PSP2 -- Features of Sony Next Generation Portable (NGP)

Sony on Thursday unveiled the the Next Generation Portable (NGP) at the PlayStation Meeting in Tokyo. The NGP is nothing but the much-awaited successor of the Playstation Portable (PSP) or the PSP2.

The NGP or PSP2 boasts of a slew of impressive features, which are listed below:

Display and Resolution:

The Next Generation Portable has a large 5-inch OLED screen. The resolution has quadrupled from its predecessor with PSP2 having 4x the resolution of the PSP1.

Controllers

NGP has Micro dual analog sticks, stressed as not nubs. Kaz Hirai, President and CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment revealed that the right analog stick extending from the handheld is the most requested feature.

During the third party demos, Jun Takeuchi with Capcom, said, I must say, the stick feels great!

Connectivity

The latest edition of the PlayStation Portable has 3G and WiFi connectivity. This feature is being seen as a move by Sony to stay current with tech manufacturers like Apple while enabling users the option to download when away from WiFi is a good sales strategy.

New flash-based form of storage media

Sony's latest offering to the gamers has New Game Media, a flash memory-based card. This means - Bye Bye UMD.

Cameras on both the front and rear of the device

Although not 3D, the dual cameras have managed to impress. While video chatting and photo have become a basic necessity for all gadgets, Sony's move is futuristic especially keeping in mind the Augmented Reality games, playing which would be impossible without the camera in the rear.

Front touchscreen and rear touchpad

Sony tried to woo the gamers with verbs such as touch, grab, trace, push and pull, despite the wary consumer sentiments on touch technology.

The back touchpad, which is the same size as the OLED, enables manipulation of what's happening on the front of the screen by moving fingers on the back. This allows a novel gameplay. Should Nintendo be worried?

'Near' app tracks locations

With the help of the 'Near' app, the NGP can track the users' location over time and create maps. The GPS and location-based entertainment goes beyond what Google offers through Maps and other similar services on the iPhone. The feature is interestingly utilized on the gaming platform. For instance, the app shows the most popular game in each of the area the user has been to, it can also provide a history of who was nearby at each location, based on a map of avatars. The user can get information on each gamer by tapping on the avatar.

The Game Franchises coming to NGP include: