NGP No Internal Flash HD

[Captainnippon]

Oh man, this is a bite of a disappointment if you asked me... I can't believe Sony decided to exclude Flash inside the NGP. It just not the same storing movies, Pictures and musics on the Flash Cards or Memory Stick or SD.

Unlike the experimental PSP Go, the NGP doesn't sport any internal storage.

http://www.joystiq.com/2011/03/03/ng...-for-save-dat/

I am really disappointed with this news...

[DarkVincent07]

Interesting... this is an odd choice considering there will be SO MANY download-only PSN style games, as well as normal NGP games (I presume) on the PSN as well...

Glad I prefer physical S:

[Tyrien]

That is a very odd choice, but probably was a key factor in driving the price down.

[Wasib]

Get ready for pain. Currently in the UK a 32 GB Sony Memory Stick Pro Duo is going for 90 GBP on Amazon. The Sony M2 variants are not that much better in terms of pricing. Considering the NGP will have to have somewhere in the region of 32 GB Flash Cards to be useful (thanks to its max 4GB game memory allowing max install of 8 games on 32 GB Flash) as well as music/video/app store functionality the end pricing to the heavy-using-consumer is going to be a terrible burden to shoulder.

Sure Sony will give you a 8 GB Flash Card to get you started (which will only be good for music/apps and some down-loadable PlayStation Mini/Suite games) - but after that you are on your own and expect to pay astronomical prices. Thanks Sony!

So really the lesson is do not go and start buying NGP titles from the PlayStation Store...you could end up shouldering a heavy cost in terms of the memory card you will have to buy on a continual basis. Considering the 'sticky' prices on the PSN anyway, stick to retail NGP games I say.

Just buy PlayStation Mini's/PlayStation Suite and PlayStation/Android Apps for your memory card and use it to store music. For that it should be fine. NGP games and high-resolution video seems a big no-no on these Flash Memory cards because it will end up costing way too much to store all that.

In light of this lack of internal Flash I seriously now expect Sony to be charging no more than 199 GBP at launch in the UK for the NGP. Which should equate to 199 EURO, 25,000 YEN and $250. I was under the impression the base NGP would ship with a solid 32 GB of internal Flash but remove that and you have saved yourself a large chunk of money.

[Sajuuk Khar]

just wondering as why games would have to be installed to the memory stick? surely it isnt that inconvenient carrying a few game cards around.

[Thorzilla]

NGP 2000 will have internal flash memory anyway.

[mickice]

I expected this! The top port will be a dual for NGP cartridges and probably memorystick and if we are ****** lucky SD too.
You will also save your game progress on the NGP cartridges. Lets all hope SONY doesn't **** up like Nintendo and only give us all 4 save slots!!!!

Get ready for pain.

If it supports Pro Stick Duo like the current PSP there wont be much pain since most PSP gamers already have one. Or atleast a photofast hack stick that uses micro SD and converts it to Pro Stick Duo.

[Staticneuron]

If it supports Pro Stick Duo like the current PSP there wont be much pain since most PSP gamers already have one. Or atleast a photofast hack stick that uses micro SD and converts it to Pro Stick Duo.

It probably won't. It is already rumored that the cartridges are proprietary. I imagine this and lack of internal storage is an attempt to stave early piracy.

Who am I kidding, if it doesn't ship with linux it supposed to be hacked lickity split right?

[Zoibie]

Didn't they announce it would have a micro-SD card slot on it? I'm sure I heard that before.

But yeah, no internal memory is very surprising.

Edit: apparently I didn't, never mind

[Croyles]

So wait, is there an extra memory card slot or how will this work if you want to put movies on it?
I thought it also had an extra memory card slot for either another propietry system or Pro Stick Duo?

[Wasib]

So wait, is there an extra memory card slot or how will this work if you want to put movies on it?
I thought it also had an extra memory card slot for either another propietry system or Pro Stick Duo?

Yup it does. One memory card (Sony proprietary using Flash) for NGP games coming in at 2-4 GB and then another memory card (again highly likely a Sony proprietary one) for storing your music, photos, videos, Android Apps, PlayStation Suite/Mini games and also down-loadable NGP and PSP games. I just do not get how Sony expects people to store their NGP down-loaded games and video. These take up large chunks of GB and those memory cards will not come cheap.

At the same time I can see why Sony opted for this method. It does have benefits. For instance perhaps a lot of the user-base of the NGP are not going to down-load NGP games and will go to the retailers and buy their games (a wise move considering the high pricing on the PSN and long download times for files of up to 4GB (and possibly more in the future)). Perhaps Sony want their users to go the retailers after the PSP Go fiasco (lack of support at retail).

Similarly Sony may be moving towards a 'cloud' based video delivery service or/and renting type system where having a lot of Flash storage becomes less important as you do not need to download in the first instance and in the second instance the download is removed after viewing. Think Netflix, BBCiPlayer, renting options on the PSN Video service etc.

Perhaps a major other reason though was cost. Apple can get away with Flash costs because of the massive amounts they buy (for their iTouch, iPhone, iPod range)...thus getting massive discounts and first say on supply. Can Sony really play and win at this game? Sometimes it is better to turn the other way and try something different if that answer is a solid no. Maybe this is a case of that.

If Sony can price these new memory cards right (and that is a big 'if') then things should work out OK for those 'heavy users'...

[D3seeker]

This is awful! Especially if they aren't going to be using memory stick pro duo. I mean but what could they possibly be trying to push that we really haven't heard a thing about. Memory stick pro XC has a capacity for 2 TB. Unless they go off that what the hell are they thinking?
https://www.oss-formats.org/en/memor...utline/xc.html

[F34R]

It probably won't. It is already rumored that the cartridges are proprietary. I imagine this and lack of internal storage is an attempt to stave early piracy.

Who am I kidding, if it doesn't ship with linux it supposed to be hacked lickity split right?

Let's hope so.
Really, this isn't any different than the original PSP. Sony is notorious for pushing new formats, and this won't be any different. Make room for the USSMC (ultra secret sony memory card).

[mickice]

I don't see any card slots from the released pictures. Looks like USB or something on the bottom.



Larger pic of the bottom.

[jlippone]

I don't see any card slots from the released pictures. Looks like USB or something on the bottom.

Aren't those white markings on top a card slots?

[F34R]

those two rectangles in between the buttons on the top....

[Galvanise_]

It doesn't have any yet yes, but given how its probably launching a year from now in the US and EU, Sony might be waiting on component prices to level out before definitely going for internal memory.

[AaronSOLDIER]

Why not make a higher priced version? I'll gladly wait for a later SKU anyway.

[mickice]

Why not make a higher priced version? I'll gladly wait for a later SKU anyway.

You can't just whack on features bump up the price and expect people to pay for it. Or get a second job for it.

Every feature or component inside this thing needs to have a legitimate reason for being there and one that relates to games.

[ONQ]

when Sony give people what they want they don't want it!

when they take it away all of a sudden it's the must have feature that's stopping people from buying it because it's not there.

that 16GB in the PSPgo wasn't cheap & people acted like it wasn't even there all they said was why is sony charging more for the PSPgo when it has less features than the PSP? because it didn't have a UMD drive.

now everyone want the 16GB of flash & PSPgo design on the NGP,

PSPgo was testing the market for the next sony handheld & people showed that they wanted the old PSP more.

[D3seeker]

Thats true. The flash storage on the Go was overlooked. Looks like we may have strewed ourselves with this one. Though it still makes no since considering other devices the NGP is inevitably going up against. (smartphones and tablets)

[Captainnippon]

Can someone list the PROS and CONS of Internal Flash vs Memory Stick.


I already have a 16 GB memory stick duo which I used for pretty much everything. So a $299.99 NGP would be amazing. A NGP with 16GB would easily be $399 and $499 for a 32GB system. If the NGP that uses 16GB memory stick works the same way as a 16GB internal flash, maybe it's not such a bad idea after all.

And you can always buy a 32GB memory stick if it full, instead of buying a brand new NGP with 32GB internal flash.

[F34R]

Well, for starters, we don't even know what format they will be using yet. They could be introducing another "sony" memory stick format, in which case, we'll all be screwed due to the high prices.

[FantasyStar]

I think the main reason they want to avoid internal memory might have to do more with the drawbacks of flash memory than the costs. Flash memory is cheap, but if a game is constantly writing to flash memory and erasing it, then that would cause the life span of the memory to worsen over time until you get I/O errors. Why put money into that when you can do something else?

Perhaps...writing proper drivers to support MS PRO-HG speeds? Delicious theoretical 60MB/s....

[MrFenwick]

Fine by me. Rather be able to get all my save games, pictures, whatever off my device without using a clunky program that Sony threw together in 5 minutes.