 12:34:16 PM
@Highlander
If pixie dust can work for wendy and peter, it can work for sony. It should be pretty easy for them to think happy thoughts this year.
Underdog.
What if Pixie Dust is the trade name for a secret 4 SPE coprocessor developed from the Spurs engine made by Toshiba? 😉
An arc reactor could keep the PSP2 going and going and going.
I'm sure the PSP2 claims are being made on relativity. That is, PSP2's graphics relative to the size of a handheld will look similar to a PS3's relative to an HDTV. But it's ridiculous to think they've managed to place the PS3's abilities into a small handheld. If that were the case, the PS3 would already have been re-re-designed at a far smaller size and weight to lower production costs and shipping weights.
THe PSP2 will NOT render games at a full 720p pixel resolution. Even the iPhone 4's retina display is well below 720p @ 960×640 (that's right, a step above a SDTV) and the individual pixels on a 3.5" screen are virtually invisible to the human eye.
I want some connectivity between the PSP2 and PS3. These news are making me itch in excitement.
I know im asking for too much… but I wish the PSP2 to have cutting edge technology but a low price at the same time. Thank you Sony!!
Oh I think a strong relationship between PS3 and PSP2 is a foregone conclusion.
Hope the Psp2 can be used has a pad on the Ps3 that would be cool.
And DS3 for the PSP2, like they let us do in Resistance Retribution.
It's good to hear but I'm a bit concerned about the price. Hope it costs less than a PS3.
I bet it costs the same out of the gate.
Since its rumored that it will gold a 3G connectivity would that means it will have a mobile phone device within ,
I think its a high possibility but since there are couple of devices with 3G connectivity that dosent support Phone calling like the Ipad
I would really like to see that happening as an option for consumers
Holy **** then it's true :O
In UK the PSP GO!! costs the same as a PS3 and more than 360. I like to think SONY learn from their mistakes and make it affordable and competitive.
If they keep the price low they could easily make profit with PS Store sales for PSP2 and the PSP Phone is looking good
http://www.engadget.com/2011/01/26/sony-ericsson-xperia-play-playstation-phone-preview/
Hi:
Well, I hope they don't forget the BASICS and put two analog Joysticks, L1 R1 & R2 L2. It's a little stupid to put a "Camera Free" game on the PSP. MGS Peace Walker could be the BEST experience with two analogs..
Red 5.
Considering the details of the PSPhone have been leaked, does anyone get the feeling that Sony's reveal was to pertain to that rather than this?
Well, with more people coming out and saying the same thing about the PSP2, I don't really see how each and every one of them could be wrong. Of course, in terms of pure processing power, there is no way in hell that it's equal, but there are other ways. Will wait anxiously for anything official.
Peace.
You don't mean that this guy is thinking "It has only a quarter of the processing power, but 4 times the memory so it evens out…." ?
That would be a tragic error.
Not at all. But perhaps with better memory, and a more powerful GPU, the lack of CPU may be evened out somewhat, and this would be aided by the smaller screen as they wouldn't need to push it as hard to get similar results.
EDIT: Although… if the form factor is similar to that found in the launch PSP, only without the UMD drive, would that not leave quite a bit of space in the device to perhaps double up on processors, serving to make it more powerful? Would that be possible?
Last edited by Lawless SXE on 1/26/2011 12:49:09 PM
You'd be better doubling the battery, whatever CPU you use, higher clocks and more cores = bigger battery consumption.
@Lawless,
I don't think size and form factor helps the processing power that much. It frees up some space for a larger cooling system or battery, but I think they have limitations. With room to spare, Sony probably rather reduce the size of the device rather than give you a hefty battery. Look at PSP Go, everything was shrunk.
Godsman,
The PSP2 is more of a sub-tablet handheld. It's going to have a 5-inch or bigger screen – apparently. So there will be room for a nice big battery.
The Playstation phone is more the kind of direction you're talking about.
The hell with this! I want backwards compatibility on my PS3!
ahem… and it'll be too expensive.
i'd rather play shadow of the colossus and ico in hd then on my ps2 now.
Ya I miss RE4…
Maybe a RE hd collection is coming too
That would be awesome.
RE collection is coming… with ALL-NEW action controls! muhahaha
@ Kiryu – You speak truth
As aforementioned, I would like it if I could at least share my PSN games between the PS3 and PSP2. I just bought Peggle, Shatter, and Soldner X2 from the 50% off sale. I wouldn't mind playing a graphically inferior version if I my stats are saved between the two.
That is amazing. I can't wait to see what it looks like.
9 more hours for the announcement.
probably 9 more hours + another 45 minutes of introduction and sales progress.