NGP specs scaled down?

maybe it's fighting the 3DS for battery life.

I doubt this whole story. Are we forgetting that game developers have projects in the works for the NGP? So if Sony just suddenly downgraded the specs, game developers could potentially be losing a lot of money. @orthac Okay, smartphone cost adds up to so much because of all the extra hardware and software that goes into them. Your average smartphone these days has 512MB Ram, 1GHz CPU and 200MHz GPU. The most powerful one I know of, being the Motorolla Atrix, has a 1GB Ram, dual-core 1GHz CPU and a 400MHz GPU, all for $500 with no term/contract. Smartphones also have higher resolution screens, higher resolution cameras, 2G, 3G, 4G, accelerometers, gyrosensors, proximity sensors, vibration, HTML, Java, Flash, HDMI, long lasting cell batteries and tons of software that dedicated portable gaming consoles don't need. Sony could make the specs of the NGP as good as any smartphone out there and price it at around $300-$400.

ah boy X-box good right about now

$350. lol.

so what there is no reliable play station network. so give me a break and go play xbox 360!

Okay. None of the downgrades really surprise me. RAM isn't a huge loss, you don't really need 512 on a handheld. VRAM, well, who really expected it to have PS3 specs. The internal memory is a shame but hey that means we get more customizable external memory. What REALLY upset me about this article is their proposed replacement to the internal memory. Custom cards with built-in piracy protection? Okay Sony, seriously, did you NOT LEARN? The PSP's external memory was atrocious. It was years behind the standardized SD cards they made for digital cameras and phones, in terms of both size and price. We were paying twice the price for an 4GB stick that someone with a camera paid for 8GB, and then you expected us to download games onto it? And piracy protection? And then, heading up the end of the article, great, it's coming out multiple months after Japan's release. Sony seems to be in the 'middle aged Japanese developers who just don't learn' boat. Waiting for a product while we see footage of people with it in their hands on Youtube pisses us off. Piracy protection does not work. Piracy is not an epidemic, and even if it was, you still couldn't stop it. It's the same mistakes Capcom keep making, and just like Capcom, Sony will blame it all on THE EVIL PIRATES when the simple truth is that nobody wants to shell out huge amounts of money just to be kicked in the beanbag. EDIT: Forgot to mention, even though it doesn't surprise or upset me, maybe they wouldn't have had to tone down the specs if they removed some of the other completely unnecessary gimmicky crap like the 17 touchpads, 6 microphones, 9 cameras and 64 weight censors.

$350 .... make me curious, how much is the real price before the downgrade ...

Just a heads up to everyone that keeps ranting on about smart phones being more powerful, or will be in a year or two...You do realize how expensive it is to buy a smart phone that isn't on some kind of annual plan? Any of the current, top of the line, smart phones are well over $700. So less you want to shell out that kind of money for a PSP that can compete with those smart phones...stop arguing like it's a valid point.

Well, I sure hope this isn't true because I was planning on buying it day one.

A huge mistake Sony will do if they down power its NGP, never the less it will kill its popularity of its people, and cause a EPIC FAIL in their sales!.

Who cares what's under the hood? The only thing that can kill the NGP is a rubbish library of its games like its predecessor.

sony you've officially made me angry. a great system we've always wanted and now you want us to expect less? wow

Does it seem kind of sad that my mobile phone has more system ram? 768mb on a HTC Desire HD and a new Samsung Galaxy SII has 1GB! Disappointed but i think it should still perform rather well. Hopefully it remains just a rumor or Sony read the disappointed comments over the web and revert back to at least 512mb :)

didn't psp 3000 have 64Mb of ram? This is still much better!

@ eleven hand thats what hype does, now you learned, dont judge ngp by the cover , or 3ds for that matter and never count nintendo out maybe people will learn that as well lol ,never hype somthing , never ask for somthing then you wont be disappionted just get whats put to ya remember what your mom said ,about dinner along time ago---- eat whats put before ya, well same thing here ,if you want the darn handheld get it ,but remember your given whats put before you unless you make your own , thats tough

I am disappoint.

It took me a while but I looked up the 3ds's ram and vram. It was shown that the 3ds has 128Mb of ram and 64Mb or vram for its type of gpu. Basically the NGP will be double the specs of the 3ds.

@ntungwe they have never said that they are downgrading it this is just a rumor and just because 01Net was right on the wii 2 thing doesn't mean they are right now

I do wonder where this stacks against the 3DS in terms of graphical power.Just out of curiosity.

I laugh at all the graphics addicts.How many of those bums will decide not to buy it just because it doesn't have Superman inside it running the graphics?Really,if this is true,it's for the best.$250 puts it in much better line to compete with Nintendo,and perhaps it won't try to ride on graphics hype like a lot of things in this industry do.

I wonder how this effects the visuals, Sony had to confirm it wasn't PS3 quality at one point and I doubt the graphics themselves will take a hit (as the GPU is the same) but the level of detail in terrain, effects and rendering on objects must have took a hit from the lowered ram.

why down grade the specs sony.

c'mon sony, keep the ngp powerful with the original specs you announced!!!

Actually i found that PS3 have 256 on 256 ram.

this will probably like Nintendo 3ds. release a new hardware but have no support from third party developers.

This E3 will sucks Nintendo and Microsoft will win Sony you disappointed me very very much.

Sony is literally self destructing in a cloud of money. Cut everything! We can make a NGP with 1024k of RAM. Who needs more?

sound weak... literally

@mrboone01 - RAM. The PS3 has 256Mb of dedicated system RAM and 256Mb of VRAM. When listing specs for a computer, VRAM is almost never considered part of a whole, but separately. If your computer has 1Gb for example, that number always separate from VRAM, so you likely have something between 256Mb and 2Gb VRAM as well.

This sucks. I liked all the features they had. Oh well I'll be getting this anywayz when it drops despite the scale down.

@punu40 were the specs ever officially posted? If not I could see a scale back due to possible problems (over heating, price might be a little high). We will know at the E3 anyways its only a few days away lol

@malatato They didn't bash Sony. Just simply give us info on the specs.

Ass. And I was hoping to get one! Good luck now, Sony. *Sigh*

French site?? hmm.. gamespot bashing sony again......... ridiculous

Hmm? What about those games that's already being developed? I think this specs scale down is very unlikely, but who knows...

NOOOOO!!!!! *sob* With these specs, the NGP will be outdated within a month after launch...

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I thought this was meant to OUTSELL the 3DS and not lose to Nintendo again?, if they want to compete with Nintendo in handheld, they should've kept the spec where they were originally at >.> GREAT JOB SONY!!!, I think I'll stay away from the PSP line once again, and get a 3DS, yeah the battery life sucks and the game library (ATM) sucks, but its about to get awesome, yeah its just ports and remakes so far, but at least Nintendo actually bothers to change stuff >.>

i would of paid 350$ for the odl model but after the scaleing back they basicly just made a handheld with the exact capabilities of the psp 1 with touch screen.

Haha sony talking from there ars*es as usual.

IMO, if they really want to cut down cost, they should remove some of the eye candy, like gyroscope, touch pad and camera. I personally am just looking for a more powerful PSP with better game library, nothing more. In fact, I found it rather annoying watching the NGP Uncharted gameplay, when a simple action such as climbing had to done via the touchpad, just so the touchpad has some use.

so now this is certainly not as powerful as the ps3...m sorry i will pass on the psp again

Would you pay 350 for a handheld? I think this is a smart business decision. The 3DS isn't selling that well partly due to lack of games but also because of a high price tag. Sony saw this and wants to make sure their system will sell.

no way it's dumbed down so bad..

In two years, those specs will look like crap. Phones out today have 512MB of ram, imagine the phone landscape at the time this releases.

here we go.

Still sounds decent enough, even with the downgrade.

@collinmul If by "noticeable behind" you mean "the DS outsells the PSP 3 to 1", then yeah!

I say bogus on this rumor. You cant trust those French sites.

lllllllooooooollllllllll Sony lies ever and ever ... the same as ps3 they promise and they fail in every ... xbox is much faster , cell cpu and nvidia video card kill in every aspect the ps3 slow slow slow ... the same with psp2 or NGP WAKE UP nintendo 3DS is much better more powerfull and with a 3D screen lol NGP is only a psp with the same graffics as a ps2 , .... funny as stupid Sony is a joke