Laguna said:
I don´t have anything against ports in general but it´s hard to understand why someone whom grafics and presentation are important would prefer a hypotheticaly better looking PSP2 to a 3DS version but wouldn´t prefer an obviously better looking version on consoles and play it on a big TV with 5.1 sound that is hugely more apt for cinematic-esque presentation and where he can satisfy his needs. I don´t think to buy the game twice isn´t a popular solution to most. The same but to a lesser extent with spinoffs that have a lot of reused assets.
That is an issue, for people who don't need portability. For people who actually do - who don't own or have access to a home system as frequently as they would like, the original source of content may be immaterial, and they may just want the best handheld version they can get.
My over-arching point here is that no matter how much power Sony put into PSP2 - if they went with something 3DS level or something well beyond - home console ports, spinoffs and other assorted crumbs from the home console table would happen. Sony and Ubisoft and EA etc. etc. would still make LittleBigPlanets and God of Wars and Assassin Creeds and Maddens and Fifas.
That being the case, IMO, the more power and fewer control compromises Sony can put in PSP2, the better these games can be, all else being equal.
In terms of the argument about the cost of bespoke game development - on the flipside it is arguable that Sony cannot afford NOT to make their system powerful enough to support the same infrastructure devs use for home console development, which has come to define the 'infrastructure' devs use, for want of a better word.
It would be extraordinarily dumb for Sony to make a system that was so out of kilter power wise that it required devs to either build a new dev-chain from scratch for it or procure and stitch together new components off the shelf that they're unfamiliar with (this process itself is lengthy and incurs cost and ongoing maintenance hassle).
If Sony is going for 'you can target our handheld platform like a PS3', then this may well be an approach informed by
developer and
publisher feedback on how to fit quality handheld development into the picture in a more cost effective way.
I also think a handheld platform could benefit from a whole class of short-form home console content if it's just an easy port away, a class of content that wasn't there in the PS2/PSP days - PSN and XBLA stuff. Like, take a game like Costume Quest - is it a negative if they can easily add PSP2 to their lineup for a game like that? Games like that tend to be relatively quick and cost conscious turnarounds. If a handheld doesn't fit easily, it's not going to happen, so the closer it can be from a developer POV and the less need for target-specific processor or memory optimisation, the better. Sure, this isn't handheld specific content, but at least it needn't potentially be so watered down anymore, for games like that the handheld version might possibly be more first-class.
In terms of handheld specific content, I also think there's advantages to Sony going for more power. A more powerful PSP2 can obviously pool with 3DS for PSP2/3DS targetted game development, which though not PSP2 exclusive, would be handheld specific. But more distinctly vs 3DS, it's possible PSP2 could dovetail much more conveniently with another big portable platform - iOS. If pubs actually do, per Mark Rein's comments, want to increasingly leverage UE3 and other home console tools on iOS efforts, another whole class of handheld-specific content might be unlocked via another pooled market of iOS and PSP2 that 3DS - according to latest comments anyway - would be an oddman out from. And the more powerful Sony makes PSP2, the longer it would be able to remain a good partner target for higher end iOS content as Apple continues to improve iPhone hardware over the next few years. The concretise, if PSP2's 'power' means it can overlap with another vector of handheld development effort and get content like Epic Citadel, that looks plays better on their system than anywhere else, then that's a plus. More generally, PSP2, by virtue of its power class, could cover many more developer approaches than its competitors, and give it uniquely broad access to content, both handheld specific and others. It may not simply be an argument of 'somewhat better looking multiplats vs their 3DS counterparts + Sony first party' depending on how development trends evolve.
I see lots of potential upside to more power, within the constraint of reasonable power and price tradeoff of course. Weighing up the argument about home console ports, in light of what difference alternative routes would make (i.e. very little, but perhaps very big differences elsewhere), I don't think it's a good reason for Sony to be wary of the 'more power' approach.
(Err...sorry for length...)
