The future is touchy stuff
During the last couple of months I haven’t really posted much. It mainly boils down to me being a ‘lazy perfectionist’, and I ended up being caught into a loop of that, every time I wanted to write, I got stuck on doing totally unnecessary things. I wanted to create a gallery for one post, but ended up getting caught in layouts, got frustrated and left it at that.
So, what managed to finally break this circle? What madness has be unleashed for me to take up writing again? I’ll tell you. It’s…the future. Of touchy stuff.
I’m the first one to admit that I’m a major Sony fanboy. Growing up I was a Nintendo gamer, but every since I managed to score myself the original Playstation (a console which I still got at home), they’ve been a housegod of mine. As such, when I heard about the latest Playstation Meeting, and the fact that they’d put it up in parts on youtube I just had to check it out.
The meeting itself was an odd mix of complete awesome stuff and very corporate things. Having ‘visions’ and a few core things they wanted to improve on or attain is very ‘adult’, but I really like it. It’s always cool to see what a company as a whole strive for or want to achieve, especially if they put it in some corporate funformat. Watching this made wonder if I racked up adult points for watching a corporate event, nerdpoints for the awesome gaming stuff, or both. Somehow I’m fine with being a corporate nerd. But, what did they introduce? What’s their new ‘killer app’?
Meet the NGP, or the PSP 2 if you want. What’s great right off the bat with this one is that it shows Sony has been listening to customer feedback in regards to the previous model, with the console now carrying dual analog sticks. The monitor is reported to be a 5 inch touchscreen, but the main kicker is that there’s another equally big touchscreen attached to the back.
My first reaction to this wasn’t overly great. I could see how it might be really uncomfortable, if you have the tendency to have a sweaty grip you’ll probably easily end up sweating up the screen (which just isn’t fresh amirite?) and so forth. However, seeing this in demonstration, and thinking further on what sort of gameplay this could bring, my frown turned into a grin.
Now, the problems? Looking over the form factor, there’s no apparent slot for UMD’s, neither did they mention anything in relation to this. They did say that it’d be able to handle the previously downloaded titles for PSP, which surely makes the two people out there that actually bought a PSP Go really happy. However, looking at Sony’s previous history (my PS1 games library wonder why you never return their calls, PS3) in regards to backwards compatibility, I’d surely plan on keeping my PSP around. Time will tell.
The second is prizing. Since Sony is the prime techno juggernaught the issue about prize quickly comes. At the moment there is no set price, but many are ballparking that with all the fancyness going on, you can expect prices in the range of 300-400 euros. As they’ve also stated that the NGP will use mobile technology and networking, it sounds almost damn sure that you’d need access to a mobile network, that is, a contract and a monthly fee on top of the price of the unit. Think current Iphones. Ouch.
Now, when looking over this a realisation hit me. If you’ve looked at this traditionally, you’d generally expect that a handheld device is of lower cost, because it’s smaller, and handheld, and…stuff? Right? Now, I know the consoles has been up for pricecuts, but both of the upcoming handhelds suffer this prizing compared to their stationary options. The current prices on a Wii is around 150-200 euros depending on what package you pick, and the baseprize for a Nintendo 3DS is hoovering around 250 at the moment. On the Sony side, you can easily pick up a 320g Ps3 bundle for around 280 euros, with the NGP most likely being 50-100 euros more than that.
Funnily enough, I’m getting this feeling that both the 3DS and the NGP is the next ‘hardware step’. Instead of a Wii 2 or a PS4, we get this, which together with Move (and in Microsofts Kinect) will hold off the inevitable arms-race and release of new consoles for a while more. The impression they gave in the meeting was that it would co-exist together, the stationary PS3 and portable NGP, and bring you a full gaming experience. One of the things they said was ‘You’re playing a game at home, having a good time. Then you need to leave? Imagine being able to bring the game with you, and continue playing? That’s what we want to do’. That sounds awesomely cool, very weird and slightly implausible. However, the NGP is supposed to be close to the PS3 in terms of graphics and such. Not necessarily raw power however, but still. It’ll be interesting to see.
What else? They mentioned that PSN and the PS Store in one way or another will be available to the Android market sometime during this calendar year, and this is where the penny drops. It’s made very clear that small, bitesized indie-games will be made available at a tiny price to the public through these kind of devices as well. Sounds familiar? That’s right, Sony is taking the war to Apple’s turf as well.
It’s very blatant they avoided doing what Nokia tried with engage, to pack everything into one with the N-Gage, but instead crafting a ‘Sony Experience’. When you’re at home? Play your PS3 and watch your Sony TV. Need to leave? Sure, you have your trusty NGP for your gaming needs. Want to make a phone call? Get your android device out, and should you want to play a fast, small game, you don’t need to swap. Did your NGP go out of battery during your trip? There’s still the android.
So, can they pull it off? It’s hard to say at this point, as it all depends on the delivery, prices and the service. This is also where I think Apple and Sony are polar opposites. While the Itunes Store is very nice and easily manageable, Itunes have always felt kinda…clunky to me. In that, the PS3 itself is nice and easy to navigate and sort, but the PS Store is…okay. I for one will be playing the ‘hybrid mode’, wielding an Ipod and Iphone for my music and phone-based needs, and the PS3 and NGP purely for gaming.
Am I getting an NGP? Hell yes. If not for the fact that it looks sleek, awesome and just all around like an upgrade to the PSP, I really want to see where they take dual touch screens. So far, out of Microsoft and Sony’s initiatives to incorporate motion controls into mainstream games, Sony has just done better, which is why I’m also at least somewhat hopeful it wont just be limited to ‘gimicky-as-fuck’ games. Crossing sweaty nerdfingers.
Despite being a fanboy, I also want to say that I still do love Nintendo and has seriously been pondering picking up a Wii at some point. If nothing else, I can do like everyone else and let it be a great dustcollector…right?
