Rumor: PSP2 UMD-Less, Can Emulate Original PSP Games
If you were never a fan of the physical media for the PSP (UMD), but you still enjoy your portable games, you'll be happy about this.
According to sources within IGN, the PSP2 will drop the physical media drive but at the same time, it'll also be able to emulate original PSP games. They also refer to some recently leaked images of the PSP2 dev kit; the new iteration of the handheld holds another similarity with the PSP Go, in that it slides up, but is also larger and features dual analog sticks. Cameras are seen on the front and back, and we still can't get away from the possibility that a touchpad exists on the rear of the unit. The source in question calls it a "smooth, glass-like surface" and it will be used for basic controls, tapping, swiping, and other "gesture commands." Now, when it comes to portables, are people as cherishing of their game collection as they are in regards to home consoles? Many don't want to see a full-on switch to digital content in the console world; do gamers feel the same way about portables...?
Either way, we can't be too far from an official announcement. Not only does this thing most certainly exist, we seem to know a heck of a lot about it already...too bad none of it can be confirmed just yet.
Tags: psp2, psp, playstation portable, sony psp
12/9/2010 10:51:32 AM Ben Dutka
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Comments (63 posts)
Highlander
Thursday, December 09, 2010 @ 11:29:24 AM
godsman
Thursday, December 09, 2010 @ 12:07:49 PM
Lawless SXE
Thursday, December 09, 2010 @ 12:41:29 PM
Cesar_ser_4
Thursday, December 09, 2010 @ 8:31:46 PM
Highlander
Thursday, December 09, 2010 @ 9:11:32 PM
shadowpal2
Thursday, December 09, 2010 @ 10:31:46 PM
Highlander, I always love reading your comments and search for yours in nearly every article. But I'm going to have to say that your statement here is not true.
One evidence I have is Final Fantasy Dissidia: http://www.joystiq.com/2010/06/10/cesa-5-2-million-illegal-downloads-of-dissidia-final-fantasy-i/
And also the other one would have to be the new law passed in Japan which causes a warning message to pop up for a "pirated version" of a DS game. - These are for new DS games mainly - but it tells you that piracy is a damn big problem even in Japan.
Of course do more people pirate here in the U.S. compared to Japan - well most likely yea...the U.S. would have more pirates - but we also have a larger population here. But if you were to compare in terms of percentage - yea I guess you'd be right.
Highlander
Friday, December 10, 2010 @ 10:39:19 AM
I don't have the specific numbers to illustrate wheat I was saying, and I do agree that there is some game piracy in Japan. But, I still stand by the point that the rate of game piracy, specific to the PSP, in Japan is an order of magnitude lower than in the West. The software sales for the PSP in Japan absolutely confirm this. Games and systems sell strongly. There are PSP games that are obvious system sellers because unit sales of the PSP itself spike when these games are released. In the US (in particular) PSP game sales are pretty anemic and do not push hardware sales as they do in Japan.
Relatively speaking, piracy of PSP games in Japan is a small problem compared to North America - for example. In terms of localization of games from Japan and development of PSP titles by western developers, piracy has hurt the PSP bigtime because it deflates sales numbers which discourages development of titles. Poor numbers of titles discourages hardware sales and discourages other publishers from taking a chance. When you see an otherwise excellent game selling like it's a steaming pile of crap on a platform, it doesn't really recommend that platform as a target for development. The problem with that is that it can become such a problem that it's not so much a vicious cycle as a death spiral. Fortunately, we've never quite entered that spiral, but the cycle has taken it's toll.
frostface
Thursday, December 09, 2010 @ 11:11:59 AM
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But I'm all for it with my PSP because I'm travelling with it. It makes the same sense as having an MP3 player instead of carrying all them CDs. When you're on the move it's better to carry less imo.
godsman
Thursday, December 09, 2010 @ 12:17:44 PM
If it's only downloadable on PSN, it'll almost never go on sale like in retail. Unless, PSN sell the game in such a price where you would not care about physical media, like $10 for a God of War quality game. That would never happen. They'll have to sell 6 million copies to make a profit, I don't see that happening.
Last edited by godsman on 12/9/2010 12:18:15 PM
CH1N00K
Thursday, December 09, 2010 @ 1:59:53 PM
Fane1024
Thursday, December 09, 2010 @ 5:02:50 PM
Have you not seen the hundreds of PSP games that have been price-reduced on PSN over the past few months? There are around 20 this week alone.
It took a while, but PSN sales (esp. for PSP games) have become the norm rather than rare exceptions. I can only see that increasing for the PSP2.
Last edited by Fane1024 on 12/9/2010 5:03:47 PM
Nynja
Friday, December 10, 2010 @ 12:55:59 PM
X_shadowkilla_X
Thursday, December 09, 2010 @ 11:13:19 AM
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Highlander
Thursday, December 09, 2010 @ 11:22:37 AM
Highlander
Thursday, December 09, 2010 @ 11:20:28 AM
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From April 2010 posted here at PSX...
Would anyone care to guess on the features of a PSP2? Pie in the sky time....
Touch screen
higher resolution OLED screen
TWO analogs
Backwards compatible with PSP and PS1 games
built in microphone
built in accelerometers, and other motion detection like the sixaxis.
Magnetometer (my Droid has it, why not?)
Hi-res Camera (my Droid has it, why not?)
GPS receiver (my Droid...)
802.11n wireless ethernet (my Droid...)
3G broadband capable? (my Droid...)
BlueTooth (my Droid...)
Flash memory slots (two slots not one)
No UMD - 2/4GB flash RAM and ROM devices are stamped out by the gazillion, it has to be time to do away with the disc.
wireless USB & micro-USB socket
CPU - would like to see something like a mobile Cell, but that's not gonna happen. Needs to be 4 times faster than previous PSP.
GPU - mobile GPUs have come a long way, this should blow the PSP original out of the water.
256MB system memory & 256MB video memory - I see no reason why the system could not have as much system and video ram as a PS3. You don't need expensive XDR or GDDR3 memory for a mobile device.
Battery - This needs to be at least 2000mAh. The more battery they can squeeze into the thing the better. Even if it costs an additional couple of millimeters thickness and an ounce more weight, put a bigger battery on it please.
When you look at a device like the Motorola Droid you can see what can be done in a small form factor. PSP2 should use the same basic shape and size as the PSP-3000. Perhaps a little slimmer and more compact, but generally the same. That would allow for bigger hands as well as leaving room for a decent battery.
....
There have been suggestions that the screen will be bigger than the original PSPs screen, in which case the unit will be big enough for Sony to (if they wish to) literally double the size of the battery. Battery size is important because if you double the size of the battery, you double the available power to manage a 4-6 hour battery life. The more power you have, the higher the clock speeds and the more complex the processors.
My original Droid is about a year old now, and when the PSP2 arrives could be 18 months. So whatever we do get, it should/could be lots more powerful than the existing wave of smartphones, especially if Sony bumps the batter size to allow more power...
I can't wait to get some more concrete detail. In the mean time I will just have to hope that the list above is close. I believe that there may actually be more RAM than I suggested, it may be as much as 1GB of RAM, although that too has to be balanced against the power available.
Last edited by Highlander on 12/9/2010 11:24:13 AM
Jawknee
Thursday, December 09, 2010 @ 11:45:47 AM
Highlander
Thursday, December 09, 2010 @ 11:49:59 AM
If I remember correctly a 3.6v 2000mAh battery has 2 x 3.6 = 7.2 watt hours. In other words it can supply 7.2 Watts for an hour, or 1 Watt for just over 7 hours, or 2 Watts for a little under 4 hours.
Remember that this has to power the screen as well as the other electronics. So the power envelope is quite small.
The MacBook battery has approximately 10 times that amount of energy (68 watts). If it keeps it's power drawn to 10 Watts or less it will go about 7 hours. But it weighs nearly 14 ounces.
If Sony double the battery to a 3.6v 4000 mAh battery, they get 14.4 Watts, that would allow the system to draw anything up to 3 watts and still run more than 4 hours on a single charge. 3 Watts doesn't sound like a lot, but it's about double what the original PSP consumes.
That said, I would really like to see Sony take advantage of the removal of the UMB mechanism to physically increase the battery size for a longer duration battery.
chedison
Thursday, December 09, 2010 @ 12:52:36 PM
Cesar_ser_4
Thursday, December 09, 2010 @ 4:44:06 PM
Jawknee
Thursday, December 09, 2010 @ 5:30:06 PM
Snorge
Thursday, December 09, 2010 @ 11:51:37 AM
BlinkBoy
Thursday, December 09, 2010 @ 11:31:22 AM
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Maybe too early for those kind of question, it may go 6 month before Sony even say something about this. If they don't the forced to say something, but they always been holding off until a electronic event to officially show it to the masses.
Very interested in this.
Highlander
Thursday, December 09, 2010 @ 11:51:43 AM
Highlander
Thursday, December 09, 2010 @ 12:12:17 PM
MadKatBebop
Thursday, December 09, 2010 @ 11:52:20 AM
Reply
Highlander
Thursday, December 09, 2010 @ 12:00:12 PM
Reply
Lawless SXE
Thursday, December 09, 2010 @ 12:46:33 PM
AcHiLLiA
Thursday, December 09, 2010 @ 2:00:47 PM
Highlander
Thursday, December 09, 2010 @ 2:39:51 PM
Snorge
Thursday, December 09, 2010 @ 12:02:19 PM
Reply
Last edited by Snorge on 12/9/2010 12:02:29 PM
Fane1024
Thursday, December 09, 2010 @ 5:08:53 PM
godsman
Thursday, December 09, 2010 @ 12:24:49 PM
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I assume that being only downloadable, no retail, Sony can keep the price at $39. $39!! for a download game. It's too much for me.
Lawless SXE
Thursday, December 09, 2010 @ 12:48:54 PM
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Peace.
Cesar_ser_4
Thursday, December 09, 2010 @ 4:48:05 PM
BikerSaint
Thursday, December 09, 2010 @ 1:43:50 PM
Reply
Highlander
Thursday, December 09, 2010 @ 2:41:43 PM
Cesar_ser_4
Thursday, December 09, 2010 @ 4:52:58 PM
Highlander
Thursday, December 09, 2010 @ 5:00:13 PM
Cesar_ser_4
Thursday, December 09, 2010 @ 5:18:27 PM
Jawknee
Thursday, December 09, 2010 @ 5:31:37 PM
jaynet333
Thursday, December 09, 2010 @ 9:20:56 PM
Highlander
Friday, December 10, 2010 @ 10:40:46 AM
gumbi
Thursday, December 09, 2010 @ 2:06:25 PM
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Unless they incorporate some way of connecting the two devices via USB and ripping your UMD to file on the PSP2... Who knows, but Sony's gotta come up with something.
Highlander
Thursday, December 09, 2010 @ 2:43:42 PM
BikerSaint
Thursday, December 09, 2010 @ 6:01:46 PM
Yeah, I remember back when Sony first stated that they were going to do something for the UMD'ers just before the PSP GO came out so that they could transfer their games, & movies, etc over to it too.
But then they just dropped the ball altogether on it, therefore screwing their own PSP GO in the process.
I'm certain that had Sony done right by the UMD'ers, then PSP GO might have not had the low meager sales that it does.
Last edited by BikerSaint on 12/9/2010 6:04:49 PM
gumbi
Friday, December 10, 2010 @ 8:04:41 AM
I'm not sure I'd go for it though, I like my physical copies. I like having a row of my favourite PSP game cases on my shelf. I guess I'm still clinging, I like to have a tangible product I can hold in my hands... but that's another topic entirely.
WorldEndsWithMe
Thursday, December 09, 2010 @ 3:33:21 PM
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Nynja
Thursday, December 09, 2010 @ 4:35:40 PM
Cesar_ser_4
Thursday, December 09, 2010 @ 4:55:40 PM
Highlander
Thursday, December 09, 2010 @ 5:02:08 PM
Nynja
Friday, December 10, 2010 @ 12:50:22 PM
Last edited by Nynja on 12/10/2010 12:50:55 PM
stgclawson
Thursday, December 09, 2010 @ 3:43:38 PM
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BTNwarrior
Thursday, December 09, 2010 @ 4:27:57 PM
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sha4dowknight05
Thursday, December 09, 2010 @ 4:42:43 PM
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BikerSaint
Thursday, December 09, 2010 @ 8:13:03 PM
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Interestingly, the source also pointed towards a high level of connectivity with the PS3 as well.
To the point where gaming experiences could be completely continuous with players potentially starting games on their PS3 and then continuing them on-the-go with the PSP2.

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Snorge
Reply
Thursday, December 09, 2010 @ 11:08:29 AM
Last edited by Snorge on 12/9/2010 11:08:53 AM