Sony Sees Smaller Burden From New Hand-Held Device
TOKYOSony Corp.'s chief financial officer said the company doesn't expect the large losses usually associated with the launch of a new videogame device when its hand-held system makes its debut later this year, because it intends to forego expensive development of components.
Historically, new PlayStation systems have required big investments to develop and make new semiconductors for the device. But Chief Financial Officer Masaru Kato said in an interview that Sony has a strategy to ease capital expenditures for its new hand-held console, the PlayStation Portabletentatively called the Next Generation Portable, or NGP.
For example, Sony could use chip foundrieschip-making ...
We've pretty much known that this whole time. Nothing in NGP is exotic.Spiegel said:In somewhat related news
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303745304576354921678246558.html
gofreak said:The resolution could be dynamic depending on the density of NGP players.
It might go down to the level of a starbucks in one area or the level of a block or town or even county in another (although, granted, the less granular the resolution the less compelling it might be).
gofreak said:The big advantage over streetpass here is that you don't have to be in places at the same time as other people. It can connect you asynchronously over time, so if people check into places over weeks and months - whether someone else with a NGP is present or not - they can discover and engage with the community 'there'.
In terms of implementation - ideal case would be if Sony sewed it into the OS, integrated it with LiveArea etc. etc. BUT, even if they don't, as long as devs have access to the location data, they could roll their own stuff for their own game.
'near' is on the right track though, but game specific community formation and discovery should be the next step.
gofreak said:There's that theme again.
I mentioned this slightly on Twitter, but I hope Vita - 'Life' - will be a reference to integration with your 'real life' in terms of community and competition in games.
Like, Vita should basically have a foursquare style foundation that transparently discovers communities of people playing the same games as you in the places you go to, and let you join them if you want. This should be a service exposed by the near application to all games.
So if, say, a few people go to the same Starbucks and they all play Wipeout on their Vita, it would invite them to join what would basically be a Wipeout club for that Starbucks.
Global competition is intimidating for most people - most will never touch the top of global leaderboards - but here you could constrain competition and engagement to scopes related to places that are actually to some degree meaningful for you - like your office or university or local bookshop or whatever. Make competition more 'local', intimate, and give more satisfaction to more players by letting them rule their own local roosts, so to speak.
That would be a interesting foundation to build the online/community side of things on, and you could layer all sorts of other things on top of that, like the treasure hunt idea, AR, etc. And it would be a very different spin on things than's possible on PS3, would be welcome differentiation that makes sense of why you'd want certain games on a portable that you might not otherwise want to play there.
/digresson
It sounds nothing like 'beta'.CosmicGroinPull said:Are they sure they want to go with a name that sounds like Beta?
Ezalc said:Isn't the v sound in latin spoken like a w? Maybe it's wiita. Yeah I think it sounds bad either way.
Only if you're pronouncing it wrongCosmicGroinPull said:Are they sure they want to go with a name that sounds like Beta?
Josh7289 said:It sounds nothing like 'beta'.
I like the name, actually.
You sure it's not pronounced like Vitamin?CosmicGroinPull said:^ Depends how you pronounce Beta:
Beetuh
Veetuh
heehee...
ferr said:You sure it's not pronounced like Vitamin?
Right. NGP works as well as something like NOY, the "PlayStation Not Out Yet".French said:It makes sense now, because it's indeed their next generation portable. But when it will be released that won't make any sense.
CosmicGroinPull said:Are they sure they want to go with a name that sounds like Beta?
gofreak said:The resolution could be dynamic depending on the density of NGP players.
It might go down to the level of a starbucks in one area or the level of a block or town or even county in another (although, granted, the less granular the resolution the less compelling it might be).
The big advantage over streetpass here is that you don't have to be in places at the same time as other people. It can connect you asynchronously over time, so if people check into places over weeks and months - whether someone else with a NGP is present or not - they can discover and engage with the community 'there'.
In terms of implementation - ideal case would be if Sony sewed it into the OS, integrated it with LiveArea etc. etc. BUT, even if they don't, as long as devs have access to the location data, they could roll their own stuff for their own game.
'near' is on the right track though, but community formation and discovery based on location should be the next step.
DMPrince said:i think some pronounce beta like beeta. i pronounce it like bay-ta lol.
DECK'ARD said:Yeah, bee-ta in the UK.
Plinko said:I guess I just don't see the advantage over the regular leaderboards. It allows someone to say, "Hey, I own the best time on that track out of anybody who played it at my Starbucks!" Do you really think that's what people are looking for?
Kurosaki Ichigo said:So we have already:
- Vita because it means life in Latin and they are giving their handheld a new life
- Vita because it means life in Latin and they want to integrate it with your real life
- Vita because PSV taking V as a roman numeral would be PS5 and its the 5th PS system
- Vita because PSV taking V as a roman numeral would be PS5 and it the following number to PSP-1000, PSP-2000, PSP-3000, PSP Go (4 in Japanese)
- Vita because its pronounced as greek letter Beta, 2nd in the alphabet, for their 2nd handheld
Sheesh, now wouldn't it be fun if they come on-stage and say 'its vita for "very interesting thing alright?"' and promptly leave stage with a troll expression.
It's like going to local arcade or lan party. It's a chance to actually meet new people who happen to like the same games as you. Hard to do that if your online opponent is in another state or country.Plinko said:I guess I just don't see the advantage over the regular leaderboards. It allows someone to say, "Hey, I own the best time on that track out of anybody who played it at my Starbucks!" Do you really think that's what people are looking for?
There's already a Vii though.patsu said:Get the press to nickname it Playstation V (vee) and we are done.
Dance In My Blood said:There's already a Vii though.
PSVita is horrible.
PSV is even worse.
Outside of Japan, PSP has not been a success in recent years. The public has not been clamouring for a sequel.Acrylic7 said:I still don't understand why they needed come up with a new name.
Is there something wrong with "PSP2?
I just don't get it.
I think it would be interesting to know if I'm the best PaRappa player in the county, or see that there's a thriving local scene of Wipeout players or whatever.Plinko said:I guess I just don't see the advantage over the regular leaderboards. It allows someone to say, "Hey, I own the best time on that track out of anybody who played it at my Starbucks!" Do you really think that's what people are looking for?
Vii is the wii knockoff from china. http://www.joystiq.com/2007/10/13/wii-vs-vii-sincere-flatterii/patsu said:You mean Wii ? It doesn't matter. I have no idea why PSVita or PSV is bad.
patsu said:You mean Wii ? It doesn't matter. I have no idea why PSVita or PSV is bad.
Plinko said:I guess I just don't see the advantage over the regular leaderboards. It allows someone to say, "Hey, I own the best time on that track out of anybody who played it at my Starbucks!" Do you really think that's what people are looking for?
Kurosaki Ichigo said:So we have already:
- Vita because it means life in Latin and they are giving their handheld a new life
- Vita because it means life in Latin and they want to integrate it with your real life
- Vita because PSV taking V as a roman numeral would be PS5 and its the 5th PS system
- Vita because PSV taking V as a roman numeral would be PS5 and it the following number to PSP-1000, PSP-2000, PSP-3000, PSP Go (4 in Japanese)
- Vita because its pronounced as greek letter Beta, 2nd in the alphabet, for their 2nd handheld
Sheesh, now wouldn't it be fun if they come on-stage and say 'its vita for "very interesting thing alright?"' and promptly leave stage with a troll expression.
gofreak said:I think videogames, at the moment, make people compete globally or against a friendslist of people.
In the former case it's like throwing people into the olympics, and is meangingless for most people. I know I don't care where I rank globally in games, and most people out of the top 100 - or whatever - in these games don't care either.
In the latter case it assumes people have a friendslist, and for it to be reasonably meaningful, that it is of people who they somewhat know. Having a substantial friendslist at all is a barrier for some people, having one of personally known people is a barrier for many.
Every other past time, people don't compete globally. When people want to play tennis, they go play in a local club. It gives more people a chance of more satisfaction, and the thrill of winning, competing in smaller circles of people who are joined by place. People don't go out and play against the world.
So yeah, IMO there is a middleground between local multiplayer and the global free-for-all of internet play that's pretty much unexplored right now, and could offer a new perspective on multiplayer and VG communities.
(Starbucks is an example, but if that doesn't resonate for you, I mean any place of sufficient meaning - your office block, your street, your university, your zipcode, whatever. In other real life activities people gravitate toward local groupings based on place, I think it's a natural inclination with a lot of advantages for competitive activity of any kind.)
When I first looked at the word I heard it in my mind as 'veeta'. I'm not alone in this.scitek said:It's pronounced with a long i, like vitamin, I presume. Dunno why people are thinking veeta.
Krev said:When I first looked at the word I heard it in my mind as 'veeta'. I'm not alone in this.
It's a Latin word, and in Italian and Latin it's pronounced 'veeta'.
All over Europe, it's pronounced 'veeta'.
In Japan, the 'vaita' pronunciation could lead to a branding problem, as 'baita' is the word for whore.
So chances are, it's 'veeta'.
Spiritual successor to PlayStation Pornable?patsu said:Now I want to see a PS Baita.
My _ita precedents are frita, pita, rita; all with an eeta sound.scitek said:It's pronounced with a long i, like vitamin, I presume. Dunno why people are thinking veeta.
Acrylic7 said:I still don't understand why they needed come up with a new name.
Is there something wrong with "PSP2?
I just don't get it.
patsu said:Depends on who you are and how they package it. It can be school-wide, city-wide, state-wide. The reason I bring up PS Home is because the concept doesn't need to be locked down to geography too. Should be able to set up a GAF-wide competition too.