PSP2 is official, called NGP

Sony held their press conference early this morning in Tokyo (our time), and as predicted they showed PSP2 - currently called NGP (presumably for Non-Governmental Project, or perhaps it stands for Next Generation Portable system).

A brief outlook on the device lets us know that the device is larger than the PSP 3000 and that it sports a 5" OLED display with 960x544 resolution. There will be dual analogue sticks, smaller but capable of delivering Dual Shock 3 level controls according to Sony, as well as front and back touchpads, there is also a GPS, 3G, and Wi-Fi support, as well as front and back cameras. Games will be delivered on flashbased carts.

Sony also confirmed that the Playstation experience was coming to Android devices, phones and tablets. Exact details of the "Playstation Phone" were not divulged.

Kaz Hirari himself was on stage playing Uncharted on NGP, and other Sony franchises confirmed for the new device include; Little Big Planet, Resistance, WipeOut, Killzone and Hot Shots Golf. Titles like Little Deviants, Broken and Gravity Daze were also mentioned.

Third parties later came on stage to express their support with Hideo Kohima showcasing MGS4 on NGP, he also explained that we would have to wait until E3 for an official announcement of his NGP project, but he talked a lot about cloud gaming and being able to play something on PS3 and then continue playing it on the go with NGP. Exciting!

Activision confirmed a Call of Duty for NGP, Sega showed Yakuza running on it (PS3 version), a version of Dungeon Defenders that was made to work in a week was also shown. Capcom showed Monster Hunter Freedom 3 running on NGP as well as Lost Planet 2 cutscenes rendered in real-time, while Epic were on stage with the Epic Citadel demo. All praised the device, but as you can tell it was only really Sony who showed of new games in working condition (Uncharted NGP, Hot Shots Golf NGP, and Little Deviants). A bit disappointing perhaps, but you can expect a lot of announcements at E3.

We'll bring you more on NGP as the information hits.