Patents suggest Sony PSP 2 will imitate Nintendo DS, Wii, Apple iPhone
The Sony PSP has been somewhat of a failure everywhere outside of its native Japan. All of the elements were there to make the PSP a great and best-selling handheld but for various reasons it has failed to live up to its promise. Meanwhile, Nintendo has continued its dominance of the hand-held market with its innovative, and above all fun, DS.
While Sony hasn’t yet given up on the PSP, the games are beginning to dry up and I think everyone has now accepted it is on its way out. So obviously Sony, and us gamers, start looking to the future, and the potential successor to the PSP.
According to a thread on the NeoGAF Forums, reported here via TheSixthAxis, Sony has recently applied for a patent for a hand-held mobile device with a touch screen and motion sensing technology. This could be the follow-up to the PSP or the long-rumoured Playstation phone, but it’s clear that either way, Sony is looking to imitate the Nintendo DS, the Wii and Apple iPhone.
The patent is on Phil Harrison’s name, and was published on June 26th. The abstract part of it reads as follow.
A hand-held electronic device is disclosed. The device may comprise a case case having one or more major surfaces; a touch screen disposed on one of the major surfaces, the touch screen; a processor operably coupled to the touch screen; and one or more tactile pixels disposed proximate the touch screen. Each of the tactile pixels includes an actuatable portion coupled to an actuator and a sensor. The actuator and sensor are coupled to the processor.
The actuator is configured to actuate in response to instructions from the processor and the sensor is configured to generate signals as inputs to one or more programs executed by the processor when pressure is applied to the actuatable portion. The actuatable portion is actuatable by the actuator between first and second positions. A tactile feel of the actuatable portion is different in the first and second positions.
While a lot of that may sound like gobbledegook, and in fact it is gobbledegook, the basic premise is of a hand-held device with a touch screen and motion-sensing capabilities.
This device is still likely to be a few years away, if it appears at all. There is a case for believing that Sony might give up on the whole idea of competing with Nintendo in the hand-held market to focus on improving the performance of the PS3, a battle it actually has a chance of winning. The DS is certainly miles ahead of the PSP in terms of sales, usability and games.
Assuming Sony do press on and refuse to give up on the idea altogether, it’s likely that the PSP 2 will be competing with a new hand-held from Nintendo in a few years time. The problem for Sony is that while it imitates current technology which has already been seen to be popular, Nintendo may have something brand new up its sleeve.
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31 Responses to “Patents suggest Sony PSP 2 will imitate Nintendo DS, Wii, Apple iPhone”
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June 28th, 2008
ummmmmm..No……..Sony already had motion sensing, touch screens are 20 yrs old…..sony doesnt copy at all……….and the ds sucks balls….nintendo copied sony with the remote play thing…..the ds has horrible games with pixelated graphics, horrible internet connecting, and lack of abilities………psp is better than any phone……AND DAVE P, LETS GET SOMETHING STRAIGHT…..ITS NOT CALLED THE PSP 2….THEY ALREADY HAVE IT….ITS CALLED PSP SLIM….OR ITS OFFICIAL NAME: PSP 2000 Series……SO THE NEXT ONE WILL BE PSP 3000……OR PSPHONE or something
June 28th, 2008
Loco Roco.. Patapon… God of War Chains of Olympus..
I rest my case… though I have to say… I am intrigued by the abundance of wonderfully weird games on the DS… its simple.. PSP needs PS3… DS needs Wii… they complement each other…
sigh.. if only I could play and trade pokemon over the net…
June 28th, 2008
this whole “they copied these guys, those guys copied these guys” is a rather cliche argument and ignorant to say the least.
so is the apple iphone imitating motorola, who were one of the first to release a mobile phone? they’re clearly ripping off the first manufacturers of mobile phones, are they not?
you guys are boring, and don’t appear care about legitimate journalism.
June 28th, 2008
PSP is far from death idiots PSP RuLeZ just look at my name. This PSP copying DS huge lie is the other way around motion sensing sucks worthless piece crap.
June 28th, 2008
Matt:
PSP Slim is not the PSP 2 sorry.
June 28th, 2008
Yeah, sorry, but I’m with travis on this one, DAVE PARRACK! Your logic is flawed and circular, and you make grandiose and startlingly sweeping assumptions, and then make conjectures based directly on those assumptions. And then you make an entire article out of it.
Maybe I’m being harsh. I’m sure you don’t care much, but this is probably the weakest article I’ve seen from you yet. My only advice is to maybe not try so hard to create sensationalist filler with sole purpose of instigating knee-jerk fanboy flame wars. Those will happen on their own.
-Arvis
June 28th, 2008
BOL @ Ivan_PSP. I don’t think Sony would like your endorsement on any of their products.
June 28th, 2008
STF^ no one cares idiot.WTF will do that wow get a life. And i don’t give give a shit what Sony likes or doesn’t like.
June 28th, 2008
@ ivan…….shut up…..it is the psp 2….because it is the 2ND PSP….and its PSP 2000 Series…..its a WHOLE different model dumbass….they changed looks, the way things work on the outside(different umd slot..etc)….and more RAM….thats why skype cant go on PSP 1000 Series….because lack of internal memory…..honestly, you dont know crap about the psp, so change your name….Thank You
June 29th, 2008
Is not the official PSP 2 is the first 1 upgrade like DS Lite is not DS 2. Common sense OMG
June 29th, 2008
Moron is just PSP 1 updated like DS Lite is not DS 2 dumd fuck.
June 29th, 2008
fucking stupid sony fanboys.
June 29th, 2008
Oh Dave, if only you had even CLOSE to a sense of journalism. And your editorializing isn’t that good either.
Oh Ivan, could you PLEASE just go away, go to some web site where you can practice typing and making sense. It wouldn’t be so bad you butchering the language if you even came CLOSE to relating some rational thought, but alas your posts here prove you are obviously incapable.
June 29th, 2008
STF^ Bitch i will never fade away never ever. I make more sense than all you Xbox idiots out there drooling over MGS4.
June 29th, 2008
@Ivan_the_idiot
I’m not really drooling over MGS4. Sure it’s a nice game, and I probably would get it if it came to the 360, or if I had a PS3, but it’s just not my cup of tea.
June 30th, 2008
Sure you not you can’t have it. It will never come out for Xbox 360 now only cuzz it would never fit but there’s no way in hell that it can happen is not a Fps so….
June 30th, 2008
@ ivan……you just confused yourself….the ds got an upgrade, but it was just looks…..the psp upgrade had more stuff upgraded……but i get what you are saying now….sorry for correcting you
June 30th, 2008
The patent says the next PSP will have a touch screen that can actually touch back. That’s not imitating DS/iPhone, thats evolving past it
July 1st, 2008
I will hate a completely DS touch screEn design for the next PSP it will suck. So might use OLED screen.
July 6th, 2008
Stupid ass sony fan boys. sony can never defeat nintendo in the hand held market thats not a fan boy statement its facts. lets look at the past hand helds that went against nintendo. ok theirs the
Against the Game Boy(sold 118+ million, combined with GB color)-
Atari Lynx (failed only less then 500,000 sold)
TurboExpress (failed sold only 1.5 million)
Sega game gear (failed sold only 11 million)
Against the gbc (look up) -
Game.com (failed les then 300,000)
Wonder swan color( moderate success but failed against GBA)
Game Boy Advance (sold 81 million+ all version combined)
GP32 (wasn’t released outside of korea, that i know, and sold only 30,000)
N-Gage (pathetic attempt to go against GBA 3 mill)
o even forgot sony’s very fist handheld the pocket station (not sold out of japan)
Now Nintendo DS Vs. PSP
PSP (sold 37 million)
DS (sold 70+ million, wow almost gonna catch up to its older thing the GBA)
So if you ask me i think nintendo is one hell of a competitor in the hand held bussiness
July 16th, 2008
btw hu cares bout mgs4 u were all ‘drooling’ (as u put it) over halo 3 Xboxs rule!!
July 18th, 2008
sony wont give up psp since their ps3 is selling at a lost rate. They should make a new handheld device for like 2010 though
July 18th, 2008
@ badger
no ps3 rules all u guys have is gears of war, halo 3,
gears of war2 and forza motosport series
ps3 has motostorm, rachet and clank, hevenly sword, uncharted drakes fortune, resistance, resistance 2, mgs4, etc.
July 24th, 2008
ye watevr u ad 2 get bioshock off 360 n rockband 2 is premiering on 360
July 26th, 2008
psp is damn good
syphon filter 1 & 2‚ gta, mgs, loco plus its perfect for racing games all its features are good. i have a ds and think its great but past a few quality and original games its really for kids. i’m saying this as i own both handhelds and consoles except the xbox which has nothing that the others dont have besides some standard shooter which is a bit of a joke as its flagship game as its just a standard shooter we have loads of them on every console ps warhawk would kick its ass anyway
July 26th, 2008
have to say zelda on the ds and wii and i didn’t really play the previous games is in my very opinanated opinion {xbox s&#ks donkey balls) is in the running for best single player game ever. timesplitters on the ps2 is in up there too
sorry about ranting away from the handheld question
July 30th, 2008
Best psp games I have;
FIFA 08
burnout legends
tom Clancys rainbow six vegas
burnout dominator
Ps is lego Indiana any goood
September 3rd, 2008
yo all i kno sony kix nintendos azz fuk all of that bs about o gba sold who gives a fuk n psp will always be better than psp
September 3rd, 2008
yo all i kno sony kix nintendos azz fuk all of that bs about o gba sold who gives a fuk n psp will always be better than psp
February 23rd, 2009
wow guys seriuosly cows you are so damn upset your handheld sucks. hmm… first off i am ceitnrly tired of nintendo is for kids bs. second each handheld console has its own games good and bad.
thrid no one has been able to comepete with Nintendo in the handheld market for years.
March 30th, 2009
Handhelds are by and large for children.
That is why DS sells better than psp.
Duh.