Sony PSP2 - Next Generation Portable handheld announced

Sony Next Generation Portable announced
Sony Next Generation Portable announced
  • Update: See the latest details on the Sony NGP

Sony has finally shown off the successor to the PSP, with what it is currently calling the Sony Next Generation Portable.

Announced at a Tokyo press event, the NGP (hasn't quite got the same ring to it as the PSP2) has Sony SixAxis controls (which means dual analogue sticks) and two cameras, front and rear.

There's also much bigger screen on the device than than PSP - a 5-inch OLED screen with 960 x 544 resolution.

There's a touch pad on the front and rear of the device and it has been given Flash memory.

Couple this with 3G and WiFi, the NGP looks like a killer device.That's not all, Sony is saying the NGP has graphics to rival the PS3 and all of its games will be PlayStation 3 compatible.

PSP2

To prove this Kaz Hirai from Sony showed off Uncharted on the NGP, as well as LittleBigPlanet and Resistance.

In the Uncharted demo it was shown how the innovative touch panel will work. Essentiallly, you can use this for more detailed parts of the game, like climbing up mountains, and you can touch the panel to move the character around.

The Sony Next Generation Portable also has something called LiveArea UI - this is and interface for gamers that logs them into downloadable content from the PSN.

Worldwide studios boss Shuhei Yoshida said about the NGP: "You can tilt the console and you can see the images clearly from every angle.

"The most frequent request from PSP users was to add a right-side analog stick.

"We developed this 'micro analog stick'. Despite its small size, it delivers a Dualshock experience"

There's no PlayStation Next Generation Portable UK release date as of yet and pricing is to be announced.

Sony has also announced that there will be a number of PlayStation Certified devices coming out, which makes the brand platform agnostic.

This points the way for the much rumoured PlayStation Phone, which is based on the Android OS.

More to follow...

Marc Chacksfield

Marc Chacksfield is the Editor In Chief, Shortlist.com at DC Thomson. He started out life as a movie writer for numerous (now defunct) magazines and soon found himself online - editing a gaggle of gadget sites, including TechRadar, Digital Camera World and Tom's Guide UK. At Shortlist you'll find him mostly writing about movies and tech, so no change there then.