PlayStation Vita Console Discussion

[S.C.G]

Dude, are you a moron? Sony, not some fansite, Sony have said it will be cheaper than the PS3's launch price. And a fair price for a portable games console

 

PS3 launch price £300

PSP2 launch price £298

 

Seems about right... :p

[flameboy]

I'd like to see more of the Playstation Suite. Smartphone pricing is just too good, so getting this on the NGP is a great move. Would like to see it work. Two online shops, the PS Store and the PS Suite, can only be a good thing.

 

I read this and all this is only true if a large number of handhelds can support the games fully and completely. I mean I don't know the specs of the new xeperia play or how they compare to the current android sets out there by the likes of HTC etc... but Sony need other companies to provide the handsets that can provide the gaming experience they want to provide with Playstation Suite. Otherwise it does impact upon them, I can see a lot of people blaming Sony for not supporting their handset rather than blaming the phone manufacturer.

 

Who knows other android phone suppliers may shift and provide phones with control interfaces if not Sony face the prospect of having to create games that are both playable on the xeperia play whilst also retaining all their usability on a touchscreen.

 

Finally they have to sort out the pricing for this to be a success....if they carry over Minis they have to dramatically drop in price which would have a knock on effect for PSN, as some Minis are 3,4,5 times the price of their iOS counterparts.

[Caris]

PS3 launch price £300

PSP2 launch price £298

 

Seems about right... :p

 

The PS3 launch price was £429 actually.

 

Though I prefer to say £399 as it dropped after about a week.

[S.C.G]

The PS3 launch price was £429 actually.

 

Though I prefer to say £399 as it dropped after about a week.

 

Then... £398

 

Which seems wayyy to expensive for a handheld, regardless of what else it can do, surely to the casual market it will seem overpriced?

[flameboy]

Then... £398

 

Which seems wayyy to expensive for a handheld, regardless of what else it can do, surely to the casual market it will seem overpriced?

 

Will they aim at the casual market initially? I don't think early adopters of the PSP were casual it wasn't till much later that they started to attempt to market to them.

[Zechs Merquise]

Dude, are you a moron? Sony, not some fansite, Sony have said it will be cheaper than the PS3's launch price. And a fair price for a portable games console

 

So no, it won't be anywhere near £500.

 

Well, clearly it is you who is the moron, as I stated that:

 

"I'd expect the price of this to be high"

 

This clearly states I would expect the price to be high, not that it will be high for definate, but I would expect it to be.

 

Then I go on to say:

 

"and if not it could well end up making massive losses like the PS3."

 

Clearly this points to the fact that Sony may well take losses on each unit sold in an attempt to reduce the price.

 

As of yet the price hasn't been confirmed. But, I wouldn't think Sony will want to compound the losses they have made on the PS3 by releasing the NGP (or what ever it will be called when it does release) at a large loss.

 

After all, to quote this:

http://www.joystiq.com/2008/08/19/the-sony-reciprocal-ps3-losses-surpass-ps2-profits

 

and this...

http://www.mcvuk.com/news/36305/Post-PS3-losses-hit-47bn

 

SCE have made huge losses since the release of the PS3 and as a long term business strategy that simply isn't sustainable, especially in tough economic times.

[Caris]

They have already stated they will make a loss on each unit.

[Daft]

Surprise surprise, Zechs turns up and the IQ spirals into single digits.

I read this and all this is only true if a large number of handhelds can support the games fully and completely. I mean I don't know the specs of the new xeperia play or how they compare to the current android sets out there by the likes of HTC etc... but Sony need other companies to provide the handsets that can provide the gaming experience they want to provide with Playstation Suite. Otherwise it does impact upon them, I can see a lot of people blaming Sony for not supporting their handset rather than blaming the phone manufacturer.

 

Who knows other android phone suppliers may shift and provide phones with control interfaces if not Sony face the prospect of having to create games that are both playable on the xeperia play whilst also retaining all their usability on a touchscreen.

 

Finally they have to sort out the pricing for this to be a success....if they carry over Minis they have to dramatically drop in price which would have a knock on effect for PSN, as some Minis are 3,4,5 times the price of their iOS counterparts.

 

The Playstaion Suite is an SDK. It'll have Sony for quality control but it isn't even limited to games. It's basically exactly like the Aplle App Store, except with Sony doing quality control. It's a platform and it doesn't require that much effort on Sony's part but the pay off is massive. Sony aren't the sole developer, anyone can be. I suspect it'll also lead to dev kits with the same accessibility as the iPhone's.

 

It should be heading to PS3, too.

Edited January 29, 2011 by Daft

[Zechs Merquise]

They have already stated they will make a loss on each unit.

 

Well I would say that is an extremely risky strategy. They will no doubt be trying to grab market share and then recoup losses with software sales. That's all well and good, but it does rely on the platform being a success and having a high attachment rate for software - something the PSP did not.

 

If the system has a stuttering start like the PS3 or ends up suffering from poor software sales like the PSP it could end up compounding the problems faced by Sony's gaming division.

 

Surprise surprise, Zechs turns up and the IQ spirals into single digits.

 

Oh yes, any discussion of how Sony's business strategy has yet to be profitable this generation and you go into a complete tailspin.

Edited January 29, 2011 by Zechs Merquise

[Daft]

See, the different is I don't give a rat ass how much money Sony make. It makes no difference to me. I enjoy their hardware and games - why should I care how much a multinational corporation makes? (As long as it doesn't affect their output.)

 

Sales are what fanboys yap on about.

[Caris]

Well I would say that is an extremely risky strategy. They will no doubt be trying to grab market share and then recoup losses with software sales. That's all well and good, but it does rely on the platform being a success and having a high attachment rate for software - something the PSP did not.

 

If the system has a stuttering start like the PS3 or ends up suffering from poor software sales like the PSP it could end up compounding the problems faced by Sony's gaming division.

 

 

 

Oh yes, any discussion of how Sony's business strategy has yet to be profitable this generation and you go into a complete tailspin.

 

 

 

That's it, It all makes sense now! I've just realised who you remind me of, and the resemblance is worrying.

 

[Nintendohnut]

To be fair Zechs never actually said he thought it was going to be close to £500. If you read it back he simply referenced the fact that an iPhone is £500, then went on to say that he expected the price of the NGP to be high as well. Chill out dude, it's just a console. It's pretty much definitely going to be £300+, which to me is a lot for a home console, let alone a handheld. I'm not saying it won't be worth it, but it's still a lot of money to most people. You may be super-rich, though, so it may not seem much to you, I don't know. To me that's a lot. I hope Sony surprise me and make it lower than that, but I don't see it.

 

Everyone in this thread needs to grow up. Jesus Christ.

[Caris]

I wish I was super rich!

[Nintendohnut]

Everyone in this thread needs to grow up. Jesus Christ.

[Oxigen_Waste]

The PS3 launch price was £429 actually.

 

Though I prefer to say £399 as it dropped after about a week.

 

Don't forget that if the PS3 came out now, it'd cost at least £550.

It'll be cheaper globally, but you guys will be screwed by the £'s decay.

[flameboy]

Surprise surprise, Zechs turns up and the IQ spirals into single digits.

 

 

The Playstaion Suite is an SDK. It'll have Sony for quality control but it isn't even limited to games. It's basically exactly like the Aplle App Store, except with Sony doing quality control. It's a platform and it doesn't require that much effort on Sony's part but the pay off is massive. Sony aren't the sole developer, anyone can be. I suspect it'll also lead to dev kits with the same accessibility as the iPhone's.

 

It should be heading to PS3, too.

 

I'm not arguing with your point, my point was for it to be a success the support needs to be out there in terms of Android devices that can best take advantage of the Playstation Suite. I'm meaning devices that easily run every game. Sure the risk is relatively minimal for Sony like you said.

 

Also if it comes to PS3 as well will we see cheap 59p-£2 apps? This is crucial in order for it to truly be a success in the Android market space and a genuine challenger to Apple's App Store success. It's something neither Nintendo or Sony have quite managed to get to grips with via DSiWare or Minis. I guess the PS3 version could be similar to the recently released Mac app store with more expensive prices.

 

Also if it comes to PS3 that will be yet another distribution system through the console to go along with PSN (Games and Movie stores), Quiriocity, Lovefilm, Mubi, Vidzone. Now is this good that it has all these different ways ways of getting gaming/video/music content either free,paid or subscription OR is it just plain confusing for casual gamers?

 

Also it seems odd that PSP2 doesn't directly use PSN, you have Live Area that interacts with PSN essentially.

 

I know like I sound like I'm knocking everything but I'm actually more intrigued and potentially excited by this all than I am by 3DS.

[Daft]

Yeah, I wasn't knocking what you said. It's a real advantage Apple pretty much have a unified setup with the iOS devices. Obviously, I have no idea how the PSS is going to turn out. The main bit I was pointing out was that suddenly access to the NGP and the PS3 might become very cheap and easy, which would be amazing.

 

I think more services are better. It's competition. It gives the consumer a choice which is never a bad thing. Is it confusing?...Dunno.

[flameboy]

Yeah, I wasn't knocking what you said. It's a real advantage Apple pretty much have a unified setup with the iOS devices. Obviously, I have no idea how the PSS is going to turn out. The main bit I was pointing out was that suddenly access to the NGP and the PS3 might become very cheap and easy, which would be amazing.

 

I think more services are better. It's competition. It gives the consumer a choice which is never a bad thing. Is it confusing?...Dunno.

 

Yeah I mean I don't find it confusing and I'm sure the majority of users on here wouldn't they'd know where to go to get each of these services and the pros and cons of each.

 

So for example PSN lets you rent/buy movies whereas Lovefilm lets you choose from a selection of "free" films included in your subscription or pay for other movies. Or that minis games will work on both PSP and PS3 whereas standard downloadable PSN game won't (with few exceptions that allow remote play), its a question how easy these services are to identify and compare for the more casual user?

[Daft]

Yeah, I think a bit of reorganisation is needed for the XMB. I'm sure that would help a bit.

[flameboy]

Yeah, I think a bit of reorganisation is needed for the XMB. I'm sure that would help a bit.

 

Yeah agreed. I said it much earlier in the thread, I wouldn't mind if Live Area replaced XMB or a version of it. I think having these feeds of what your friends have done in games etc... is the way forward for further developing a sense of a properly functioning community. It would be so much better than the current system of comparing trophies or relying on people to have their PSN attached to facebook and feed your trophy achievements in. Look at games such as NFS Hot Pursuits Autolog and what that does for competition/comparison etc...

[Jamba]

I hope they dump the XMB. I hate everything about it and I still find it difficult to change the fucking settings on me PS3.

 

Someone really needs to show them how to make a UI.

[Daft]

I love the XMB but it just need a bit of clearing up. Btw, if you want to change the settings, its the penultimate column to the left.

 

Sony NGP: 19 killer facts

 

1. British company ARM, which has built NGP's CPU, usually gears its creations towards good battery life, according to TechRadar. Sony's pitching battery life between 4-6 hours.

 

2. NGP contains an ARM Cortex-A9 core (4 core) CPU. This is well ahead of other recent mobile devices, whose manufactures have only recently begun installing Dual Core in the latest handsets. The iPad also uses ARM Cortex designs in its system on a chip (SOC).

 

3. Sony has dubbed the curvaceous chassis of NGP 'Super Oval Design'. The platform holder claims it has been specially created to ensure more comfort in longer play sessions than PSP1.

 

4. Sony claims that the combination of two touchpads and thumbsticks allows for "touch, grab, trace, push and pull" moves of the fingers.

 

5. NGP's GPU - SGX543MP4+ quad-core - is built by Imagination Technologies, another British company based in Hertfordshire.

 

6. NGP's quad-core GPU setup is four times as powerful as top-of-the-range current mobile platforms, according to Epic.

 

7. Every game for NGP will be provided with Sony's LiveArea, where users can share info and communicate other players. Additionally, NGP users will be able to view an Activity log, constantly updated with accomplishments from those playing the same game.

 

8. NGP has a five inch, 960 x 544, 16:9 OLED screen. In terms of resolution, that's almost the same as the native rendering resolution of both Alan Wake on Xbox 360 and Call of Duty: Black Ops on PS3. The original PSP sported a 480 x 272 display, for those of you who love to compare.

 

9. The NGP resolution is in the same ballpark as the iPhone 4's Retina Display, which is 960x640. The Apple phone has a much higher pixel density though, since its screen is only 3.5 inches.

 

10. NGP operates with more than 2.5 times as many pixels as the Nintendo 3DS. That's even when you consider the 800x240 stereoscopic resolution of the Ninty handheld.

 

11.The console packs a Six-Axis motion sensing system behind its screen. That includes a three-axis gyroscope and a three-axis accelerometer - that's one motion sensor more than the iPad (which is missing a gyroscope) and one less than the PlayStation Move, which also houses a Terrestrial Magnetic Field sensor.

 

12. Sony has dropped the UMD format in favour of Flash cards, which can store the full software titles plus add-on game content or the game save data directly.

 

13. Flash cards with more capacity will be made available in the future to allow for bigger games, according to Sony.

 

14. Despite all this killer tech, Sony said NGP won't cost as much as $599 - the price at which the PS3 launched.

 

15. 82 third-party developers have already signed up to work on the NGP. That's 48 in Japan, 16 from North America and 18 from Europe

 

16. You might not get it by Christmas: Sony has only confirmed that "at least one" territory will see a pre-Xmas launch.

 

17. There are 14 titles confirmed so far, including iterations of Killzone, Call of Duty, Uncharted, LittleBigPlanet, Resistance and WipEout.

 

18. It's here for the long term. Yoshida-san told Kotaku: "The portable is a totally different beast. It's still emerging and in a transitional stage. We are developing a platform to last a long time."

 

19. Its size is 182mm x 18.6mm x 83.5mm. Let's compare and contrast to other console lengths: the original PSP is 169mm, the DSi is 137mm, the 3DS takes up 134mm and Apple's diddy little iPhone 4 is just 115.2mm.

 

http://www.computerandvideogames.com/286124/features/sony-ngp-19-killer-facts/

[Pit-Jr]

18. It's here for the long term. Yoshida-san told Kotaku: "The portable is a totally different beast. It's still emerging and in a transitional stage. We are developing a platform to last a long time."

 

Besides the myriad of control options, this is the main thing compelling me to buy one. Sure itll be expensive out of the gate, but hopefully they get it right the first time and wont subject us to yearly hardware updates

[Nintendohnut]

While that's all awesome, the one thing I have a problem with is the sixaxis comparison to iPad. iPad is a year old now, and the iPad 2 will almost certainly have a gyroscope as well as a accelerometer when it is released in a few months. It will still MATCH the iPad and iPhone in terms of motion sensing, but saying it has more sensors than the iPad is a slightly unfair comparison when it's old tech now, as the iPhone 4 has shown.

 

*works for an Apple-centric magazine* :p

 

(I also realise that is totally not the main point here. All the rest of the stuff sounds interesting, apart from the potential release date which I would expect to be march-ish time now)

 

 

ANYWAY.

[Burny]

8. NGP has a five inch' date=' 960 x 544, [b']16:9[/b] OLED screen.

 

Admittedly it's pretty close, but unless pixels will appear wider than they are high, it's still not 16:9, but 30:17. It's only 4 rows of pixels more than a 16:9 aspect ratio though, which makes me wonder why they chose such dimensions.

Edited January 30, 2011 by Burny