One of the biggest complaints about the PSP actually came from the video game development community. Not only was there the hassle of attempting to make a decent profit off of a game given the immense piracy but the games were painstaking to build in the first place given the architecture and complexity of the development kits. This is not the case of the upcoming NGP, however, since developers are already calling it “a developer’s dream”.
At the SCEE headquarters in London, developers attended a presentation focusing on the NGP. One of the attendees cited the NGP development kit as a simple platform for development. According to the unnamed source:
NGP is a developer’s dream. Sony is finally doing the things developers have been crying out for for years.
The developer goes on to explain specifically how the NGP development kits will increase productivity while maintaining a relative ease of use.
Sony has made it completely developer-centric this time. [The development kit] is really simple to plug in and use. It opens direct in Windows Explorer and you can see all systems on a network; so you could, for example, update the firmware of multiple NGPs at once. A PS3 dev station can take three hours to set-up. This looks like it will take under 20 mins. It just makes everything easier. They’ve really thought about it this time.
Regarding the mechanics of the hardware, the developer shared some feedback which may help quell some of the skepticism on the input methods chosen by the manufacture.
The touch pad on the back is fantastic It does feel second nature, like you’re having a real impact on the world.
While the developers are most definitely pleased with the device, consumer feedback is what ultimately matters in making a product a success or a failure. Despite all the coverage the NGP has been getting, there is still a great deal of detail needed to be discussed before we can make our final predictions as to whether or not the device will flop or not.
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