Behind the specs

Crucially, Sony has abandoned the internally developed MIPS architecture that powered the PSP, and has opted for an ARM processor, with a PowerVR graphics processing unit. This puts the machine inline with massive majority of high-end smartphones: ARM reckons 95 percent of all current mobile handsets have application processors based on its IP, during Imagination Technologies, the developer of the PowerVR graphics chipset, claims 200 current models feature its research. ARM and PowerVR chips are in the Apple iPad as so then as high profile Google handsets just as the Galaxy S.

"The 3D research we supply is different from mainstream desktop 3D technologies," says Imagination spokesman David Harold. "We have an approach named tile-based deferred rendering, which means we only draw objects that are going to be visible to the end-user, and we process the majority of the information on the chip to put it more exactly than constantly reading and writing off to external memory. That means lower power requirements and a much better performance and efficiency within mobile systems."

And the NGP is operating at the upper end of these processor ranges. Its quad-core Arm Cortex A9 processor possibly won't be found anywhere else this year. "Most of the phones currently on the market use the Arm Cortex A8," says Dan Grabham, editor of Tech Radar. "The A9 is just emerging however and the phones we'll see announced at the Mobile World Congress in February will undoubtedly be A9-based. We reckon the NGP will use a Texas Instruments OMAP 4 processor - by the way dual-core variants of that are coming out in the near future, and they're already coupled with the PowerVR graphics as so then."

The high-end phones

Even the high-end phones and tablet computers that do feature A9 research - for instance, the BlackBerry PlayBook tablet, the Motorola Droid Bionic and the LG Optimus 2 - are all dual-core implementations. Chip manufacturers just as Nufront. Nec and nVidia are working on products that feature quad-core A9 tech, now we're not expecting announcements until much later in the year.

Of course, more cores doesn't necessarily equate to more processing power. It's interesting that Epic's Tim Sweeney declared at the NGP launch that the product is four times more powerful than any other handheld device out there - maybe referring to standards like the Apple iPad, which only uses a single Arm core. Now processor performance depends on myriad factors including clock speed and implementation with the OS. At the very least, a multicore set-up allows processing tasks to be shared between cores, which reduces the frequency and voltage and to sum up power consumption - good news when battery life is an issue.

And again, very few other manufacturers are implementing multi-core SGX GPUs as this stage. "There are more than 10 chip designs going on using our SGX multi-core innovation right however," says David Harold. "Nevertheless only two of them are in the public domain: a mobile phone and tablet focused product from Renesas - and that's SGX MP2 - and this one from Sony which is MP4."

The NGP specifications are advanced right however

So the NGP specifications are advanced right however. Nevertheless as we've mentioned, mobile phone development moves fast, and manufacturers will be announcing smartphones, and the emerging new class of superphones, with quad-core ARM and PowerVR chipsets by the end of the year. So should Sony be worried that, at some point in the then few months, a handset is announced that trumps this flagship gaming machine for specs?

"I think the brief answer is no," says Harold. "And actually, what Sony will do is benefit from the huge ecosystem of developers that has built up around mobile phones and mobile phone gaming. They will be able to move these skillsets toward Sony's business model."

And in fact, it could be this proximity to smartphone design that actually aids the NGP and shapes Sony's handheld business model going forward. Through the use of ARM architecture, the company is making its device accessible to a whole new community of developers.

As Wallace claims, "ARM has done a tremendous amount of work with Google over the years - we're its lead innovation partner. A lot of the technologies that have been implemented in phones are specific to ARM, in terms of the native development kits. There are a whole host of games that work foremost on ARM - the classic example is Angry Birds: a lot of the code is ARM-based."

The same time

At the same time, Sony's PlayStation Suite concept, which will make PlayStation-quality titles available on Android phones, is a means of capturing a massive audience of casual gamers, currently frustrated by the Android Market. "PlayStation Suite is as a matter of fact interesting," says veteran mobile research analyst, Stuart Dredge.

"Android gaming has been a real wasteland. At the Mobile Games Forum in London on Wednesday, developers were queuing up to say how annoyed they are with Android Market, how they couldn't sell games on it. Something like 300,000 new Google Android devices are being activated daily, however gaming has been a real issue. So there's this huge market of Android owners looking for games, and Sony could fill that gap."

The NGP's 3G implementation as a key factor

Dredge as well sees the NGP's 3G implementation as a key factor. "I use the Wi-Fi facility on my PSP, however you have to be in one place to use it, you can't be travelling. So the idea of a handheld console with 3G connectivity is as a matter of fact exciting, because as a developer you'll be able to assume connectivity. This should lead to many more highly connected titles, and clearly social games - integrating things like Facebook connectivity becomes more viable if you can depend on the fact that the device will be connected to a network."

Of course, this issue may then be muddied slightly by the opportunity that Sony will release different versions of the console, some with Wi-Fi only, and some with both Wi-Fi and 3G, nevertheless with no firm release or pricing details, we'll have to wait and see.

Ultimately, those writing the NGP off as another niche piece of gaming equipment for hardcore Sony fans, are being a little unfair. With its smartphone-style architecture, it is opening up the development environment to a vibrant eco-system of Android coders, and with 3G connectivity, there are possibilities for VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) calls and other connected services. In a marketplace shortly to be stuffed with netbooks, tablets, smartphones and superphones, the NGP ill find it difficult to compete on those terms - but at the time it will as well boast high-end console games.

Meanwhile, pitching it against the Nintendo 3DS is not as a matter of fact accurate either, such as the old PSP vs DS battle was a total mismatch. The NGP's biggest problem is that its going to be operating in a niche of its own, hovering between high-end handheld console and mainstream feature-rich mobile computing device.