Sony’s NGP is shaking up the portable world. Sheer processing power, duel analog sticks, and graphics that put home consoles to shame were just a gamer’s portable wet dream till earlier this week. Everything portable gamers have wanted for years is finally on the horizon, but the question is; will anyone buy it? After seeing the details on Sony’s next generation portable my personal answer to that question is… Meh. Here’s why.
1. It’s the size of a brick
Sony’s NGP has to be the biggest handheld console I have ever seen. For it being Sony’s next generation portable system it does not seem very portable. I can’t fit that in my pocket, and I’m not about to carry a backpack around or adopt man-purse fashion just so I can play Uncharted for fifteen minutes at lunch.
2. Can’t I play that on my PS3?
To me experiences such as the Uncharted, Killzone, Resistance, and Call of Duty series are best spent with a full sized controller, surround sound and a 50 inch HDTV, not on a 5″ screen with nubbins as control sticks. These killer ap games seem like they are not a good fit for an on-the-go portable, but more for a sit-at-home console. I mean, who wants to have to interrupt a two minute cut scene because they have to get off the bus. Games like NGP’s Uncharted would really be the only reason for me to pick up the system, but unless these games present something substantially different in portable form than their PS3 counterparts, I don’t see a reason to play them with inferior controls on an inferior setup.
3. Cost
This one is still up in the air. Estimates are across the board with prices ranging from Gamestop’s insane $999.99 guess to others saying it will be around the $300 – $400 mark. Even at the lower end of the spectrum that is way too much money. I finally bit the bullet and scrounged up enough money to buy a PS3 this year and if Sony thinks that I am going to pay around the same price for a PS3 I can carry around in my pocket fanny pack, they’ve got another thing coming.
4. I’m going to break it…
As I mentioned before, the NGP is a brick. On top of that it has all kinds of touch controls with a touch screen and a touch pad on the back of the console. With all of my fingers flying around, touching screens, sliding on touch pads, duel analoging, and pressing buttons, how am I supposed to hold the stinking console? Watch the Uncharted gameplay demo — climbing the rope (at 1:30) is a disaster waiting to happen.
From what I have seen of the NGP I have decided that it is not for me, at least for now. Don’t get me wrong, it does some amazing things. The graphics alone almost had me, but I really have no need for a home console experience that I can carry around with me and any of the other features the PS3 doesn’t have I can get elsewhere in a much more compact form. Maybe once the slim version is released I will consider picking up a NGP, but as of now I’ll pass.
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