Home Gaming The Sony PlayStation Meeting 2011 is on right now – PSP2 Announced

The Sony PlayStation Meeting 2011 is on right now – PSP2 Announced

3 min read
0

At 8AM local time, Sony began a press conference in Tokyo where they are expected to announce the PSP2. We’re keeping an eye on the live coverage and will be filling you in as the event unfolds.

Hit the jump (and your refresh button!) as we keep you up-to-date.

PlayStation Suite: Sony has announced a new service that will see PlayStation content crossing over onto other platforms. They’ve highlighted Android mobile devices as an example of the platforms able to access the PS Suite, which Sony is claiming will be a “hardware neutral game framework”.

PSP2: It’s been announced at last. It has been dubbed the NGP (New Gaming Portable) for now. The device will be available this holiday season. It’s nothing like the previously leaked images.

  • Will have access to the PlayStation Suite
  • There are dual analogue STICKS and not nubs
  • The device has Sixaxis control
  • Front and rear cameras
  • 5 inch touch-enabled OLED screen
  • There is a 5 inch touchpad on the back as well
  • 3G and Wifi
  • The graphics are PS3 quality
  • The device uses a new storage medium

PSP2 Games: a number of titles have been confirmed for the new handheld. The list is:

  • Uncharted (hells yes!)
  • LittleBigPlanet
  • Resistance
  • Gravity Daze
  • Reality Fighters
  • Wipeout
  • Lost Planet
  • Monster Hunter Portable 3rd
  • Hot Shots Golf
  • Yakuza 4

It also seems like porting PS3 titles to the NGP is really easy. Yakuza 4 was shown as an example of how simple it is for developers to move their larger PS3 games over onto the NGP. Hideo Kojima got up on stage and showed Metal Gear Solid 4 running on the NGP. He did not confirm that the game would come to the new handheld but he used MGS4 as an example of how the NGP can handle PS3 games. Porting really is that effective, but Sony is saying that they’re more than simple ports and the PS3 games on the NGP are being “reborn” to take advantage of the new touch-pads.

Uncharted has been demoed live at the reveal; it looks as good as Uncharted 1 and makes use of the new rear touchpad control as well as the dual analogue sticks (which Sony is referring to as Micro analog sticks).

LiveArea: this is the new user interface for the NGP. It is designed to take advantage of the new touch-enabled inputs. Naturally the PlayStation Store is directly accessible through the UI. The Live Area UI has a built-in live feed communication function. You can see what your friends are playing and you comment on each other’s games. There is a further application called Near that allows your NGP to pick up what others around you are playing; this will presumably help add-hoc multiplayer gaming.

The Future: it sounds as if Sony is hoping that, as time progresses, people will be able to buy a PS3 game, play it on their home console but then move it across to their NGP to keep the gaming experience going on the move. Hideo Kojima was also very excited about this idea and has promised that he’s working on a title that will do something along these lines; that title will be revealed at E3 this year.

Call of Duty: Activision’s Philip Early just went up on stage to announce that the Call of Duty franchise is coming to the NGP. Early said “we believe Call of Duty will set the bar for the next generation of portable gaming” and pointed towards the dual Micro analogue sticks and rear touch-pad as being integral to bringing COD to the NGP.

That’s it! It’s now 09:45 SA time and the conference has ended. Keep an eye on Lazygamer today as we’ll be posting more news as more details emerge. I was secretly hoping that the PSP2 NGP would be something I wouldn’t want; that’s not the case now. Time to sell a kidney!

Live Feed Source: Kotaku

Last Updated: January 27, 2011

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Check Also

Uncharted Movie Passes $100 Million – Sony set to Make a Franchise

After 14 years Sony finally released the Uncharted movie to medium reception. The movie ha…