So far there isn't any release date or pricing information. A lot of people think it'll release this holiday season for roughly $299. The holiday season may not be such a bad idea, but the price couldn't possibly be worse. Especially since Nintendo will be releasing the 3DS in March, for $50 less. The 3DS also offers something "new" and has all those old classic games on it... Or, it will a few months after its launch.
Speaking of launch games, the NGP wasn't given any. Tech demos of Lost Planet 2, Metal Gear Solid 4, and an Uncharted Portable game were shown, but again no other details were given about the games. They were just there to showcase how powerful the system can be. A sizzle reel was shown with these games on it: Hot Shots Golf Next, Killzone, LittleBigPlanet, WipeOut, Resistance, Hustle Kings, Uncharted Portable, Little Deviants, Gravity Daze, Reality Fighters, Smart As, and Broken. Personally I'm not too sure what any of these games are about aside from the obvious Sony titles.
If the system is as powerful as Sony boasts it to be, it could finally give them a place in the market. Kojima said (I believe on his twitter account) that he wants people to be able to take a game on their PSP2, then transfer it to the PS3 to finish it and vice-versa. If that were possible I'd certainly buy it. Imagine being about to take something like Skyrim on the road with you. That would be worth their ridiculous price.
There are two big pieces of news though. The first is that the new system has dual analog sticks. So it might finally feel easy to control in your hands. According the IGN's Ryan Clements: "The layout of the sticks felt fantastic and controlling Drake in Uncharted was just like using a DualShock." While I didn't mind how the original PSP felt, it definitely could have used improvement and it makes me happy to see that's exactly what Sony is working on.
The second biggest piece of news if that the system will have trophy support. Sony was always saying how they'd never put trophies in their handhelds because they'd be too easy to hack. Either they stopped caring or they found a way to prevent that and now here they are! If Sony is smart they'll keep your profile connected on both systems. That way trophies you earn on one system will tie into the other and so on. Having to manage two different PSN IDs would be foolish.
The interface seems to be shaping up nicely. They've created a new one called LiveArea. A sort of XMB similar to the PSN, only sleeker. There will be the standard features, but the system will also include location based features. The Near option, is something where it'll give you a map of the area and spotlight the avatars of nearby friends and showcase what games their playing. Seems kind of boring in my opinion, but if it allows you to instantly message that person or connect to a multiplayer game of theirs it may not be so bad.
Overall the NGP seems like a major hardware improvement over the last one. As long as there is proper software support and Sony doesn't screw us all on the price, we could have a decent Sony handheld for a change.
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