Just last week we ran an article detailing everything known so far about Sony’s next portable. According to various reports from respected sources around the globe, Sony is working on some type of 3G-enabled, Android-based device that features capabilities from Sony’s various other devices. Not only would the device be gaming-focused, but it would feature the functionality of e-readers, mobile phones and Sony’s Walkman brand, among other things.
A new rumor has now surfaced, giving more credence to these bold claims. Along with the rumor, the tipster mentions issues, possibly delaying the processor, along with a venue, and with that, a date it would likely be revealed.
We’ve also found a couple videos that show off what the games might look like if these rumors are indeed true. Check out the full details and videos, after the break.
The rumor mentions that an ex-Nvidia engineer let it slip that Sony’s next portable (it’s repeatedly called the PSP2 in the rumor) will use Nvidia’s upcoming tablet processor, the Tegra 2. Tegra 2 is a dual-core, ARM Cortex-A9 MPcore processor, capable of up to a whopping 1GHz. The Tegra 2 features 8 processors in total, and aside from the 2 aforementioned ARM Cortex-A9 processors, will also feature specific processors for video decoding and encoding (1080p!), an image and an audio processor, and what would appeal most of Sony PlayStation, a specific 2D/3D graphics processor. To view a diagram of the Tegra 2, click here.
For those of you who are tech-challenged, all of that means is that the “PSP2” powered by Tegra 2, would be one beast of a device. However, the processor itself, and more-so it’s massive power lies the issue which may cause delays in the device. The Tegra 2 is said to be “massively over it’s power budget” and is being bogged down with “showstopper bugs”, which has Sony “very miffed at Nvidia right now”.
As for when the ex-Nvidia engineer ‘mole’ believes it would be shown, he says “It [PSP2] is now set for a CES showing, but it will almost assuredly be released at a later date”. CES is the world’s largest consumer electronics tradeshow, and will be held during January 6-9, 2011, in Las Vegas. It’s essentially the ‘E3’ of consumer electronics, for those of you unfamiliar. Sony usually hosts a Keynote and a Press Conference there each year, with last year Sony showing off its just released line-up of 3D capable TVs and other electronics.
So what could a device of this nature look like? And more importantly, how would the games look? We’ve found a video of an early Tegra 2 tablet prototype running the Unreal 3 Engine, along with another video of a prototype running 505 Games’ recently released Backbreaker, the gritty, non-NFL football game developed by Natural Motion. Check out the videos below:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2McPMFE1F4A[/youtube]
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