Sony's New NGP Isn't Quite As Powerful As A PS3, Despite What You've HeardThe next PlayStation Portable, Sony's recently announced NGP, won't rival the PlayStation 3 in terms of raw computing power, despite its impressively good looks. Sony engineers say the NGP instead sits about "halfway" between the original PSP and PS3.
David Coombes, platform research manager at Sony Computer Entertainment America, downplayed some aspects of the NGP's computing prowess in a talk designed for developers and engineers, offering hints about the platform's technical specs.
"Some people in the press have said 'Wow, this thing could be as powerful as a PS3.'," Coombes said. "Well, it's not going to run at 2 GHz because the battery would last five minutes... and it would probably set fire to your pants."
Touching on the system's hardware specs, Coombes said the NGP will have a console-like architecture, using four symmetrical CPU cores. That's compared to a single core, single hardware thread for the PSP and the PlayStation 3's more complex CELL architecture. The NGP will have "a lot of memory compared to the PSP," Coombes said, but wouldn't provide specifics, only to say that its RAM is closer in size to the PS3.
NGP games will be stored on either 2 GB or 4 GB cards, which also contain some unspecified amount of writable memory.
The system will come in two flavors, Wi-Fi only and Wi-Fi with 3G connectivity. Coombes noted that the Wi-Fi only model can still determine a user's location using the Skyhook Wireless positioning service, which references a database of wireless hotspots to determine location. Coombes said that in urban environments, it can be more accurate than GPS.
The NGP will use those location services (Near) for gifting between players and "treasure hunts" that will come after the NGP launches later this year.
Coombes and Tsutomu Horikawa, director SCEI software solution development department, highlighted some of the NGP's other unique hardware characteristics and how developers might use them in games. Head-tracking, face detection and augmented reality tricks via the NGP's dual cameras—Coombes said "they're not really designed for video, they're for game play"—were given special attention. Horikawa showed off an AR demo that rendered an Ape Escape monkey on a PSP game case and a massive dinosaur in the conference room.
Touch via the game's multitouch sensitive screen and rear panel was a heavily promoted feature. Coombes said the NGP can detect touch strength in an analog way. He also offered control suggestions for touchscreen games, including double-taps to bring up maps, pinch movements to zoom a sniper scope and melee attacks performed with rapid-fire thumb taps.
While Coombes may have curbed expectations about the NGP's rendering prowess, onstage demos of Uncharted and Little Deviants, both of which used touch controls heavily, impressed the crowd.
Shadows of the Damned will be out on June 7th, anyone else pumped for this game? if you dont know what it is heres a link http://www.ea.com/shadows-of-the-damned
"That's another thing I love about metal, it's so fuckin' huge yet certain people don't even know it exists." - Rob Zombie
Next week's DLC will see two awesome bands joining the RB library for the first time! Depeche Mode arrives with a full pack with a Pro G/B upgrade for their hit Personal Jesus and Death Cab For Cutie come out swinging with an excellent single. New bands are always great to see, and we've seen plenty of requests for these two bands over the years and we're happy to have them in the family!
Available on Xbox 360, Wii and PlayStation®3 system (March 8):
• Depeche Mode – “Never Let Me Down Again” • Depeche Mode – “Personal Jesus” X • Depeche Mode – “Policy of Truth” • Death Cab For Cutie – “I Will Possess Your Heart”
(All tracks are original master recordings) (These tracks will be available in Europe on PlayStation®3 system March 9)
These tracks will be available for purchase as individual tracks and as “Depeche Mode Pack 01” on Xbox 360, PlayStation®3 system and Wii. Tracks marked with “X” will include Pro Guitar and Pro Bass expansions for $0.99 per song.
Price:
$1.99 USD, £.99 UK, €1.49 EU (160 Microsoft Points) per song $2.00 USD (200 Wii Points™) per song $0.99 USD (100 Wii Points/80 Microsoft Points), £0.59 UK, €0.79 EU per song for eligible Pro Guitar/Pro Bass upgrade $5.49, £2.49 UK, €3.99 EU (440 Microsoft Points, 550 Wii Points) for Depeche Mode Pack 01
I literally did that hands waving can't breathe thing from being so happy.
Comments
1 being easiest, 7 being hardest
Nine Inch Nails -- Head Like A Hole
Full Band 7/7
Guitar 3/7
Bass 6/7
Drums 6/7
Vocals 4/7 (Three Part Harmony)
Keys 7/7
Pro Guitar 2/7
Pro Bass 5/7
Nine Inch Nails -- Sanctified
Full Band 2/7
Guitar 3/7
Bass 1/7
Drums 5/7
Vocals 3/7
Keys 2.7
Nine Inch Nails -- Terrible Lie
Full Band 2/7
Guitar 1/7
Bass 1/7
Drums 4/7
Vocals 4/7 (Two Part Harmony)
Keys 4/7
Nine Inch Nails -- The Only Time
Full Band 2/7
Guitar None
Bass 1/7
Drums 3/7
Vocals 3/7
Keys 4/7
Pro Guitar/Bass Upgrade songs.
Blink-182 -- Dammit
Pro Guitar 2/7
Pro Bass 1/7
The Offspring -- Self Esteem
Pro Guitar 3/7
Pro Bass 3/7
Creedence Clearwater Revival -- Fortunate Son
Pro Guitar 3/7
Pro Bass 2/7
Creedence Clearwater Revival -- Bad Moon Rising
Pro Guitar 3/7
Pro Bass 1/7
Lynyrd Skynyrd -- Simple Man
Pro Guitar 4/7
Pro Bass 7/7
Boston -- More Than A Feeling
Pro Guitar 4/7
Pro Bass 5/7
Eve 6 -- Inside Out
Pro Guitar 4/7
Pro Bass 2/7
James Gang -- Funk #49
Pro Guitar 4/7
Pro Bass 6/7
The Knack -- My Sharona
Pro Guitar 5/7
Pro Bass 3/7
Stevie Ray Vaughan And Double Trouble -- Pride And Joy
Pro Guitar 6/7
Pro Bass 6/7
Metallica -- ...And Justice For All
Pro Guitar 6/7
Pro Bass 7/7
All I've found on Shao Kahn in the new game, jebuz christ this is going to be awesome.
David Coombes, platform research manager at Sony Computer Entertainment America, downplayed some aspects of the NGP's computing prowess in a talk designed for developers and engineers, offering hints about the platform's technical specs.
"Some people in the press have said 'Wow, this thing could be as powerful as a PS3.'," Coombes said. "Well, it's not going to run at 2 GHz because the battery would last five minutes... and it would probably set fire to your pants."
Touching on the system's hardware specs, Coombes said the NGP will have a console-like architecture, using four symmetrical CPU cores. That's compared to a single core, single hardware thread for the PSP and the PlayStation 3's more complex CELL architecture. The NGP will have "a lot of memory compared to the PSP," Coombes said, but wouldn't provide specifics, only to say that its RAM is closer in size to the PS3.
NGP games will be stored on either 2 GB or 4 GB cards, which also contain some unspecified amount of writable memory.
The system will come in two flavors, Wi-Fi only and Wi-Fi with 3G connectivity. Coombes noted that the Wi-Fi only model can still determine a user's location using the Skyhook Wireless positioning service, which references a database of wireless hotspots to determine location. Coombes said that in urban environments, it can be more accurate than GPS.
The NGP will use those location services (Near) for gifting between players and "treasure hunts" that will come after the NGP launches later this year.
Coombes and Tsutomu Horikawa, director SCEI software solution development department, highlighted some of the NGP's other unique hardware characteristics and how developers might use them in games. Head-tracking, face detection and augmented reality tricks via the NGP's dual cameras—Coombes said "they're not really designed for video, they're for game play"—were given special attention. Horikawa showed off an AR demo that rendered an Ape Escape monkey on a PSP game case and a massive dinosaur in the conference room.
Touch via the game's multitouch sensitive screen and rear panel was a heavily promoted feature. Coombes said the NGP can detect touch strength in an analog way. He also offered control suggestions for touchscreen games, including double-taps to bring up maps, pinch movements to zoom a sniper scope and melee attacks performed with rapid-fire thumb taps.
While Coombes may have curbed expectations about the NGP's rendering prowess, onstage demos of Uncharted and Little Deviants, both of which used touch controls heavily, impressed the crowd.
Available on Xbox 360, Wii and PlayStation®3 system (March 8):
• Depeche Mode – “Never Let Me Down Again”
• Depeche Mode – “Personal Jesus” X
• Depeche Mode – “Policy of Truth”
• Death Cab For Cutie – “I Will Possess Your Heart”
(All tracks are original master recordings)
(These tracks will be available in Europe on PlayStation®3 system March 9)
These tracks will be available for purchase as individual tracks and as “Depeche Mode Pack 01” on Xbox 360, PlayStation®3 system and Wii. Tracks marked with “X” will include Pro Guitar and Pro Bass expansions for $0.99 per song.
Price:
$1.99 USD, £.99 UK, €1.49 EU (160 Microsoft Points) per song
$2.00 USD (200 Wii Points™) per song
$0.99 USD (100 Wii Points/80 Microsoft Points), £0.59 UK, €0.79 EU per song for eligible Pro Guitar/Pro Bass upgrade
$5.49, £2.49 UK, €3.99 EU (440 Microsoft Points, 550 Wii Points) for Depeche Mode Pack 01
I literally did that hands waving can't breathe thing from being so happy.
XBL games on demand cost way too much.