Is PSP2 as powerful as PS3?

By Johnny Minkley Published 24 January, 2011

Codemasters’ CEO says it is.

If the rumours are correct, Sony will lift the lid on PSP2 – arguably the industry's worst kept secret – later this week in Japan. And Codemasters CEO Rod Cousens has further fuelled speculation by telling Eurogamer that suggestions the console is as powerful as PS3 are "true".

Speaking to us at last week's Nintendo 3DS event in Amsterdam, industry veteran Cousens said, "We're at the tip of the iceberg" of portable gaming, as "mobile phones have only just got going" - with 3DS and PSP2 set to join the fray.

On the subject of Sony's next handheld – whose existence has never been officially confirmed by the company – Cousens said: "In portable areas, you're going to have statements, which are already out in the press, saying PlayStation Portable 2 is as powerful as the PS3 - which is true.

"So you're going to get mobile devices as powerful as what were considered notebooks. I just think it gets bigger."

The PSP2 is said to have touch controls on the reverse of the unit and 3G support that enables gamers to play online games and download software and movies. It is expected to release this year.

Meanwhile, the UK publisher boss was full of praise for 3DS, arguing that its arrival "jump-starts the industry this year - I think it's going to be absolutely enormous and open software opportunities for the creative process".

On the price of the hardware, Cousens said he didn't expect it to "take too long for that to fall below the £200 mark," adding: "Presumably there's margin in there for them to do that."

Picture of Johnny.

About Johnny Minkley

Johnny Minkley is a veteran games writer and broadcaster, former editor of Eurogamer TV, VP of gaming charity SpecialEffect, and hopeless social media addict.

Read more articles from Johnny by visiting the Johnny Minkley archive page.

You may also like...

Comments (91) Latest comment 1 year ago

Comments for this article are now closed, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Skurmedel #1 1 year ago

    He says nothing at all really, it's just weasel words.

  • Eraysor #2 1 year ago

    Judging by the price of the PS3 at launch and the 3DS, this will presumably cost at least £300, probably more...

  • Erinan #3 1 year ago

    Below £200, downloadable games (at a reasonable price...) and it could be a killer.

  • SeesThroughAll #4 1 year ago

    If you release F1 on it, and it's any good, I might bite.


    Oh, and the price makes a difference too!

  • Nuronv #5 1 year ago

    As powerful as the PS3 in terms of.....
    3rd party support?
    Battery life?
    Carbon Footprint?
    Ability to woo the ladies?

  • Tanners #6 1 year ago

    'Below £200'

    Is that a joke? I will unfornately be surprised if its less than 300 pounds, OLED, 3G and as powerful as PS3. Still cannot wait, much more excited for this then 3DS.
    Edited by Tanners at 24/01/11 @ 15:52

  • onezeonx #7 1 year ago

    if i can play my ps3 games on the move with the PSP2 then transfer saves etc etc then ill buy
    would be awesome to play my ps3 then go out and continue playing!

    Other than that im not bothered

  • Bleemo #8 1 year ago

    "Judging by the price of the PS3 at launch and the 3DS, this will presumably cost at least £300, probably more..."

    Point being that a reasonable about of the power in the PS3 goes towards it rendering a HD game on potentially a 60 inch screen instead of a 3.5-5 inch one. Therefore the spec could be less yet still achieve PS3 quality resolution/fps. So technically as the PS3 is rumoured to have a price drop this year there is no reason why this baby couldn't launch at say £200 making the 3DS look a bit daft at £230.

  • Evolution #9 1 year ago

    @Erinan

    And we can all enjoy pigs flying over a blue moon, whilst hell below us freezes over :)

  • des #10 1 year ago

    sure it is,only an idiot would believe that

    /not that PS3 is powerful today

  • dfish #11 1 year ago

    given this blows an iphone 4 out of the water spec wise and that costs about £550 sim free I'm expecting some pretty monumental pricing. This is uncharted territory for a handheld gaming device. talk about high risk.

  • Shinetop #12 1 year ago

    Please, as if anyone is supposed to believe that it's actually going to be as powerful. It won't be, and when some games journalist with half a pair of balls finally musters up the courage to confront that CEO with it, there'll be some vague nonsense for an answer like "if talking in terms of raw processing power; no, it's not as powerful, but in terms of the potential it can fulfill, it is as powerful, if not moreso. So my earlier statement was true."

    After that, said journalist will be satisfied with the answer he got (He talked to me!) and continue to post said nonsense on gamenewzzz.com or whatever.

    Seriously eurogamer, why are you posting nonsense like this? You know it's a bullshit claim.

  • Phredreeke #13 1 year ago

    Ok, if we assume the PSP2 is as powerful as the PS3 (I doubt it is) then where does that leave the PS3? =P I mean, not much point in it when the PSP2 is as powerful as well as portable.

  • onezeonx #14 1 year ago

    If the PSP2 is as powerful as a PS3 ill drink my Wii!

  • X201 #15 1 year ago

    @Tanners

    He's talking about the 3DS

  • BuffoonBassoon #16 1 year ago

    3ds is 199 on shopto.net, i recommend to get it there tbh

  • Eraysor #17 1 year ago

    Fair point Bleemo; if they managed that the could do a good job at crippling 3DS sales.

  • knightmt #18 1 year ago

    The original reason for the PS3 being so expensive was the Blu Ray player I do not know what it is now. I doubt the PSP2 has a Blu Ray player.

  • ryandsimmons #19 1 year ago

    It's not OLED screen.

    Not according to people who have actually seen the dev kits.

  • MENTAL1ST Verified Senior Software Engineer, Picsel UK Ltd. #20 1 year ago

    It sounds preposterous, given everything I know about mobile processors and GPUs. Even the quad-core monsters that are on the very edge of published roadmaps for the likes of Nvidia aren't really up to challenging Ps3 or Xbox 360 in raw numbers. It's only with the advent of the dual core chips in various devices launching this quarter that they can truly be said to have overtaken the Wii.

    Mind you, PSP was an astonishing achievement in mobile graphics terms for its day. It took from its 2004 launch until mid 2009 for it to be equalled by other portable systems, so just maybe they'll surprise us.

    Realistically I'd expect the PSP2's power to compare to PS3 as PSP's did to PS2.

  • CrumpledPaper #21 1 year ago

    Not according to people who have actually seen the dev kits.

    There's been lots of different prototypes. I'm sure they're not necessarily putting OLEDs into all of them.

    As for Cousen's comment, it can't be literally true, and there's quite a difference between something as powerful as a notebook and something as powerful as PS3. But still it's good PR for Sony when publishers are already promoting that impression. First EA and now Codemasters. And it does make me excited to see games on the thing - presumably codemasters's PSP2 games will more or less look as good as their home console stuff if he's making statements like that.

  • MENTAL1ST Verified Senior Software Engineer, Picsel UK Ltd. #22 1 year ago

    It's not OLED screen.

    Not according to people who have actually seen the dev kits.

    That's actually one of the easiest components to swap out nowadays. The HTC Desire came with an LCD screen rather than OLED in some territories because of part shortages.

  • fongy #23 1 year ago

    I love all this speculation...
    I reckon recent reports of touch screen, 3G, oled screen are actually the PS phone...
    Gawd knows what the PSP2's spec will be...
    HOWEVER
    One thing is guaranteed...
    It won't be cheap - look at the PSP GO - outrageously priced...

  • sonicyoda #24 1 year ago

    If it really is as powerful as a PS3, how the bloody hell are they going to cool it? This thing is gonna be bulky...

  • bobfish09 #25 1 year ago

    You're missing the point, the PS3 can do what it does at 1080, the PSP2 will be able to do the same graphical detail on its screen, but it could never do it at 1080 on a HDTV.

    Power to screen size ratio, its entirely possible that the PSP2 will be as powerful as the current PS3 is.

  • Widge #26 1 year ago

    If Sony has any sense this has to be priced at £73 and all the games must come on DRM free floppy discs costing 34p that automatically trade themselves in on completion.

  • Arwin #27 1 year ago

    He's a CEO. When a programmer says this, I'll pay more attention. ;)

    I'm going to assume it'll be about half the PS3. Which of course is enough for that size screen.

  • StolenGlory #28 1 year ago

    PSP2lol.

  • darkmorgado #29 1 year ago

    So you're going to get mobile devices as powerful as what were considered notebooks.

    So what he is actually saying is that the PS3 is only as powerful as a notebook.

  • ulikmegee #30 1 year ago

    Lies. I heard the same shit with PSP1(as powerful as PS2).

  • rprince #31 1 year ago

    Did they ever make a mobile Cell chip? I imagine that's what is required to allow developers to easily port PS3 games to PSP2. I must admit, if there's an easy way to share saves (some sort of cloud solution, not like PSP minis!) then this could be pretty exciting. Well, if I get a free/cheap copy of the PSP2 game with the PS3 version: I don't wanna pay £30 for both versions!

  • ryandsimmons #32 1 year ago

    Lies. I heard the same shit with PSP1(as powerful as PS2).

    God of War on the PSP is up there with most of what I have seen on the PS2. (NJot that I ever had a PS2, but going by what people say.)

  • chrisjm #33 1 year ago

    so why is ps3 slim not actually very slim

  • Collymilad #34 1 year ago

    PSP was as powerful as PS2.

    Also, for whatever reasons, the PSP sold 60million+ units. So, yea...
    Edited by Collymilad at 24/01/11 @ 16:32

  • Guildenstern #35 1 year ago

    But will it be able to render graphics that look like Toy Story?

  • Quint2020 #36 1 year ago

    I just can't see this being the case, the original PSP has been a very well documented failure on quite a few levels despite it being significantly more powerful than it's main rival the DS, surely Sony would have learnt from their mistakes?

  • arcam #37 1 year ago

    Point being that a reasonable about of the power in the PS3 goes towards it rendering a HD game on potentially a 60 inch screen instead of a 3.5-5 inch one. Therefore the spec could be less yet still achieve PS3 quality resolution/fps

    Screens size means nothing, only resolution. And most PS3 games run at 720p or lower, while the PSP2 will almost definitely have a screen 720 pixels high, meaning it will have to push just as many pixels as the PS3 does for a 60" TV.

  • MENTAL1ST Verified Senior Software Engineer, Picsel UK Ltd. #38 1 year ago

    So what he is actually saying is that the PS3 is only as powerful as a notebook.

    I'd say my mid-2010 MacBook seems to be equivalently powerful to 360 and PS3, it'll play quite a few console conversions at native 720p at between 30 and 60 fps*. And that's midrange at best in today's market. You can get unbelievably hefty notebook PCs, from the likes of Alienware, he's talking full-size laptops not NETbooks.

    *in Windows, naturally :)
    Edited by MENTAL1ST at 24/01/11 @ 16:18

  • Dave52 #39 1 year ago

    I have to say - I'd be more interested in a Pocket PS3 than a 3DS... I guess we'll wait and see.

  • jtodroc #40 1 year ago

    @chrisjm

    Because it ate all the pies :D

    /I'll get my coat.........
    Edited by jtodroc at 24/01/11 @ 16:21

  • alan_stealth #41 1 year ago

    What is it with people and their obsession with power.
    That means nothing in the computer game industry.
    The "PS3 is as powerful as a NASA computer" - it's still a piece of shit, with cocken games and an inferior userbase to that of a 360.

  • Caimbeul #42 1 year ago

    much more keen to find out about this than 3DS now to be honest although the thought of adventuring through Highrule in 3D is very tempting.

    Price will make or break it. Sony have a huge opportunity to hit Nintendo in the goolies and come out on top if it is indeed as powerful and innovative as all the rumour suggest but WILL need a lower price point. otherwise it is likely we will be looking at the PSPGo again in terms of success.

  • drxym #43 1 year ago

    There is absolutely no way it will be as powerful as a PS3. Such comparisons are hyperbole. It'll probably be a dual core CPU hooked up to a programmable GPU so it won't be a slouch by any stretch but nowhere near the same as a PS3.

    I'm sure it will be a radical improvement over the PSP though and probably the 3DS which has pretty tepid specs considering the cloud of hype surrounding it.
    Edited by drxym at 24/01/11 @ 16:27

  • Caimbeul #44 1 year ago

    "given this blows an iphone 4 out of the water spec wise and that costs about £550 sim free I'm expecting some pretty monumental pricing. This is uncharted territory for a handheld gaming device. talk about high risk."

    Thats just Apple/Steve Jobs being greedy. Iphone, Pod & Pad dont cost anywhere near that much to make.

  • space_ace #45 1 year ago

    > Is PSP2 as powerful as PS3?

    not much, then. :) j/k

  • Markitron #46 1 year ago

    Id have to echo what most are saying here already; technically it probably wont match the PS3, but it will probably seem like it is. The PSP probably wasnt as powerful as a PS2 but the first time I played wipeout on it in 2005 I could swear it was the same (If you had shown me Ghost of Sparta or Peace walker back then I wouldnt have believed they were possible on PSP)

  • nasanu #47 1 year ago

    I just hope they have pressure sensitive buttons. Some games were ok on the PSP, but ever tried to play Gran Turismo? Great driving model ruined by horrid hardware controls. Full acceleration or full braking and nothing in between? No thanks.

  • covfan #48 1 year ago

    After the disappointment that the Nintendo 3DS press conference was I'm really putting all my eggs in the basket when it comes to the PSP2 one.

    Sony won't let me down!


    hopefully......

  • infernox1 #49 1 year ago

    most ps3 games run at 720p, the psp screen is rumoured to be HD, ie at least 720p. the iphone 4 has a 960x640 resolution, which is pretty close to 720p (1280x720). infinity blade looks pretty close to a early 360 game, the psp will be close to twice as fast if it uses the tegra 2, but they say its using a new cpu so im not sure. what it means is what us pc gamers have been saying for ages, the console hardware is pretty old now. in terms of gpu, the ps3 has pretty much a 7800gt. since then we've had the 8000 series, 9000 series, gtx200 series, gtx400 series and now the gtx500 series. im also pretty sure that the cell is slower than the first gen i5/7s and the new sandy bridge processors.

  • lockload #50 1 year ago

    No way a handheld should be over #200

  • Frandroid #51 1 year ago

    "given this blows an iphone 4 out of the water spec wise and that costs about £550 sim free I'm expecting some pretty monumental pricing."

    The iPhone is massively over-priced for what it is. An iPod Touch is about £180 last I looked and is identical spec to the iPhone bar phone capabilities (at least to the iPhone 3G anyway). Given that mobile phones can be had for sub £10, I'm not sure how Apple justify the £550 price. I would assume that they prefer to avoid SIM-less sales, or at least the service providers do.

  • Scopeh #52 1 year ago

    Its as powerful as the IPad2! You heard it here first!

  • lordofthedunce #53 1 year ago

    If it's below £50 and comes with a large wooden shaft protruding from a planet-orbiting lunar-style rock i'll buy it

  • shogo10 #54 1 year ago

    It'll definitely be over £300, the 3ds is already way too expensive with worse tech. Also did everyone just suddenly forget the first psp? It had great, hell even amazing tech when it launched, but fuck all games. Even now it doesn't have a great library. I'm extremely wary of psp2 for this reason alone I don't want cutting edge tech if no one is going to develop for it, which is why I'm kinda of surprised so many people are jumping on the bandwagon.

  • Spydy #55 1 year ago

    Dual nubs. Killzone / CoD on release. Game Over.

    Otherwise, hardware fail in Jaguar, 3DO type vein.

  • RobTheBuilder #56 1 year ago

    Bear in mind Nintendo add profit to their systems and Sony usually sell below cost, this could realistically be the same price as 3DS.

  • Goodfella #57 1 year ago

    Dual nubs

    Please God no, I think the nub on the PSP is awful, what we need is something that's akin to a proper analogue stick.

  • frunk #58 1 year ago

    Look at history & you will be rewarded the likley launch price...
    PS1 = £300 == £438 now
    PS2 = £300 == £384 now
    PS3 = £425

    PS3 came in for a hammering at being expensive but was pretty close to other 2 in reality.

    PSP1 = £180 == £205 now

    So by my reckoning and Sony's previous record we are looking at a PSP2 which will be roughtly the same price as a 3DS :)

    With the extra VAT I reckon they will shoot for £250 as a launch price here, $299 US.

    £ for £ the screen in the new device will be cheaper than the PS1 launch. The rest of the hardware will be broadly "similar cost price" as technology has moved on. Dropping the disc removes an expensive component.

    PSP was a loss leader and unlike Nintendo Sony does make loses on early hardware to attract early adopters. If it is a "download only" device then they can inflate the software side.

    So a price similar to 3DS is certainly out of the question. Especially if you look at the rushed scramble from Sony to show it outside the usual TGS/E3 timeframe... they are pushing it as a 3DS spoiler... no better way than to show something a lot slicker for a similar cost.

    Now to finish the spoler they push they make it 3D through HDMI output and they get to spoil that side of Ninties launch too.

    I love product launch season!

  • Retro_ #59 1 year ago

    This is going to be very expensive. £329 would be my guess

  • Markitron #60 1 year ago

    I dont wanna sound like an asshole here but an iphone 4 is so expensive because they intend you to get it on contract (with a data plan), where it IS the same price as an Ipod touch. I have the Iphone 4 and I love it but Id never in a million years pay full retail for it.

  • lennon #61 1 year ago

    The jaguar did not fail. The jaguar did not fail.

    /sticks head in sand.

  • dfish #62 1 year ago

    I always think it was next gen which killed off the psp's strong initial software support. First it was wow Ridge Racers ps2 graphics in my palm and then next year 360 came along it looked past it all of a sudden. I think sony are counting maybe on a delay (motion gaming related no doubt) before next gen to allow PSP2 to flourish otherwise PS3 in the palm of your hand is going to mean little when xbox3/ps4 come out.
    Edited by dfish at 24/01/11 @ 17:58

  • Bleemo #63 1 year ago

    "The original PSP was almost as powerful as the PS2 but that didn't help it achieve the games library of the PS2.

    You can chuck all the power you want it means squat when yo have no games."

    Aye but imagine if you could get access to all games already on PSN that would put the ardvaark amongst the ants now wouldn't it.

    "I dont wanna sound like an asshole here but an iphone 4 is so expensive because ...."

    It's made by Apple who have always artificially inflated the cost of their stuff since day one. Whilst I said theoretically this could launch at £200 I am not sure what they actually will do. I wouldn't argue too much with say £220-£230 as a tactic as they can still pull the whole ha-ha look at how puny the 3DS is for same cost.
    Edited by Bleemo at 24/01/11 @ 18:00

  • smelly #64 1 year ago

    LMFAO! People believe this shit?

  • MoGamer2006 #65 1 year ago

    @smelly

    I know, it's hilarious. Plus the people who seems to think this means that somehow it'll run PS3 software - dream on, kids! I'm sure the PSP2 will be great, but ffs!

  • dfish #66 1 year ago

    i think most people appreciate they mean psp2 can effectively be as good as PS3 in the same way psp was too ps2. Ridge Racers looks better than RR5 on the ps2 and that was when the psp was underclocked to 222Mhz. Wipeout pure and pulse blow the console version away too. Its true the PS2 in its twilight years was a beast but anything before that the PSP was superior.

  • Chufty #67 1 year ago

    Even the quad-core monsters that are on the very edge of published roadmaps for the likes of Nvidia aren't really up to challenging Ps3 or Xbox 360 in raw numbers

    Sorry, but yes they fucking are.

  • MENTAL1ST Verified Senior Software Engineer, Picsel UK Ltd. #68 1 year ago

    Today's nvidia roadmaps published on Engadget peg next year's quad-core, tablet focussed 1.5 GHz Arm Cortex A9 CPU at 13000 MIPS. Wikipedia pegs Xbox CPU at 19000, and the PS3 at 10000 not counting the SPUs. NVidia aren't revealing floating point maths numbers, and that's where the home consoles CPUs really excel. Both the arm chips and the PowerPC cores are in-order so there's no making up for lower grunt by extra CPU cleverness like in Intel and AMDs CPUs. I reckon well see performance parity between mobile devices and HD consoles in mid to late 2012, maybe.

  • mr2ange #69 1 year ago

    @TheDriffter

    No the psp never had and never will have Zelda OOT, but it did and still does have some very high profile games,

    Monster Hunter anyone? i think that may have sold just a little bit...
    2xGod of War games
    Tekken Dark Resurection
    Little Big Planet
    Wipeout
    LocoRoco

    It was starved of quality releases, for quite a long time, which is a pity. and again the super easy piracy probably didnt help..

    The DS has a huge library of great games too (i'm not dissing the DS)

    But like it or lump it, Just as MS has cut into sony's main platform this gen, The PSP has certainly Taken a nice chunk of the handheld market from nintendo - 60 Million sales is nothing to sneeze at.

    I'm Looking forward to Both machines, Cant wait to see a 3ds in the flesh, but also i cant wait to see what were gonna see from the new PSP...

  • makeamazing #70 1 year ago

    With Nintendo just releasing more info on the 3DS and about to launch soon, i am not surprised that Sony are going on the offensive and will provide more info shortly, as its a great way to take a little steam out of the 3DS.

    Hopefully it will be priced at the £250 mark as i think thats the top people will generally pay for a handheld, i also think this time Sony might give Nintendo even more run for its money.

  • SavageEvil #71 1 year ago

    Well I wouldn't doubt the man, I check out all the latest cellphone tech. Believe me, there are some incredibly powerful cell phones on the way. The Samsung Orion chip is pushing 450m Triangles, yea that is near X360 levels my friends. While you want to scoff at things, don't be quick to refute claims because you assume it's not possible. The current GPU/CPU combination in the Galaxy S phones are already pushing 90m triangles per second, those were PS2 numbers in the RAW. With companies like Texas Instruments, Samsung, Nvidia and Qualcomm going crazy with cellphone CPU/GPU, I wouldn't the least disturbed at the RAW computational power of the PSP2.

    [link url=http://www.phonearena.com/news/NVIDIA-Tegra-2-Samsung-Orion-and-Qualcomm-Snapdragon-the-3rd-the-dual-core-chipsets-and-beyond_id16004
    ]http://www.phonearena.com/news/NVIDIA-Te...[/link]

    Go read about all the new powerful cellphone and tablet CPU/GPU's incoming. Surely you can see that our current generation systems will be eclipsed in power rather quickly and portable to boot. Now if IBM could somehow leverage the Cell into a cell phone and make it battery friendly, they would have an instant hit.

  • mkreku #72 1 year ago

    I don't know why, but I feel it is much easier to pay lots of money for spanking new powerful technology (PSP2) than for outdated but cleverly assembled technology (3DS).

  • Salvia #73 1 year ago

    Is PSP2 as powerful as PS3? No

    Is Rod Cousens an idiot? Yes

  • Zaiz #74 1 year ago

    Could the PSP2 be as powerful as the PS3? Yeah.

    ...will it be? No. Why? Because that level of power requires quite a bit of electricity, which is something a handheld does not have. Many of these "super powered" graphics chips for hones have a tendency to be underclocked due to battery issues. The other big thing is going to be ram, which I doubt they'll go full out on. Also, above all, there are heat issues. None of these parts can generate much heat(Especially considering the size!), so they have to be underclocked, or really heat efficient. So it'll be really really nice looking, but not fantastic. Also, I hope they have normal mapping support, or else the PSP2 will really suffer.

    Oh, and the game library will probably suffer. The PSP might have sold 60 million units, but one huge problem: Western devs are not as attracted to the PSP, simply because the sixty million sales were by and large from Asia. This might extend to the PSP2, as devs might not expect it to catch on in the US, and thus not give it a good starting library...creating a self fulfilling prophecy. The PSP2 will be a success, just probably not in the western world, at least compared to the 3DS.

  • darc #75 1 year ago

    onezeonx - "if i can play my ps3 games on the move with the PSP2 then transfer saves etc etc then ill buy
    would be awesome to play my ps3 then go out and continue playing!
    Other than that im not bothered "

    I feel exactly the same way. Games written for a powerful platform will always be that much more enjoyable w/ a big screen and a good controller, so for me the only reason I'd go to a compatible portable system would be to continue games that I can't play in my preferred environment - because I'm traveling or whatever. Deliver on that promise and I'll buy, otherwise, I already have a system as powerful as a PS3 - my PS3! (Speaking of which, I doubt the person quoted was being literal. He probably means that it will deliver a similar experience w/ graphics demands scaled down to suit the much smaller screen size/resolution.) Otherwise I'll likely keep my "full-fat" games on the couch, and play portable-friendly stuff on a 3DS when the time comes.

  • coolbritannia #76 1 year ago

    What a load of crap. Sony tell lies. Sony tell lies. Sony tell lies. Sony devs also tell lies....

  • mr2ange #77 1 year ago

    @Mentalist(air)

    That means fuck all, 10000 for the PS3 "Not Counting SPU's" thats like counting the horse power of a skyline without the turbo,

    The PS3's real power is in those spu's taking the load from the PPC, (E.g. where uncharted 2 hammers the shit out of them and looks utterly fantastic) That is the consoles main strength, programmable, small, very fast sub processors to allow the main cpu to have less things to worry about.

  • darkmorgado #78 1 year ago

    Even the quad-core monsters that are on the very edge of published roadmaps for the likes of Nvidia aren't really up to challenging Ps3 or Xbox 360 in raw numbers

    That's a joke, right?

    The PS3 and Xbox were outperformed by the pc from day 1.

    ps3 has twice the processing power of 360 and isn't even closed to being tapped, I might buy that the games will look comparable to ps3 games (maybe not even ps3 exclusives) but thats about it, and I for one don't think it will be any more expensive then the 3DS, the psp was a massive success

    Is this one of those things where if you tell yourself something enough times it becomes true?

  • MENTAL1ST Verified Senior Software Engineer, Picsel UK Ltd. #79 1 year ago

    The PS3's real power is in those spu's

    That was exactly my point, but wikipedia didn't have a MIPS count for the FPUs.

    If that piece linked to is on the money (and that 450m triangles is a high-end guess) then PSP2 if it comes out this Christmas might be chasing ps3 rendering quality, but it will seriously be down on CPU capacity, if it's ARM based at least.

    Of course, PSP wasn't ARM based after all, and if rumours of PS2 emulation are true, it might have some sort of tuned up mobile Emotion engine in it, since that's architecturally more similar, in which case all bets are off.

    That's a joke, right?

    Quad core Arm chips for mobile devices, not quad core intel/amd desktop and notebook chips, read the conversation properly, for goodness sake.
    Edited by MENTAL1ST at 24/01/11 @ 23:07

  • Oskool #80 1 year ago

    Guess it has at least 512MB of RAM if it's as powerful as the PS3. If not, then who ever stated this is a swindler...

  • savant #81 1 year ago

    This will not be as powerful as the PS3, period.

    There's no way a mobile device could cope with the thermal demands of the required components. Sure, you could get something approaching PS2 or original Xbox now (a handheld Xbox would be great), but not current gen. Maybe in a few years.

    The Xbox and PS3 run multi-core CPUs at >3GHz. Mobile chips are hovering around the 1GHz range and dual core is only just coming onboard, with quad core on the horizon (Xbox 360 has 3 cores with 2 threads each and PS3 has 8 SPUs, although only 6 are available). The graphics tech in current gen consoles looks dated now compared to PC cards, but you'd still struggle to get those capabilities into a mobile form factor. It's not just hardware though - Sony's likely to only offer a stripped-down graphics API which will offer a subset of the RSX driver's features.

    In conclusion, it will probably be impressive, but battery life and form factor will limit it to an evolutionary leap above the current PSP.

    I'm just hoping they don't run with the PSP Go model of online games purchases - that'll kill it stone dead.

  • NegativeZero #82 1 year ago

    The reports about the OLED screen and 3G come from a single news report, which apparently is a bit vague as to whether it's talking about the PSPhone or the actual PSP2. My money is on it being the phone - 3G and OLED would make the thing far too expensive as a portable games device. It would end up costing more than a PS3.

  • Zaltan #83 1 year ago

    Might be packing the new ARM Cortex-A15 which is meant to run up to 2.5GHz. Bound to be too expensive regardless.

  • Lusterpurge #84 1 year ago

    I'm going to guess 40000 yen or 300 GBP or 480 USD. It could be cheaper if Sony sells for quite a loss, but it will probably be packed full of advanced, "Ferrari-esque" features that will attempt to justify the cost.

  • X3Entente #85 1 year ago

    well lets look at the logic, if its more powerful than a ps3 then its not going to be cheaper than one, espically given its more compact form

  • Quixz #86 1 year ago

    Can't wait for E3!!!

  • SavageEvil #87 1 year ago

    A lot of replies here assume that technology has somehow stopped in it's tracks and aren't moving forward. Heat issues with cell phone CPU/GPU's aren't much of a problem, which is why they are using the 64nm process from the outset, and they are only going to get smaller. Too many replies here with absolutely no knowledge about the reality of it all. As for running underclocked, My Droid X runs at 1GHz and it doesn't try to burn my hand off either. It's a single core processor as well so it's not the greatest as managing battery power, but dual core, triple and quad core CPU's are much more efficient at such tasks. There are some cellphone chips coming with the ability to address GDDR3 RAM...not only that but can dual boot OS's too. I suggest many of you read up on the technologies behind cellphones, they are no different from your gaming system now a days. When a cellphone can push 1080p encoding through, then you know that things are moving at a blistering pace. PSP2 would do well to be a dual core processor, having at least 512MB of RAM and on board storage no less than 8Gig standard.

  • zedzee #88 1 year ago

    If it comes in at the £150 mark, then I'll be up for getting one.

    I enjoy my PSPslim and there is a decent amount of games to keep one interested, when on the road, but Sony needs to open up the platform more, so that enthusiasts, hackers and backroom developers can get a chance on the PSP2 as well as the big players.

  • callum9999 #89 1 year ago

    The trouble with that is opening the door to enthusiasts generally results in opening the doors to piracy - something Sony have to avoid at all costs if it's going to be a success.

    It hasn't affected Nintendo as much as (if I remember correctly?) they make a profit on the console itself, whereas Sony are relying on the games for their revenue. If piracy takes off again then they're going to end up with the same problems.

  • CrispyXUK64 #90 1 year ago

    5 second battery life confirmed.

  • savant #91 1 year ago

    @SavageEvil - chips in mobile devices have conflicting design constraints when compared to those in the 360 and PS3 powerhouses. An Arm Cortex A-series is RISC, like the 360's PowerPC architecture, but it's designed to run at 800-1000MHz in single or dual-core (quad core later this year), not 3GHz. Power demands don't scale linearly - running 300% faster will take a lot more than 3x the juice from your battery and dissipate a hell of a lot more heat.

    As for the poster who says the Cell is twice as powerful as the Xbox 360 CPU, I don't know where you heard that crock, but it's seriously misinformed.