Sony Hands Out PSP2 Dev Kits

Admittedly, I am not a big follower of the handheld market anymore, but I'd be surprised if Sony decided to release the PSP2 without the opportunity to showcase it (or, at the very least, announce it) at E3 first. A march 2011 release would mean they'd lose the benefit of a major gaming event to publicize it, as well as missing the holiday rush.

Given the widespread appeal of the 3DS, and that Apple's products are starting to be competitive (supposedly, at least) in the handheld gaming arena, Sony has a lot to lose if they screw up the launch of the PSP2. Seems unlikely they'd rush to release it without giving it sufficient time to build hype. Additionally, I have no idea when they handed out dev kits, but they certainly want to provide enough time for developers to produce the sort of big launch lineup they seem to be going for. They don't really gain anything by rushing to launch in the first or second quarter of 2011 - holiday 2011 seems much more likely.

But hey, what do I know? (Answer: not much). Just my $.02.

I hope that's a fake mock-up...joystick over the action buttons, not cool

Meh...it's Sony.

Lost all respect for them as a company after being so poorly treated as a customer in some of their MMO's and having trouble with warrenty's on a Tele.

I won't buy Sony again but that's just me.

Sony rush a lot of things including their MMO's with SOE, for example: Vanguard Sage of Heroes, best MMO out to date and with a rushed release, bad publicity and all the bugs, 4 years down the track after the game has been cleaned up no one knows about it, whichis a shame, as I said, BEST MMO out to date in my opinion.

Check out the free trial for yourself if you don't believe me

Hah, I proved my friend wrong!

I still want to see a PSPhone

Oh man I cant wait for this. although I may be one of the few but I want my psp and phone separate. I mean I dont want to have to pay monthly just to play on it.

Oh, I don't disagree that it isn't in Sony's nature to do things hastily, but there's a big difference between rushing a game, and rushing a console. They've got a lot more to lose if they don't take enough time to properly design, test, promote, and hype a new console (although the same is true if they take too long to do all of that, as well).

Ultimately, all I'm saying is that it seems unlikely, given that they haven't even officially announced the system, that they'd release it (a) after the holiday 2010 season, and (b) before having a chance to showcase it at any type of gaming show. Maybe they will, but it seems like that would be a huge mistake on their part.

I like the sounds of this. I mean App Store games are fine for passing the time away, but for some serious protable gaming, it has to be the PSP. NDS - for kids really. 3DS? not my cup of tea.
But with a nice big screen, decent app store, a powerful processor, and less restrictions on what I can do with it all and we have a pretty powerful combination here. Let's judge the product when it arrives!

I could see myself getting if it was in phone format.. I was pretty excited for a PSPhone. But overall I think i'll stick with my DS.

The best way the PSP2 will be able to compete with the 3DS is for it to take a different path and try focus on power, rather than innovation.

It'll need to do everything right, and have a lot of luck to beat the 3DS in sales. I don't think it will, but that doesn't mean it won't be a great handheld though.

Hey slap a cell phone in this bad boy and I'd buy. I am just so sick of the iPhoney.

Passing out PSP2s well before they're even announced? Sounds like a good idea on Sony's part. They've obviously learned something from the whole PS3 (and to a lesser extent, PSP) launch fiascos - none of the developers really knew the SDKs well enough to make decent games, and as such the competition got a huge head start in terms of market share and game catalog. The PS3 is definitely catching up, or has caught up, but it seems to me that the PSP never really took off, at least not outside of Japan.

You can use skype with a headset on PSP1...

Geez, if the 3DS could be considered a stealth hardware release, if they plan on a Q4 2010 release... How do they plan on spreading hype?

Sounds like a bit of a mix up with the rumored PSP phone frome Sony Ericson. I sure hope the PSP2 would be announced ASAP.

comeon, lets see some specs! >1GHz or it wont beat smartphones.

probabaly another fail PSP

If they don't pack some serious latest greatest hardware in to that thing, no way I'm going to upgrade.

Does it run psfreedom yet??

So is the image used a render by a random person who really doesnt know what the psp2 looks like? or is that it... cuz if thats it, congradulations Sony, its f'ing badass.

I passed up on a PSP1, not that it was a bad system and all, but I figured sony would need at least one generation to get the teething problems out of the way. Hope they learned their lessons from mistakes made on the PSP1 and make the necessary changes so the PSP2 doesnt have the same shortcomings. Competition is always a good thing, and will keep the competition on their toes (hopefully, anyway).

They have to make it powerful; sure, unlike, say, Android smartphones, it's a single platform which they can program more effectively, however if you so much as program a modern smartphone correctly, it'll obliterate the PSP, at least graphically.

A read a rumour that it'd sport the SGX543, which is an enhanced version of the 540 found in the Galaxy S. It has to be good enough to distance itself from today and tomorrow's smart phones.

I look forward to playing my games in 15min sections or tethered to my wall socket.

There has been no word on when the 3DS will debut in Japan. Someone didn't do their homework. Tomorrows press conference will be the first official word on when it will release. Everything else is speculation.

Not being a fanboy or anything but if the PSP2 will have PSP UMD backward compatibility, access to ALL PSOne Classics and PSP digital downloads, powerful enough for a "PSTwo Classics" (who knows) and still have it's own PSP2 titles then OmG! It will have the best library on handheld gaming! Maybe even the 3DS will have a hard time to top that off.

Going back to reality. Most likely won't happen xD

"the PSP2 will likely feature a UMD optical drive--and not be a download-only device"

If so I'll be avoiding it. As much as I like backward compatibility, UMDS suck. They're really inefficient and outdated.

I want it to be a phone with good controls for gaming. Just don't go network exclusive.

From the article: There's also talk that it will have two cameras--one forward and one backward facing--and a possible 3G connection.
Sounds like a phone to me.

I WANT TO SEE PSP2PHONE EPIC PHONE PHONE

why would the analog sticks be on the top of the system above the core buttons?

this is fan art. sony would never do that, that is butchering the original PS controller

Pick up your cell phone or something similar sized and put your thumbs down at the bottom and try moving around for an extended period of time... it's extremely uncomfortable. The position in that picture of the joy sticks is optimal for extended play.

The 3DS was announced 6 months ago.. and then unveiled 3 months ago. However I don't think it'll get released here until next year.. guess we'll find out shortly I suppose.




That mock-up image says 'PS2 emulator'... wouldn't that be fantastic.. that's so unlikely though. But playing PS2 games on the PSP2 would be... whoa.