The Good the Bad and the Ugly. Sony NGP

The PSP2 now and forever to be known as the NGP, was announced by Sony today as expected. The reaction to their announcement was mixed. There are some really good things coming for the portable gamers but its not all good news.

The Good: The display has evolved into a 5 inch capacitive multi-touch screen. This was expected but still fantastic news. Touch screen navigation means ease of use, and its right on time with all of the new mobile devices coming out with touch screens of their own.

Sony has added a multi-touch pad to the back of the NGP. To be used for additional controls such as push pull or grab. Hopefully it is user programmable and that they incorporate it into the PS3 controller later on.

The additions of three new motion sensors including Accelerometer Compass and gyroscope allow for a whole slew of new control options and program attributes. This more or less turns the whole unit into a SIXAXIS type controller.

Cameras. Cameras front and rear.

The Bad: No UMD support. Looks like Sony has abandoned the tiny disks forever. It was rumored that the new portable would support them and for old timers like me who have more then a few of these laying around it's a definite disappointment.

It's huge, noticeably larger then the PSP-3000 and a monster in comparison to the PSP Go. This makes it LESS portable and thus less desirable in the current market. Of course Sony Ericsson is also releasing the Xperia Play which will have ultra portability covered.

The UGLY. Were hearing about it today, but it wont be available until late fourth quarter (meaning Christmas). I think its Sony's mistake and hopefully they wont be too disappointed when the market, flooded with every kind of portable form factor that it can hold isn’t real interested in spending still more money on the newest – oldest news in portable gaming.