Sony explains in this video how the Vita was never meant to be the successor to the PSP2 and is so much more. Sony wants to provide the ultimate handheld experience with the Vita and in the video they tell us how they are going to accomplish that.

A lot of hard work goes into creating such a powerful device. We wanted to you to hear first-hand about PS Vita’s development process and the many minds behind the product. Check out the video for a look at the movers and shakers behind PS Vita and the types of experiences you can anticipate come February.

Tell us what you think in the comments section below.

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What are your thoughts? Do you think the PS Vita has the power to match its big brother, the PlayStation 3? Let us know in the comments below.
 

Trinigy have  announced the immediate availability of the Vision Game Engine for the next generation portable entertainment system (codename: NGP) from Sony.

“With the Vision Game Engine, developing a graphically rich, highly immersive game for NGP is no different than building a game for PlayStation3, Xbox360, or PC,” said Dag Frommhold, managing director at Trinigy. “Because of the Vision Game Engine’s flexibility, developers can use the same tools environment, the same asset types, the same game code, and many of the same graphical effects, which is an incredible advantage in an environment with so many different development platforms.”

Key Vision Game Engine for NGP features include:

• Familiar editing environment and toolset– access the same tools, the same asset types, the same game code and many of the same graphics effects across all supported platforms.
• Optimized character skinning system for NGP– allows for efficient rendering of detailed characters with very high polygon and bone counts.
• Full support for cross-platform and platform-specific texture formats– offers a straightforward workflow and easy porting of existing content, while providing high-loading performance and platform-specific content optimizations, where required.
• Multithreading system– takes full advantage of NGP’s CPU cores for animations, mesh deformation, particle simulation, physics, visibility determination, and more.
• Highly efficient rendering– efficient rendering system minimizes CPU load.
• Optimized shader/shader constant handling– includes full cross-platform compatibility.
• Comprehensive support for NGP’s user interface–includes multi-touch as well as support for dual analog sticks.
• Fully featured graphics technology– includes normal/parallax maps, specular maps, dynamic lighting, post-processing effects and more.
• Pricing and Availability

The Vision Game Engine SDK for NGPis available now. Special early adopter pricing is available to qualified developers of NGP titles. For standard pricing, please visit: http://www.trinigy.net/en/licensing.

Source: Press Release

killzone-ngp-1

Its not been too long since the PSP2/NGP was announced and it’s graphics are already rivaling the likes of flag ship PS3 games like Uncharted. Among the plethora of games announced, Killzone will also be launching on Sony’s latest handheld hardware.
So how does this latest installment compare with the upcoming Killzone 3 for the PlayStation 3. For this purpose we have compared the screens from both the games.
Obviously the Killzone PSP2/NGP image we have might not be representation of the final product, but it’s already looking pretty close to it’s console counterpart.
Click the image to see it in a pop up and use back-next button to navigate through them.

If you take a look at the PSP’s library of games you will see some impressive and big name franchises like Metal Gear Solid, God of War and Syphon Filter. But those were few and and far in between and generally speaking the PSP lacked the killer library of games that the PlayStation 2 was known for.  Things are already looking good for the NGP/PSP2 with support from Konami, Activision and many other well known publishers joining the band wagon. But the same thing happened when the PSP was launched. I do hope that Sony and the publishers will work on more games for the system and will give equal treatment to the NGP and the PlayStation 3 as far as games are concerned.

Proper Integration with the PS3

Do you guys remember the classic demonstration of Formula One running on the PS3 while the PSP was rendering the rear view of the car? In such a scenario the player can keep the PSP in front of him and check what is going behind the car. Unfortunately this feature did not make it to the final game. Then there were those cool videos of Lair being playable on the PSP, but the developers did not take full advantage of these features in any of the PS3/PSP games. With the PSP2 we will again have more connectivity options but will the developers churn out some interesting ideas? We will wait and watch.

Do Not Make the NGP a “Hardcore” Only Handheld

If you take a look at the PSP’s line up, majority of the games were targeted at the hardcore gamers.  Now that is not necessarily a bad thing, but I don’t see myself playing a 20 hour long game while travelling.  This is where the DS was successful even though the games on it did not have mind boggling visuals.  I am not saying that the NGP should not have hardcore games on it, but keep the right balance. You got to remember that you can’t bring a console like experience on the GO!

Provide a simpler SDK to the Developers

When the PlayStation 3 was launched, it was praised for its power and for what it can for video games. But it was also criticized by many well known developers for being too complex and too confusing for games to be developed on. This meant that multiplatform games would often look better on the Xbox 360, though nowadays they look pretty even. I think NGP should have a simpler SDK so that the developers can bring out great looking and playable games from day one. This one is strictly Sony’s call on what extent they can go to educate the developers about the NGP‘s architecture and what you can actually do with it.

Today we take a look at ten such franchises/games we wish to see on the PSP2/NGP which will make it appealing to more masses.

Shin Megami Tensei

Shin Megami Tensei is a stellar franchise- one awesome game after another, and this series has rarely given out a bad game. Persona, Devil Survivor and many other huge brand names have been given to us gamers only because of this franchise, which originally started out as a mere adaptation of a successful book. And if such a legendary series was to grace the PSP2, it would sure be something to take into consideration when thinking of buying this system.

Grand Theft Auto

Grand Theft Auto had a couple of outings on the original PlayStation Portable and all of them had a different taste about them. Chinatown Wars employed cell shaded visuals and over the top camera angle which made up for some interesting game play mechanics which were seen in other games in the franchise like Grand Theft Auto IV.  I would really like to see a game based on the combination of Chinatown Wars and Little Deviants which could possibly use the gyroscope functionality of the PSP2/NGP.

Syphon Filter

There seems to be no signs of Syphon Filter coming to the PlayStation 3 albeit the many rumours surrounding it, but a Syphon Filter game on the NGP sounds like a better bet, especially when you consider the fact that two games from the franchise did surprisingly well on the PSP.  This only makes sense because the NGP looks like it will be able to produce PS3 level visuals at some point of its life cycle and with the addition of a second stick, Syphon Filter as an action game should be a nice fit in to the PSP2’s action genre library.

psp2-ngp-2

So earlier today, it was announced that Uncharted will come over to the PSP2/NGP.  There were also a lot of videos leaked on Youtube but they were all 360P. The one we got is not only longer but is 720P. So without any delays, check it out.

psp_2_1

In this third part of our series, we take a look at the some of the most amazing concept designs for the PlayStation Portable 2.  Before this we did a feature on the PS4 and Xbox 720. Check them out here and here.It’s a no secret that a PSP2/ PSP 2 is under development “secretly” somewhere inside Sony’s offices. It was also revealed by Kotaku that the PSp2 will have 1GB RAM and will have more power than the Xbox 360. The device is also said to have a touch pad and is currently suffering from issues.So through this feature, we see what are the best PSP 2 designs out there and which one fits your bill. Let us know in the comments below.

Some new juicy bits of PSP 2 rumours have hit the net. Interesting.

Kotaku has posted a report which details that PSP 2 will support memory sticks and will have a processor which can stand up to that of the Xbox 360.

They have also stated that the device will have a larger HD display and and there will be a panel at the back of the console with a mouse trackpad, dual analog sticks and most interestingly, it will be UMD free!

They have also hinted that games can be stored on the memory sticks which is kind of confusing really. We will wait and see about that.

Kotaku also reports that the device has a whooping 1 GB of RAM ( you read that right), the current PSP has only 64 MB and even the Xbox 360 has only 512 MB of RAM!

There’s no confirmation from Sony regarding this as usual but the it’s only weeks before they reveal the device. Too much rumours flying around you know!

Thanks, Kotaku