Sony NGP / PSP2

NGP under £200 ?

noreply@blogger.com (Tim Norris) — Mon, 14 Feb 2011 09:53:00 +0000

It would seem so. Market indicators are pointing towards a cheaper than expected price range for the new Sony-produced handheld.ShopTo’s marketing manager Phil Driver has stated that he is expecting the console to land at the cheaper end of the range with a tiny £200 price tag. While we doubt that very much he has shown that there is some good interest in the console for launch. ”Our community is very interested in the NGP and many have pre-ordered it already,” he stated.

Other companies are being a little more realistic with their price points CHIPS Joint MD, Don McGabe stated that:”Sony has to stay sub-£300, it can justify up to £300 with all the capabilities the NGP has, but anything above that – forget it.” He continued ”If Sony can expand on its innovative touch pad with the right amount of Android games, then the machine may even outperform the Nintendo 3DS.”

While some other companies think that the console will retail closer to the 3DS’ price at £229. But Gameseek’s MD Stephen Staley aired the probable out come being somewhat more expensive. ”It would be fantastic for Sony to price match the 3DS with an RRP of £229.99, but I believe this will be unrealistic. I think it will probably be more like £299.99.”

While we all hope that the console retails at a lower price point, it seems that it could be up to £300 that we are expected to lay down at launch.

I don't think that £200 is likely though it's what it should be - what do you think?

Source: CVG via Made 2 Game

Sony reveal more games for the NGP

noreply@blogger.com (Tim Norris) — Wed, 02 Feb 2011 10:19:00 +0000

A new video has been released by Sony highlighting some of the forthcoming games that you could be seeing on our NGP / PSP2.

I like the look of KillZone and of LittleBigPlanet will be a no-brainer purchase. There are some interesting looking games - take a look.

Added to Blog Catalog

noreply@blogger.com (Tim Norris) — Sat, 29 Jan 2011 17:27:00 +0000

I have just added this Blog to Blog Catalog.

Sony NGP / PSP2 - PowerVR GPU

noreply@blogger.com (Tim Norris) — Sat, 29 Jan 2011 12:19:00 +0000

Imagination Technologies

PowerVR SGX Series5 GPU

If you want your mind blown go read up on the details here -
http://www.imgtec.com/powervr/sgx_series5.asp

Sony NGP / PSP2 - Cortex-A9 Processor

noreply@blogger.com (Tim Norris) — Sat, 29 Jan 2011 12:06:00 +0000

ARM Cortex 9

Sony has abandoned the internally developed MIPS architecture that powered the PSP, and has opted for an ARM processor, with a PowerVR graphics processing unit. This puts the machine inline with massive majority of high-end smartphones: ARM reckons 95% of all current mobile handsets have application processors based on its IP, while Imagination Technologies, the developer of the PowerVR graphics chipset, claims 200 current models feature its technology. ARM and PowerVR chips are in the Apple iPad as well as high profile Google handsets such as the Galaxy S.

Cortex-A9 Processor

The ARM Cortex™-A9 processor provides unprecedented levels of performance and power efficiency making it an ideal solution for designs requiring high performance in low power or thermally constrained cost-sensitive devices.

Available as either a single core or configurable multicore processor, with both synthesizable or hard-macro implementations available. This processor can scale across a wide variety of applications while enabling a consistent software investment across multiple markets.

The Cortex-A9 processors are the highest performance ARM processors implementing the full richness of the widely supported ARMv7 architecture. Designed around the most advanced, high efficiency, dynamic length, multi-issue superscalar, out-of-order, speculating 8-stage pipeline, the Cortex-A9 processors deliver unprecedented levels of performance and power efficiency with the functionality required for leading edge products across the broad range of consumer, networking, enterprise and mobile applications.

The Cortex-A9 microarchitecture is delivered within either a scalable multicore processor, the Cortex-A9 MPCore™ multicore processor, or as a more traditional processor, the Cortex-A9 single core processor. Supporting the configuration of 16, 32 or 64KB four way associative L1 caches, with up to 8MB of L2 cache through the optional L2 cache controller, the scalable multicore processor and the single processor provide the broadest flexibility and are each suited to specific applications and markets.

http://www.arm.com/products/...cortex-a9

Sony NGP: behind the specs | The Guardian

noreply@blogger.com (Tim Norris) — Sat, 29 Jan 2011 11:56:00 +0000

Sony's NGP, demonstrated by Worldwide Studios president Shuhei Yoshida at the launch in Tokyo this week. Photograph: Toru Yamanaka/AFP/Getty Images

Announced yesterday to a generally positive response, Sony is billing its NGP console as the next generation in handheld gaming. Due out at the end of the year, the sleekly designed device boasts a 5in OLED screen, multi-touch control pad, twin analogue sticks, front and rear cameras, and 3G connectivity. But perhaps the most intriguing element is hidden away inside the machine.

Crucially, Sony has abandoned the internally developed MIPS architecture that powered the PSP, and has opted for an ARM processor, with a PowerVR graphics processing unit. This puts the machine inline with massive majority of high-end smartphones: ARM reckons 95% of all current mobile handsets have application processors based on its IP, while Imagination Technologies, the developer of the PowerVR graphics chipset, claims 200 current models feature its technology. ARM and PowerVR chips are in the Apple iPad as well as high profile Google handsets such as the Galaxy S.

The appeal of both these technologies is obvious: relatively high performance at ultra-low power consumption. The Kings Langley-based Imagination has been developing graphics acceleration hardware since the mid-90s, and the first-generation of the PowerVR GPU chipset in the NGP was developed for the Sega Dreamcast, which, with its watercooled architecture, was a much more power efficient console than its greedy and noisy successors. From here, the company set out to specialise in the mobile market.

"The 3D technology we supply is different from mainstream desktop 3D technologies," says Imagination spokesman David Harold. "We have an approach named tile-based deferred rendering, which means we only draw objects that are going to be visible to the end-user, and we process the majority of the information on the chip rather than constantly reading and writing off to external memory. That means lower power requirements and a much better performance and efficiency within mobile systems."

ARM, too, has a focus on wringing high performance out of lower power. "The Cortex A9 gives an approximate raw performance of 2.5 DMIPS/Mhz," says marketing director Jim Wallace. "If you compare that to an Intel Atom, a dual-core A9 running at 800MGhz gives you a performance that's similar to a hyper-threaded Atom running at 1.6ghz. So you can run the A9 at significantly lower frequency, which means lower power, but the same performance."

And the NGP is operating at the upper end of these processor ranges. Its quad-core Arm Cortex A9 processor possibly won't be found anywhere else this year. "Most of the phones currently on the market use the Arm Cortex A8," says Dan Grabham, editor of Tech Radar. "The A9 is just emerging now and the phones we'll see announced at the Mobile World Congress in February will certainly be A9-based. We reckon the NGP will use a Texas Instruments OMAP 4 processor (Arm licenses its IP to chipset manufacturers who then build their own chips around the technology) – certainly dual-core variants of that are coming out soon, and they're already coupled with the PowerVR graphics as well."

Even the high-end phones and tablet computers that do feature A9 technology – for example, the BlackBerry PlayBook tablet, the Motorola Droid Bionic and the LG Optimus 2 – are all dual-core implementations. Chip manufacturers such as Nufront. Nec and nVidia are working on products that feature quad-core A9 tech, but we're not expecting announcements until much later in the year.

Of course, more cores doesn't necessarily equate to more processing power. It's interesting that Epic's Tim Sweeney declared at the NGP launch that the product is four times more powerful than any other handheld device out there – perhaps referring to standards like the Apple iPad, which only uses a single Arm core. But processor performance depends on myriad factors including clock speed and implementation with the OS. At the very least, a multicore set-up allows processing tasks to be shared between cores, which reduces the frequency and voltage and therefore power consumption – good news when battery life is an issue.

Meanwhile, the PowerVR SGX543 graphics processing unit is the latest addition to Imagination's SGX range, offering support for Open-GL as well as shader-based graphics – the fundaments of console gaming visuals. It also boasts a real-world performance of 35m polygons-per-second, and promises ultra smooth HD visuals – and that's a single core iteration, the NGP implementation is MP4, a quad-core architecture.

And again, very few other manufacturers are implementing multi-core SGX GPUs as this stage. "There are more than 10 chip designs going on using our SGX multi-core technology right now," says David Harold. "But only two of them are in the public domain: a mobile phone and tablet focused product from Renesas – and that's SGX MP2 – and this one from Sony which is MP4."

So the NGP specifications are advanced right now. But as we've mentioned, mobile phone development moves fast, and manufacturers will be announcing smartphones, and the emerging new class of superphones, with quad-core ARM and PowerVR chipsets by the end of the year. So should Sony be worried that, at some point in the next few months, a handset is announced that trumps this flagship gaming machine for specs?

"I think the brief answer is no," says Harold. "And in fact, what Sony will do is benefit from the huge ecosystem of developers that has built up around mobile phones and mobile phone gaming. They will be able to move these skillsets toward Sony's business model."

And actually, it could be this proximity to smartphone design that really aids the NGP and shapes Sony's handheld business model going forward. Through the use of ARM architecture, the company is making its device accessible to a whole new community of developers.

As Wallace claims, "ARM has done a tremendous amount of work with Google over the years – we're its lead technology partner. A lot of the technologies that have been implemented in phones are specific to ARM, in terms of the native development kits. There are a whole host of gamesthat work foremost on ARM – the classic example is Angry Birds: a lot of the code is ARM-based."

At the same time, Sony's PlayStation Suite concept, which will make PlayStation-quality titles available on Android phones, is a means of capturing a massive audience of casual gamers, currently frustrated by the Android Market. "PlayStation Suite is really interesting," says veteran mobile technology analyst, Stuart Dredge.

"Android gaming has been a real wasteland. At the Mobile Games Forum in London on Wednesday, developers were queuing up to say how annoyed they are with Android Market, how they couldn't sell games on it. Something like 300,000 new Google Android devices are being activated daily, but gaming has been a real issue. So there's this huge market of Android owners looking for games, and Sony could fill that gap."

Dredge also sees the NGP's 3G implementation as a key factor. "I use the Wi-Fi facility on my PSP, but you have to be in one place to use it, you can't be travelling. So the idea of a handheld console with 3G connectivity is really exciting, because as a developer you'll be able to assume connectivity. This should lead to many more highly connected titles, and of course social games – integrating things like Facebook connectivity becomes more viable if you can depend on the fact that the device will be connected to a network."

Of course, this issue may well be muddied slightly by the possibility that Sony will release different versions of the console, some with Wi-Fi only, and some with both Wi-Fi and 3G (just like Apple did with iPad, and Amazon did with Kindle), but with no firm release or pricing details, we'll have to wait and see.

Ultimately, those writing the NGP off as another niche piece of gaming equipment for hardcore Sony fans, are being a little unfair. With its smartphone-style architecture, it is opening up the development environment to a vibrant eco-system of Android coders, and with 3G connectivity, there are possibilities for VoIP calls and other connected services. In a marketplace soon to be stuffed with netbooks, tablets, smartphones and superphones, the NGP ill find it difficult to compete on those terms – but then it will also boast high-end console games.

Meanwhile, pitching it against the Nintendo 3DS is not really accurate either, just as the old PSP vs DS battle was a total mismatch. The NGP's biggest problem is that its going to be operating in a niche of its own, hovering between high-end handheld console and mainstream feature-rich mobile computing device.

The price is likely to reflect this. I'd hazard a guess at £300-350, putting it between the 3DS and the iPad. It will have to draw every single benefit from its superlative architecture to perform in that space.

SOURCE - Guardian

Uncharted on the New PSP2 / NGP

noreply@blogger.com (Tim Norris) — Thu, 27 Jan 2011 20:09:00 +0000

I have nothing to say - just let the video buffer and watch in delight!

This video show off the new controls and accelerometer use in a new Uncharted game that looks to be designed specifically and of course exclusively for the NPG.

Smart move SONY.. All the news today has hyped this system, but in the same breath compared it he mobile phone gaming. The is a fear that it could fail against the huge success of the Nintendo DS and Mobile Apps which would be cheaper..

Put an exclusive title like Uncharted on the device and you are certain to gain some customers..

On NGP, we can enjoy the same quality as PS3: Kojima

noreply@blogger.com (Tim Norris) — Thu, 27 Jan 2011 11:58:00 +0000

Hideo Kojima has said Sony’s new NGP is every bit as powerful as the PS3, and says that he’ll reveal a new game at E3, which we imagine will back this up.

Speaking on stage during Sony’s Meeting in Japan, Kojima said that he hoped to create a title which you could play at home on your PS3 and then continue to play on the move with NGP, which sounds absolutely fantastic.

“On NGP, we can enjoy the same quality as PS3,” Kojima said.

“When we launched Peace Walker for PSP, this is what I said: In the near future there will be a world of cloud computing… I really believe that you can have a portable MGS and Peace Walker was an experiment for the cloud computing future. NGP allows this cloud computing.”

“What I’d like to realize is playing on your PS3, and when you go out, you put the game on your NGP, and when you come back home, you can once again use your PS3 and large screen TV.”

“This dream is going to come true in the near future. And right now, I’m working on this project of the dream. I’m sorry, I can’t reveal this now. But we’d like to present what we’re doing at E3″

NGP is due to release later this year.

Thanks, CVG - Via - Made 2 Game

NGP / PSP2: Official tech specs unveiled

noreply@blogger.com (Tim Norris) — Thu, 27 Jan 2011 11:10:00 +0000

Sony has detailed the exact technical specifications of its PSP2 console - or NGP, as the platform holder is calling it.You can find the hot and heavy stats below. They include a five inch OLED screen capable of displaying 16 million colours and the Six Axis motion control capability.

Sony officially announced the device first thing this morning, confirming that it has two touch-screens on the front and back of the device, two thumbsticks and a five inch OLED screen.

CPU
ARM CortexTM-A9 core (4 core)

GPU
SGX543MP4+

External Dimensions
Approx. 182.0 x 18.6 x 83.5mm (width x height x depth) (tentative, excludes largest projection)

Screen
5 inches (16:9), 960 x 544, Approx. 16 million colors, OLED

(Touch screen)
Multi-touch screen (capacitive type)
Rear touch pad
Multi-touch pad (capacitive type)

Cameras
Front camera, Rear camera

Sound
Built-in stereo speakers
Built-in microphone

Sensors
Six-axis motion sensing system (three-axis gyroscope, three-axis accelerometer), Three-axis electronic compass

Location
Built-in GPS
Wi-Fi location service support

Keys / Switches
PS button
Power button
Directional buttons (Up/Down/Right/Left)
Action buttons (Triangle, Circle, Cross, Square)
Shoulder buttons (Right/Left)
Right stick, Left stick
START button, SELECT button
Volume buttons (+/-)

Wireless communications
Mobile network connectivity (3G)
IEEE 802.11b/g/n (n = 1x1)(Wi-Fi) (Infrastructure mode/Ad-hoc mode)
Bluetooth 2.1+EDR ?A2DP/AVRCP/HSP?

SOURCE - ComputerAndVideoGames.com

PSP2 - NGP - More Powerful than any other Handheld

noreply@blogger.com (Tim Norris) — Thu, 27 Jan 2011 10:58:00 +0000

Can this really be true?

Well Epic Games has claimed that the graphical processing power of Sony’s new NGP is four times as powerful as any other handheld gaming device in existence.

According to studio founder Tim Sweeney, who was showing off an updated version of Epic Citadel, the first Epic title to hit the iPhone and iPad, it’s all to do with what’s under the hood of the impressive looking device.
“This is made possible by Sony’s multi-core GPU,” he said, “which is roughly four times as powerful as any portable we’ve previously seen.”
Sweeney also went on to show off an NGP version of Epic’s Dungeon Defenders, which he said offered “console controls for movement and touch screen controls for interaction.”
Sweeney finally wrapped up by saying just how impressive Sony’s new device is, “we’re very excited and think you’ll be stunned at what’s possible on Sony’s next generation portable platform.”
The NGP is due out later this year.

SOURCE (via www.made2game.com) CVG.

SONY NGP Announced

noreply@blogger.com (Tim Norris) — Thu, 27 Jan 2011 10:46:00 +0000

Sony have unvield the lastest addtion to the psp family dubbed NGP (next generation portable) there have been many rumours surround this piece of kit . IT will be more powerful than a ps3 becoming the most famous and we have confirmation of this via the US PS blog
“With NGP we carry on this rich history of redefining industry standards and raising the bar for consumer expectations for what portable gaming can deliver. Designed to blur the lines between interactive entertainment and reality, the NGP will offer Wi-Fi and 3G network connectivity. The 5-inch OLED front multi-touch display will bring brilliant images to life and the multi-touch pad on the rear will allow users to engage with the game and characters with a simple movement of their fingertips. Additionally, services created specifically for NGP will be available on PlayStation Network. These services are designed help users take their gameplay, as well as interaction with other gamers, to new levels.”
Also rather important we all know that content is critical to the success for all of our platforms. I’m pleased to share that your favorite franchises will be coming to NGP, including Uncharted and Call of Duty.”
Also announced this evening was PlayStation Suite, an entirely new initiative from PlayStation that will provide fans with the opportunity to enjoy PlayStation content on an open operating system for the first time in PlayStation history. PlayStation Suite will work with Android based.
For more details come back to this dedicated NGP Blog..

SOURCE - Made 2 Game