While the rumors of a
PSP2 and
PSP Phone have calmed down of late, they're never truly dead. According to a fluent Japanese speaker translating a Sony Japan job listing for
GameSpot, the company is on the hunt for an "evaluator / assessor for a new game machine." More specifically, that elusive machine is said to be a "part of the PlayStation or PSP series and their peripherals." The listing goes on to state that the lucky winner will "be part of an advisory staff that will play PlayStation series software on this new machine and check its functionality," and they'll also be able to "test game machines not yet released or new functionality of PS3 peripherals before they are released." From there, it's up to your imagination to determine what exactly this could be alluding to, but we're setting our expectations remarkably low as to not be disappointed.
[Via
GameSpot]
posted Feb 21st 2009 6:06AM
I know it's an old mock-up from somewhere, but man i would love to test that device up there.
It looks pretty much impossible to hold.
Nah, well, maybe your thumbs would be a little too low. Still, looks sweet.
This mockup is perfect.... only the shoulder buttons should be on the back.
I hope the PSP2 has a touchscreen for strategy games, and an accelerometer for FPS....
I'd say the DS is vaguely uncomfortable, but the tradeoff for convenience was one I was happy to make.
@TareX the accelerometer isnt as good as its cracked up to be for FPS...quake on an iPhone hurts lol
Well yeah for the iPhone it would suck. For the PSP, the accelerometer/compass would be for looking around, because you already have buttons for movement.
You wouldn't need to turn all the way around to look behind you, instead, a simple 20 degree turn would translate to a 90 degree turn, and a 40 degree turn would translate to a 180 degree turn. Holding down one of the shoulder buttons would temporarily block the compass/accelerometer.
I'd buy a PSP2 the day it comes out.
This mock has been around for well over a year, I believe...
C'mon guys...haven't you been F5'ing Engadget for awhile now?
Yea, I remember this mockup from ages ago.
Strangely reminiscent of the iriver G10 ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IRiver_G10 ), which if I remember correctly was announced around before this graphic started floating around. I seem to remember posting a very similar comment before!
Yeah, I think it's actually almost 2 years now. Regardless, Sony should pull a Sony and make it with or without the permission of the guy who drew it (more than likely without). I love how Sony thinks patent's don't exist in Japan (if the guy even patented that design that is)...
@uncontrol
Its nice to see a reader who takes things into a practical sense. This would be a bitch to hold.
@TareX
I guess you haven't tried using SixAxis on the PS3, Sony's implementation of Accelerometer based control is abysmal and impossible to use.
They have to find somebody who is really in tune with where the whole future of technology is heading. Someone who at least reads engadget all day, someone who is totally fixated on technology. Someone who think this is a dream job. =)
Well, I'm flattered, really I am! But I have other plans.
Too bad I don't speak Japanese xD
Someone who is willing to take spy shot for the masses
A perfectionist if you will...... im not pointing any arrows or anything.
Two analog buttons!
What a novel idea, Sony, to actually include two analog sticks. Its like they should have been there all along...
That render is just beautiful. I dont understand why sony is not doing the PSPhone... everyone would like to play PS1 games on a phone. Big success, big money.
Sad salarymen at SONY dont give a shit...
I'm sorry, but I beg to differ.
What would a PSPhone look like?
A big screen and nice gaming controls would simply make it a PSP with phone functionality, this would be way to big.
But a more phone-like form factor would mean it'd probably have crappy controls and a small screen.
I don't want either of those.
Sure, I have nothing against gaming on phones (especially with touchscreens) but a phone dedicated to gaming just wouldn't work.
(Though I did see an iRiver once that had a similair form factor to this mock-up, that did seem kinda nice)
I always thought I wanted a PSP phone... but I applaud Sony for NOT making one.
Battery-life would be terrible.... for the phone. You'd have an incomplete phone and an incomplete PSP in one device. The screen would be too small, and after 5 years of the PSP, you'd have a PSPphone with last gen graphics.
So what I really want is a next-gen PSP... that's all. If Sony won't do it then i hope Microsoft is working on one.
Luckily not all designers an project developers have your same total lack of imagination and courage guys.
Impossible, it would never work, the battery would'nt, the controls would...;
In R&D hurdles and obstacles are there to be tackled, challenged and eventually ALWAYS conquered.
If Sony decided not (yet) to produce a PSP phone, surely is not because of the ridicolous technical objections you mentioned, but because of their marketing strategies or marketing research results; or, as it's most probable in this period, because it decided to allocate scarce R&D founds to projects that promise a more immediate and sure return as a percentage of the invested capital.
Ok Kilgore, what do you suggest?
A large screen that folds open, together with a nice D-pad and Joystick that take next to no space and yet are usable together with a battery powered by a Sony sattelite in space?
Great idea!
Naw, just kidding, I'm sure that there's a work around, maybe something similair to the mock-up you see here would work.
(Only a bit smaller)
But still, let me explain this to you:
Let's make a PC dedicated to gaming! We've got consoles for that.
Let's make a PocketPC/Smartphone dedicated to gaming! We've got freaking handhelds for that!
Seriously, what will work however, is a PSP with 3G connection and several other phone functionalities, just like consoles start to look more and more like PCs.
mmm... yeah its true it would be hard to satisfy everyone but I was thinking more like a small device (smaller than psp) with a normal screen just like the new DJ phone you can scratch on it but with controlers on the side at the place of turning table... if you know what I meaaan...
Because they dont want to cannibalise theire current psp market, that screen would be smaller but the device would be able to play psx games. no wifi or such stuff. Just your phone+psx! I think they could manage a good price and market quite easily.
I would way prefer play tons of psx games than play with my Android/OSX apps... and making a call is always usefull! ; )
There is tons of ex-fans of the PSX era... they should consider about that.
Maybe you could buy old titles for like 2$ on a PSX gamestore....?!
im listening to you right now!!! BoC are the business!
I wouldn't want a PSPhone, I'd rather hav a PSP & a phone.
Sony would be very stupid not to take the above image into consideration
The salarymen at Sony are wise. You can't do phone and gaming well in the same device. It's like asking for a dedicated scientific calculator (lots of tactile buttons) to go into a phone without sacrificing usability and/or size and other things. It's just not gonna happen. Any product that tries to be two things here will be falling short on both.
This is without going into COST of a device trying to be all things to everybody (try to compare bill-of-materials costs between it and its chief gaming competitor and justify that to management)... and assuming that passes management, now convince Joe Consumer to fork out extra for it (and suffer worse battery life, interface, etc).
Thank heavens Sony haven't turned a (primarily) gaming device into a stupid (large) phone.
And the job pays the great great sum of 1000Yen per hour.
So, about ten cents an hour?
actually... that's over ten dollars an hour...
It's around 11$ at now's rate. But it's probably not enough to live in Tokyo, which is kind of required for the job.
@Gad Get
More like ten dollars.
So what this tells us is that sony will release another console at some point in the future as they require testers for it.
No shit sherlock.
Where are the Sony haters when you need them? Crying in a corner, wondering why they miss out on all the great tech, just because Microsoft say they should...
no most of us are laughing our asses off .... and wouldn't touch another failed piece of junk like the PS3 ....
Yeah, cause i definatly wouldn't call my 360 thats broken 5 times already a piece of junk.
I'm telling you if Microsoft.. a next-gen portable game console is Microsoft's chance to take over the PSP.... just like they did releasing the 360 a whole year before the PS3. They grabbed market share, and developers wrote for both the same games (sometimes better graphics on the X360) even though the PS3 had superior specs. It's all about WHO GRABS MARKET SHARE.
Com'on I'm buying the first next-gen portable gaming console...
Can anyone research the start date of PSP testing in relation to its actual release? Coz I'm a bit too lazy to do it now...
Could this finally be a confirmation of the elusive PSP Nano?
I'm trying to care, I really am. But I just don't.
This is more than likely testing for peripherals. It may well be testing new eyetoy stuff since eyepet is coming out relatively soon and that other eyetoy tank drawing game.
Or it may be a whole new machine, but its unlikely.
that thing looks so cool, i want it !!!
Is it this product?
http://www.theonion.com/content/video/sony_releases_new_stupid_piece_of
HAHAHAHAHAH thanks man that made my morning best discription of a sony product ever hehehe ....
Holy shit hahahahahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahah
SONY,
JUST MAKE THE THING IN THE ABOVE PICTURE, IT IS SO F***ING AWESOME!!!!
THANKS,
EVERYONE
it's so awesome for:
1) torturing your hands (harsh edges digging into your hands)
2) being more fragile (sliding display mechanics, what for? How will the screen survive a drop? How much will warranty claims cost Sony within warranty period? How will the fragile screen damage Sony's perception in the gaming market versus DS, etc?)
3) missing front-accessible buttons (Home, volume, display brightness, etc),
4) being far larger (just try fitting that thing in a pocket, look at the back support and see how large that is)
5) shoulder buttons comfort-to-torture ratio = 0:1
6) weight distribution of device with screen up in its silly slide-up pose (how will this feel in the hand?)
I couldn't think of a less practical design to be foisted on the market. Dual analogue the only thing worth implementing from this design in a PSP2.
Sony can go to hell! It took them tired ass fucks three years to up the memory in the psp by a measly 32 gigs. Then they came out with the flimsy ass psp lite. Yuck! The only reason I play with thit shit is b/c of monster hunters part 1.Period. My girl got me a 13 unibody macbook for christmas and an ipod touch for my birthday. I'm in haven!
So, whatever goddamn device may be coming from that outfit, it will be crippled and incrementally improved over YEARS to a point where it should have been on launch day. That is business. Fuck them!!!!
They upped the PSP's memory to 32GB? Surely you don't mean the PSP has about 64 times more RAM than the 360 and PS3, right? (Just kidding, I know you mean MB not GB)
I love Apple products as much as the next guy, but you're kidding yourself if you think Apple doesn't do the same thing here. They've already released one incremental improvement of the iPod Touch and iPhone. They incrementally improve their iPod lines yearly, actually :). Same for their computers, more or less.
Anyway, I really hope Sony blows us away with the PSP2, whenever it comes. Nintendo (and maybe Apple) need more competition.