14 DAY TRIAL // Sony revealed that while the Next Generation Portable device won't have the possibility of displaying 3D graphics, like its rival, the Nintendo 3DS, but that the console may receive support for such a technology in the future.
Sony is working hard on promoting the Next Generation Portable to the world, with the president of the Sony Computer Entertainment Worldwide studios, Shuhei Yoshida, talking with Edge about the possibility of seeing an autostereoscopic screen added to the platform, just like with the 3DS.
"Our studio worked very closely with hardware groups to design NGP, so we looked at every single component in terms of choices of display. We could have had 3D stereoscopic display instead of a 5-inch OLED - there's pros and cons - and obviously we decided to go with the latter," he said.
Yoshida highlights that 3D display technology is advancing rapidly these days, and developers are slowly getting accustomed to using to their advantage such screens in order to tell a more personal story.
"We knew that those [3D] display technologies would advance every day, every month. And especially the naked-eye stereoscopic technologies - it's such an early technology, that's going to advance very quickly and people will see it adapted in tablets and smartphones," added Yoshida.
The Sony boss said that if such a display would have been put into the Next Generation Portable, the manufacturing costs would've been much higher, while developers still aren't used to working with such a technology or using it to its full advantage.
As such, the executive said, the 5-inch OLED touchscreen provides the best quality at a pretty good manufacturing cost, which translates in the price of the device being much lower for the consumer.
Yoshida does emphasize that the NGP might see the addition of a 3D display, but it won't happen anytime soon.
"Our decision was based on what it we're trying to create in terms of robust gaming experience, without the additional cost of goods to provide the naked-eye stereoscopic 3D. So never-say-never for the future, but for the launch of NGP our choices were based on what we believe the best choice was for us."