Yoshida: NGP Bringing PlayStation Dev Relationships 'Back To Basics'

Meeting with outside developers and publishers during the creation of the upcoming Next Generation Portable reminded Sony Computer Entertainment president Shuhei Yoshida of the good old PlayStation 1 days, he said in a recent interview. "The NGP development team visited many developers and publishers globally with an early prototype of the hardware to get direct feedback," he told the official UK PlayStation Blog. "I also personally joined some of the meetings to discuss various aspects of NGP and the options we were looking at," he said. "The input of other developers outside of [SCE World Wide Studios] has been essential for us to make final decisions on NGP." "As a result of this, we went through many iterations of NGP," Yoshida continued. "It reminded me of the early days of the original PlayStation, when we visited many developers and publishers to get feedback during the development of that product." "It's almost as if SCE has gone back to basics, which should be a good thing," he added. Yoshida also said he expects the PS Suite initiative, which will bring PlayStation content to certified Android OS devices and NGP, to be a big draw for small developers. These smaller developers "are much more nimble and have some creative ideas that have never been seen before," he said. The final NGP -- which still goes by a codename -- promises to be loaded with high-end features, including 3G and wi-fi support, a five-inch multi-touch OLED display, a multi-touch pad on the back, dual analog sticks, flash card support for software, motion sensors, built-in GPS and a four-core CPU, among other bells and whistles. The NGP is slated to arrive sometime later this year. Analyst Colin Sebastian with Lazard Capital Markets previously stated that he expects the PSP follow-up to cost "at least" $299 in the U.S. As Sony readies the launch of the NGP, competing handheld manufacturer Nintendo just launched its next handheld, the 3DS, in Japan last month. The device, which features glasses-free stereoscopic 3D, arrives in the U.S. on March 27 for $250.