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Possible new PlayStation Portal model pays homage to the Vita's OLED

While much of the focus on PlayStation's next steps is the PS6 and PS6 Portable , the two-year old PlayStation Portal could be getting a revamp according to those pesky internet rumours.  Update : Hints at pricing are around £/$250-299 for the new model, but everything remains deeply in rumours territory. Presumably the goal is to hit the 10% (currently 7%-ish) adoption rate among PS5 owners, something that would make it a bone fide hit gadget.   The recent February  PlayStation State of Play  saw no announcement. But, PlayStation needs to make Portal more a core member of the PS5 family, rather than the distant cousin that most of its appearances suggest.  As the improvement in connectivity and streaming tech, proven by many gamers enjoying their PS5 or PlayStation Plus streamed content from around the world, an updated Portal Pro could be on the cards.  Possibly featuring a 120Hz display and an OLED screen in honour of the mighty Vita, that'd be coo...

PSP Sales 2010, a penultimate bad, bad year

Regardless of how reliable you think their numbers are, VGChartz has last year's sales figures across all formats and its grim news for PSP software makers. Only one PSP title makes it into the all formats chart (Monster Hunter Portable 3) while only three PSP games sold over a million copies (the other two being Kingdom Hearts and MGS: Peace Walker)

Below that, another five managed over 500,000 sales; Gran Turismo, LittleBigPlanet, Assassin's Creed, God Eater and Monster Hunter Portable 2G. Compare that to the other formats out there:

DS - 15 million+ sellers
Xbox - over 20 million+ sellers
PS3 - over 20 million+ sellers
Wii - 18 million+ sellers

That's how weak the PSP is and why development is falling through the floor. You can but hope that devs are switching to PSP2 on the quiet and Sony will have a decent launch release list (to batter the rather feeble 3DS lineup). That's about Sony's only hope of getting a decent (and global) run on its rival and offering something that gamers feel they "need" to buy.

Alongside launch games in volume, Sony needs:

A) A very high-quality app, game center and store experience for the PSP2.
B) New multiplayer IP that can replicate Monster Hunter's success in Japan around the world.
C) Massive Multiplayer portable gaming (iPhone hasn't cracked it yet and a World of Warcraft-like experience would see the PSP2 with a strong USP.
D) Interoperability with other systems, pretending that one maker's stuff just works in its own little universe is so last century.


Currently playing on my Vita/PS3/PS4/PS5


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