Rumor: NGP Specs Dowgraded, 2011 Release in Japan

The NGP will release this year in Japan and next year in the rest of the world according to 01.net, a French tech with a history of reliably reporting leaked Sony information. That same site leaked accurate specs of the NGP, weeks before the devices unveiling

[Undeadwolfy]

Say it isn't so Sony! :(

[ABizzel1]

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

WHYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY YYYYY

[Elimin8]

Didn't they do the same with the original PSP? Clock speed etc.. I think it'll be fine though.

[Active Reload]

If they do decide to downgrade, I think it should be the base model. They should have an option of actually letting people pre-order the higher spec NGPs, that way they're not making too many of the more expensive ones. I would actually place an order for a higher end model if they feel that releasing them onto store shelves with a higher price tag would scare off potential customers.

[-Alpha]

@Active

Wouldn't that just create issues for consumers and developers?

I don't see why people are so obsessed with power.

Remember that when NGP releases, if it's something like $350, Nintendo will be in a perfect position to lower their prices.

Sony has to keep competition and consumers in mind. As much as the hardcore fans on N4G would spend upwards of $300 for a handheld, most gamers wont.

I'm sure downgrading wont be a huge issue, the handheld is already damn powerful as it is.

[chadwarden]

@ Active Reload

I don't think they would release 2 models with different specs. That would make developing a game a nightmare for the developers since both systems would would have to handle the load....Unless the game automatically downgrades the graphics on the lesser model.

[Active Reload]

@Alpha & Chad

I guess it could cause those problems--yeah it's possible. I was thinking along the lines of having a version for the "casual market", they would be the ones who wouldn't care about the specs of the NGP, while the "core" audience knows which one to pick up and devs can make the games for which ever one they choose. It's feasible to go this route and I'm surprised Sony doesn't think in this manner. Apple does it, although I'm not sure if they are aware of it. Sony could make the skus different colors or whatever they had to do, to get the consumer to understand. But hey, I understand if Sony doesn't want to do this. There isn't much incentive to expect the "core" to pay outrageous prices for their tech, seeing as though that didn't really work that great last time.

[gaffyh]

Loss of the RAM will be disappointing, but the removal of internal storage is probably a good idea. I mean you can get cards that are big enough nowadays.

[gamingdroid]

The solution for that is to code for the lowest common denominator i.e. ignore the higher spec one!

So the answer would be no, that would likely never happen. The good news about this is that they will have a much more competitive product. At $250 it is already a very high price. Remember the PSP Go? Yeah, it was $250 (albeit lower spec'ed technology to boot).

[BattleAxe]

This is only the Non-3G models that will be getting the downgrade according to the article.

[damnyouretall]

if it can still run that unreal 3 tech demo after the downgrade then im ok with it.i dont expect a handheld being much more powerful than what ive seen already in the demos. but if its worst than what we've seen so far, ill wait for a price drop. sucks cause i have a day one preorder. thats life but this sucks ass

[HolyOrangeCows]

1/2 the RAM, no internal memory? That would be unfortunate.

But so long as it doesn't overheat and it's competitive enough to be more developed for than the PSP, I guess it's not a HUGE deal. I think it still give the PS2 a run for its money, if not more powerful.

I was looking forward to having the internal memory, though. But that would cause a huge price barrier, I know.

[Joe2911]

@Active

Are you really that stupid?

You think your idea is feasible? It's the dumbest thing I've heard in a while thats what it is.

Sony will downgrade but I'm sure it will be minimal, I'm not interested in handhelds anyways, I won't be picking one up no matter what the price.

[DeadlyFire]

Keep the 512 Memory fix the other crap. That is okay. Only issue I believe would be power usage. So if the downgrade is required for the battery to last awhile longer then I can see it.

[Masta_fro]

@joe2911

dude, you dont have to be that hard on the guy (Active) yea his idea is rediculous and not well thought out, but no need to call him stupid.

@ Active

The only plausibe option to reduce cost by offering several models, is to increase storage capacity, like 16GB vs 32GB...Thats storage not RAM.

[Joni-Ice]

Gosh I hope not. If so its probably because people keep complaining about price. $300 is too high...oh no Im not paying $350. STFU and go buy a 3DS then. I want everything in the NGP along with the kitchen sink.

[DA_SHREDDER]

then why do you cry about people wanting it to be a phone as well? BTW, this thing doesn't have full psn access, doesnt have L3 R3 buttons, or even games that are more than 5 gigs big. I wouldn't pay no more than 150 bucks for this thing no matter how good the graphics are. I already have 3 ps3's, a 3DS, and a 360. I would understand the price tag if it was a phone, but its not. Yet the 3g version has a contract?! LMAO, good luck Sony, Good luck to you sirs.

[-Alpha]

You'd really pay $350 for a handheld?

That's crazy expensive, and while you may support it, Sony has to keep in mind the average consumer they are selling to. Not even hardcore fans can afford $350 for a handheld, especially if you are a console owner who buys console games also.

I don't understand the obsession with power. The NGP is pretty powerful already, and even if it gets downgraded it'll still be mighty powerful. It's all about the games in the end

[jetlian]

isn't much! though i'm not going over 300 myself unless uncharted is there day 1! people pay 800 for an ipad! they been paying 300-400 for ipods.

you still getting more than either of those

[Istanbull]

I just hope NGP enables time travel.

[gamingdroid]

"The Ipod touch is like 400 bucks and it does much less. I'd pay 350 for something like the NGP"

What?

The Ipod Touch starts out at $200 and have been sold as low as $150'ish.

[stevoman75]

@gamingdroid
the latest generation ipod touch (4th gen) runs from 229 to 399 depending on your internal storage.... and an ngp is far greater in value than even the 64 gig ipod touch at 399...
i will add that that is basic list price, could be cheaper somewhere else... i know if i didnt add that someone would tear me a new asshole...

[Soplox]

what -Alpha said, remember that SONY has competitors the 3DS, NDSi AND the PSP also. You remember what happened to the PSP Go and the PS3 in its very first few years? SONY has to keep in the competitive price or they will go bankrupt. And even with this downgrade it will still be more powerful than the 3DS if thats whats worry u.

[iamtehpwn]

Trust me if they were lowered, it's not but very much. Many of the games are already in full swing production, so it cannot be that significant, Although I remind you almost all consoles specs are cut.

Even PS3's. If you remember, the original PS3 when it was revealed could rendered to TWO HDTV's at once in full 1080p. The only thing about it is, we would've been paying $1000 for a PS3 at launch.

[KeiserSosay4788]

Didn't they also say that games would run at 120 FPS? I remember something like that

[jetlian]

wouldn't have cost 1000. in theory it could do it but actually it could not.

First real reason is the ps3 cell is not the same as the original one Its weaker

second reason you can never get 100 percent of an electronics' power at all times.

[Active Reload]

I remember them saying they'd have a satellite dish in the PS3 too...

[Max_Dissatisfaction]

They can lower the specs quite a bit because I seriously doubt that the launch games are going to be utilizing the full power of the NGP. Imagine if Dead Rising was using X360's full power, LOL.

[BubbleSniper]

I really hope this is false. My pocket burns and the NGP is the only water available.

[xAlmostPro]

I doubt they'd downgrade anything that would ruin what they've already shown..

[Misterhbk]

IDC about the specs being downgraded...It won't be by much..I just want this thing by the end of the year! USA release only makes sense with the Holidays...Please be a US release.

[bwazy]

Heck no, I want a Canada release >:|

[flankhim]

Told you guys 2011 months ago.

[Mr Logic]

It's impressive that you knew all these details 167 years ago. 0_o

[likedamaster]

Make the price point more attractive, then we'll talk.

[UnbiasedGamer]

Nooooooooooooooooooo! I want the beast power! Phones have more RAM then that these days! hopefully not true. Lowering RAM means lowering so much possibilities. Phones these days have 1GB RAM!!

[lil Titan]

might be for the best i just got info from an insider that the NGP they brought on stage to demonstrate could hack and control an F-35

[fluffydelusions]

Would suck if true. Same thing happened with Kinect. Specs were downgraded to save on costs.

[guigsy]

So was the PS3, it was supposed to have like two HDMI ports and three ethernet ports.

[heylo]

seriously I can't believe this rumour

look at this:
iPhone 4 SDRAM costs $13,80 and that's 512MB
http://www.isuppli.com/Tear...

I know the NGP's LPDDR2 is a bit more expensive now but won't be in a few months when production in 30nm starts

Cutting the RAM nowadays is easily the worst and ineffective way of reducing the costs

[HOSe]

need a worldwide release date :(

[f789790]

No such thing when it comes to any form of media. Things have to be "regionalized" as to not offend assholes with nothing better to do.

-->AUSTRALIA<---

[BlackKnight]

Hopefully it is not true at all. While my Droid X phone has slower CPU and GPU than the NGP, it atleast has 512RAM. Hopefully the downgrade isn't true. Hell, I would expect it to have more RAM that my phone does, like 768MB or even 1GB since it is a portable gaming device.

[Philaroni]

True but Cellphones cost Upwards of $600 They are not very cheep devices. I don't think Gamers would let Sony get away with a price point above $400 even though it would very much be worth it. If it is true then the reaction of gamer's to the speculated price is really only to blame.

[BlackKnight]

But phones are not sold like consoles/handhelds are. They (NGP) are sold usually at a LOSS because they expect to make up for it with royalty sales from each game sold.

Sony gets money for each game sold on the NGP.
Motorola gets NOTHING for apps sold on my DroidX, unless they made the app (which all the apps they make are free).

You would still think a handheld DEDICATED or at least FOCUSED to work for games would have better specs than a phone, that's all I am saying.

[SuperM]

They are not cheap to buy but they dont cost nearly as much to produce. An iphone 4 cost about 180$ to produce yet they sell it for 600$+

[ABizzel1]

What Philaroni says is exactly right.

Your phone only cost $199, because your getting a contract for your phone bill along with that price. Without it it's $500 - $600 for most high tech smartphones.

That being said the drop is understandable in order to keep the price low. It didn't matter to me I was getting the 3G version regardless, but if they want to get more of the casual market then they need to be as close in price to the 3DS as possible.

Another thing to remember is that phones are multipurpose devices which is why they need 512MB of RAM, and while the NGP is a multipurpose device it's main function is gaming where most of the RAM will be applied.

The NGP is still a beast, but this sucks if it's true.

[BlackKnight]

Well like I said above, when phones are sold out of contract, they are sold at a profit still, unlike gaming devices. Gaming devices sell at a loss (generally) and is made up in game sales.

Even though phones are "multipurpose" as you put it, gaming devices still benefit from large amount of RAM, always. From better textures to more sounds and larger levels able to be loaded and more character variety, it really does help.

EDIT @ABizzel1:

Well looking at my phone, I can close a shit ton of apps and only use 144MB right now (OS, Txting, Media player, some apps I dont want to close right now,) and leaving the remaining amount of 368MB for whatever on my phone. There IS a 256MB version of my phone, the Droid. I guess what really blows my mind is that RAM is so cheap right now, 4,000MB of highspeed stuff on PC is 50 bucks...

@ABizzel1:
I do look at my xbox and PS3 games and see what I get, then I play on PC and see how it IS severely limiting :(

[ABizzel1]

That's true, but the only difference is consoles don't NEED it (I'm all for better graphics, AI, etc...) whereas a phone NEEDS it (if my phone is chugging to load something I'm getting rid of it and getting a new one).

[Philaroni]

Well its not so much about that. The Android OS takes up much more system RAM then the NPG will on top of that you have all that stuff in the background running. That and the CPU and GPU are much more powerful then the ones on cell phones. I'd not worry to much the Xbox and PS3 have very limited RAM and look at the kind of games we get on it.

[SuperM]

if you put to little ram in a gaming device it wont be able to produce as good graphics as it could and you are basically wasting processing power. Then you might aswell go with a weaker processor/gpu.

[Philaroni]

@Super M

That is not how it works, Graphics come mostly from good texturing and the art skills of the Devs. Lighting and Rendering are mostly handled by the GPU where AI and other things by the CPU. Ram is used mostly to store textures and help do more things at once. The difference lets say between a game like Killzone and Gears VS something like Alpha Protocol is the time and $$ put in to the game and the talent in the studio.

[buckley]

The consoles don't even have that much RAM

[littlebigmarcpsps3]

wtf....ill wait for confirmation.

[TardcoreGamer]

No 512mb RAM? NO PURCHASE!

[CaptainMarvelQ8]

I WANT MY COMPENSATION
BAWARRRGH!!

[news4geeks]

"The 128MB of graphics memory are still in place; however the planned 16MB of internal flash memory have been removed in favor of cheaper external storage."

Does this mean that the games will not suffer? Or does it all go hand in hand.

[BlackKnight]

When you cut the RAM in half, games will always suffer. I can't imagine trying to get good texture resolution or large levels being able to be done with a mere 256MB.

@ABizzel1

Even with early games you will see a loss. Suddenly having half the amount of space for textures means you have to halve your texture sizes to squeeze it into the less space. That alone will see the biggest impact if this is true.

[ABizzel1]

No at least not the early games. It looks like they only had 128MB of RAM dedicated to games to begin with based off the article, and I guess they were going to allow more RAM for games once they decreased the OS footprint among other things through updates. They did the same thing with the original PSP.

What this does mean is that it's going to be harder to see a jump in graphics from early titles (not launch titles) to latter games then it would have been if they stuck with the 512MB of RAM, because now they have less to work with, and less room to improve. This also means that functionally won't be as good as it previously would have been, but since we don't know how it was with the 512MB of RAM that part doesn't matter anyway.

They may release a NGP 2000 like with the PSP and boost it back up to 512MB of RAM in the newer models, but again once they stick with the 256MB for the first models it won't matter, because they can't exceed past 230MB of RAM specifically for games because the older models won't be able to run the games. And actually it'll be less than that

(256MB total - 26MB for high speed data access, - ?? OS footprint, - System RAM).

But if they started off with 512 with the original models they would have at least 386MB of RAM to work with for gaming alone.

128MB (if rumor is true) vs 384MB (what they can have if they stick with 512MB). That's 3x or 300% as much RAM they instantly have access to meaning a big jump in graphics for latter games if they stick with 512MB vs. 50% - 70% more RAM that they have to try to squeeze out over the years if they drop to 256MB.

So it matters, but you won't get the chance to see what you're missing. One things for sure if they go with 256MB, I doubt we'll have PS3 to NGP games, the PS3 already has a more powerful CPU and GPU, so having less RAM means that if it's not streaming to the NGP via 3G then it's not happening at all. That's something I'm worried about. Maybe they'll release a 4G model later when the NGP 2000 comes out.

[news4geeks]

great reply thanks! But if they did up the RAM in a newer model wouldn't that make the older models obsolete. I can't see it happening. Hopefully this rumour isn't true then because the ps3 to ngp gaming is really intriguing.

[coolasj]

If I recall they did the same thing with the PSP's. The old ones were never not able to run games. They just had less graphical glitches and faster loading.

[Max_Dissatisfaction]

Dude, your comment was so informative without going over my average head. Thank you.

[SuperM]

The article stated that it has 128mb of vram. nothing about the other 512mb not being availible to/used by developers. I think its fair to assume developers were using everything availible to them unless sony told them not to since they might cut half the ram.

[Surfaced]

Honestly... nothing annoys me more than PATHETIC amounts of RAM.

Why do console manufacturers keep doing this? The RAM always ends up gimped, and becomes the primary problem for games a few years into the console's life cycle. Just look at our current situation with PS3 and Xbox.

My biggest fear about NGP is that with smartphones becoming so much more powerful with each passing year, it will become irrelevant, and we'll find more demanding games on our iPhones. I believe NGP uses an ARM-based chipset. Look at ARM's projected year-by-year performance increases; in 2 years it will quadruple!

Which leads me to believe NGP will need to survive by merit of its gimmicks, like Wii and DS have successfully done.

Anyway I hope all of these rumors are totally false.

[TardcoreGamer]

Couldn't agree with you more.

[BlackKnight]

Very strange, especially when RAM prices are INSANELY low right now.

You can get 4GB of DDR3 RAM from a high end company for a mere 50 bucks right now. Why can't a handheld get at least 1GB for 15 bucks wholesale/manufacturing/econom ies-of-scale price?

@Surfaced
Another fact, the original Xbox had 64mb of RAM too...

[Surfaced]

I don't get it. I have 4GB of RAM that I bought for my PC in 2008. It cost me $80 total.

They honestly can't manage just 1GB in 2011?

3DS pisses me off even more, though. There's just 64MB. THAT'S WHAT THE PSP HAS.

[ABizzel1]

I don't get it either.

Maybe they're using some kind of alien RAM.

To be honest I want the 512MB, just because I want the best possible, but Sony's handheld division isn't running the same lifecycle expectancy as they are with their consoles. The NGP is only going to be out for 5 - 6 years before the next model hits the shelves, so the 256 is understandable, especially considering that most people don't buy electronics until after the 3rd year. So it sucks for us early adopters aka the Hardcore, but for everyone else it's just fine.

[Viper7]

Smartphones have their own problems when it comes to gaming. Different phones, models, operating systems, operating system versions make developing hardcore games for such platform real pain.

And while phones become more and more powerful, not everyone is willing to buy a new 500€ smartphone on a yearly basis.

Then there's this problem called "lack of buttons" and analog sticks for majority of the phones. There are plenty of genres which just don't work even nearly as well with touch screen or motion sensor.

As for RAM, I don't know. Maybe its the size issue? maybe its the price? maybe its both?

[silvacrest]

SERIOUSLY? the 3DS only has 64mb ram? wow...

i assumed it was 512 minimum

[theonlylolking]

The 3ds cost around $100 to make.

http://ds.ign.com/articles/...

http://www.pcmag.com/articl...

http://www.joystiq.com/2011...
So 64mb of RAM is an easy way to keep the cost down especially when RAM drobs in price very fast.

[SuperM]

You wont see NGP quality graphics on phones in a long time.

Noone is developing games only for the most high end phones. You want to make your game run on as many phones as possible.

Also since NGP is solely a game console all of its resources will be spent on gaming which means that you will get much better looking games then on a phone with the same specs. And it will still be a couple of years atleast before you see a phone with quad core cpu and quad core gpu.

[silvacrest]

soon enough dual core phones will be the norm, then later on quad core (which is coming this year)

"Also since NGP is solely a game console all of its resources will be spent on gaming which means that you will get much better looking games then on a phone with the same specs"

if the phone was doing gaming and stuff like web browsing/music etc at the same time you would have a point, the PS3 can play games as well as music/ web browsing etc, gaming performance didn't take a hit because of that, this applies to phones too
like i said, quad core for phones is coming this year, new phones come out on a monthly basis while dedicated handhelds take 4 years minimum,

its just a matter of time and apparently it wont take that long

[negroguy]

Double-edge sword. If they do this then it will be cheaper for us consumers, but the functions and games will take a bit of a hit. If the games don't take to much of a hit then i'd have no problem with the $250-$300.

[Just_The_Truth]

well if you look at what xbox did by making a simple system with off the shelf parts and selling it cheap you get it into more homes which means more support. Sony invested greatly into the ps3 with built in HDD, Wifi, card readers, touch buttons, Blu-ray etc. only to be written off as a POS console with it's hardware only being shown off in exclusives. If they reduce the spects in order to get more people to invest i'm for it.

[SuperM]

360 was supposed to have 256mb of ram though, but they actually upgraded it to 512mb. So its funny that you mention that. If they had not done that, then 360 games would not look nearly as good as they do today.

Lets hope a downgrade of the NGP ram will not have the same effect as 360 having 256mb of ram would have had. Because that would have been an Epic fail

[Viper7]

Well if they can't hit the sweet spot within 250-350€ with the "current" hardware it may be for the better. The price needs to be Competitive against 3DS so developers don't need to wait 2-3 years for worthwhile install base.

But hardware might loose some of its longevity tough, so its all in the tactics.

[blackburn10]

Unlikely. Don't see why they would just suddenly lower the specs after planning them out for so long. The NGP has probably been in development for a long time so what could have happened for them to drastically cut the specs down like that? They never held back power and tech before so there must be more to it.BTW don't say the PSN blackout because that's stupid.

[StanSmith]

"They never held back power and tech before so there must be more to it."

Yes they have. Look at the PS3's announced tech and compare it to now! Also we don't have backwards compatibility anymore. So they have held back power & tech in the past as a cost cutting measure. Just saying!

[blackburn10]

BC was taken AFTER the console launched for a while not before. And I never heard of the PS3 being downgraded before launch. Proof?

[colonel179]

The PS3 was supposed to have 2 and it was supposed to have 3 LAN connections. They were removed in the final console, but the specs were never altered.

I don't think this rumor is true. They have already announced the specs, and it would be a bad move from Sony to changed them. They might remove some things, like they did with the PS3, but I don't think they will mess with the actual specs.

People are just writing these articles to downplay Sony before E3, because they have all the time of the world since they don't have xbox exclusives to play/review since they haven't released any this year so far.

[StanSmith]

@blackburn

http://uk.gamespot.com/news...

Read the above link. We had tech removed to cut the costs down. Also just because BC was removed after launch doesn't validate your point. Sony still removed it to reduce the manufacturing costs and to lower the price that consumers will pay.

[jay2]

Oh POOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

[zackacloud]

Dowengraded after all hype from fans ???

Is that Square Enix or Sony!!??

[zackacloud]

no u misunderstood me

sony didn't fail anyone at all, at least for gamers

[Carlos_Irwin_Estevez]

Sounds good, portable games dont need huge amounts of ram it wont be multitasking like a droid and will have flash storage, as long as the gpu and cpu is flying $250 is a good price.

[zackacloud]

RAM is the only cause of stop GT5 developer to increase the creative on it.

PSP2 must have no weak points same as price(confirmed will be good enough) , capacity (confirmed that will be on memory stick that mean mybe will reach to 16GB or 32GB on good games) , RAM ( not confirmed yet ) and CPU ( amazing than we thought )

[silvacrest]

its not about multitasking, its about future proofing, the psp only has 32mb ram, sony doubled it on the PSPGO for a reason

[MasterCornholio]

Hope it isnt true we will have to wait and see what sony has to say about it,

[coolasj]

Kojima is sad because of this maybe? Idk. I'm not worried :P

[pain777pas]

You might be absolutely unequivocally correct in your assumption. Sadly what you typed could be true because that is not the amount of RAM that he had been working with before. Now all this PS3 quality talk is bullocks. I feel bad for the devs that made anything predicated on the original specs that Sony was exclaiming before.

[pain777pas]

I am officially disappointed with this news IF true. I was so looking forward to this being truly a near replacement of a home console. The thing is RAM is integral to game performance and all of those demos are pure bullocks if this is true. MGS demo, LP demo, Epic demo..... Those demos were predicated on the RAM being 512MB to 1GIG I am sure. I will pay for quality. 40 extra dollars or whatever I WILL PAY IT. Sony we want quality. Sony should forget the 3DS and DS price point. Sony has innovative feature set it should sell itself. Sony please do not do this.

[BlmThug]

F*ck No, NGP Is The Kick Handhelds Need And Its Not A Kick Its A Chinese Roundhouse To The Face

[Ddouble]

I hope not but was it ever confirmed that it has 512MB of RAM in the first place? I think it needs to keep it to be future proof and of course for cloud gaming.

[silvacrest]

okay...the big issue for me is the ram, if the wifi version only has 256mb thats a big fail in my book and that lower ram will catch sony out some time in the future, i can live without internal memory assuming i can use a micro SD card

[ULTIMATE_REVENGE]

If this is true then someone's going to die.

[mshope10]

[@ surfaced ] you are wrong about 3ds it has 128 ram with 96 for games look it up!i forget what site did it but they tore 3ds open and found its true specs sense nintendo wouldn't give full details just google it!

[Trroy]

This system will have a better processor, better GPU, better screen than anything on the market, as well as better gaming controls. It'll probably have a streamlined OS as well, and its apps will be written in real languages like C/C++, rather than Java, which is the equivalent of programming molasses. It will destroy every other gaming handheld in existance. Having more RAM, as well, would border on ludicrous, unless the price is more than that of the typical smartphone (> $500).

I can live with 256MB + 128MB VRAM, although I wouldn't be upset if there was more, either.

[LeShin]

Sorry guys, but you can't have it both ways.

People moan about Sony devices cost too much (Look at the flak the PS3 got out of the gate) Here's the thing: If you want a high end device, be prepared to pay for it. I believe this story is true unfortunately as the same thing happened with Microsoft.

Remember when the Kinect was meant to have a cpu inside of it to make it much more accurate? Remember the uproar when people heard how much it was gonna cost with that tech inside?

Now no more cpu.

As someone said above, the original PS3 specs were monstrous but got downgraded to reduce the price...and people thought it was STILL expensive.

What I don't understand is that smartphones are some of the most expensive devices out and yet a lot of people own them. It's just that most people pay it off in 'instalments' i.e. while on a contract. I buy all my phones offline as I prefer to reduce my monthly bill whenever my contracts up rather than getting a new phone for free. My most recent phone, the HTC HD2 (which I love!) cost £459 when I bought it! 2 years later, it's STILL expensive: http://www.expansys.com/htc...

Someone above said Sony, Nintendo and Microsoft make consoles at a loss and then make money off software and accessories. Well I think the times when companies were willing to take a big loss initially are over. Probably one of the reasons Nintendo came out with the Wii and probably the main reason why this console generation is going to last a lot longer. The economic climate is just too unstable at the moment.

Suffice to say, I'm gutted. If I could fork out £459 for my HD2 with it's 1ghz cpu and 448mb ram 2 years ago,then I was prepared to pay the same for the NGP whos initial specs that were announced absolutely annihilates my phone....damn, even the screen is bigger and of a better quality!

[death2smoochie]

"If I could fork out £459 for my HD2 with it's 1ghz cpu and 448mb ram 2 years ago,then I was prepared to pay the same for the NGP whos initial specs that were announced absolutely annihilates my phone....damn, even the screen is bigger and of a better quality!"

If you think the NGP CPU/GPU specs are impressive wait until August of this year when Nvidia releases Kal-El Quad chipsets for Cell Phones and tablets that have 4CPU/12GPU cores compared to the 4/4 cores inside the NGP.
And in 2012, Nvidia updates Kal-El to Wayne or the Tegra 4 chipset.

"Tegra 4 chip will deliver 10 times the performance of Tegra 2, or double that of the Tegra 3, and will hit in 2012. Tegra 5 will deliver 50 times what Tegra 2 offers today and Tegra 6, codenamed Stark, will offer 100 times the performance of today’s mobile chipsets."

You are beginning to see the day of convergence with devices. The scary part is even with the original specs of the NGP, by the time it releases it will be obsolete in the terms of some Cell Phones and Tablets running these new chips. 2012 will see this gap widen even more.
So don't be too stressed that the NGP specs are lowered.

[artsaber]

Between price point vs. specs & functionality. I could personally afford a $350 handheld, but just because I CAN afford one doesn't mean that I will buy it, or that everyone else can or will.

I like to feel that my money is being spent with value in mind - what am I getting for my money? Ya know? How much will I play this device in relation to my main console? Would I be better off just spending this cash on PS3 games instead? High specs are great and all, but nobody wants to see a $349 price tag on this device. Hell, $299 is pushing it for many. Sony needs to consider their broad targeted audience. Sony must try to better understand their consumers in pricing the NGP, know what they are willing to pay, how many games they tend/trend to buy, etc.

The device won't please everyone, but at least it can be adequate for Sony's idea in their new handheld gaming vision.

@LeShin - The only difference is that we tend to be dependent on phone usage and frequency of its usage is daily. A handheld console does not carry that characteristic and can be completely optional from day to day. Just my opinion.

[LeShin]

Yeah, but lets be honest: If people really wanted a phone...well, just for the phone bit, you probably could pick one up for under £50 quid or $50. I'm probably not alone when I say I don't use 'the phone function' part of my phone a lot in the week, as I spend most of my hours at work and can't make calls. I use it's other features a lot more.

Thing is, these days people demand their phones to do more so they will pay more for a higher end version. Why is it different for handhelds?

[death2smoochie]

"Why is it different for handhelds?"
Because its primary focus is gaming and does not translate to the same usage as a Smart Phone. Nor is it as portable. I for one use my Smart Phone almost constantly because of the nature of my work etc.
A handheld game system is optional.

[camargo2012]

wow, if they did downgraded the specs, ill buy it anyways but i would hack the fuck out of it as revenge, sony is doing to many BS.

[TroySoul]

Sony never claimed either of the statistics the tech site says they did. In fact, I've known for months now that the NGP wouldn't have any internal flash memory.

[camargo2012]

if people are paying $500+ for the POS iPAD, why not $350 for something that is really worth it?

[LeShin]

That's the problem with people and the media these days:

Sony prices something at $500 it's foolish

Apple prices something at $500, it's the best thing ever!!

Don't get me started about the 'value' you are meant to get with the Ipad...

[camargo2012]

the same thing happens with the pc and mac, people these days need to get more education! lol

[superduper]

People pay for a product they want.

Just make a better product for you price and they wwill get it.

Don't blame people mind..blame a luck of a manufactor. someone was just not smart enought to bring it first to a market.

[IronFrogMan]

Let's hope this is not the case I was really looking forward to this device even if I don't get it on launch.

[Double_O_Revan]

Shocker...

[Falaut]

I don't think its the case. How much sense would it make to announce a device and release rather detailed specs, have developers get their dev kits, and have specific games already in development.

That would rock! for Sony at E3: yeah hi! here is the PSP2...but sorry we had to downgrade it a bit...

I call BS.

[a_bro]

FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU U UUUUUUUUU

KEEP IT AT 512 DAMMIT!!!!

[skyblue14213]

Title of article:

"Rumor: NGP Specs Downgraded, 2011 Release in Japan"

The key word being: "RUMOR"!

[blackburn10]

Exactly. See the word RUMOR. that means it could be specultion. RRRRRRRRRRUUUUUUMMMMMOOOOORRRR R!!!

[remanutd55]

noooooo , keep it at 512 !!!!!

[a_bro]

take it to the blog share!!!!

[prodg52]

Money has already been spent. SDK's already shipped out. Game engines already up and running for an end of the year release. This isn't true people!

[remanutd55]

yes i was thinking about that but on the other hand to be honest with you i dont know what difference does this make to games , i thought it was more of a memory for apps or something like that

[saint_john_paul_ii]

remanutd55, well take it this way. UE3 has struggled on PS3 due to ram limitations. which is why most UE3 games on the 360 look better.

ram is essential. there is no excuse for sony to do this to the ngp. plus, if you have ram, there are more functionalities you can do with it, like Cross-game chat for instance. or multitasking, like listening to your music while in-game.

[remanutd55]

ahhh ok , well then i dont understand how some ps3 exclusives look way better than almost any UE3 game on any console , is it because the developers work only on 1 platform? anyways i will take this as a rumor , i will wait for sony to confirm or deny this

[White-Sharingan]

I don't mind them taking out the internal storage, but IF the ram rumor is true...I guess I'll have to skip next gen sony handheld. My smartphone has 512mb of ram, no excuses.

EDIT: Did Sony ever confirm that the NGP had 512mb? I know some reports said it was, and I'm not doubting them, but Sony can just come out and say "oh, we never said it was 512mb, we actually never released tech specs, so it wasn't the final build" or some bullshit like that

[admiralthrawn87]

Sony fanboy douches rate this "doubtful" if it was msoft or nintendo it'd be "figures!" told ya, obviously....

[Iceman100]

"NGP Specs Dowgraded"

lol just like the psp.

[creamsoda]

If this is true then it sucks but i'll probably still get it.

Maybe they are downgrading it so they can make an upgraded version later eg. NGP 2000 etc. Sony are very sneaky.

[BlackIceJoe]

This had better not be true. I would gladly pay more for a better system. So I don't want this to be true.

[swinesucker]

You guys need to keep things in perspective. This IS NOT your smart phone or tablet. It ONLY HAS 128MB VRAM + 256 or 512. 512MB RAM is overkill for a system that is looking to hit the 299 price point while only doing sub 720p. Fact is we don't know how much that extra RAM helps. It might not be a big deal at all and certainly people saying they will skip it on this alone are purely stupid. You have no clue what you are skipping. Nothing concrete has been shown, you know nothing about the games or the system and what it can or cannot do. The PS3 survives on a total of 512 MB RAM. The PSP2 will be just fine. Releasing it as expensive does nothing for anybody.

[pain777pas]

Your absolutely right swinesucker. However, what were the devs told and what were their development kit specs predicated upon? I know that the specs with 256MB apart from the graphics chip is not too shabby for a sub HD resolution that is practically half of 1920*1080 on a 5 inch OLED screen. Yes the games can still LOOK phenomenal for a handheld. I am concerned for the developers who truly wanted to have a game to be played on the PS3 and carried over to the NGP WITHOUT sacrifices. That may not be possible. NGP upres to PS3 for sure but not vice versa that could be problematic for those who started development on the PS3 which is what the demos at the press conference were showing. PS3 games running at lower frame rates on NGP supposed specs. This could be a problem for some devs.

[Hozi89]

I wish this isn't the case but if it is then I'd only buy it on day one if the games are as impressive as the tech demos we've seen thus far. I think SONY should really think this over carefully cuz honestly....if they cut the ram in half, would it still be able to play ps3 games on the go?

[bigjclassic]

Sony wants to profit, I cany blame them. I am a proud PSP owner and will invest in NGP as well, however it was never about the increased graphics personally

[reddeadite]

NOOOO!

[Theyellowflash30]

If it makes it more affordable then its not a big deal. The inclusion of 2 dual analog sticks, 3G, Wi-fi, Trophies, ect is far more important. Back touchpad, touchscreen. You graphics whores need to calm down the NGP will be just fine if this turns out to be true.

[joeorc]

example:

"During the unveil of the NGP, Sony Computer Entertainment announced a whole slew of signature franchises including Resistance, Killzone, Call of Duty, Metal Gear Solid, and even Uncharted. One famous franchise that has been present in every PlayStation platform to date is the WipEout series which, at least on the PlayStation 3, has been known for pushing their respective system’s to the limit. When it comes to the NGP, we may have already seen exactly how the game is set to look.

During a presentation in London at the Sony Computer Entertainment Europe headquarters, a group of developers were given the privilege to see the NGP development kit in action. One demonstration that undoubtedly caught everyone’s eye was WipEout for the NGP. According to representatives at SCEE, the development team was able to get the WipEout HD PS3 engine running in its raw state on the NGP development kit."

notice this:

"According to representatives at SCEE, the development team was able to get the WipEout HD PS3 engine running in its raw state on the NGP development kit."

the PS3 has 512 MB of system RAM it's very doubtful they are going to reduce that to 256. As this shows it was running on the NGP as Native hardware.

also note:

The WipEout HD PS3 engine running on PS3 with no changes to the art platform. That means full resolution, full 60fps. It looks exactly the same as it does on PS3—all the shader effects are in there.

note once again:

When Sony made the bold claim of the NGP being able to sport PS3 graphics on the handheld during the PlayStation 2011 meeting, many were skeptical of this feat happening. But with developments like these already in existence in the hands of developers, it is hard not to believe that gamers will soon be able to take the power of the PS3 on the go.

http://playstationlifestyle...

I would say the internal Storage would be removed for external SD card/flash card storage which was already covered back in Apr interview about the NGP's internal storage, Sony stated it would be 2 external flash cards, no Internal storage was listed.

I think that's what was downgraded, not the RAM.

already developers have game engines running on the system, I doubt very much the Ram is being reduced..remember the NGP is able to handle PS3 ports as close to being Native HARDWARE inline to be able to handle the PS3 game Engines Less ram would likely Hinder that more, so it's very Unlikely , it could very well happen but in my opinion Unlikely, if they want to keep the game engines running as they are now.

[bozebo]

256MB won't be enough. There are smartphones with over 1GB of RAM ffs. Moreover, I doubt it would even be that expensive for them to fit it with 512MB or even 1GB.

There are some ngp development kits in my uni already, maby I can sneak in and get some real info...

[joeorc]

http://www.youtube.com/watc...

Sony states the Ram is close to the PS3 thus the PS3 have a total 512MB

split

256 System Ram
256 Gpu Ram

A single Pool of 512 MB for the system Was the GUESS of the video OP, so since he was there, even than Sony has not disclosed the Ram total so it could not be downgraded if the total was not even released to the public.

the very fact that Sony stated it contained lots of RAM I think kinda put's it into the higher not lower. an if only the WIFI ver's would have lower Ram why split your SPEC base between the 3G+WIFI ver an the WIFI only ver. when the developer would have to code for the lower spec'd WIFI anyway.

so just like the orig..PSP had 32MB of ram the new Slim PSP an PSPGo contained 64MB of System ram but the Slim an the PSPGo released quite a bit after the Orig. PSP an the games were still coded for the Orig. PSP specs anyway as the base line , i had both an the diff. in Playing on both systems was not that great.

aside from the fact that both NGP ver's will release at the same time, this would really make no sence to do that, making it cheaper is one thing, but the Ram pool for development would still base to the lowest spec'd machine so it would be moot really.

no internal memory would likely be the reduction not Ram because Ram is the cheapest vs. onboard Solid State storage. Ram is far cheaper.

[tubers]

That's it? I thought they were going as low as just making a dual core..

[Frak]

This news "IF TRUE" is worse than having my credit card stolen

[coolkid94]

I don't think they'll downgrade it.

[creamsoda]

Ah well RAM isn't really a big deal atleast it's still a multi core system.

[PatchowPietro]

I hope not! I want 1GB Ram dammit! and a dual core processor like the iPad! c'mon sony!who cares if it doesn't sell well at first! the PS3 is doing awesome now!

[sikbeta]

Hope it's false and the NGP arrives as Sony showed the first time *please*

[DJMarty]

The NGP specs were never set in stone. Hell the NGP design could even change before release.

[Garrison]

The ipad is not a pos. It's a great product. You know what I don't like apple that much as a matter of fact sometimes I hate apple if that makes any sense... But dammit I can't ever complain about them making tons of money because they have a sound business strategy: make something new or even partially.new and make it well. There wasn't a phone quite like the iPhone when the iPhone came out, tablets were a joke before the ipad. It's funny that, if apple came out with an iPhone with buttons just so every1 could play great portable games every console kid would scream it's bs but it would sell millions, just because apple would do it well. Hate apple all we want but im recently hating the industry more than apple, do people wait for apple to do something first so they could do it themselves later? Jeez

The playstation portable phone is a joke, if apple ever made a phone with buttons and an analog stick it's over.

[zero_cool]

it's a rumor so don't sweat it unless there's proof to back it up!

[Eromu]

Why do console makers always skimp on RAM? RAM is so cheap nowadays, it's ridiculous.

[buckley]

With RAM being so inexpensive, is the cost vs function ratio really leveling out by straight-up HALVING the memory?

Sounds like a quick and dirty way to cut costs, and one that might hurt the device in the long run. Hope it's a false rumor.

[Yangus]

256?
FAIL-
Sony big hollywood marketing NGP-Sad-

[e-p-ayeaH]

I hope this isnt true.