As expected, they are proprietary and not even a previous version of memory stick. How can they be sure you'll be forced to buy a new one if there was a chance you'd have one already? And it's not like they could use some other format--let's say SD-- that is fairly inexpensive & very common... oh wait. They could. they just choose NOT to.
Actually, I suspect this is more than just making us buy a new chip. Maybe there's some sort of hard-wired security measures in the memory cards to allow for purchased downloaded games, but more important to Sony-- anti-firmware modding measures? I may be way off on this, though. Just my guess.
The question for me is whether it's worth it to buy a big memory card. Does Sony expect it to be filled mostly with PSN purchased content? Or will PS Vita have robust media (video) support?
Oh man, a lot of news lately. I was glued to Engadget's liveblog at 10:00pm last night & would've posted about it but my netbook battery was low....
So the PSP2 has finally been revealed! And at first look it looks like.... the previous PSP. But a closer look reveals many small differences.
2 SKUs - one with WI-FI only, a 3G model available (All Japanese NGPs will be 3G) - I shudder to think of the 3G purchase price here in Canada.... I'm sure it will only be available with a 3 year contract through Rogers, Bell, or Telus...... *sigh*. So unless you want to pay $2000.00 over 3 years for a NGP, the WI-FI only version will probably be the only viable option (I hope I'm mistaken but I've recently learned too much about the awful cellphone companies here in Canada to be optimistic)
Games will run on "new media" a.k.a cartridges - though I'm sure there'll be download games too (At this time I haven't heard/seen what kinda flash storage NGP will use, memory stick or SD?)
Specs include a quad-core ARM Cortex-A9 processor, 5-inch touchscreen OLED display with 960 x 544 resolution, dual analog sticks (not nubs as on the current generation), 3G, WiFi, GPS, a rear-mounted touchpad, the same accelerometer / gyroscope motion sensing as in the PlayStation Move, an electronic compass, and cameras on both the front and back.
rear touchpad:
Price hasn't been announced, but Sony says NGP will be available-- this year??? Awesome!
The bottom of NGP seems to show (yet another) proprietary USB/media port, a headphone jack & maybe a memory stick door?
The top of NGP shows power button & iPhone-style volume buttons. No hold switch??
I have to say, when you look at the comparison photo of the NGPs with the PSP-3000, the NGP looks huge. It's very chunky. I knew that Sony wanted to go bigger with the PSP 2, but it seems like portability is taking a back seat in design.... also the overall design looking exactly like the previous PSP. It just seems to me that Sony Computer Entertainment from the years 2007-present don't have any innovative design staff left. Whoever came up with the original PSP design deserves kudos; it was a slick little package that carried the Sony legacy of high-class electronic products. But since then, all we've seen are recycled designs from that era: the Sony Mylo design recycled as the PSPgo. And now the 2005 PSP design recycled in 2011. Some might see this as a case of "if it ain't broke..." and I might even agree with that to some extent. It's just very conservative.
But overall, the NGP is getting me very excited. We don't know much about it right now, hopefully we'll get a clearer picture of the overall video/media support & more specs soon.
