Codemasters: "It's True" That PSP2 Is As Powerful As PS3
According to evidence, we should be mere hours away from a PSP2 unveiling, which would be helpful...we could use the ultimate clarification.
The rumors have been flying; not so much that the PSP2 exists (we already know it does), but in regards to the new portable's potential and power. It seems that Sony, in pushing it in the direction of developers, has been saying the PSP2 is "as powerful as the PS3" and so far, at least a few companies have echoed that bold statement. The latest is Codemasters: in speaking to Eurogamer, Codemasters CEO Rod Cousens started by saying "we're at the tip of the iceberg" in terms of portable entertainment and as far as the PSP2 goes:
"In portable areas, you're going to have statements, which are already out in the press, saying PlayStation Portable 2 is as powerful as the PS3 - which is true."
There are many rumors concerning the structure and power of the next PlayStation Portable iteration; it is said to offer 3D support, have a semi-large high-definition screen, boast analog sticks, etc, etc, etc. Perhaps it'll all be cleared up in Japan very soon and we're really hoping that happens...the amount of speculation has reached ridiculous levels.
Tags: psp, psp2, psp2 ps3, playstation portable
1/26/2011 10:17:42 AM Ben Dutka
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Comments (68 posts)
godsman
Wednesday, January 26, 2011 @ 11:05:33 AM
Feregrin
Wednesday, January 26, 2011 @ 11:38:49 AM
Shared trophy support between the two, letting you log on to your PSN account with the PSP2 would be cool as well. Oh and same with the saves. Then it'd be like how the PSX games work right now.
Last edited by Feregrin on 1/26/2011 11:41:19 AM
NoSmokingBandit
Wednesday, January 26, 2011 @ 10:41:05 AM
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t4_robz
Wednesday, January 26, 2011 @ 10:56:11 AM
ABUrabad
Wednesday, January 26, 2011 @ 11:11:21 AM
the thing that even if you forced an all PS3 into a handheld device you will get a lot benefit for harvesting its all power since the screen size will not be able to show all elements as it was on a real HDTV , only if we are playing with magnification lenses , that would be funny
GuernicaReborn
Wednesday, January 26, 2011 @ 11:24:12 AM
Highlander
Wednesday, January 26, 2011 @ 12:36:19 PM
GuernicaReborn
Wednesday, January 26, 2011 @ 1:20:22 PM
DemonNeno
Wednesday, January 26, 2011 @ 2:45:23 PM
Long story short, you need to start reading up on an modern console you own and/or others you've played to get an idea of what means what and how it's used... Or! You can keep gaming and not let it bother you.. ;)
Highlander
Wednesday, January 26, 2011 @ 2:54:34 PM
To give you an idea of how powerful the SPEs (sometimes called SPUs)in the CellBE are, they can operate on four 32-bit integers, or four single precision floating point numbers in a single clock cycle, as well as performing a memory operation, within the same clock cycle. in the PS3, the Cell has 7 SPEs, and one of them is dedicated to security. Each SPE is capable of a theoretical maximum of 25.6 GFLOPs (billion floating point operations per second). With six available, that means a game can draw on about 154 GFLOPs. Performance on double precision numbers is not nearly so good because the processor has to run multiple operations per calculation to do double precision work.
What it comes down to is that 32-bits can be as fast as you want. 64-bit processors are bigger and more complex, but in the world of double precision math, 64-bits is where you have to be in hardware for the best performance. There are systems with 32-bit processor cores and 64-bit floating point units. So, you can have the best of both worlds...
Highlander
Wednesday, January 26, 2011 @ 3:05:03 PM
WorldEndsWithMe
Wednesday, January 26, 2011 @ 4:00:28 PM
Loved my old Jag though. Dreamcast too, 128 bits baby. PS2 I think was the same. By that measurement PS3 is probably 640 bits (Just pretending it is a measuring stick.)
Last edited by WorldEndsWithMe on 1/26/2011 4:00:40 PM
Highlander
Wednesday, January 26, 2011 @ 10:56:31 AM
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Oh come on Mr.Cousens. The PS3 has a 3.2GHz processor capable of 200+ GFLOPS! Even if Sony recruited the best minds in the industry and the most leading edge manufacturing techniques, they'd need pixie dust to tease that kind of performance out of anything available or projected to be available in the mobile processor sphere. I mean, you're talking about a CPU with one dual issue Power PC core, and 7 dual issue SPU cores specifically built for floating point performance, all running at 3.2GHz. There really isn't anything in the mobile space that can match that computing performance.
But then again this is a CEO talking, and he says it's as "powerful", not that it offers the same performance.
Last edited by Highlander on 1/26/2011 10:59:20 AM
godsman
Wednesday, January 26, 2011 @ 11:02:07 AM
ABUrabad
Wednesday, January 26, 2011 @ 11:15:34 AM
Nynja
Wednesday, January 26, 2011 @ 12:01:14 PM
In terms of performance when speaking about "power" of the devices, I'd have to agree that the PSP2 is capable of dishing PS3 quality titles.
Last edited by Nynja on 1/26/2011 12:08:00 PM
Highlander
Wednesday, January 26, 2011 @ 12:25:44 PM
Oh, I'me mentioned the power envelope before. Even if this thing has a battery twice the size of the one in the PSP it's not going to have enough juice to go 4+ hours with a processor even close to being as fast as a CellBE running at 1GHz.
@Godsman
No, if the CPU has the same number of available cycles as a Cell at 3.2GHz, then it's at best fictional. Anything capable of that many clock cycles either has many more cores of a similar clock speed. Either of which drives the power use through the roof. In terms of the number of polygons per second or fill rates of shader operations or whatever other metric a GPU is measured by, I don't think that it's reasonable to believe that a mobile processor could easily match the total capability of the RSX. The RSX isn't a particularly quick GPU by current standards though, so it's possible that a mobile GPU could get within a significant fraction of the performance of the RSX in some respects.
I mean, there are some very powerful systems on a chip, but they all top out at about 1.2-1.5GHz, which is less than half the clock on a cellBE in a PS3.
@Nynja,
The PSP2 is rumored to have up to 1GB of RAM to play with, and that certainly can help take some of the load off the GPU. It would allow developers to include a lot more graphics data that has been pre-processed instead of forcing the GPU to create it on the fly. But it doesn't make the system as powerful as the PS3. I mentioned a couple of weeks or so ago, that the PSP2 may come with as much as 1GB of RAM. Such a technique could give us games that have a similar visual look as early PS3 titles. But, the appearance of the game is only one aspect of what the PS3 with Cell can do for a game. Without the massive SPU performance of the Cell, some things will be extremely challenging to do on a handheld, even with 1GB of memory to play with.
Last edited by Highlander on 1/26/2011 12:34:16 PM
Underdog15
Wednesday, January 26, 2011 @ 1:59:05 PM
Highlander
Wednesday, January 26, 2011 @ 3:02:05 PM
Gone
Wednesday, January 26, 2011 @ 3:12:20 PM
Temjin001
Wednesday, January 26, 2011 @ 9:33:57 PM
THe PSP2 will NOT render games at a full 720p pixel resolution. Even the iPhone 4's retina display is well below 720p @ 960x640 (that's right, a step above a SDTV) and the individual pixels on a 3.5" screen are virtually invisible to the human eye.
WorldEndsWithMe
Wednesday, January 26, 2011 @ 4:03:48 PM
WorldEndsWithMe
Wednesday, January 26, 2011 @ 4:04:26 PM
mehrab2603
Wednesday, January 26, 2011 @ 11:18:48 AM
Reply
WorldEndsWithMe
Wednesday, January 26, 2011 @ 4:04:53 PM
ABUrabad
Wednesday, January 26, 2011 @ 11:19:21 AM
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I think its a high possibility but since there are couple of devices with 3G connectivity that dosent support Phone calling like the Ipad
I would really like to see that happening as an option for consumers
city96
Wednesday, January 26, 2011 @ 12:04:52 PM
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If they keep the price low they could easily make profit with PS Store sales for PSP2 and the PSP Phone is looking good
http://www.engadget.com/2011/01/26/sony-ericsson-xperia-play-playstation-phone-preview/
Lawless SXE
Wednesday, January 26, 2011 @ 12:36:20 PM
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Well, with more people coming out and saying the same thing about the PSP2, I don't really see how each and every one of them could be wrong. Of course, in terms of pure processing power, there is no way in hell that it's equal, but there are other ways. Will wait anxiously for anything official.
Peace.
Highlander
Wednesday, January 26, 2011 @ 12:40:10 PM
Lawless SXE
Wednesday, January 26, 2011 @ 12:46:50 PM
EDIT: Although... if the form factor is similar to that found in the launch PSP, only without the UMD drive, would that not leave quite a bit of space in the device to perhaps double up on processors, serving to make it more powerful? Would that be possible?
Last edited by Lawless SXE on 1/26/2011 12:49:09 PM
Highlander
Wednesday, January 26, 2011 @ 2:55:22 PM
godsman
Wednesday, January 26, 2011 @ 2:57:19 PM
I don't think size and form factor helps the processing power that much. It frees up some space for a larger cooling system or battery, but I think they have limitations. With room to spare, Sony probably rather reduce the size of the device rather than give you a hefty battery. Look at PSP Go, everything was shrunk.
Highlander
Wednesday, January 26, 2011 @ 3:03:52 PM
Kiryu
Wednesday, January 26, 2011 @ 1:07:54 PM
godsman
Wednesday, January 26, 2011 @ 1:48:17 PM
WorldEndsWithMe
Wednesday, January 26, 2011 @ 4:08:26 PM
ArnoldK PSXE [Administrator]
Wednesday, January 26, 2011 @ 2:08:43 PM
Reply
godsman
Wednesday, January 26, 2011 @ 2:58:29 PM
Highlander
Wednesday, January 26, 2011 @ 3:00:46 PM
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Without the cache memory and PowerPC core, and having only 4 SPEs, the resulting processor is actually quite small. Sony owns the production facilities that Toshiba used to do that, they purchased them back from Toshiba this year. If I was going to make a portable system that needed to be in the same league as the PS3 performance wise, I might look at making a mobile, extremely low power spurs engine, and add it as a co-processor to whatever mobile chip I use. The main CPU is easier, it doesn't really have to be a PowerPC design. but the SPEs are unique.
Now, I'm not saying that they have done this, but since they pretty much own the design and the manufacturing facilities, Sony could conceivably use the Spurs engine. They could also have worked with nVidia (for example) to integrate the 4 SPE cores into a System on a Chip like the Tegra2. If you could somehow add those 4SPEs to any Tegra 2 or Tegra 3 system, you still wouldn't match the computing power of a PS3 exactly, but boy you would be close, clock cycle for clock cycle.
matt99
Wednesday, January 26, 2011 @ 3:40:09 PM
WorldEndsWithMe
Wednesday, January 26, 2011 @ 4:12:18 PM
Highlander
Wednesday, January 26, 2011 @ 9:44:46 PM
So, if the SPEs are the source of the power of the PS3, then if you were able to put 4 of them inside a PSP2, it might not be quite as fast as the PS3, but it would have some of that special secret sauce.
WorldEndsWithMe
Wednesday, January 26, 2011 @ 3:54:14 PM
Reply
FlyingKickPunch
Wednesday, January 26, 2011 @ 4:07:53 PM
Reply
WorldEndsWithMe
Wednesday, January 26, 2011 @ 4:09:42 PM
Zorigo
Wednesday, January 26, 2011 @ 4:54:49 PM
Beamboom
Wednesday, January 26, 2011 @ 8:29:44 PM
Eld
Wednesday, January 26, 2011 @ 5:05:02 PM
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They may be simply saying that they can make the game for psp2 without cutting any features from the same game already made for ps3. In other words it will look and play the same.
In any case it looks like impressive piece of technology. I hope people who use portables will get all they wished for.
Unfortunately, I have no need for portable device like this. Only place where I have time to play games is at home. Frankly, I myself, would've been happier if it never existed. I can already see some games going to psp2 lol. Selfish, I know ...:)
Highlander
Wednesday, January 26, 2011 @ 9:38:35 PM
Dancemachine55
Wednesday, January 26, 2011 @ 7:57:17 PM
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If the PSP2 does have a memory card slot and does support all PSN PSP, PS1 and minis titles, I will trade my PSP in today to play it.
I suddenly feel like giving my PSP one last hurrah and playing through MGS Peacewalker, GoW Chains of Olympus, GTA Vice City Stories, Dissidia FF, Crisis Core FF VII and Gran Turismo PSP. All games available on PSN except Crisis Core, what a shame.
With digital distribution costing far less than retail distribution, why are the games on PSN and all other online services (except Steam) still so damn expensive?
Highlander
Wednesday, January 26, 2011 @ 9:39:40 PM
ps3sownsxbox360
Wednesday, January 26, 2011 @ 8:18:47 PM
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Highlander
Thursday, January 27, 2011 @ 12:20:22 AM
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Thursday, January 27, 2011 @ 2:47:25 AM
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Feregrin
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Wednesday, January 26, 2011 @ 10:30:50 AM