Rather than follow the traditional five to six-year production cycle of video-game
consoles, Sony is expected to introduce a upgraded version of the play-station portable in
Japan before the end of March of 2007. It will not be a "PSP 2," however Sony is instead
eyeing a Page from Apple's iPod strategy and upgrading the existing PSP's specifications
while keeping the retail price the same. It is also expected that as, Apple dose with it's
generational iPod rollouts, the current PSP configuration will be discontinued when the
new model goes on sale.
Sales of the handheld continue to be strong more than year and a half that it was realized
in the US. It is believed that combination of strong sales and plans for a enhanced version
of the system is what has prevented Sony from dropping the price of the current PSP
hardware itself. Instead they introduce a core pack earlier this year which offered a lower
priced alternative at the expenses of perviously bundled accessories.
Hardware Changes
At present, the most significant changes to the PSP for its second generation will be the
inside. Specifically, Sony has, as of this writing, reached a deal with Samsung to purchase a
large number amount of eight gigabyte (8GB) flash chips, which are built into the new PSP,
according to numerous semiconductor industry reports. For some time now Sony has been
giving off signs that it was considering using microdrives which are significantly more
expensive than flash memory - in the new PSP instead, but this was seen by industry
watchers as merely a stalling tactic to broker a better deal with Samsung.
Having 8GB of rewriteble memory in the PSP as a standard feature is likely a key part of
Sony's plan's for funneling downloadable content to the handheld via the PlayStation 3. In
fact, many have questioned Sony's announced plans to make original PS2 games available
for play on the PSP, citing the fact that even with current memory stick capabilities in the
4GB range, storage issues would quickly surface. According to development sources privy
to PlayStation 3's hardware documentation , the actual plan is for the PlayStation games to
be downloaded and actually stored on the PS3's built in Hard Drive, then transferred on
the PSP's internal memory for Play on the go.
PSP developers have also been briefed by Sony on general plans for the Handheld going
forward, and they've been told to expected a high degree of connectivity between the two
platforms, including remote playback of audio and video stored the users PS3 console, as
PSM has previously reported.
Sony is still expected to include a still/video camera of the undetermined resolution as a
built-in feature of the new generation PSP, and developers have been told top treat it in
the same way they would the ad-on PSP EyeToy camera shown at this year's E3 expo.
Cosmetic Changes
The New PSP is said by sources familiar with its development to look very similar to the
current design, only streamlined to an extent. It is said to be thiner and lighter than the
current PSP, and that, as a means of not only slimming it down but also saving on
production costs, the complex UMD "Hatch" is being replaced by a "slot loading"
configuration where bye UMD Discs are inserted directly into they system much like a
cartridge into a Game Boy of Nintendo DS's game cards.
What Won't Change
From all indications the next PSP will have the same graphic and sound capabilities of the
current system and will, of course, still play UMD-based games. Future games will still
work on the current PSP, and owners of the "first generation" system as well as invest in
larger capacity memory sticks when they hit the market.
The biggest unknown remains whether or not Sony will add a second analog stick to the
design. Technically speaking, there's nothing stopping them from doing it; after all, PS one
gained not one, but two analog sticks in during its lifespan, and it only made the system
better in the end. If it's done this dose create problems for current owners of PSPs since
games requiring two analog sticks will obviously be released for the newer hardware. It's
for this reason we at PSM still feel That to the new PSP spec may not happen. PSM
STAFF
