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Games: Sony Confirms PSPGo Gone; New Consoles Expected 2014 116

Posted by timothy from the out-with-the-old-get-out-your-wallet dept.
itwbennett writes "Sony on Wednesday confirmed rumors that it is ending production of the PSPGo, the 'slider' version of their handheld gaming system that was introduced back in 2009. Meanwhile, Kotaku posted an article saying that Microsoft and Sony probably won't be launching their next generation consoles until 2014. Whether the Kotaku prognostications are true or not, 'it's fun to think about what a console will have inside it in 3 years,' writes blogger Peter Smith. 'Will it support physical media? Probably. That seems too early for a pure digital delivery system. But I bet they'll have either terabyte hard drives or some kind of cloud storage for digital media.'"
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Games: Sony Confirms PSPGo Gone; New Consoles Expected 2014 More

Games: Sony Confirms PSPGo Gone; New Consoles Expected 2014

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  • thinking they would release a new console so PC gaming could have the bar raised higher. Looks like were stuck with 3 more years of console ports...

    • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

      by Seumas ( 6865 )

      Yeah, I have been sticking with the PC for strategy, MMO, and certain FPS games. Going with the console for everything else (because I can sit on an 8' bean bag in front of a 65" television with an audio system that cost more than the last brand new car I bought a fwe years ago). However, I find myself slowly migrating back to PC for titles that I have come to feel weren't necessary to play on the PC - simply because 2011 hardware beats the shit out of low-end commodity hardware from 2005 that was being so

      • Re:And here I was, (Score:4, Interesting)

        by ZorinLynx ( 31751 ) on Thursday April 21, 2011 @08:36PM (#35902004) Homepage

        Someone really needs to come up with an FPS controller that you can use in your lap while sitting on a couch or recliner. Something that gives you the full dexterity of a mouse/keyboard combo without requiring a desk.

        Only when they do this will playing shooters on a console become bearable.

        • Re: (Score:3)

          by tepples ( 727027 )
          Would a half keyboard and a trackball work? It's too bad that Matias, which owns the patent on half keyboards, prices them squarely in the insurance-driven market for assistive devices for people with disabilities, not the consumer-driven gaming market: $595? Give me a break [matias.ca].

          • Would a half keyboard and a trackball work? It's too bad that Matias, which owns the patent on half keyboards, prices them squarely in the insurance-driven market for assistive devices for people with disabilities, not the consumer-driven gaming market: $595? Give me a break [matias.ca].

            the keyboard is not really the problem, pushing a button on a pad or a keyboard doesn't make that much difference, also there is the logitech g13 that cost less than 100€
            when playing an fps on console the real problem is the aim stick, it's nowhere near a mouse precision, that's why there are a lot of aim aids on console games

        • Re: (Score:1)

          by SlashV ( 1069110 )

          Someone really needs to come up with an FPS controller that you can use in your lap while sitting on a couch or recliner.

          My suggestion is:
          - a foot board for moving (e.g. by tilting the board forward and sideways; jump by pushing it down)
          - Trackball in one hand for rotation/orientation.
          - Laser gun pointed at the screen in other hand for aiming. (no sharks involved)

        • I used to think that, but I don't mind joypads now. I got a Fragnstein for my PS3 but I haven't really used it. My main issue with console FPSes is that on many of them you can't fully disable auto-aim..

        • The problem with creating such a device is not the technological factors, but rather the ergonomic factors. The reason a mouse-keyboard combo gives you such control is that your desk it at just the right height to work at. It is harder to work with controls if they are at waist height instead of mid-torso height.

        • The old MadCatz Panther XLwas exactly this.

          http://www.xim3.com/community/index.php?topic=11113.0 [xim3.com]

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by elrous0 ( 869638 ) *

          I'll be sure and tell the 10 million+ people who've played dozens of console FPS's over the last 10 years that you've deemed the game controller unbearable.

  • When the hell are they going to put more RAM in consoles? I mean seriously, just cram 8GB in those damn things. I'm tired of consoles being seriously limited in memory for no good reason.

    For example when everyone had 512MB of RAM, consoles came out that had like 16MB.

    • Why?

      It's not like they want YOU doing anything with it. They buy the absolute minimum to achieve the desired result, and developers work within those bounds. I wouldn't put any effort into breaking into the locked down DRM boxes than what is necessary to play a game, especially when you can do all the same and then some on a PC.

    • Re: (Score:2, Interesting)

      by Ant P. ( 974313 )

      Tiny RAM space is one of the methods they use to slow down piracy. It's harder to hide bootloader-based copy protection cracking in resident memory if all of it needs to be used legitimately.

      • Re:More RAM? (Score:4, Interesting)

        by Myria ( 562655 ) on Thursday April 21, 2011 @09:10PM (#35902360)

        Tiny RAM space is one of the methods they use to slow down piracy. It's harder to hide bootloader-based copy protection cracking in resident memory if all of it needs to be used legitimately.

        Are you kidding me? The PS3, Wii and 360 all have extra memory reserved for the kernel inside which piracy hacks have been placed for a while.

    • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

      by Seumas ( 6865 )

      Because, they are selling a low end commodity product. The are selling an entire system of parts for half the price of a modern PC video card, because they perceive the consumer market as being too fucking cheap (and possibly rightfully so) to spend anything more than $300 or $400 on a gaming system that they're going to use for the next five or ten years. I enjoy gaming. I love eye-candy. I love lots of amazing stuff going on at any time time, visually and AI-wise. I love games with more people, better per

      • Remember how many Neo-Geo consoles got sold?

        • You absolutely have a point, but the games for that system were $200 and *thats* what killed them.

          People get bored of games faster than systems.

      • they perceive the consumer market as being too fucking cheap (and possibly rightfully so)

        Just look at the sales of the Wii for the answer, it is indeed like that.

        As IT workers with good jobs we also forget that many people actually struggle to afford higher end consoles as it is. The parts of the population that have the time or inclination to play the most games tend to also the poorest.. kids/students, and unemployed (or just lazy) people!

    • There is literally no good reason for them to shove more RAM in, let alone something ridiculous like eight gigabytes. Consoles don't have the overhead of multitasking multiple RAM-hogging applications and drivers, or the inherent size of a modern Windows operating system. They have a game, they have a dashboard, and that's it.

      If you're upset about load times, complain to the developers for not streaming or caching data effectively.

      • They have a game, they have a dashboard, and that's it.

        Not any more.

        Not with multimedia apps, upload and download services, Skype, social networking and god alone knows what other software and services will be added in the future.

        • Not with multimedia apps, upload and download services, Skype, social networking and god alone knows what other software and services will be added in the future.

          All these tasks are already done comfortably on iOS and Android even with only 128 MB of RAM, which is one-fourth the RAM of an Xbox 360 or PLAYSTATION 3 console. Therefore, these tasks typically need less RAM than a high-end game.

    • Or rather it was expensive, and may become so again. Part of the problem is just when the consoles were designed RAM was at a premium. I remember some computers we got at work during that era that had only 256MB RAM because it was so pricey to upgrade. The other problem is RAM seems to fluctuate. It operates like a commodity market. So you can't spec a lot and count on it being cheap. Unlike most tech stuff, it can go up in price so you need to account for that.

      That said, if RAM remains cheap I think you ca

  • Physical Media... Of Course (Score:2, Interesting)

    by Anonymous Coward

    Why does everyone assume that everywhere has real hi-speed internet? I live in not so rural PA and the only "Hi-speed" we have is cellular 3G. No cable company will come out here, no fiber, no DSL. If it doesn't use real media, it isn't going to be sold here.

    Add to that the rest of the world doesn't always have unlimited bandwidth. So now you have to pay for the game and the bandwidth overages.

    Think again

    • I have the same problem. I live inside the "Metro Atlanta Area", yet I cannot only get "broadband" through Verizon's wireless service. AT&T's network is such shit that they do not offer UMTS out here, and neither AT&T or Comcast offer DSL or cable-based broadband. I am stuck using Verizon's overpriced mobile broadband, and capped at 5120 MB per month.

      What is even more embarrassing(for AT&T) is that my girlfriend has to use Verizon's network to do AT&T business. That and this is 2011 and

  • Wow! (Score:2)

    by wsxyz ( 543068 )

    But I bet they'll have either terabyte hard drives

    Wow! A whole terabyte?!?!?

    • What, you're expecting multi-TB hard drives? Come on, they sell these things at a loss already. If they put 1 TB drives in, it'll be because they can't get 500 GB ones cheaper.

  • In three years, my "console" will consist of my smartphone with an HDMI cable attached to it.

    Another smartphone (or constellation of same) will be the controller(s), sensing motion, orientation, compass direction, temperature, sound, and impulses from my nerve endings, all transmitted to the console smartphone via HD Bluetooth, with a data assist via my home Wi-Fi or the local cellular net (which should be 5G or so).

    Strap one to each extremety and watch me kick virtual ass in Mortal Kombat 2015 by doing act

    • Re:Console? Heh. (Score:4, Insightful)

      by Microlith ( 54737 ) on Thursday April 21, 2011 @07:22PM (#35901314)

      Because you're really going to own 3+ smartphones, and have your choice of console constrained by your wireless carrier. Right.

      • Re: (Score:2, Funny)

        by blair1q ( 305137 )

        I will probably have a smartphone for each color of shirt.

        And, in the future, just so you know, your choice of breakfast cereal, sleeping hours, and mate will be constrained by your wireless carrier.

        Such is the curve on which corporate power is trajecting these days.

        • Re: (Score:1)

          by Anonymous Coward

          I will probably have a smartphone for each color of shirt.

          Apple fanboy, huh?

  • It's a safe bet all the future consoles will make more use of the cloud but oth the PS4 and the XBox 720 (or whatever they will be called) will still use physical media. Sony will still be pushing Blu-ray so that's what will come with the PS4 and I presume the XBox 720 will provide some backwards compatibility with the 360, requiring at least a DVD drive, but quite likely something with a higher capacity that can store higher res textures, etc, for the new CPUs and GPUs to play with.
    • I don't see a huge movement toward the cloud-- small stuff is a no-brainer, and things like saves would definitely be cool, but with the steady jackbooted march toward bandwidth caps (and all of the people who are still sorely underserved by broadband suppliers) going in with Steam-style stores could easily piss-off consumers and retailers. As a sideline sure, but not a primary stream.

  • PSP Go not gone in NA (Score:5, Informative)

    by aztektum ( 170569 ) on Thursday April 21, 2011 @07:46PM (#35901476)

    Apparently not dead in NA markets at this time [joystiq.com]

  • Go (Score:1)

    by Lawand ( 1345185 )
    It seems that names that have a trailing "Go" are living up to it. Think MeeGo.

  • Honestly, what i see are game server farms like Onlive or something.

    It keeps all the game on the server side, so they don't have to worry about peeps pirating it. They way they bitch about pirates and stuff, would seem to me it would be better to keep it all on their end and just stream the shit to us.

    Which of course, sucks currently, but they they did bitch slap some fiber optics to the home peeps, would probably be more doable.

    Do I want this? Fuck no. Just seems like this is how shit is going, imo

  • Plenty of time for Steam to seal PCs (possibly even time for Macs to catch up) as the dominating gaming platform then. The current gen consoles are already considerably showing their age compared to PC stuff IMO.

    Seems a bit of a foot-shooting exercise that they're dragging their heels so much this time around.

    • The capabilities of DX 11 and OpenGL 4.1 make the modern consoles look like a joke. It is interesting you bring up Steam. Gabe Newell referred to Intel's Sandy Bridge processors as the first step toward a console-like experience on a PC. It's just a matter of a couple years "2014" Until the vast majority of PC games are playable on low to high end systems. Just go get yourself a PC, if you love the console controller, go get a 360 controller with PC adapter...

      • Just go get yourself a PC, if you love the console controller, go get a 360 controller with PC adapter

        Say I hook up my PC to my TV. In the era of HDMI, that's a doddle. Then say I've plugged in four Xbox 360 controllers through a USB hub, and the Game Controllers control panel can see all of them. Now how many games will let me use more than the first controller? Not many, because most PC games are developed with the assumption that they are being played by one person at a desk. PC multiplayer more often than not equates "party" with "LAN party" where each player brings his own PC and his own copy of the ga

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by ProppaT ( 557551 )

      Not at all. Me and most of the people I know are still quite happy with what their current console can do and aren't really in a hurry to shell out $400-500 on a new system to do the same thing but with better graphics.

      Steam could develop a console and possibly push it with success, but if the majority of gamers have made one thing clear, they don't want to sit in front of a PC at a desk to play a game. MMO gamers do it out of necessity. Occasionally I'll buy a PC title and play it through, but it has to

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by tepples ( 727027 )
        ProppaT wrote:

        It's much more comfortable to veg out on the couch and play a game on the big screen.

        Then buy or build a PC to put behind your TV. If you want a small form factor comparable to that of an Xbox 360, consider a Gateway SX with an AMD CPU [gateway.com]. True, it has integrated graphics (northbridge and GPU on one die), but so do the consoles, and PCs with AMD CPU have a Radeon or GeForce, not Intel "Graphics My Ass".

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by captjc ( 453680 )

        I would have to disagree. I prefer to sit at my desk and play games then on my TV. I only play games on my TV out of necessity, especially since many more games are becoming console only.

        My 22" monitor from ~12 inches away provides a better experience for me than my 40 inch TV from ~6 feet away. Next is the issue of control scheme. In my opinion, for FPS, Third Person adventure, Strategy, and RPGs a mouse and keyboard are just more natural than a controller. Though I do keep a wireless 360 controller for ar

    • Nah, Steam itself is trying to establish itself as the dominant gaming platform regardless of the hardware. Portal 2 is an example of this, being available on both the PS3 and the PC, and offering cross-platform play (that actually works really well). They're also bolstering their install base by offering a free PC/Mac version of the game with the PS3 version.

      Steam support indicates they'll be showing up on the 360 at some point as well. However, given MS's track record for openness to anything not dir

    • Agreed. The 5-year console life cycle has been the standard since the Atari days. They're nuts to almost DOUBLE it. By the time 2014 rolls around, the 360 and PS3 are going to look like children's toys compared to even the weakest of PC's. The gap between PC games and console games is already widening, and both consoles are showing their age (especially the 360, with its DVD drive and no required hard drive). I can't imagine how bad they'll look in 3 years.

  • In related news: (Score:4, Informative)

    by supersloshy ( 1273442 ) on Thursday April 21, 2011 @09:00PM (#35902264)

    Here's a huge rumor-dump for the new Nintendo console which may or may not be announced at E3 [ign.com] (JSYK, all of this was reported before from other websites; this is just a compilation of the rumors).

    To summarize for the lazy, the controller may have a touch-screen, the system is more powerful than a PS3/360, and it looks like a modern version of an SNES. This is all just rumor and speculation though, so we'll have to wait and see. If the rumors are true, then I'm really excited! I used to play those Gamecube games where you connected GBAs to the controller ports so each player had his own screen, for games like Four Swords Adventures and Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles (which are both a BLAST to play with friends, btw). It was even useful in the occasional game like Sonic Adventure 1 and 2, Mega Man X Command Mission, and Pokemon Colosseum/XD, for example. This seems just like that awesome concept, but mixed with the DS and on a much more massive scale.

    If these rumors are true (or aren't as awesome as it really is), then Nintendo shows, once again, that dedicated hardware can be much, much better than a PC for gaming.

    PS: I'm no Nintendo fanboy; I just like them a lot more than the competition. I have a PS2 and might get a PSP/PS3 used sometime.

    • Nintendo seems to be out of cycle with the rest of the industry, though. Their last console is hardly considered "current generation" given the capabilities of the system itself. It lacks HD output, a reasonably sized HDD, a functional online service, etc. They've addressed some of the other missing "standard" features via updates (ie, WiiWare). Granted, their target audience wasn't exactly gamers with the Wii, but I don't think they can rely on the casual market to carry them again and need to get up t

      • Hardware specs aren't everything. What matters in the long run is the gaming experience as a whole, and that isn't limited by graphics or the presence of an "HDD". I mean, just look at the DS: it's really, really low-tech by today's standards, but games are still being made for it and it's a really innovative piece of hardware. I could name dozens of DS games I own that are awesome, and they don't require an HDD or HD output to function. Saying that the Wii isn't "modern" simply because of it's specificatio

        • That's what Nintendo does best, unlike Microsoft/Sony, who only do gaming on the side of their regular business

          I think most third-party game developers beg to differ with you as far as the actual console gaming scene is concerned. Unless you think ALL the major Game Devs/Pubs are wrong and YOU are right.

          • ...We're talking about two different things here. I'm talking about hardware, not software. Nintendo can focus all of it's resources on being innovative hardware-wise, while Sony and Microsoft only focus a portion of their resources on it, while they try to dominate in other fields as well. the 360 and PS3 try to do everything at once, while Nintendo's consoles, as I said, try to be, well, gaming consoles and gaming consoles alone, and it shows.

            And if we were talking about software, which we're not, Nintend

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Omestes ( 471991 )

      I used to play those Gamecube games where you connected GBAs to the controller ports so each player had his own screen...

      So... like a Dreamcast?

      Don't get me wrong, I'm happy Nintendo is making a new console. It'll probably be awesome and keep the rest of the industry on its feet. But I won't be buying it until they prove that they broke the curse that started with the Gamecube (or arguably the N64), and actually get decent 3rd party support. 3rd party support and stop being so damn "kid centered". I currently have a Wii. I loved it, until the amusement of mini-games and party games wore off, and I realized that there is

  • I didn't see anyone mention OnLive or it's Micro Console(http://www.onlive.com/game-system) which is my only 'current' console. I didn't like the PS3, in fact just out of personal preference I don't like Sony.. They are partly to blame for killing my beloved Dreamcast... (Along with their other business practices of late). The wii was fun but childish and the sensors are at their best... OK. And i'll never purchase anything from Microsoft. Never have, never will. Anyway, yes cloud gaming sounds terrible, b

    • I'm going to quote the Anonymous that replied to you:

      Bullshit.

      The only ones responsible for the death of the Dreamcast are Sega.

      Also VMUs sucked, and so did the Dreamcast controllers. And Sega sucks. Sega can go to hell for never doing a sequel to Skies of Arcadia. Bastards, all of them.

      They can go to hell for never porting Skies of Arcadia to the PS2...it's an RPG! It belonged on the PS2 with all the other RPG's not on the system that RPG lovers didn't own.

      Aaaand...the DC's library was heavy on fanboy games (fighting games, obscure sega fanboy loved franchises) and not on games anyone cared about.

      • Lack of marketing was true, but while their library was heavy with fanboy games, it did have a considerable amount of genres. Yes, I was using my 56k modem back in the day fragging people with my dreamcast playing Quake 3 Arena, at a steady frame rate. VMUs were a novel idea, and nintendo decided to rip off the idea by using the gameboy advance hookup for the Gamecube, which I also own. What angers me about Sony is their marketing power, they could release an inferior product, sell it undercost while losing
        • The ps2 wasn't inferior though. Japanese launch games had a jaggies issue, but so did a ton of DC games. The ps2 fixed it's problems, and ended up being the best console of that generation in terms of games. The DC died because it was, yet again, a rushed out the door sega system.

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by Omestes ( 471991 )

            I think, hardware wise, the PS2 and the Dreamcast were about on equal footing. But the the best of the Dreamcast was better than the near end of life titles for the PS2. Think Shenmue, which was one of the prettiest games released until the current gen, really.

        • they could release an inferior product,

          No, the PS2 could outperform the Dreamcast any day of the week and twice on Sundays. It's CPU is faster, 294MHz vs 200MHz, it's internal busses are faster, it's main RAM is faster, and it has more of it 32MB vs 16MB in the DC. Go on, read this:

          http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PlayStation_2#Technical_specifications [wikipedia.org]

          http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dreamcast#Hardware [wikipedia.org]

          The PS2 has over 4x the Gigaflop performance of the Dreamcast

          The PS2 is also capable of doing 1080i and 720p, the DC simply can't do that. The DC cann

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by elrous0 ( 869638 ) *

      If you're going to make all your purchases based on the politics of the parent company, your console choices will always be limited. But I agree that OnLive deserves a mention too.

  • Seriously? Do they think all gamers will have that fast of a network connection by then? That is certainly not the case today.

    Downloading once isn't an issue for most people, it's probably faster than going to a bricks and mortar store - and much faster than mail order. I'd have to figure that many games would be comparable to HD video in terms of transfer rates required; there's still a lot of people who couldn't handle that over their existing connections. Hence the next consoles will still need local sto

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