Sony Says PSP2 "As Powerful as PS3"

Jason writes "Sony is reportedly pitching the PSP2 as a high-end portable equivalent to its PS3. The gaming content on the platform will clearly differentiate the handheld from Apple's and Google's mobile products as well as the games found on the App Store and the Android Market. The company will reveal the first concrete details regarding the handheld in Tokyo on January 27. This is a month before Nintendo's 3DS platform goes on sale in Japan. Sony is already planning to reveal more at GDC and E3 after the initial announcement this month."

Comments

As powerful?

[Shikaku]

OK. But what's the battery life?

Re:As powerful?

[elysiuan]

This is a good question and I think it speaks to a larger trend in the handheld market. Nintendo, the undisputed leader of the console handheld market for many years, has traditionally always made their handhelds a but underpowered with respect to the technologies of the day. One of the driving factors of this was battery life which they have excelled in.

Now with the advent of the 3ds they seem to be bucking that trend with a 5 hour battery life.

Now that the push among handheld makers is to provide higher fidelity experiences it seems users of the next generation of handhelds will have to get used to much shorter battery life times.

Battery technology is lagging behind a bit. I'm curious to see how this all plays out in the next 5 years or so as our love of powerful portable devices continues to grow.

Re:As powerful?

[Mitchell314]

Uh, I think the 360 does use Xenon, which is PPC.
I know it's not x86, since IIRC there was a discussion somewhere about porting x86 code to the original xbox, which would be feasible. The 360 was mentioned as being unworkable in having alien architecture.

Of course

[Yvan256]

And of course, because of magic, nobody can remember the over-hyped "PS2 emotion engine" and the "PS3 is so powerful it's going to last 10 years" marketing.

If the PSP2 is as powerful as the PS3, why is the PS3 Slim still so big?

Re:Of course

[lavacano201014]

Hard drive, Blu-Ray drive, ethernet, I think there might be some Bluetooth in there...

Re:Of course

[tapo]

Because you're rendering at 720p-1080p on a PS3. When you're rendering at 320x240, you can pull off a lot of neat tricks without needing that much processing power. Aside from that, you have the blu-ray and hard drive taking up valuable space.

The PSP came out during the PS2's lifespan, and easily looked just as good.

Re:Of course

[jokermatt999]

"PS3 is so powerful it's going to last 10 years" It may not last 10 years (I can't see 5 years into the future), but it seems like it's going past the usual 5 year lifespan for consoles. That's pretty noteworthy, in my opinion. I think there's probably a liiiittle bit of marketing hype in claiming a handhold will get the same power as a PS3. Like others have said, I can't see a way to do that and have any meaningful battery life. I'd imagine there would be heating issues as well. In a closed room, a PS3 turned on for a while works almost as well as a space heater (yes, I've actually used it like that before. Don't judge me).

Re:Of course

[Zelgadiss]

"PS3 is so powerful it's going to last 10 years"

Oh it will last 10 years alright.

Not because it so powerful that no one wanted an upgrade, but because both MS and Sony blew a huge amount of money this generation and the next generation will cost just as much to develop.

They can now either:
-sit back and collect money
or
-risk several billion launching a new console

I think it's obvious why they are in no hurry.

All this has happened before,

[PhrostyMcByte]

and all this will happen again. Anyone who's been around long enough will remember that Sony has a history of exaggeration when it comes to their consoles.

My guess is that it'll have a modern programmable GPU with even more features than the PS3 has. Some guy in marketing heard that, and suddenly it's more powerful than the PS3.

Re:All this has happened before,

[CaseM]

Just like the PS2 has "Toy Story" graphics and the PS3 will deliver a "4D" experience. Yep, I remember.

Figures

[Simmeh]

Figures the first 4 posts sum up the /. crowd.

- HATE Sony
- Laugh at hype
- Panic over battery life
- Linux support

Re:Figures

[Vectormatic]

you forgot:

- blase guy bitching about /. crowd

Re:Figures

[Hogwash McFly]

Burma Shave.

I hope it re-uses some PS3 code

[zepo1a]

you know.. to save money..like

getRandomNumber()
{
RETURN 4
} :)

mini Cell

[oh-dark-thirty]

Rumor is that Sony has developed a mini quad-core Cell processor for PSP2.

http://www.pspworld.com/sony-psp/news/mini-4-core-cell-processor-is-feasible-for-psp-2-012424.php

This is fucking brilliant.

[seebs]

I think Sony has finally figured out Nintendo's weakness. When Nintendo comes out with something that fundamentally changes the nature of interaction with the gaming device, Sony needs to hit them, hard, with something more powerful that doesn't try to change anything else. This has never been tried before and is sure to result in immense profits and market domination.

Yes, but...

[Syberz]

Yes, but will it have more than 2-3 games that are actually worth playing on it?

I mean, there must be a reason why for every PSP I see someone using, I also see 10-12 people with a Nintendo DS?

Re:Yes, but...

[seebs]

I have both. I have I think five games for my PSP and 50-some for my DS.

Meh

[pizzach]

I am slowly falling out of love with modern games. I value quietness over loud fans. I value battery power over slightly better graphics. I value gameplay over quick time events. I value playing a game over waiting for load time. I don't mind realizing that I am playing a game when I am playing a game.

I know a bunch of people grew up with these things I mentioned above and think it is normal and "the way it should be" (tm), but it just isn't my cup of tea. As with the PSP, it looks like the PSP2 will bring more of the same. There is a growing gaming culture pigionholing the definition of what a good game has to be.