We all know the PSP2 is coming. It’s a no-brainer and possibly the worst kept secret ever. Yesterday Gavin posted a piece about Sony’s eventual announcement of the PSP2; according to rumours that announcement will be on 27 January 2011. If this is true, then the announcement will come mere days before Nintendo’s 3DS event in Amsterdam, which is when the European and American rollout plans for the 3DS are supposed to be revealed. It seems Sony is not going to give Nintendo a trouble-free launch window in the battle for handheld supremacy.
Now there’s this rumour that’s popped up on the internet: according to Sony, the PSP2 is going to be as powerful as a PS3. This is what the Japanese company is telling the development studios that are getting on board to produce games for the device. That’s not all though: according to website MCV, the PSP2 will have a physical storage medium after all.
The storage medium is unknown for now but Sony has apparently added it to keep retail stores happy. Remember the furore the PSPgo created amongst brick-and-mortar game stores when it launched? Many refused to sell the device simply because the games for it are only distributed online, thereby cutting any sustained revenue stream for retail stores. The physical storage medium is not replacing download-only storage as that feature is apparently still the main focus of the device.
What’s more, according to the same piece on MCV, the PSP2 will launch this festive season but possibly even as early as October 2011.
A PSP2 as powerful as a PS3? It’s a little unbelievable, and when you consider that it’s the manufacturer making these claims, then it gets a little more dicey. Kotaku has pointed out that the original PSP was capable of producing a PS2-like experience on a small scale, so perhaps that is what Sony is getting at? We’ll know more in two weeks if Sony really is making an announcement.
Last Updated: January 13, 2011
Nick de Bruyne
January 13, 2011 at 15:13
Agh BS man. Just ain’t gonna happen. The power of a full-blown home console in your hand that doesn’t weigh a ton and run out of battery in 8 seconds? Just not happening.
e1ace
January 13, 2011 at 16:35
Think of it like this. The PS3 is capable of 1920×1080 and lets say for arguments sake that the PSP2 can do 960×640. That is a pixel difference of almost 3.5 times less. So it can achieve a similar set of graphics but on much less screen size.
So the PS3 technically will be 3.5 times more powerful but so what when you working with a handheld with a ‘tiny’ screen.
Nick de Bruyne
January 13, 2011 at 16:54
No well… you see they are saying that the PSP2 is as powerful as the PS3. Therefore we have to assume that because the PS3 pumps out games in 1080p, when that amount of power is pumped into only 960 x 640, they will have a shitload more spare power on their hands.
Great news everyone! PSP2 games should technically look at least 2-3 times as good as PS3 games!!
fred
January 13, 2011 at 15:19
Will make it easier for developers if it could run the exact same code as on the ps3 , nice but not likely.
DieJason
January 13, 2011 at 16:05
And it can also make an excellent cappucino 😛
Shogunreaper
January 13, 2011 at 18:54
I think it’s very possible that the PSP2 is as powerful as the PS3, i mean its been almost 5 years since the ps3 was released.
M@GE
January 13, 2011 at 18:56
I agree with you @Nick.
Maybe the company exaggerated…a lot!
Kohana
January 16, 2011 at 01:31
I do think that at the reduced resolution of a handheld that PS3 level graphics can happen, but not processing power as a whole.
Sony is famous for exaggerating. They started by saying that the PS2 would have Toy Story quality graphics. They neglected to say that it would only do those graphics with a Toy Story movie DVD in the drive. ^_^
But will it be powerful? I’m not worried about that. I’m sure it will blow the doors off any current gen handheld. Sony’s the only one to be any real competition for Nintendo, but the 3DS does actual 3D without glasses. It’s really going to steal people’s money more so than PSP2. ^_^
I already have PSP2! Phantasy Star Portable 2. ^_^ And that is one fuuuunnnnnnnnnnn take on PSO!