My Take On: Sony NGP- Is Sony Not Going To Play Anymore Against Nintendo & Apple

Sony Japan recently announced the newest combatant in the portable handheld  wars. With a ton of technology thrown at this newest handheld it appears that Sony is bringing out the big guns to protect its number two spot from the looming threat of Apple and compete head on against the 3DS.  Sony announced a partnership with Android that allows Playstation titles to be playable on Android devices* via  the Playstation Suite which is a solid strategy considering how many Android devices are available. It almost like an army of PSP’s at their disposal which isn’t a bad thing and raises interest in the Xperia Play device which happens to have Android.  Check out the spec sheet to see what bells and whistles Sony is adding to their new handheld.

*Android devices must be running 2.3 or higher

One of the things you will notice are multi touch pads on the back of the handheld that add a new dynamic to your gameplay experience coupled with six axis capabilities as well. These touch pads were showcased in the Uncharted demo that was shown during Sony’s press conference. Another item that got my attention is the addition of 3G to this unit which raises a few questions such as

1. Will you need a data plan or will it come bundled with the system like the Amazon Kindle
2. Will there be two SKU’s one for Wifi & one for 3G?

These are two items that while trivial will definitely affect the success of the console. These are also items that will certainly affect the price. The unit will use a mix of digital and flash based software which clearly means the end of UMD titles. This also will frustrate those that have a decent sized PSP game library. What will happen to those games? Will you be able to redeem for digital versions?

Another piece of interesting software on display was the LiveArea which is Sony’s version of XBL and PSN that focuses on connecting you with other gamers and strives to revolutionize the social gaming experience which frankly needs to happen given the subpar job that has been done with PSN and current PSP devices.

Overall I feel that the amount of tech on display guarantees success but we have seen that all these bells and whistles mean jack shit if they don’t have a solid group of titles that will motivate the consumer to drop a rumored $299-$349 on this handheld.  I honestly want Sony to succeed not only because they have some great ideas but because the competition against Apple & Nintendo will benefit the gaming community with great titles and competitive pricing. I will stress that if Sony doesn’t come out guns blazing at launch that they will end up with another expensive paperweight.

Do you think Sony can redeem themselves?

Will you be buying it?

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Image credits- Mashable , Joystiq and Engadget.