PSP2 Designers Struggling with Heat and Battery Issues, Say Sources

Kris Erickson • Oct 25, 2010 • Comments ()

In an ideal world, we would like the PSP2 to have a 10-hour battery life, run perfectly cool and quiet, deliver awesome graphics performance and come in under $200. Like our practically-minded engineering friend always used to say, "pick two". As devices get smaller and more fully-featured, power management becomes a key concern. As it gets closer to an official reveal of a PSP successor, Sony designers are apparently struggling with the same problem.

New industry sources have told gaming blog Kotaku that they recently laid eyes on a PSP 2 prototype in Tokyo. The device sports a screen 1 inch larger than the current hardware, but capable of displaying images in higher HD resolution. They also confirmed touch controls on the back of the device.

While all of this sounds great, there are still some details that need to be ironed out. The same sources repeated that Sony has held back on providing official specifications, because engineers are still trying to strike the appropriate balance between battery life, heat and performance. They said that we can expect a "fall 2011" release of the device, which means that the company still has a year to nail down the specifications.

If it were our call to make, we'd go with battery life and stability over raw polygon crunching any day. Handheld games are about portability and fun, a formula that's worked out well for competitor Nintendo with its graphically inferior games. Being able to play for 10 hours straight without a re-charge would firmly place the PSP in can't-leave-home-without territory, a good place to be for a handheld device.