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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...

Official: 2011 was a rubbish year in Japanese gaming.

In 2010, the PSP sold 2.6 million units in Japan. During 2011, it could only manage 1.6 million. Sure its nearing the end of its life, but there is still huge amounts of new software being produced for the PSP. On the plus side, there are now over 18 million PSPs in Japanese hands, so around one in six of the population owns one (although almost one in four own a Nintendo DS).

The Vita managed 620,000 sales in its first three months and even if it holds steady at 10K a week will happily sell over a million in its first year. But, as with the 3DS, expect sales to start to rocket once the big hitters like Monster Hunter and Phantasy Star appear, and there's that almost inevitable price cut later in the year.

But while hardware sales are in flux, software sales really took a dive. In 2010, the two biggest games in Japan sold four million (Monster Hunter Portable 3) and five million (Pokemon Black/White). In 2011, only one game managed to squeak over the 1.5 million mark (Mario Kart 7).


Hardware: 170.24 billion yen (-0.3%)
Software: 272.28 billion yen (-9.8%)
Overall: 442.52 billion yen (-6.4%)


So, the final revenue figures (from Media Create) make for pretty sombre reading, down almost 10%. And with retailers going bust in Europe and America lagging on sales, it looks like 2012 will be just as hard globally. Will new ideas and characters bring a revival in a market obsessed with sequels, or is gaming going into one of its regular slumps?




Currently playing on my Vita/PS3/PS4/PS5


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