Sony's Next Generation Portable: How Much Will it Cost?

In January, Sony unveiled its second attempt at portable gaming with the Next Generation Portable, or NGP, a device that will sport two analog sticks, a camera on both the front and back, a touch-sensitive OLED screen, 3G access, and another touch-sensitive area on the back of the system, plus a few other bells and whistles.

Yeah, that's a lot to take in.

It's not dissimiliar to the Nintendo 3DS, in that the Sony NGP is apparently attempting to be a lot of things to a lot of people, and throwing in several features that may or may not actually be used for any great purpose. It also brings up the question: How much is this thing going to cost?

Look at the 3DS -- it will launch in March at a price point of $250, which is $50 more than a Nintendo Wii or a 4gb Xbox 360. Now consider Sony's claim that the NGP is comparable to the Playstation 3 in graphical capabilities, and you get the sense that the current handheld market is heading toward a very expensive place.

Speaking of Sony themselves, let's not forget their history of setting outrageous prices. The Playstation 3 launched at $600. Many scoffed at the idea of paying that much for a console, especially when its nearest competetitor at the time was the Xbox 360 for $400, and that fact hurt Sony a great deal, at least in the beginning. Also remember the PSPGo, which arrived on store shelves at $250 and never quite caught on.

It wouldn't be surprising to see the Sony NGP launch at around $300 to $400, if not more. We're talking about a portable market that now includes the Nintendo 3DS at $250 and the Apple Ipad at $500. Sure, you could argue that it's inflation -- the Sega Game Gear, for instance, launched at $150 in 1990, which would amount to about $250 today -- but my wallet doesn't understand the concept, and the tough economic times we're living in makes it more and more difficult to justify these increasing prices.

The Sony NGP looks to be a real competitor to the Nintendo 3DS, something that focuses more on "core" experiences and truly emulating console gaming on the go. But will people buy it? That's for the market to decide.

Sources:

Michael McWhertor, "The PSP2 IS Here: Dual Analog Sticks, Touch-Sensitive OLED, 3G Built In & So Much More," Kotaku