RipTen Videogame Blog » Handheld

Playstation Vita Not Hitting U.S. and Europe Until 2012

Chris Carlson — Thu, 04 Aug 2011 17:00:58 +0000

Sony has been pretty quiet about the release date for the Playstation Vita. Speaking with The Associated Press, Sony Corp. Executive Vice President Kazuo Hirai shattered all hopes of the Vita making an appearance in 2011.

Hirai said he did not characterize the timing as a delay, but Sony wanted to be prepared with a solid game line up when the hardware launches. When asked about a price cut for Vita, Hirai took a jab at Nintendo‘s decision to drop the Nintendo 3DS to $169.99:

“We packed so much into the device and made it very affordable. There is no need to lower the price just because somebody else that happens to be in the video game business decided that they were going to lower their price.”

The Vita is priced at $249 for the Wi-Fi version, and $299 for the version that includes 3G service.

Behold the PlayStation NGP Tech Specifications

Aaron Alexander — Thu, 27 Jan 2011 08:19:19 +0000

Waiting to see the official specifications for the newly announced NGP? Wait no longer, the full list is now available for you to read at your leisure;

CPU	ARM® Cortex™-A9 core (4 core)
GPU	SGX543MP4+
External Dimensions	Approx. 182.0 x 18.6 x 83.5mm (width x height x depth) (tentative, excludes largest projection)
Rear touch pad	Multi touch pad (capacitive type)
Cameras	Front camera, Rear camera
Sound	Built-in stereo speakers Built-in microphone
Sensors	Six-axis motion sensing system (three-axis gyroscope, three-axis accelerometer), Three-axis electronic compass
Location	Built-in GPS Wi-Fi location service support
Keys / Switches	PS button Power button Directional buttons (Up/Down/Right/Left) Action buttons (Triangle, Circle, Cross, Square) Shoulder buttons (Right/Left) Right stick, Left stick START button, SELECT button Volume buttons (+/-)
Wireless communications	Mobile network connectivity (3G) IEEE 802.11b/g/n (n = 1×1)(Wi-Fi) (Infrastructure mode/Ad-hoc mode) Bluetooth® 2.1+EDR （A2DP/AVRCP/HSP）

#Powerful

PlayStation NGP (PSP2) To Get Uncharted, Killzone, Resistance Among Others

Garrett Hartman — Thu, 27 Jan 2011 08:09:10 +0000

The PSP2 (NGP) has been announced and so have a number of familiar names – including the ever popular Uncharted. Games shown demoed or revealed so far at the PlayStation Meeting 2011 in Tokyo include handheld versions of Uncharted, Killzone, WipeOut, Resistance, LittleBigPlanet, Hot Shots Golf, Hustle Kings and Monster Hunter.

It was not made clear whether these are new games or ports of existing PS3 titles

In other great news – PSP digital download titles will be compatible with the NGP.

BioWare Handheld Title Currently in Development?

Dylan Duarte — Mon, 13 Sep 2010 04:29:33 +0000

It’s about time BioWare started doing some actual work. I mean, Star Wars: The Old Republic, Dragon Age 2, and Mass Effect 3? Is that all you’re working on right now? Someone needs to whip these guys into shape. Luckily, rumor has it that the developer is working on an unannounced handheld title.

According to Play.tm, the LinkedIn profile of BioWare Montreal’s senior QA analyst listed an unannounced handheld title as his current project. The listing has since been changed and now it simply reads “unannounced.” Has the cat been let out of the bag?

I hope BioWare can put embarrassing, poorly-received titles like Mass Effect, Dragon Age, Baldur’s Gate, Neverwinter Nights, Star Wars: The Old Repubic, and Jade Empire behind them and start focusing on quality games.

But in all seriousness, I’ll buy anything you make, Bee Dubya. (Name that reference!)

New Nintendo DSi LL Features 4.2″ Screen

Chad Lakkis — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 19:04:15 +0000

Nintendo has officially announced a new handheld unit dubbed the DSi LL. The latest version of the popular DS device features a 4.2″ screen (over 90% larger than that of the original), two touch-screen pens (one larger than the other), and a new price tag of $222.

The unit will launch with three color options: “WineRed, “DarkBrown” and “NaturalWhite”. United States and Europe availability has been confirmed by Nintendo however no specific release date has been set.

The Nintendo DSi LL splash page on nintendo.co.jp (shown below) displays the unit in a more mature setting atop a wooden table near house plant. My thought is that Nintendo feels the changes made to the DS will allow it to be more marketable to an older demographic. I personally don’t own one yet but I am a sucker for shiney things so who knows.

What do you think? Is the new Nintendo DSi LL worth your money? Sound off in the reader comments section below.

Thanks to /gamer for the tip.

GDC 08: Day Two

Dan Landis — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 11:16:27 +0000

Unlike most sequels, the Game Developers Conference Day 2 did not suck. The Ripten crew actually did stuff today! Amazing!

We met up in the press room to get our schedules straight (again), eat muffins, and get our daily recommended allowance of Mountain Dew. Jon Zungre drew first blood by attending the Independent Games Festival Mobile Awards, making us all look bad with his go-getting initiative.

When Jon got back, we headed over to the D3 Publisher’s GDC 2008 Press Event. While we were there, we got some hands-on time with the Dark Sector multiplayer, which we can’t talk about, and got demoed three more upcoming games.

The first and only game we are allowed to talk about was NARUTO: Ninja Destiny for the Nintendo DS. It was surprisingly solid for a handheld 3D fighting game. Look for our full impressions of the game later this week.

The other games we were shown were Bangai O Spirits and an as-yet unannounced game that we will spill the beans about next week, so be sure to check back for that. We were treated to some cheesecake and cupcakes before heading back out into the recently nerdified San Francisco. We had a few things to see, so we split up from here.

Jon and I went to see a new game called Freaky Creatures, an MMO game from Abandon Interactive. The concept was actually very cool, and even though all of the art and effects weren’t in the game yet, we walked away pleased. Look for our full impressions of the game very soon.

We headed from there to a press conference about the Emotiv headset, a device that reads your thoughts, emotions, and facial expressions. The event was almost a complete train wreck, mainly because the douchebags in the audience refused to disconnect themselves from dork headquarters — all those wireless signals in the room were messing up the headset’s reception. They promised us some hands-on time with the thing tomorrow, so hopefully we can get a better idea of whether it’s actually cool or just another expensive way to make me look more retarded.

While we were doing all that, Chad went to an ominously vague PC announcement, which turned out to be this. The invite did a good job of making it sound extremely important while also not saying anything at all. Those crafty bastards!

He then met up with a few others at the Sony Online Entertainment party. Apparently, Sony really wanted to solidify the competition they have with Microsoft by throwing an equally shitty, fallopian tube party — the female version of Microsoft’s Sausage Fest 2008. Packed with a bunch of old ladies, Chad fled the scene before the combined might of their mental undressings left him naked (the room was cold, too, so we couldn’t have that).

After that, we all took refuge in our overpriced dumpster that is somehow considered to be a hotel. As I said before, we don’t get to bite into the meat of the GDC sandwich until tomorrow (or technically today, considering what time it is), so things will only get better from here on out. If we somehow manage to stay awake and experience it, we’ll be sure to tell you all about it first because you are our very bestest friends.

Nintendo Tentatively Denies All DS Lite Redesign Rumors

Patrick Steen — Fri, 16 Nov 2007 20:23:49 +0000

Rumors surfaced this week that Nintendo had an even lighter DS Lite on the way. Evan Wilson, an analyst at Pacific Crest Securities, got word that a redesign is actually already done, and Nintendo’s just waiting around for DS Lite sales to slow a little bit (looking like 2010 then!). However, Nintendo doesn’t want us to think this is the case.

The redesigned DS Lite is meant to be even daintier, with a bigger screen and built-in storage. This redesign isn’t out of the question though, with Sony’s PSP slimming up, Nintendo would more than likely want to keep one step ahead. Nonetheless, Nintendo wisely doesn’t want anyone to catch on to a DS redesign (if they have one that is), stating that analyst reports were “Rumour and speculation and we are not commenting further.”

We’ve heard that before. It’s the company spiel for “back-off, we’ll reveal it in our own time.” Sony is famous for this, with PS3 price-cuts and a rumbling SIXAXIS Controller being denied, and then coming out a month later with the “big reveal”. What would be the use of announcing a DS redesign before the holiday season? It’d make your money stay firmly in your pockets until the new improved version was in stores. Naturally, we are just speculating ourselves.