Sony's Yoshida On How NGP Will Avoid PSP's Biggest Mistake

Sony Computer Entertainment's head of worldwide studios Shuhei Yoshida says the upcoming code-named Next Generation Portable will provide a totally unique mobile gaming experience, unlike the company's first portable. "Our biggest mistake, I would say, with PSP was we were just so happy to provide the PS2 gaming on the go, and we kind of stopped there," Yoshida said in an interview with Gamespot. "What we wanted to do with NGP was, besides the great graphics and CPU, think on what interface we could put in to make the gameplay really stand out. You know, something that you cannot even do with the PS3," he said. The NGP's front and rear touch pads, dual analog sticks and camera-based augmented reality will all be key to creating portable experiences that "you cannot replicate in the console experience," Yoshida said. Elsewhere in the interview, Yoshida detailed how the NGP will use edge smoothing and filtering techniques to enhance the graphics of the downloadable PSP games which will be playable on the system, and offer options to remap PSP camera controls to the NGP's second analog stick. Yoshida also emphasized the importance of the NGP's running smartphone-style content through support for the upcoming PlayStation Suite (PSS), which will also run on Android phones and tablets. "NGP is certainly one of the key devices that we will like to support PSS, so that, as NGP owners, you’ll be able to choose to play some more casual, cell phone-type content on top of the console-style NGP games," Yoshida said. "Also, from the content providers, they can have a larger installed base of devices that they can target when they create games on the PSS format." Yoshida confirmed in the interview that the NGP would not have an external video connection to allow for play on TVs or monitors, but refused to give details on planned 3G data connections or hardware pricing.