Sony doesn't see any clear competitor for its PlayStation Portable successor, codenamed the Next Generation Portable.

Why? Because it's so unique.

"There's no one clear competitor in terms of what NGP offers," Shuhei Yoshida, president of Sony Computer Entertainment worldwide studios, told Eurogamer in an interview.

"NGP's going to establish itself as the unique thing that people want to have. NGP cannot be placed against smartphones. You can't make phone calls on it and it's too big to fit into your pocket."

NGP, rumoured to be officially called the PS Vita, features dual analog sticks and a five inch OLED touchscreen.

Some commentators have suggested it's set to go head-to-head with Nintendo's 3DS when it launches later this year, but Sony doesn't see it that way.

"Compared to 3DS, it was very interesting – when we were designing the NGP we had no idea what Nintendo was going to do," Yoshida revealed.

"Aside from the 3D stereoscopic display, they seem to be keeping the same theme that they had with the DS – it feels like an update of the DS to me.

"Lots of choices we made were so different from their choices. It's kind of hard to compare the two, aside from the fact that both of them are dedicated gaming platforms."

But Yoshida said Sony and Nintendo had a common enemy: the cheap mobile game.

"We are dealing with the same issue that Nintendo is. It's up to content publishers, including ourselves, to show people that this is worth £25 or £30 as opposed to 59p.

"You cannot release the same content that you put on the iPhone for a dollar on to NGP or some other consoles and expect people to pay 20 times that."

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/20...petitor-to-ngp ...

Sony's worldwide studios head Shuhei Yoshida has said he's well aware that the successor to the PSP, currently codenamed NGP, will face the same preconceptions over games pricing that has dogged Nintendo's 3DS.

In a market where smartphones dominate portable gaming with titles at the low price of 59p, full-price handheld console games must convince customers they are worth more than the comparatively astronomical £30-plus price tags.

"The problem is the same. We are dealing with the same issue that Nintendo is," stated Yoshida.

Nintendo's 3DS has suffered from lacklustre sales, with software titles thin on the ground after an initial launch of games failed to have a long-term impact on the charts.

There's no one clear competitor in terms of what NGP offers
Shuhei Yoshida, Sony
"It's up to content publishers, including ourselves, to show people that this is worth £25 or £30 as opposed to 59p. You cannot release the same content that you put on the iPhone for a dollar on to NGP or some other consoles and expect people to pay 20 times that."

But that's where the comparisons end for Yoshida, who believes there is no competitor that compares to the NGP on the mobile and handheld market. The console is purely for high-end gaming, with few additional features to distract from the PlayStation brand.

"There's no one clear competitor in terms of what NGP offers. NGP's going to establish itself as the unique thing that people want to have. NGP cannot be placed against smartphones. You can't make phone calls on it and it's too big to fit into your pocket."

Discussing Nintendo's latest handheld, Yoshida said he believes the 3DS is just an update of previous DS hardware, despite the glasses-free 3D selling point.

"When we were designing the NGP we had no idea what Nintendo was going to do. Aside from the 3D stereoscopic display, they seem to be keeping the same theme that they had with the DS – it feels like an update of the DS to me.

"So what we're trying to do, lots of choices that we made were so different from their choices. It's kind of hard to compare the two, aside from the fact that both of them are dedicated gaming platforms," he added.

The NGP, which comes in two different models, will take centre stage at Sony's E3 press conference next week, where the company is expected to announce the name of PS Vita, pricing and possible release dates.

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/article...roblems-as-3ds ...

Evidence is mounting that Sony has settled on Vita as the final name for its forthcoming NGP handheld, after the moniker was spotted in net code on Sony's E3 website.

If you head on over to the web page and view the site's source code you should be able to see three references to "PS Vita", including specific sub-directories marked "Games and Media" and "Features".

Speculation that the NGP will be renamed Vita kicked off earlier this week when a logo was reportedly leaked and the word was spotted in a Sony developer subdomain.

Not long to wait until we get to find out for sure. Sony's E3 press conference goes down next Monday.

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/20...n-com-web-code ...

E3 is, unfortunately for most of you, an industry-only event, but Sony seems to be making every effort to bring the show to you.

The platform holder has confirmed that it will stream its entire press conference via a "special screening room within PlayStation Home".

As Sony explains: "The press conference, which will be the first ever live streaming press event in PlayStation Home, will show Jack Tretton, President and CEO of SCEA, on stage as he unveils exclusive, never-before-seen footage of new titles across Sony Computer Entertainment's suite of platforms and reveals all of the major announcements the company will make at the E3 expo, taking place June 6 through 9 at the Los Angeles Convention Center."

The show kicks off on June 6 at 5 p.m. PT (1am BST, June 7).

PlayStation Home users will also be able to have a look around a detailed virtual replica of Sony's inevitably enormous E3 show floor booth. "At the start of the show on Tuesday, June 7 at 12 p.m. PT, when users login to PlayStation Home, they will be invited to visit the virtual booth," explains Sony.

"Once inside, users will be able to tour a detailed replica of PlayStation's E3 booth earning exclusive virtual items at each area as they check out the content showcased on the show floor, including a 3D render of PlayStation's Next Generation Portable (NGP)."

There's more: "Once their tour is complete and all virtual items have been unlocked, users will be awarded access to the upstairs VIP area that will showcase specific PlayStation Home content, including the first level of the never-before-seen upcoming Scribble Shooter game as well as a virtual item package that features companions, furniture and ornaments."

So you'll be right there with us when, we pray to the heavens, Sony reveals that the NGP's real name is NOT Rita Sulliva... we mean 'Vita'.

http://www.computerandvideogames.com...VG-General-RSS ...

New version of popular engine promises to deliver console quality on Sony handheld
Trinigy has made the NGP version of its Vision Game Engine available with immediate effect.
The tech, which its makers have staked a claim to as the first available game engine for NGP, offers a modular architecture, and lets users work with the same tools and workflow they use to develop titles for all other Vision supported platforms and services, such as PS3, Xbox 360, Wii and Windows.
The Vision Game Engine for NGP also includes a wealth of new tailoured features for the Sony handheld that harness its GPU cores, as detailed below.
"With the Vision Game Engine, developing a graphically rich, highly immersive game for NGP is no different than building a game for PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, or PC," said Dag Frommhold, managing director at Trinigy.
"Because of the Vision Game Engine’s flexibility, developers can use the same tools environment, the same asset types, the same game code, and many of the same graphical effects, which is an incredible advantage in an environment with so many different development platforms."
As detailed in a statement to the press, key Vision Game Engine for NGP features include:
• Familiar editing environment and toolset – access the same tools, the same asset types, the same game code and many of the same graphics effects across all supported platforms
• Optimised character skinning system for NGP – allows for efficient rendering of detailed characters with very high polygon and bone counts
• Full support for cross-platform and platform-specific texture formats – offers a straightforward workflow and easy porting of existing content, while providing high-loading performance and platform-specific content optimisations, where required
• Multithreading system – takes full advantage of NGP’s CPU cores for animations, mesh deformation, particle simulation, physics, visibility determination, and more
• Highly efficient rendering – efficient rendering system minimises CPU load
• Optimised shader/shader constant handling – includes full cross-platform compatibility
• Comprehensive support for NGP’s user interface – includes multi-touch as well as support for dual analog sticks
• Fully featured graphics technology – includes normal/parallax maps, specular maps, dynamic lighting, post-processing effects and more

http://www.develop-online.net/news/3...ngine-released ...

After years of losses in its PS3 division, it's no surprise that Sony's not attempting a fiscal encore. Just the opposite, in fact. Massaru Kato, Sony's Chief Financial Officer, stated recently that the upcoming NGP handheld won't be as "investment heavy" as previous platforms. What does this mean? Sony probably won't pour cash into developing new semiconductors just for its new handheld, and will instead opt to build NGP hardware with off-the-shelf and readily available components. This could translate to competitive pricing versus Nintendo's 3DS (we hope), but it's all quiet on the pricing front at Sony HQ. That's liable to change at E3 next week, but regardless we'd rather not have to wait four years just to hear Yoshida's good news again.

http://www.engadget.com/2011/05/30/n...re-affordable/ ...

But NGP focus is, for now, to deliver 'PS3-like experiences'
Sony is not ruling out the use of 3D technology for PlayStation small-screen devices such as NGP, the company has said.
Yet the firm told Develop that its current strategy for the PSP successor is to build a “pure gaming device”.
Mick Hocking, the director of Sony WorldWide Studios’ 3D team, told Develop that small-screen 3D technology is “rapidly improving”.
“The amount of new 3D mobile devices at this year’s CES show is evidence of that,” he said.
“As small screen 3D improves we may be able to deliver these high quality 3D experiences on smaller screens,” he added.

“But our focus at the moment is on delivering the highest quality 3D games viewing experiences, and currently this is best done on HD 3D TVs.”
The NGP, currently rumoured to be officially named PS Vita, is Sony’s answer to a rapidly shifting mobile gaming market.
“It’s a very, very competitive market out there,” Hocking said.
“It’s a very different world from when we first launched the PSP.”
The NGP’s focus appears to be on the core consumer, at least for now while the tech’s costs will push up retail prices.
The device was widely applauded when first unveiled from developers and the specialist press.
[NGP: The full list of engines and tools]

In January, Epic Games founder Tim Sweeney gave the NGP a ringing endorsement by describing it as a significant technological leap into the next generation.
“Sony's multi-core GPU is roughly 4x as powerful as any portable we've previously seen," Sweeney said.
It is believed, though not confirmed, that the system has halved its RAM capacity from 512MB to 256MB.
Sony has declined to comment on the matter.
“I’m delighted that with NGP we’ve pushed on quality and usability, with a massive screen, dual-analogues, a unique dual-touch interface and the power to deliver very PS3-like experiences,” Hocking said.
“I think that’s why a lot of people were pleased with it, because that focus is actually unique in that it can be a pure gaming device.”

http://www.develop-online.net/news/3...-small-screens ...

Sony's second handheld console will undoubtedly be given the star treatment during the company's hours-long June 6 press conference at E3, but one particular rumor began circulating this morning and has been making the rounds rather quickly. According to anonymous sources speaking with two separate, unknown sites, the NGP will officially become the "PS Vita" as of just a few weeks from now, during the aforementioned E3 presser.

Two images were initially posted to one of the sites yesterday -- a Blogspot site owned by someone named Hugo Miramontes -- though the shots were later taken down along with the post. In its place, a note now sits, which reads, "This has to be one of the stupidest things I've ever done. I don't know what I was thinking. I'm sorry. I really am." We reached out to Miramontes for comment, and had yet to hear back as of publishing.

A cached version of another now deleted post, which originally indicated just the "PS Vita" name, has comments from the blog's author, explaining that the images are "prepared graphics for E3."

That said, all of this could be little more than a well-crafted hoax. Lest you forget, before the NGP was officially confirmed, multiple rumors pegged the system as being codenamed "Vita" and/or "Veta." Of course, Sony could've just stuck with the name, but it could also be that there are folks on the internet with plenty of extra time on their hands. Hit the poll below the break and let us know what you think of the images and the name. And hey, if you're real into Photoshop and wanna tear apart those shots for the obvious hoaxes they are (are they?), we'd love to hear from you!

http://www.joystiq.com/2011/05/29/ru...renamed-at-e3/ ...

Well its been a busy few days since Martin upgraded not only the server but upgraded the forum to the latest version of Vbulletin and installed many new security features, hopefully this will stop the hacking that has done damage to the name of DCEmu.

The last few days i have been posting like crazy and now we are back up to date and what a month it has been, if you follow the PSP, DS and Wii scenes you have seen so many new releases, infact i havent seen so much activity in a long time and some genuine great releases, the weeks away has really renewed my passion for homebrew.

One thing i am going to do is bring back the old sites for archive purposes so that releases especially older ones can be found easy, there are thousands of pages on those sites that form a major history of the site and whilst the new CMS is great theres a need to be able to relive those releases, that is my next task and an ongoing one until they are all online.

Over the last 4 days i have posted literally hundreds of news items and a couple of hundred Homebrew releases, so if you havent yet then check the forums to catch up on releases you may not have seen before.

The Homebrew scene seems to be coming out of a dark period where homebrew was just linked to piracy and its good to remember that Homebrew is and never wil be the same as piracy.

Long Live DCEmu and The Homebrew Scene,

thanks for your time

wraggster ...