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[Nintendo Switch]

Revisiting this topic, I realize that Microsoft partnering with Valve and releasing an Steamboy or Xboy One that could play your entire Xbox and Steam game libraries would be vastly preferable. MS has the software emulation experitise to get the Xbox store and steam software running on either Intel or AMDs newest mobile APUs.

Add in a tv out port and compatibility with all Xbox One controllers and they could completely dominate the game industry and offer immense value to gamers everywhere. Plus it would give Microsoft a first and giant stake in the portable hybrid space that Switch is hooking gamers to. Every reason below applies, just swap Sony with Microsoft. It could even revive the Windows Phone OS.

Old Post:

Dam a phone with integrated controls that could play, ps3/vita games would be really awesome.

I love my switch, but the true is I play it docked 99% of the time, a good gaming phone would get a lot more portable use because I would carry it everywhere anyway.

Both PS Vita and the Xperia Play would have succeeded if they had shared the same architecture and games. An Xperia Play that could play Vita games would have served the desire of older gamers for an all in one device. The people paying $1000 for a Galaxy phone or iPhone would have happily plopped down that much for the same phone but with real games and actual gaming controls if they had even a passing interest in a gaming handheld. Instead, in 2011, Sony for some idiotic reason released two handhelds with radically different internals that could not play each other's games. Why any company would release two handhelds with vastly different architectures the same year is beyond me. If we consider the Xperia Play the PSP2 given its April 2011 release and weak specs and we consider the PS VITA the PSP3 given its significantly beefier specs and Dec 2011 release, a PSP4 is long overdue.

This time, the PSP3 or 4 (not sure which to call it) should be launched alongside a more expensive Smartphone variant ($299 PS4P and a $999 Xperia Play 2 (available for free with a 24 month carrier contract)) with the same identical CPU, GPU and ram, the only difference would be 4G, external design and the amount of built in storage. But both devices should share the same game library. A new Playstation Xperia Play 2 smartphone with much better controls and games than the original with a Snapdragon 845 would be killer. Especially if it has stock android and could play all psn arcade titles, vita and PSP games and also has PS4 Remote Play functionality and slide out controls akin to the PSP Go. Sony is in a unique position to leverage their Xperia phone experience with their PSP and Xperia Play experience and offer something to gamers that no one else can. An all in one device that doubles as both a smartphone and a gaming handheld with dual stick slide out controls (a significantly improved version of the slide out controls found on the PSP Go).

It would look like this when not being used for gaming (please don't add any text to the front of the device Sony, letters ruin the look and without text it could look correct to hold either upright or sideways, like the pictured phone below)

It running stock android when not playing games (similar to the Google smartphones) is a must. Stock android is fantastic and would be a killer feature for the smartphone by itself. But as soon as you slide the controls out, andriod goes into standby mode and it changes to a user interface identical to the one found on the PS4.

Just as important, having both an SD card slot and a separate gaming cartridge slot would be critically important to success. Digital only would work for arcade titles and psp/vita ports but the device would also need ports of games like Doom and LA Noire to succeed and that would necessitate cartridges

But most importantly, it needs to nail the controls and the launch software lineup if it wants to outperform the Nintendo Switch.

1. A simple tv out port and compatibility with all existing DualShock 4 controllers would be all it takes for the PSP3 to offer the same hybrid functionality that the Switch offers. An sd card slot would fix the one weakness that held back the PS Vita, a return of the Vita's beloved d-pad in the slide out controls would be heralded by portable gamers, and with a 7nm+ quad A75 chipset, the PSP3 could easily run ports of any third party games released on the Switch at 1080p with 60 fps and 16x AA. It could also get ports of PS4 games and a wide variety of indie games akin to the Vita. A powerful wifi chip capable of Wifi Direct would also let Remote Play from PS4 to the PSP3 work very smoothly.

2. The PSP offered a resolution of 270p, the PS Vita quadrupled the resolution to 540p while offering backwards compatibility with most PSP games, the PSP3 could once again quadruple the resolution to 1080p and offer backwards compatibility with most PSP and PS Vita games. And it would set the stage for a future backward compatible PSP4 with 4K resolution and portable 4K VR functionality for simpler games. A 4K screen would also allow for 1080p glassless 3D for games with clean cartoony graphics akin to 3D Mario titles

3. Gamers would have more incentive to stick with the PSN ecosystem and continue Playstation Plus subscriptions if Sony once again had a portable in its ecosystem to supplement it's home console. Free PSP3 crossplay indie titles each month would intice gamers to pick up the PSP3, and would allow Sony to offer something that Xbox Live could never match.

4. The PSP and the PS Vita were both profitable for Sony and both portables are well regarded by gamers. The PS Vita continues to get numerous indie releases, though it's starting to show its age. A PSP3 might not outsell the Nintendo Switch, but that doesn't mean that it wouldn't be profitable.

5. The Switch is rather large and cumbersome with a very poor battery life, my 10 year old nephew can barely even hold the Switch. There is significant demand for a lighter portable with pocketability and improved battery life, especially in Japan and especially with younger gamers.

6. A PSP3 packing a quad core A75 manufactured at 7nm+ would run circles around the Nintendo Switch's quad A57 chip manufactured at 20nm, while also being more portable and offering dramatically better battery life.

7. The aesthetic design of the Nintendo Switch leaves a lot to be desired as outlined in the opening post of this thread... http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1457455 Here are three keys ways that the PSP3's design could stand head and shoulders above the Nintendo Switch...

Bezel Free OLED

Bezels serve no function and are ugly, modern devices have done away with them altogether, and yet the Nintendo Switch has the largest bezel of any modern portable and paired with a cheap screen to boot. The Vita has a far better screen than the Switch and there is no reason why a PSP3 can't offer the same.

Symmetry, Symmetry, Symmetry

Here is how the Switch should have looked.

Notice the absence of the large unseemly bezel.

Notice how the Home and Capture buttons are round, symmetric and centered. It's aesthetics/design 101. On the Nintendo Switch, the design and placement of the Home and it's asymmetry with the capture button on the other side is ugly and distracting. There is no reason for the Home button to have a white circle encircling it. Ideally, the Home button should be a single black circle (no white border) with a corresponding circular Capture button on the left Joy-Con identical in size and shape to the Home button, as in the neon design pictured above. The overall design of the Switch and the Joy-Cons would also improve significantly if the Capture and Home buttons were both round and perfectly centered (or at least aligned with the other buttons) on their respective Joy-Cons so that they line up directly under the Joystick and Down/B Button and act as the center button when the Joy-Con is held sideways.

The one thing that Nintendo did right with the Switch is relegating the name of the device, and the Nintendo name and logo to the back of the device rather than to the front. I would hope Sony doesn't make the mistake of plastering the front of their PSP3 with the device's name or the Sony logo.

Quality of Life Improvements

The Switch has a number of questionable decisions, such as placing the usb, type c charging port on the top rather than the bottom so that people can't charge the Switch while they are playing in handheld and table top modes but nothing is quite as questionable as the lack of a d-pad.

Since the PSP3 will not have detachable JoyPads, it could include a real d-pad akin to the one found on the PS Vita, it could also pack a PSP Go like slider design and offer bigger buttons than all prior portables, analog buttons and triggers and larger, more comfortable analog sticks as well.

The best of all worlds would be a design that looks near identical to the Samsung Galaxy S8+ (no text or device name anywhere on the front of the device please)

with slide out controls like the PSP Go, a cheap version without 4G or smartphone functionality and a more premium $799 variant with a 4G chip inside that runs Andriod and doubles as a high end smartphone. Or, as suggested by Appiration...

Sony wouldn't even need to spend any money on developing a new chipset, they could use the upcoming Snapdragon 845 and surpass all the performance targets outlined above...

An alternative take...

I would really like an updated Vita.

The Switch is good but the Vita 2000 feels much nicer to hold especially for prolonged periods.

If they could basically take the Vita 2000 chassis, add buttons for full 1:1 DS4 mapping so remote play is better and put in a modern chipset and I would be happy. Something along the lines of the Switch undocked power wise. The Switch has been out for close to a year and I think the chipset it was based on wasn't brand new when the Switch released so could probably get something similarly as powerful but a bit easier on the battery by now.

1080p screen would be great for 1:4 pixel scaling but then you would get the same situation as Vita where games often run under native resolution. I would take 90% of games running at a native 720p on a 720p screen than 50% of games running at subnative on a 1080p screen. Make it 720p and lose some of the bezel from Vita 2000 for a slightly larger screen (maybe 5.5") for a decent compromise that wouldn't chew through battery.

Push CrossBuy with PS4 titles and make cloud saves seamless (if they aren't already, haven't really used them all that much) and I think it would be a decent competitor. If the system is close specs wise to Switch it'd be pretty easy to port Switch games over. Also allow pairing with a DualShock 4.

Very well said. I would love an updated Vita.

All the doom predictors on gaf sound the same as the ones the predicted that the Switch would be a giant failure. http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1333545I I don't think they understand the appeal of a portable. And thanks to how large, heavy and cumbersome the Switch is, Sony could take the entire portable only market for itself.

 

[goldenpp72]

The issue with this idea will be the same one that plagued the last system. It requires resources for actual game creation that is better suited to pushing their for sure successful, high powered console. While Nintendo has their A+ teams working on games for Switch, Sony would never truly devote their main resources to it, it's just not feasible.

As well, after the Vita incident, they would have one hell of a time courting any third party support to focus specifically on it. Sony has never had an issue making great hardware designs for their portables, it's the games that get them. PSP managed to do well based on insane hype from third parties for a PS based portable, but I think all that excitement is beyond dead.

Still, if they could launch it successfully i'd be happy to partake, but I wouldn't be able to tell you it's a financially smart move, especially once the Switch manages to eat up more and more of this market. If the Switch continues to be successful it would put companies like Sony or MS in an awkward position. If Sony literally focused all their power to make a Switch competitor it would leave the console base open for MS to come swoop in and steal the entire base, but if they leave it alone, they could be losing potential customers. I just don't think Sony has the manpower to put full force first party on two devices at once, even Nintendo was starting to struggle with this, and is probably why the Switch exist. If I were Sony i'd probably sit this one out and continue being the dominant force in consoles, while perhaps working on expanding into the portable market once more next time, with proper developer resources.

 

[JordanN]

Going the portable route would divert resources from their home consoles. Especially as Sony hasn't been opening new studios but closing older ones.

As much as I loved past Sony portables, it would be hard to justify one in today's climate. Just adding more power is not enough.

However, that doesn't mean they can't find some other way to have games playable on the go. Maybe one day when internet speeds are fast enough and lag free, they could offer streaming for mobile phones. Kinda like how PS Vtia already supports remote play. I also have been an advocate of a "VMU" like peripheral. It doesn't need to contain any actual guts, just act as a vessel to stream games to.

 

[Nintendo Switch]

Thanks to x86 and modern engines, porting games between devices is easier than ever. Many of my favorite switch games were also ported to the Apple TV of all places.

Third parties releasing their switch and PS4 games on the PSP3 as well would be a piece of cake. Far less work than it takes to update a game to run on the Xbox 1 X with improved performance.

 

[goldenpp72]

Thanks to x86 and modern engines, porting games between devices is easier than ever. Many of my favorite switch games were also ported to the Apple TV of all places.

Third parties releasing their switch and PS4 games on the PSP3 as well would be a piece of cake. Far less work than it takes to update a game to run on the Xbox 1 X with improved performance.

As seen with the Switch, developers don't seem to WANT to splinter bases and put their games on more and more hardware even if it's more simple to do in some instances. They would probably rather only have to manage patches and creation between 1 or 2 platforms, this just creates more issues. The Switch is being reluctantly supported by a lot of developers who did not want to be part of helping it grow to be a success, but only going on board because it seems financially dumb not to at the moment.

PSP3 would likely need to prove itself in the market before getting mass support, outside of indie titles of course.

 

[Sosokrates]

Cool thread.

I think a portable only system will have a hard time these days.
If it played your PS4 games that would be nice.but is there really a demand for a portable that plays ps4 games?

I think a lot of people would be fine with using there PS4 at home.

Also portable ps4 power will not be ready for the price and battery life sony would like until at least 2020.


It would also need something more then just being a "portable PS4".
A HDMI out would be great but how would it be marketed?
Thr switch has had fantastic marketing it's core concept is in its name, and the adverts are easy to understand, and straight to the point.
Although the name "psp" does say its core concept I dont think it will be enough.

Myself and other gamers would get one if it could play your digital ps4 games, but I dont think that would be enough for it to sell more then 25million.

Also what GPU and RAM setup would it use?

 

[goldenpp72]

Cool thread.

I think a portable only system will have a hard time these days.
If it played your PS4 games that would be nice.but is there really a demand for a portable that plays ps4 games?

I think a lot of people would be fine with using there PS4 at home.

Also portable ps4 power will not be ready for the price and battery life sony would like until at least 2020.

It would also only work on digital games, which is a thing despite what people would have you believe on the internet. The PSP GO and the Xbox One were horribly knee capped trying to skirt around physical, the world isn't ready just yet.

 

[Joyful]

Sony fooled me twice they wont get me a third time

 

[DekuLink]

The "white circle" is a transparent ring for the not yet implemented (if it ever will be) notification light.

 

[Sosokrates]

Sony fooled me twice they wont get me a third time

The psp wasnt a fool.

The psp was awesome. And did well

 

[Zekra Dezivad]

The only Sony portable that makes sense is a console capable of running digital PS4 games without a conversion work. Like a new addition to the PS4 family. PS4, PS4 Pro and PS4 Go.

I'd take optimization patches for existing games like PS4Pro did, but it should run every PS4 game from day one. Lower resolution could be an idea.

However storage would be an issue, the absence of physical media would be an issue and total hardware compability maybe wouldn't be even feasible to my little understandings.

Another idea would be an streaming-only device for PSNow and PS4 Remote Play, without new exclusive software or platform. Maybe enough powerful to run BC Vita games, but very very cheap, with big screen, comfortable holding and long lasting battery. Would be interesting and profitable, yet a niche product.

 

[rokkerkory]

They’d be spread too thin. Just stick with VR.

 

[TLZ]

As well, after the Vita incident, they would have one hell of a time courting any third party support to focus specifically on it.

This doesn't hold any water now. People had been prophecizing doom and failure for systems for years and they were wrong. How many times has it happened to Nintendo alone? And look where they're at now. Companies just have to do things right.

 

[goldenpp72]

This doesn't hold any water now. People had been prophecizing doom and failure for systems for years and they were wrong. How many times has it happened to Nintendo alone? And look where they're at now. Companies just have to do things right.

Nintendo is where they are now because they launched a neat device with all their guns firing at the same time software wise. Sony would have to make exclusive sequels to their biggest guns prioritized on the hardware to try and match what Nintendo did here, something they are unable to do. Nintendo is succeeding due to their own software and maybe indies, not because third parties jumped on, hell even Capcom hasn't supported the system worth a damn up to this point. Its strongest third party support is probably from Bethesda and that is made up of 2 ports, and Square I guess.

Sony doesn't have the ability to match Nintendo for output on a portable while also supporting the PS4/PS5 at the same time, it's just not gonna happen. Nintendo just released 2 'game of the generation' level titles in under 9 months, it's a big reversal from the first year of their last systems. The Switch will probably outsell the Vita entirely by the end of its first full year on shelves and still has pretty barebones third party support, announcement or otherwise. These things take time and resources to build on, Sony lost all their ammo after the PSP tapered off violently software sales wise, they will need to go back in a big way to fix that, which is what Nintendo has done. They basically jettisoned their console competitor to go all in on a mobile hybrid device, which is a pretty bold if desperate move i'd say. It's also something Sony doesn't really need to do, they are the market leader by a big gap right now, and probably are seeing record sales at the moment. They should be thinking ahead but also have to realize what their options are.

In the end, unique ideas can help sell hardware, but it comes down to the games most of the time. Switch will suffer because it won't get a lot of the mainstream stuff PS4/XONE get, but will still succeed for the amount of unique content it will get. I just don't see how Sony can put out big games on a portable and a console at the same time, not without a drastic change in their resources and allocation of them.

 

[mistuhcahlos]

The psp wasnt a fool.

The psp was awesome. And did well

I loved the PSP (still have one) but any new Sony portable would be DOA and have no support.

 

[Lionel Richie]

I don't get it OP. If symmetry is a concern and if Sony is going for the joy-con route, how are they going to do the Vita d-pad?

 

[mistuhcahlos]

This doesn't hold any water now. People had been prophecizing doom and failure for systems for years and they were wrong. How many times has it happened to Nintendo alone? And look where they're at now. Companies just have to do things right.

Outside of the virtual boy, I think every Nintendo handheld has dominated the market

 

[Sosokrates]

I loved the PSP (still have one) but any new Sony portable would be DOA and have no support.

If it was compatible with digital PS4 games, it would have an intant huge library.
However as stated in my previous post I dont think thats enough for success.

Also if ps4 compatibility is needed I dont think it will be able to use an Arm CPU or a popular mobile GPU. Sony wont want to have rewrite every PS4 game for it.
However AMD are making a mobile APU so that could work.


I think the switch is great, it still boggles my mind how it plays games that are better looking then 360 games, hell i still play 360 games on my 4k tv and enjoy them.

 

[Claude Augario]

Let's see...

- Coming off the catastrophic failure of the Vita
- Sony has historically neglected their handhelds
- Branded a PS4 Portable with the potential to get PS4 ports at best
- TV out to mimic the Switch for a portable PS4 that's not a stationary PS4 but can still do this and isn't totally confusing for costumers
- Is supposed to be smaller than a Switch but strong enough to run circles around it just because
- No pricing
- No media solution for the huge size of PS4 games on a portable
- No idea who would even bother supporting this besides "The Indies"

Sounds like a recipe for success.

 

[LewieP]

Main issue you've not addresses is what will it be running under the hood.

As far as I am aware, there does not exist the silicon to make a small, power efficient device that would be able to natively run PS4 software at a price that would be anything close to acceptable for the market.

I strongly agree that as soon as this is technically possible, Sony should do it.

If you mean like a new platform, which would need bespoke ports, I don't think there is a business case for doing that.

 

[DiscoJer]

I think they have to make it a literal Playstation 4 portable, running PS4 games.

Because Sony really didn't support the PSP that well (the sad shell of Gran Turismo that it got is perhaps the best example) and the Vita almost not at all.

 

[Leona Lewis]

lThe Vita has a far better screen than the Switch

I think that’s disputable.

 

[ArtHands]

Joke thread? Because there are numerous considerations that are not factored in. Take for example, the based price of Vita is $299 back then, because it is subsidized by expensive memory card. If vita uses sd card, vita will have cost several hundred more for Sony to profit. also, a handheld more powerful than Swith will be rather expensive too.

PSP failed to outsell DS and Vita is so flopped it has only 1 million seller (Minecraft).

I dont think a lot of thought has been put into this thread at all

 

[ShirAhava]

The 2018 Vita 3rd party game lineup is pretty great. I'm enjoying my Vita and have zero interest in the Switch or a new PS handheld.

 

[RainblowDash]

Watch them fuck up by releasing a brand new memory card format for it too UGH

 

[jobrro]

I would really like an updated Vita.

The Switch is good but the Vita 2000 feels much nicer to hold especially for prolonged periods.

If they could basically take the Vita 2000 chassis, add buttons for full 1:1 DS4 mapping so remote play is better and put in a modern chipset and I would be happy. Something along the lines of the Switch undocked power wise. The Switch has been out for close to a year and I think the chipset it was based on wasn't brand new when the Switch released so could probably get something similarly as powerful but a bit easier on the battery by now.

1080p screen would be great for 1:4 pixel scaling but then you would get the same situation as Vita where games often run under native resolution. I would take 90% of games running at a native 720p on a 720p screen than 50% of games running at subnative on a 1080p screen. Make it 720p and lose some of the bezel from Vita 2000 for a slightly larger screen (maybe 5.5") for a decent compromise that wouldn't chew through battery.

Push CrossBuy with PS4 titles and make cloud saves seamless (if they aren't already, haven't really used them all that much) and I think it would be a decent competitor. If the system is close specs wise to Switch it'd be pretty easy to port Switch games over. Also allow pairing with a DualShock 4.

I don't see Sony launching a new portable, but it is nice to dream.

 

[sublimit]

The psp wasnt a fool.

The psp was awesome. And did well

They got lucky with Monster Hunter which paved the way for more big releases from other publishers. If it wasn't for that then the PSP would have had an even worse fate than the Vita (since back then there were no indies on handhelds).

 

[Apparition]

Hey, third time's a charm, right? PS Ativ would have been an ironically good name (too bad Samsung already owns the trademark)

I'm not sure if PS4 Portable would work well with an ARM architecture. That would require emulation. Seeing how down to the metal PS4 games are, that would present many challenges. It might be better to wait for a new SoC from AMD (if the makers of vaporware Smach Z are truthful, it should match Ryzen 2700U SoC) and then maybe they have a better chance.

What about mass storage? PS4 games are huge. Maybe Sony will help introduce some MiniXQD standard just because (or maybe utilize easily removable M.2 2242 for internal storage).

The odds are against a portable version of a PS4, thus. Perhaps a gaming phone with magnetically-attachable controller is more like it (disappointed Razr didn't go that route).

 

[autoduelist]

I desperately want a PSP3.

I've been saying it for years now, but it should:

1) Be BC with PS1, PSP, Vita games already bought digitally, and optionally Vita physical if adding a card reader is feasible price wise.

!2) Most important: Play digital PS2 games. Market it as a portable PS2, and they will come. I'm a little concerned about how the PS4 handled PS2, so I'd prefer the wider variety already available for PS3... but somehow, sort that out.

3) Improve remote play in any ways that advances in R&D allow.

4) Optionally, allow dual boot with android.

5) Suspend mode / battery life ala Vita is a must.

6) Video out plus sync with DS4, maybe DS3.

7) SD cards, obviously.

 

[fvng]

Sony fooled me twice they wont get me a third time

You know PSP was an enormous success right?

 

[Fbh]

So not only is it going to be much more powerful than the switch, it's also going to be smaller, thinner AND have better battery life ?

All while remaining at a competitive price ?


I mean sure sounds cool...and extremely unrealistic

 

[jpadula]

PSP was great.
Vita was good - Sony failed hard because of memory card - it was stupidly expensive and threw off a lot of peoples. If Vita had microsd cards - it would be different story.

There is no market for mobile console anymore - all kids play on their phones. Nintendo knews it so they made hybrid or it would flop.

I even think the Switch will fadeout faster than people think - honeymoon is over and cant see how it could keep up with the sales (fans bought it already, kids play on mobiles, the rest will go with pc/ps4/x1x).
I say that as Switch owner (mhxx, XC2).

 

[emm_vee]

I'd be very interested if this were the next phase of the PS4.

Let's say Sony unveils the PS5 on February 2019. At E3 2019, It shows off the system, sets a date, & says oh by the way, the PS4 super slim is a portable device. No disc drive, harddrive, or PSU. All digital, yada, yada yada. Or maybe memory card releases for the big titles. But yeah, Battery & SD card size would issues, assuming the chips are cheap. Would be a great second wind for an already successful system!

You've tickled me pink, OP.

 

[TDonk]

There is never going to be a good time for another non nintendo portable....unless you like failing.

In fact, this is by far the worst time due to the Switch.

 

[RoboFu]

No the only thing they can do moving forward is make a PlayStation app for mobile devices that can run Playstation games. That’s the only intelligent choice.

 

[Peterc]

Please no, it's not the time for them to clone nintendo. First it will only harm the game industry and themselves. They also failed in portable. Why would you want another one, just buy a switch.

Think about it.

They need to support ps4, ps4 pro and ps vr?

Do you really think they need another one? Nintendo just has the switch. MS the xbox.

It's time that sony focus on games and maybe ps5 to get ready because of the xbox1x.


Switch is perfect and they will probably release a better version in a year.

You can't sum all things you don't like about tje switch and expect it to be possible without it. Like battery life and 4k lol.

 

[entremet]

The issue with this idea will be the same one that plagued the last system. It requires resources for actual game creation that is better suited to pushing their for sure successful, high powered console. While Nintendo has their A+ teams working on games for Switch, Sony would never truly devote their main resources to it, it's just not feasible.

As well, after the Vita incident, they would have one hell of a time courting any third party support to focus specifically on it. Sony has never had an issue making great hardware designs for their portables, it's the games that get them. PSP managed to do well based on insane hype from third parties for a PS based portable, but I think all that excitement is beyond dead.

Still, if they could launch it successfully i'd be happy to partake, but I wouldn't be able to tell you it's a financially smart move, especially once the Switch manages to eat up more and more of this market. If the Switch continues to be successful it would put companies like Sony or MS in an awkward position. If Sony literally focused all their power to make a Switch competitor it would leave the console base open for MS to come swoop in and steal the entire base, but if they leave it alone, they could be losing potential customers. I just don't think Sony has the manpower to put full force first party on two devices at once, even Nintendo was starting to struggle with this, and is probably why the Switch exist. If I were Sony i'd probably sit this one out and continue being the dominant force in consoles, while perhaps working on expanding into the portable market once more next time, with proper developer resources.

Yep. Also Sony fans don't want portables. If they did, the Vita would've succeeded. There's also a culture with Sony's first party teams that portable gaming is somehow 2nd rate. Did we get a ND game on Vita? Nope!

Not so on Nintendo's systems. We got entries from premiere teams on the 3DS.

 

[dynamicalsystem]

So in order for Ps4 games to work on a ps4 portable it NEEDS to use the exact same processor and gpu as the ps4. The problem is the Ps4 uses up so much power and generates so much heat it cannot fit in a handheld because it was never intended to. The battery life would be horrendous.

Plus a ps4 portable isn't using disks and it's not like sony is going to re release cartridge versions of their old games so that means this is going to be a digital only console right? ... well 1 ps4 game is 100gb so how much storage will this have? I mean atleast 1TB right? well that would have to be ssd or some type of storage with nonmoving parts and that means storage alone already costs $300+.

ps4 portable cannot exist.

 

[sometimes i game]

I had a PSP Vita dev unit with HDMI out. It was fun playing the games on TV when I was home. I thought to myself, someone needs to finally do this for consumers. Then Switch did. I'm good.

 

[lestar]

a ps4p would require the same exact hardware of basic ps4 to success without dividing their development resources, so it should be at least a hardheld, low energy jaguar x86 CPU, 8GB of ddr5 ram and a rx470 like gpu......that tecnology does not exist, the best portable and powerfull tecnology is ARM nvidia tegra, neither AMD nor Intel are any closer to nvidia in that field yet with x86.
The other problem is game media, It would require game cards releases, but that would separate resources, so it should be a digital only console, and how about average ps4 game sizes? Switch is currently struggling with low game cards and inner memory capacity to fit storage hungry thirds party games. Maybe sony would go for mini SSDs, but that would elevate the console prices...

so a exact handheld ps4 is imposible rigth now, and a brand new sony handheld is too risky to be a success

 

[Sosokrates]

They got lucky with Monster Hunter which paved the way for more big releases from other publishers. If it wasn't for that then the PSP would have had an even worse fate than the Vita (since back then there were no indies on handhelds).

Its success was not solely down to monster Hunter, the GTA games were awesome and sold well, and there was plenty of other great games like virtua tennis and tekken.

 

[neckthrough]

OP - there are several technical challenges with your wishlist.

• A high-end SoC like the Snapdragon 845 is cost-prohibitive for a $200-$250 application this close to the SoC's introduction. Look at the age of Vita's GPU IP (early 2009) and Samsung's 45nm technology (2008) relative to the Vita's launch date (Dec 2011). Similarly, look at the Switch SoC/process tech's age relative to its launch date. You need 2-3 years before such a high-end chip is cost-effective, so in this case you're looking at a 2020/21 launch.
• A similar argument applies to anything built on a future 7nm process - not going to happen until the process technology is old, cheap and commoditized.
• The peak FLOPs for these chips don't mean much if you can't power them with a battery for any reasonable duration. Unlike a cellphone or tablet, you don't have too much flexibility in throttling down performance if you want to maintain a consistent gaming experience. So the ~500-700GFLOPs that one could expect the 845 to be rated at isn't representative of the FLOPs you would get in the real world in portable mode. The TX1 in the Switch can hit 512GFLOPs but is throttled to 192GFLOPs to conserve battery - and the Switch's battery life is barely acceptable. Granted, a 10nm process will give you a little more efficiency, but it's incremental. Plus, FLOPs won't really help you much, because...
• ... memory bandwidth is the single-biggest technical challenge. There's no way single-channel LPDDR4/4X is going to provide the bandwidth you need for 1080p/60fps/16xAA. Any attempts to increase memory bandwidth (more channels, higher clocks/faster tech) will lead to a commensurate increase in power consumption (not to mention cost), killing battery life.

Bottom line is that for a 2018/19 launch, a hypothetical Sony handheld/hybrid that can play games natively is likely to be an incremental improvement over the Switch but not a noticeable leap. This means you're looking at developer effort comparable to what it takes to port a PS4 game to the Switch. Whether there's a market for that or not is something others have already commented on.

Now, to me what would be interesting would be a dumb streaming-only PS4-"buddy" priced at $99 (or optionally bundled with new PS4s). Sadly, even with a dirt-cheap MediaTek/Rockchip SoC and a small-ish battery, I think $99 could be a strain on the BOM cost for such a device, especially if you want a decent screen and decent controls.

 

[Blam]

This is not in any way remotely feasible, and even worth it since so many games would need to drop to 540p or less to run. no way you're getting uncharted, god of war, last of us, or horizon on a portable device at 1080 or less 720p

 

[Cert.in.Death]

I’m not against having better options for handheld or mobile gaming, but I don’t believe another PSP handheld is the right direction for Sony or the market.

I really am holding out for a Steamboy at this point...

 

[Breakage]

If Sony re-entered the handheld market, they'd probably produce another over-designed piece of hardware destined for failure.

These days whenever Sony attempts to emulate Nintendo, it never seems to work out.

 

[Nikodemos]

A high-end SoC like the Snapdragon 845 is cost-prohibitive for a $200-$250 application this close to the SoC's introduction. Look at the age of Vita's GPU IP (early 2009) and Samsung's 45nm technology (2008) relative to the Vita's launch date (Dec 2011). Similarly, look at the Switch SoC/process tech's age relative to its launch date. You need 2-3 years before such a high-end chip is cost-effective, so in this case you're looking at a 2020/21 launch.

But you can go for an older chip like the 821. Which is still a very good SoC. And is now bound to be quite cheap, given that it's almost two years old.

The peak FLOPs for these chips don't mean much if you can't power them with a battery for any reasonable duration. Unlike a cellphone or tablet, you don't have too much flexibility in throttling down performance if you want to maintain a consistent gaming experience. So the ~500-700GFLOPs that one could expect the 845 to be rated at isn't representative of the FLOPs you would get in the real world in portable mode. The TX1 in the Switch can hit 512GFLOPs but is throttled to 192GFLOPs to conserve battery - and the Switch's battery life is barely acceptable.

True. The Vita's CPU/GPU run at noticeably lower speeds than their max posted.
However current SoCs are better at power conservation than older ones, meaning power consumption outside gaming is lower than in previous SoC generations. And even when downclocked they put out pretty decent performance. Besides, ultimately, a dead battery in a portable gaming device is just that. A dead battery in a phone can render you unreachable. So battery life isn't absolutely vital, as long as it's capable of at least 5 hours continuous playtime.

memory bandwidth is the single-biggest technical challenge. There's no way single-channel LPDDR4/4X is going to provide the bandwidth you need for 1080p/60fps/16xAA. Any attempts to increase memory bandwidth (more channels, higher clocks/faster tech) will lead to a commensurate increase in power consumption (not to mention cost), killing battery life..

The SD821 has an in-built quad-channel memory controller. And it's unlikely a dedicated gaming device would come out with anything less than 4x1GB LPDDR4. So the memory bandwidth is already taken care of by the SoC manufacturer.

 

[chinoXL]

If Sony did this AND had teams dedicated to developing games for it, i would buy it Day 1 justy like i dd with psp and vita..unfortunately they treated it as an afterthought to the consoles...seems to have paid off for them this generation tho

 

[Nintendo Switch]

A $799 Playstation cellphone with a high end chip that has stock android and could play all psn arcade titles, and vita and PSP games and has slide out controls akin to the PSP Go would sell gangbusters.

Sony is in a unique position to leverage their Xperia phone experience with their PSP Go experience and offer something to gamers that no one else can. An all in one device

 

[ThatStupidLion]

see OP, you THINK the time is right, but then you'll see what sony would do with the idea and howd they completely botch it

the problem is sony always needs to create the most highend piece of tech, thus handicapping the system. esp without ps4 built with the new portable in mind...

itd have to come out with the ps5 in mind

 

[Nikodemos]

A $799 Playstation cellphone with a high end chip that has stock android and could play all psn arcade titles, and vita and PSP games and has slide out controls akin to the PSP Go would sell gangbusters.

Nobody would buy it.
Nobody wants to end up with a dead phone at some inconvenient moment when they can't charge. Most people don't buy $500+ phones.
Dedicated handhelds have their place, as the Switch has proven.
You just need to be careful with the Bill of Materials and have rock-solid amounts of post-launch support. Sony failed in both of these cases with the Vita. If they want to try again, they have to address both of these issues simultaneously.