Anyone know how much data a NPG game can be max (on the storage medium)?

I think I could address some of those question lol.

For the cross platform games though porting is easy and quick between the two given the slim margins on many HD games I can't see a situation where developers would incur the effort of porting and testing the games on on the NGp and then just giving it away for free, even if it's just in the form of a download code, and especially not as a physical pack in. So the best you can hope for is a one use discount code IMO functioning much like the Online passes and one time DLC codes that are popular now.

The other barrier would be the size of many games today Killzone 3 for example is over 40GB even if you take out the high res textures and videos and eliminate data duplication you still probably have a game of well over 10-15GB  to have content paraty between versions which means a relatively costly 16GB card and massive download which is expensive. 

While it's a neat idea to be able to have a game on both platforms and being able to share save games and continue your save on the go. I just don't see it happening outside of one or two show piece games and smaller PSN type games.

While the ease of development will drop costs as it will save programing man hours the majority of game dev costs come from content generation and licensing so it won't have a major impact on game budgets unless we are talking about porting games in which case it makes that process much cheaper and quicker. Which is worrying as I think it may harm the amount of original content for the system with almost all games being down rezzed ports as it would be so cheap.

Thanks for answering. The idea of all these cash in ports is scary!

Yea, I do hope they can avoid being just a console of ports (retail being ports of HD multiplats and wii game and the downloadable titles being PSN and iOS ports) and SONY spin offs (at least I think Killzone and uncharted are spinoffs and not ports) unfortunately SONY seems to be pushing for the exact thing we are dreading with them talking up the fact you can get PS3 like experiences and that it's easy to port PS3 games etc, to me it sounds like SONY just wants ports and spinoffs or at least that is what it looks and sounds like.

It's like they learned that good DEV friendly environments were good but didn't learn that to really succeed in that handheld you need lots of original portable focused content. They seem to understand that in the console space these days tho so that might change. But anyway I am ranting lol

I wouldn't worry too much. In an interview right after the NGP was revealed, Andrew House said that both Sony and the publishers they talk to know that straight console ports aren't good enough. Sony are pushing for original content, which is why developers who want a dev unit as fast as possible have to turn in a 20-page report on what kind of launch they want to do, so Sony can pick the best. Sony will not be choosing the ones that are just console ports.

that is just how they are prioritizing early dev Kitts as ports will take far less time, devs that just want to make ports can afford to get Kitts much later.

I'll just use this for making my point then:

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2011-01-27-andrew-house-talks-sony-ngp-price-3g-version-more-interview

Eurogamer: And where does this beautiful new device in front of you fit in?

...

One of the learnings that we took from PSP is that consumers are not satisfied with taking a conventional console experience and merely putting it onto a portable device. There has to be a range of features that fit that portable experience. Hence incorporating GPS for location-based services and game experiences. Connectivity is obviously crucial for a new and upcoming generation of gamers who want social connectivity as much as they want a dedicated game experience.

...

Eurogamer: That was my next question – what are you going to do to stop people simply porting games across to it? If it's that powerful that you could bring a PS3 game across quite easily...

Andrew House: To be honest, the publishers that I've spoken to have generally indicated that they don't think that that's satisfactory for the consumer. To try and ask the consumer just to re-purchase an existing console experience – I don't think we or they feel that is really going to be the correct strategy.

Where I think it does become really interesting is if publishers, including ourselves, start to think of franchises more holistically. So, here's Uncharted; here's the dedicated PS3 experience and that's what this needs to be; here's a network aspect to Uncharted and that's what that needs to be; and here's the portable offshoot or adjunct to that, and here's what that needs to be. But they're all working together to enhance a franchise.

We were delighted that Philip [Earl, Activision suit] was able to be with us today and to stake a commitment that they've already seen that opportunity for Call of Duty and taking an extension of the most powerful-selling franchise around right now.

The first quote about gps and connected games sounds like inviting iPhone games more than original ones, they are clearly trying to offer what the iPhone already does cheaper and has a several year head start which is a bad strategy IMO.

I find the second quote interesting in the fact that it sounds like it's the publishers saying that they didn't want to just port games. That suggests to me that they went to them and asked them for ports and they said no. Otherwise why would it have come up? If Sony were saying we went to publishers and told them we don't want ports we want original games i don't think publishers would be saying that ports are a bad idea. So unless that guy is lying and publishers haven't been saying that or Sony were asking for ports and got turned down. I am probably reading to much into it lol...

Then again he does on to say that they themselves aren't going for ports which is a plus. But then he turns around and says spin-offs or "portable offshoots" are what they are bringing, once again spin-offs are barely better than straight ports in most cases, and from what has been shown of those games they are clearly aiming to deliver the same type of experiences as the ps3 versions just with worse graphics and some *waggle* in the form of swiping the back touch screen to climb vines etc which I am sorry is not really what i am looking for. I want original games with fresh ideas etc so far the only thing they have shown like that is Little Deviants which looks like a small downloadable game to me but apparently it's going to be a retail release.

Now the 3DS seems to be suffering from many of the same problems as well so I probably wont be jumping into this gen of hanhelds for some time. Then again E3 could compleatly blow me away.

EDIT: you know reading this back I sound like a bit of a nut, it's to fking late for this shit I am going to bed...lol

it really sounds amazing doesnt it? 0o

was thinking about pre ordering a 3DS, but i'll wait to see what NGP is doing.

@Baggy:

no one knows, but i think they'll make 4-8GB Cards. more (MUCH more.. like 16GB ) would be - technically - easilly possible, but those cards would be quite expensive.

He just mentioned GPS as an example though. They're trying to differentiate the portable experience from the home console experience, and GPS is just one of the ways that's happening. There's nothing else with a touchpad on the back for example, and they have buttons and analogue sticks to make them stand out amongst the portables already on the market.

I think you're readin too much into it. One of the big criticisms of the PSP was that the games were basically PS2 games ported over, so Sony trying to get some dialogue going on the subject with other publishers seems like a pretty natural thing for them to do. To me at least.

I think you're reading too much into the words he's using. What I'm getting is that basically, you have the home console experience, the portable experience and the online experience, all of which are their own thing and should be treated as such, and that the portable experience shouldn't just be a parred down home console experience. And I'm pretty sure the Uncharted demo was used to showcase what can be done with NGP, not what will be in the final game.

Time will tell. We've barely seen anything yet, with not a lot of gameplay from a handful of titles, not to mention a couple of technical showcases (MGS4, Yakuza), so I think Sony has plenty of time to make up for that just yet.