PSP World

PSP2 Delay Due to Nvidia Chip?

The PSP2 was strangely absent from E3, and the reason could be delays at graphics chip maker Nvidia. Tegra 2 has been identified as the graphics CPU that could power Sony's next-generation handheld game system. Nvidia's current Tegra technology has already been used in Microsoft's Zune HD and Kin smartphones.

The latest rumor comes from Charlie Demerjian, a technology journalist famously known for sniffing out juicy news from PC hardware manufacturers. Charlie was in attendance at this week's SEMICON event in Santa Clara, where he overheard a number of complaints about the performance of Nvidia's new Tegra 2 chip:

"Tegra 2 is massively over it's promised power budget. In a segment that finds 5% overages unacceptable, Tegra 2 is 20%+ over power budget. That explains why Nvidia PR suddenly changed the focus of the PSP2 screed to avoid the word 'phone', but, luckily for Sony, the PSP2 does not have phone capabilities.

The power 'whoopsie' means delays and possibly spec downgrades for the PSP2, but we will have to see where it ends up. Between that overage and several showstopper bugs, Sony is said to be very miffed at Nvidia right now. The scene in the streets is almost as bad as the scenes in the Nvidia meeting rooms when the Sony people come around."

If these rumors indeed prove to be true, it could help explain why Sony held off on officially announcing a PSP successor at E3 last month. According to Charlie, Sony now plans to unveil the PSP2 at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) which takes place in early January in Las Vegas.