14 DAY TRIAL // Sony has already offered quite a bit of detail on the NGP, or what the gaming world knows as the PlayStation Portable 2, but the company has been very guarded when it comes to the launch price of the new handheld platform and to how long the battery will last when a player uses it.
But recent statement from Sony executives suggest that the company will aim to make the launch price widely acceptable instead of relying on post launch drops.
Shuhei Yoshida, who is the president of the Worldwide Studios division at Sony Computer Entertainment, has told Edge that, “I can't talk about a definitive price at this stage. But since the very beginning we had a target in mind. So, when considering various features, we always had our price range in mind.”
He added, “There were elements that we found pretty cool, but had to set aside to remain on target. It's a big lesson we learnt from the PS3. There's no point putting everything you want into a device and doing the math later. We always had the price and consumer in mind. We had to sell something that people could buy.”
The PlayStation Portable 2 will have the computing power needed to deliver gaming experiences that are similar to those seen on the PlayStation 3 and the company also added dual analog sticks for control and a multi touch display that is based around the OLED technology.
Sony has said that it plans to launch the NGP on at least one major market, presumably Japan, before the end of this year.
When the PlayStation 3 was initially released, the high-price point put off some gamers, making them pick up the Xbox 360 even if it was presumably a less powerful device.
The PSP 2 will have to compete with the Nintendo 3DS handheld, which will be launched at a price of under 300 dollars, the range where the NGP is also expected to settle.