A critical take on Sony PlayStation NGP - now ‘PlayStation Vita’

Sony has finally unveiled its much awaited next generation PlayStation Portable (PSP) on 6th June at the Electronic Entertainment Expo 2011 at Los Angeles. It is the successor of the PlayStation Portable hand held console as part of the PlayStation family of gaming devices. Given the current wave of touchscreen devices and motion sense gaming Sony has kept all in mind and Vita is a major upgrade over the previous console.

All the hype

After the announcement of a new device codenamed Next Generation Portable (NGP) on January 27, 2011 at the "PlayStation Meeting" in Japan by Sony Computer Entertainment president Kazuo Hirai it was one of the most awaited gadget in the gaming market. Sony has come out with pricing and technical details, although release date has not been announced yet. Technical details provided by sony tells us, however, that it will be a powerful device endowed with touch screen, a front and rear camera, motion sense gaming and 3G and wifi connectivity. Several games have already been announced for the device. Some of the major titles like Wipeout 2048, Resistance, LittleBigPlanet, Call of Duty, Uncharted: Golden Abyss, Hustle Kings, Everybody's Golf Next and others will be available at the time of launch. In addition various third party and independent games are also expected to be available soon after the launch. All this reflects into wonderful gaming experience of hours with new titles every week for months. The PlayStation Vita is likely to be released in the US in late 2011, although date is not confirmed yet. Prices provided by sony at E3 announcement are:

Features:

As mentioned above, Vita is a major upgrade from Sony from its predecessor PSP. Sony is known for its few but significant upgrades ever since it launched its first gaming consoles. This device is particularly very important because the rising popularity of gaming on multimedia smart phones is acting as a potential threat for hand held console gaming industry in general. Success of Android at low price handsets has also eliminated the entry barrier which earlier used to exist and games like Angry Birds are already very popular and have become Buzz words since. This device contains feature that are capable of changing the course and structure of hand held console industry.

Major new Features:

Sleek Design: Vita is ultra slim compared to its predecessor and is neatly designed to improve the grip and comfort for gamers. Resolution has been increased to 960 x 540 which will not only improve your gaming experience but also the movie and video experience as it maintains the 16:9 aspect ratio.

Multiple inputs: Multiple input ways will make it very versatile as it will be able to match up to everybody's playing style

1. Touchscreen
2. Rear touch pad
3. Six axis motion sensing
4. Three-axis electronic compass D-pad
5. 12 × Buttons
6. 2 × Analog sticks

Chat Support: Players can chat with each other during games when on multiplayer mode, a feature which will be appreciated in team based gaming

.

Enhanced Connectivity: Multiple connectivity options will enhance your browsing and multiplayer gaming experience a lot and with social networking coming to prominence connectivity will become a very important area to score brawny points over opponents. Facebook sharing of scores or twitter updates for stage clearance is already the new way of social networking. Vita is empowered with these connectivity options:

1. IEEE 802.11 b/g/n
2. Wi-Fi
3. Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR
4. 3G

Support for old PSP games: Most of the users will like to play their older games again on a new console as well, keeping that in mind Sony has provided backward compatibility to all its old PSP titles and Playstation minis, Videos, Comics, and PSOne Classics and downloadables from the Playstation Store.

Region Free Gaming: Compared to its main opponent Nintendo's decision to start region locking, Sony has decided to go for region free gaming. It should come as a major relief for gamers throughout the world. As Micheal Danny from Sony's Europe has said "To the best of my knowledge the Vita will, like Sony's previous disc-based PSP handhelds, be region free."

PS3 Integration: You can enjoy a seamless continuous, uninterrupted game play between your PS3 (including Kinect) and PlayStation Vita systems with compatible titles.

Technical specifications of this device are very exciting and are listed in the fact box below:

Experts View:

During its announcement at E3 Sony Computer Entertainment's Kazuo Hirai briefed about the naming and features of products,

"Vita means life," adding that the Vita will "blur the lines" between entertainment and real life, allowing you to connect and interact like never before."

However, a few experts also expressed their doubts over industry despite praising the product in particular, Shuji Hosoi, analyst at Daiwa Securities Co. said while considering the competition from the new touchscreen smart phone gaming.

“People are puzzled whether this will really sell.”

Via: www.washingtonpost.com