Sony’s “Next Generation Portable” will mark the end of the UMD format, with Sony ditching the discs for games stored flash-based memory cards.
According to the publisher, these cards can not only store a full game, but also have enough space for downloadable content and saved games. The upshot here is that you won’t need separate memory sticks for your game saves, as each title will have its data self-contained.
“By adopting flash memory based card, SCE will be able to provide game cards with higher capacity in the future, allowing developers to store more game data to deliver rich and immersive games,” said Sony.
Sounds pretty spiffy, and a neat compromise between the PSPgo’s failed digital efforts and the PSP-3000’s bulky, sluggish physical UMD drive. Something like this almost gives me hope that Sony’s learned from the mistakes made with the PSP. It’s an encouraging start.
PSP2 not digital-only: Sony dumps UMD, brings in new memory card format [CVG]
