Jun 3, 2011 19:01 GMT  ·  By

Video game hardware developer Sony has announced its new handheld, officially known at the moment as the NPG and possibly called Vita for launch, back in January of this year but the company says that the E3 reveal for the device will show how it can dominate the handheld market in the long term.

Speaking to EDGE about the NGP Shuhei Yoshida, who is the president of the Worlwide Studios at Sony, stated, “Of course we advanced the CPU and GPU again, and developed the 5-inch OLED, but I’m sure in a couple of years people will get used to seeing it, so if we stop there we’ll make the same mistake we did on PSP.”

But the executive believes that the raw power of the hardware of the new device is not the element that will determine its success in the long term.

He adds, “we made sure was to bring enough new hooks on NGP so that we can continue to create unique gaming experiences that you cannot get on consoles. Touch capability on both front and back, AR, sensors, social connectivity: these features will challenge NGP developers’ ability to create longer than PSP.”

Yodhida believes that the main challenge for the NGP comes not from the already launched Nintendo 3DS and its three dimensional gaming capabilities but from the growing smartphone market.

Sony believes that going up against the mobile devices created by Apple or powered by Android is a bad idea and has created the NGP specifically in order to make sure that it has clear features that smartphones cannot copy.

Sony has recently revealed some of the video games that players will be able to pick up for the NGP when it launches, including a Uncharted title and WipEout 2084.

The handheld should be out on at least one major market before the end of the year.