Base PSP2/NGP model downgraded?

[BoyBettaKnow]

There's a rumour wafting around that the entry-level Next Generation Portable / PSP2 model has been downgraded so Sony can price competitively against 3DS.
Which is worrying - the 3DS wasn't exactly cheap (RRP £230), although shops are cutting prices now.
IndustryGamers picked up a report by a "reliable French source" that said the NGP without 3G could have its RAM reduced from 512MB to 256MB.
The same model may also sacrifice internal flash memory in favour of cost-cutting external memory support.
Nevertheless, graphical capabilities of the runt model are apparently unscathed.
Sony hopes to launch the Next Generation Portable this year. That's still a tentative goal, mind you, and may not apply to all regions. Sony's home turf of Japan tends to go first. And Japan also happens to be Sony's most successful PSP market.
Sony has never announced an NGP price, but has said it will "affordable" - each machine will be "sold at a loss".

Source

Hmmm, this doesn't bode well. I was planning on buying the cheaper Wifi only version but if it's having the RAM gimped i may get the 3G version, without a contract if possible.

[Mo-green28]

Ya If this is the deal I will buy 3G model first day and just get the contract when I can afford it lol, have bills and PS3 games coming around the sametime if it comes out in the US this holiday.

[BoyBettaKnow]

Quite annoying really. I won't use the 3G at all. I just don't want to invest in a machine thats inferior before i even open the box

[AaronSOLDIER]

So now devs are even more restricted. Definitely waiting on this now, not a day one buy for me.

[snooper71]

This is a rumour that will remain just that... a rumour.

How do you go about making games? work on the lower SKU therefore there is no use to have the 3G model cause it will never be taken advantage of in terms of games? Talk about shooting yourself in the foot. Unless Devs are willing to start pushing out games with different specs, I highly doubt that.

[BoyBettaKnow]

This is a rumour that will remain just that... a rumour.

How do you go about making games? work on the lower SKU therefore there is no use to have the 3G model cause it will never be taken advantage of in terms of games? Talk about shooting yourself in the foot. Unless Devs are willing to start pushing out games with different specs, I highly doubt that.

You know that the various different models of current PSP's have different ram, right?

[AaronSOLDIER]

512MB needs to be the standard if Sony wants to have games close to PS360s graphics.

[Thorzilla]

No way this is true. Sony would be remarkably stupid to do this since it would affect them in the long run. Remember how many devs felt restricted by the fact that not all 360s had a big HDD? Same thing will happen to the NGP since devs will have to code for the common denominator here.

[bobtheduck]

Ah, rumors. Even without any official word (and, um, I think Sony would kind of HAVE to say something about this, at the very least to those who have dev kits) it's enough to make many people forget about buying the system that's yet to be released.

I'll actually be getting the 3G model now, anyhow. My friends just won me over to the smartphone side, and if NGP has Skype, there'd be no reason to actually use a cell phone (except longer battery life... There are workarounds, though... Keep wall charger + car charger with me everywhere I go)

[BoyBettaKnow]

NGP will never be a replacement for a phone.

[Azu]

No way this is true. Sony would be remarkably stupid to do this since it would affect them in the long run. Remember how many devs felt restricted by the fact that not all 360s had a big HDD? Same thing will happen to the NGP since devs will have to code for the common denominator here.

They did it with PS3, nothing to stop them doing it with NGP.

[n@ruto-kun]

Perhaps the 3G version will be capable of multi-tasking while the wifi-only is not. 256MB of RAM for pure gaming I think is enough for a handheld device. By the way, it's not only 256MB, NGP has a seperate 128MB of VRAM according to some developers working on it.

[Thorzilla]

They did it with PS3, nothing to stop them doing it with NGP.

No they didn't. They had 2 consoles available at launch, the 20GB one being the less expensive, but it had the same technical specs. They're mumbling about reduced RAM memory here, not HDD space.

[Chille]

Il be pissed if only 256mg ram 512 should be the minimum they have in it

[D3seeker]

This better be a rumor and nothing but a rumor! This would be unacceptable if true. Sony better not f*** this up!

[Wasib]

This would be seriously disappointing if true from my viewpoint. 512MB of RAM was a minimum for me - I was hoping it would get a little more than that. With such little RAM and no internal storage (which was was known quite a few months back) I have to think about this purchase.

I am surprised Sony are still going for the £230 price bracket. It should be well lower - which I think it will be. If the PS3 goes for £239 in the UK and in the USA it is $299 then I can see a USA NGP price of $249 equating to about 189 GBP in the UK which I must say is closer to the mass-market price they need for it to be a success right off.

At the end of the day it is about trade-off's but I really wanted the NGP to be a beast for my gaming needs/viewpoint.

[AaronSOLDIER]

This would be seriously disappointing if true from my viewpoint. 512MB of RAM was a minimum for me - I was hoping it would get a little more than that. With such little RAM and no internal storage (which was was known quite a few months back) I have to think about this purchase.

I am surprised Sony are still going for the £230 price bracket. It should be well lower - which I think it will be. If the PS3 goes for £239 in the UK and in the USA it is $299 then I can see a USA NGP price of $249 equating to about 189 GBP in the UK which I must say is closer to the mass-market price they need for it to be a success right off.

At the end of the day it is about trade-off's but I really wanted the NGP to be a beast for my gaming needs/viewpoint.

NGP will cost more than a PS3, the 3DS costs more than a Wii and the PSP cost more than the PS2 at the time.

[D3seeker]

^^way to put it in perspective. Only NGP will be worth it, as long as they don't cut the ram. release it full spec, both models, we will really be happy!

[Muscle head Ted]

Yeh this is stupid now. I dont want a weak system. 512 and nothing less.

[Azu]

No they didn't. They had 2 consoles available at launch, the 20GB one being the less expensive, but it had the same technical specs. They're mumbling about reduced RAM memory here, not HDD space.

I wasn't talking of the different SKUs with different HDD sizes, I'm not dumb or illiterate. I'm talking of the fact that PS3 DID initially have more memory than what it ended up having. The first dev kits had more memory than the final ones Sony sent some months before launch, which caused some problems for developers when they had to accommodate their games for that.

So Sony could've done it again, in that they first give developers NGP dev kits that have more memory than what the end-product will end up having. Also, the thread title is misleading, this change would affect both models, not just the non-3G one. (EDIT 2: Ah, I notice this is not the same rumor I've read. This does say it'd be the base-model. I say that's BS, no way is Sony going to release a gimped & a non-gimped version of NGP ever )

Yeh this is stupid now. I dont want a weak system. 512 and nothing less.

512MB of RAM is a bit of a overblow for a device like NGP. It'd still have 256MB of RAM and 128MB of VRAM. That's plenty for a handheld. This device is a portable, somewhat downgraded PS3 as it is. To have more RAM than PS3 (with the VRAM counted in)... It's quite likely just not needed.



EDIT: Also, just to point out, NGP was never confirmed to have 512MBs of RAM officially. All Sony has said is that NGP's amount of RAM is "a lot compared to PSP" & "closer to PS3 in memory size". "Closer to" would seem to imply it's not as much as PS3. 256MB RAM + 128MB VRAM would certainly fit to that classification. It's a lot more than PSP (32MB?) and closer to PS3 than PSP.

[Varsh]

Whether this is true or not I think you lot are overreacting. Think of it this way:

• The initial RAM size was 256MB
• They have set the 3G version to 512MB (possibly the only one announced at the time)
• The 3G with its applications requires extra RAM for smooth operation

Perhaps you lot need to think outside of the box.

[AaronSOLDIER]

EDIT: Also, just to point out, NGP was never confirmed to have 512MBs of RAM officially. All Sony has said is that NGP's amount of RAM is "a lot compared to PSP" & "closer to PS3 in memory size". "Closer to" would seem to imply it's not as much as PS3. 256MB RAM + 128MB VRAM would certainly fit to that classification. It's a lot more than PSP (32MB?) and closer to PS3 than PSP.

For sure, it has to be more than 288MB RAM for it to be closer to PS3 than PSP (the originals had 32MB and the slims had 64MB but the extra RAM was just to improve load times on future PSPs). A bit off topic but if Sony do another PS3 slim they should also stick more RAM in to improve load times too, would get more people trading in their older models for newer ones.

[Minnzy]

I was going to wait for the 3G one anyway... and by wait I mean import since Aus probably won't get the good one...

[Thorzilla]

I wasn't talking of the different SKUs with different HDD sizes, I'm not dumb or illiterate. I'm talking of the fact that PS3 DID initially have more memory than what it ended up having. The first dev kits had more memory than the final ones Sony sent some months before launch, which caused some problems for developers when they had to accommodate their games for that.

Yeah, I found it a weird thing to say, comparing HDD space to RAM memory. My bad then, I didn't know about the dev kits being more powerful than the PS3 ended up being. I stand corrected.

[Dasimpse]

Why would the 3G one have more ram? And whisking you want it. They wouldn't be able to build games using the extra ram anyway