14 DAY TRIAL // Square Enix, the company behind franchises like Final Fantasy or Dragon Quest, has joined the increasingly larger number of developers that are demanding a more powerful PSP2, a device which may be officially revealed at the end of the month.
Sony's current PlayStation Portable has been surprisingly resilient, and is still home to some pretty impressive titles, the last of which being Square Enix's Lord of Arcana.
But the platform is showing its age, so the rumors that a PSP2 will be more powerful and produce graphics on par with the PlayStation 3 are making developers extremely excited.
Square Enix producer Takamasa Shiba talked with VG247 about the next Sony handheld and how it needs to be more powerful if it wants better content.
"There are a lot of things I'm excited for the PSP2, but I'm more interested in hardware specifics rather than a unique feature," Shiba said.
"Hardware is always coming out, so the software needs to be pushing the hardware as well. So, if they put something in that's very unique then it is hard to create games for it. As a creator, I'm looking forward to mainly hardware improvements."
While the PSP2 has been rumored for quite some time, largely because its predecessor lagged behind the Nintendo DS in sales, only recently have details about its powerful hardware and enhanced graphics appeared.
Besides Square Enix, other developers, including THQ or EA, have also demanded that Sony would produce a better PSP2 in order make developing and launching games for it much easier and more profitable.
Judging by the most recent rumor, the PSP2 is set to be officially revealed by Sony at a special press event in Tokyo on January 27.
Besides better hardware and graphics capabilities, the PSP2 will sport features from the PSP Go version, specifically the sliding form factor, as well as two analog sticks and a touch-sensitive trackpad on the back, which can be used as a special interface in certain games.