Dante Posted February 25, 2009 Posted February 25, 2009 The a UMD-free Playstation Portable 2 is indeed real and could hit as early as this fall, David Perry, chief creative officer at Acclaim, told Kotaku today. "I spoke to a developer who is working on it right now," he said. "I know this developer is already working on it, so that means they have a prototype. That would sound like a fall release to me." Perry said he is excited about the news. "I've been pounding on Sony for a long time to make the Playstation Portable relevant and not to let Apple stroll away with the portable game market," he said. "Look at what Apple is doing now. Why are so many investors investing in Apple game development? Trying to pitch a PSP game to investors right now is brutal." The idea of a UMD-free Playstation Portable begs the question of how games will be loaded onto the device. Perry believe it will be done through digital downloads and direct connect to a computer. The ultimate goal, he says, is for the Playstation Portabel to go 100 percent digital. Not only would that allow Sony to have a more direct connection with their customers and get a larger piece of the sales pie, it would essentially kill the used game sales market. As a stop gap to keep retailers like GameStop interested in selling the Playstation Portable 2, which they make little to no money on, Perry thinks that Sony would at least initially sell games for the device on Memory Sticks, as they currently do with some movies, or with pre-paid cards. As for backwards compatibility, it stands to reason, Perry says, that all current PSP titles would show up on Playstation's online store. While Perry insists that the PSP2 is real, and already been developed for, a lot of the details about distribution and release are more speculative on his part. It does make sense that games will one day go digital only, it seems inevitable. But is now too soon for something like the PSP? Kotaku.com
dwarf Posted February 25, 2009 Posted February 25, 2009 Seeing as I haven't bought a PSP I may wait for the second. I think it is key for Sony to sell it at a reasonable price (at least under £150) and to market it under a different name, because very few people have heard of the PSP compared the the iPod/iPhone. To sell a portable it needs to have multiple functionality that is relevant also. Music needs to be easy to transfer.
Dyson Posted February 25, 2009 Posted February 25, 2009 Get back to me when Sony say something. What he said.
Bren Posted February 25, 2009 Posted February 25, 2009 If this were to happen i hope theyd reduce the price of games online, getting rid of the pre-owned market would put a lot of ppl off, when i had a psp practically every game i owned was a pre-own, cudnt justify payin full price for portable games, dunno why lol.
Jimbob Posted February 25, 2009 Posted February 25, 2009 To be fair, it is a little early for the PSP2 to have digital only games on memory stick. The home console industry is doing this at the moment aka XBLA, Virtual Console etc. But no as such "big" new games being available for download, but still available on disks. Until this happens, i don't see it happening on the handheld side yet, but hey could be a test. Get back to me when Sony say something. What he said. Ditto And i agree with Skunky. It would kill the Pre-owned areas that most people i know buy games from, so goodbye Gamestation and shops like that who specialize in second hand gaming.
dwarf Posted February 25, 2009 Posted February 25, 2009 Second Hand is awesome and is probably the biggest market for PSP games.
Choze Posted February 26, 2009 Posted February 26, 2009 The problem with the PSP 2 rumours is that they place too much empahsis on DLC. If games are not going to be sold in retailers no one is going to bother. Sounds like Rubbish on behalf of Mr. Perry. Why dont the Wii just drop dvd and add Blu Ray without dvd compatibility? Oh wait. Also why the built in flash or HDD ? When PSP already has a memory stick. It would be a step back. Journalism just gets worse and worse.
DiemetriX Posted February 26, 2009 Posted February 26, 2009 if this is true it sounds more like a new PSP 1.
Pit-Jr Posted February 26, 2009 Posted February 26, 2009 Im all for getting rid of the used game market if it means new games themselves can be priced significantly cheaper. Im not much of a portable gamer but this sounds exactly like what id want if i were ever to buy another one. Seriously though, Acclaim?
nightwolf Posted February 27, 2009 Posted February 27, 2009 So music stores are being killed off and now they want to kill gaming stores off too.. Clever. Very clever. The psp1 was decent, it wasn't the best, but it held enough to be used! I gave mine away..so I don't really expect myself to buy a second one, brand new add-ons or not.
Dante Posted March 2, 2009 Author Posted March 2, 2009 Looks like new PSP version than PSP2. The next iteration of Sony's PSP handheld will feature a sliding screen, will no longer carry a UMD drive and will allow shoulder button-only games to be played when the screen is in its 'closed' position. That's according to a development source close to Sony, speaking to Eurogamer on condition of anonymity. We first broke the news of a new update to the system late last year, revealing that PSP-4000, the third incremental hardware revision of the console, is planned for release later this year. While Sony has refused to comment so far, further rumours have emerged in the past week claiming that 4000 will represent the first major overhaul of the system, with a sliding screen added and the UMD drive removed. Our development source today confirmed these reports, adding: "The screen is basically the same as the one in the 3000 - except it slides." When 'closed', we were told, the screen won't cover the entire face of the console, but the unit will be "significantly smaller in width" as a result. With the console in its 'closed' state, most controls will be inaccessible. However, our source claims that games which use the shoulder buttons exclusively - such as LocoRoco - will be playable, as these inputs will still be accessible. It's expected that the unit can also be used for media playback in this configuration. Eurogamer further understands Sony is approaching developers for ideas for games that only require the shoulder buttons. Sony said this afternoon it does not comment on rumour or speculation. EuroGamer
flameboy Posted March 2, 2009 Posted March 2, 2009 ]So music stores are being killed off and now they want to kill gaming stores off too.. Clever. Very clever. [/b] The psp1 was decent' date=' it wasn't the best, but it held enough to be used! I gave mine away..so I don't really expect myself to buy a second one, brand new add-ons or not.[/quote'] But as we move more and more towards digital distribution bricks and mortar shops are becoming less and less significant when looking at forms of media. I'm not saying its something that will happen overnight...but it does look like that...Even shops are starting to accept this...tons of game stores in both EU and US were offering GTA IV; Lost & the Damned points cards to try and get a piece of the cake... You want someone to blame, blame Apple and pirates...not other companies for wanting to explore other options and keep up with the times...
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