Sony's Making Another PSP?

13:30 for the timestamp where he talks about the PSP3/Vita 2

So normally I don't dive into rumors like this, but the prospect of a new Sony handheld is just too interesting for me to not talk about.

The idea that Sony could make a new PSP, or PSVita, (and not just another PlayStation Portal), is admittedly quite exciting.

So today I want to talk about how this could work, why I think Sony is going to do this, and what it could mean for a potential next generation PlayStation 6.

[danielgrezda]

The fact people are more hyped for this rather than the long leaked ps5 pro says enough.

[munxcorp]

People should remember that PSP came out before PS3 and it was very close to PS2. So close they got to share the same ports. Today we already have a handheld that is quite a bit faster than a PS4 - Steamdeck. Getting last gen and some of current gen to run on handhelds is not uncommon.

[abdelali]

That idea that a PS6 could cost $700 and Xbox can swoop in and steal its momentum, is basically what happened after Sony announced the PS3 would cost up to $600

[WelcomeToDERPLAND]

Woah, lets hope this one actually gets some F'in games and isn't just abandoned nearly immediately abandoned ala Vita style...

[Ningy]

tbh if sony did another handheld (at handheld prices) and nintendo was still doing something like the switch, i think i'd pick it up. currently the 3ds is probably my favorite console and i miss dedicated handhelds.

[urphakeandgey]

If the "next PSP" is actually a "Sony Phone, " they might be about to strike gold. Think about a smartphone made by Sony that has full integration with everything PlayStation and can even play any PlayStation brand game. I wouldn't be surprised if something like this is what they have in mind.

[IkeSan]

I see it happening because there were games for PS2 released for PSP and vice versa. Also PS3 with PSVita and even early PS4 games.

They have done it in the past, the thing is if they really want to target the handheld gaming space correctly or not.

[connorbeith]

My big concern is the lineup, as a big part of the Switch's success is games that appeal to kids/families, and PS doesn't really have those anymore (outside of Astro Bot, Sackboy, and Ratchet), so I feel like I wouldn't be interested unless they started digging into their back catalogue or start making new IPs like that.

[YoungMrBlue]

Whimsu braved the swimming pool as a cat to talk about the possible psp3

[kyrudo]

0:40 As someone who was in High School during the late 2000's this was ABSOLUTELY what we did. We had one kid who hacked PSP's on his laptop and we had like SNES emulators and shit on it. It was so

[BlazeMakesGames]

An ironic drawback to the old Playstation portables is that they were trying to emulate higher end games *too well.*

Nintendo found that the best portable games tend to be things you can consume in small chunks. At the very least being able to pause and resume the game without missing a beat despite extended breaks is key to making a portable game appeal to a wide audience. This is reinforced by just glancing at the mobile market. The most successful (and actually good) mobile games tend to be bite sized experiences you can easily play a quick round of in a few minutes.

But PlayStation tried to sell their portable consoles as higher end devices with bigger more cinematic games like their home consoles. But if you're just riding a train on your way to work, you're not going to be in the mood for a big cinematic experience. You just want something fun to pop on for like 10-20 minutes to pass the time. And then 4 hours later when you're taking lunch you want to be able to resume where you left off seamlessly. With a bigger more cinematic game you might be in the middle of a big flashy cutscene when you need to stop playing and then 4 hours later when you resume you might forget what was happening and lose the plot a bit.

The genius of the Switch is that it fits whatever you want it to be. If you wanna have a big cinematic experience you can pop it in a dock and play it at home. If you wanna play a more quick fun little experience on the go, you can take it with you and play it that way. And Nintendo tends to design their games in a way that works for both styles of play. Just look at the new zelda games for example. While on the go you can focus on just clearing a shrine or a korok puzzle as a quick little experience. Then when you get home you can focus on a big dungeon for a more cinematic experience.

But Sony's games, especially in the last couple generations, are only leaning even harder on this big epic AAAA-tier cinematic experiences, and those are just antithetical to a portable market. So while yeah being able to run any PS4 or even PS5 game on a portable might be a nice gimmick, I don't really wanna play a game like the newer God of War games or the Horizon games and whatnot on a portable console. I love those games, but I want to enjoy them in my home theater on a big 4k screen where I can be fully immersed for hours, not on a noisy bus where I can only enjoy it 20 minutes at a time.

And another big problem is that any portable console, switch included, needs to be brought with you specifically for just gaming purposes. And that is a big reason why mobile gaming will always continue to dominate. Any handheld console is going to be a bigger clunkier device that has fewer functionality than your phone. So you're not always going to bring your console to work or whatever. But you'll always have your phone on you. So I think that trying to chase after the portable market to compete with mobile games is kind of a fruitless endeavor.

Imo the best solution for gaming is the Switch Model. You get the best of both worlds without having to commit to either that hard. And everyone buying the console is on the same page. Having an entire secondary device that you now have to support in addition to your main console when people already have smart phones is just not smart imo. If they put out a PS6 and a PSP3, I'll probably just buy the PS6 and ignore the PSP. But if the PS6 *was* the PSP3 then we might be talking.

[Web]

Gonna need a source on that whole PSP sold mostly due to homebrew and hacking thing. PS Vita also has this, but wheres their sales numbers were abysmal.

[protokyuubi]

720p 30fps scaled up is super doable, especially with existing AMD APUs

[debrisposting]

Please, let me relive the magic of the psp and being young, gimme that sweet nostalgia dopmine release.

[spartaninvirginia]

I hope it works well for them. If it happens at all.

[jxunlht]

As long as Sony doesn't ruin it with a proprietary media format, I might be on board

[specter_of_thestars]

Please do so. They missed the market hard with ditching the vita and psp ideas. More mobile stuff is fine, steam deck proved that.

[RavarsenBlogspot]

I had the original psp. Many good memories.

[JamanWerSonst]

If Switch 2, Steamdecks and another Sony handheld all come in at around the Ps4 power level, we will be looking a many more years of developers supporting these target specs.

With development budgets and times spiraling out of control, I do believe it would be kinda healthy for the industry if there was a market option not requiring devs to take part in the graphical arms race.

[allniterz]

Between the switch and the insane PC handheld market I would say this device would be a sales failure. We shall see tho