While they could argue all day about whether “more power” is a fitting battle plan for a handheld, I think they can all agree acknowledging 3G is an important step in the right direction. Transportable gambling has changed since the PSP & DS arrived in ’04 & ’05, & the PSP2/NGP appears to be tailoring itself to trends in lieu of forcing people to play on Sony’s terms

As Sony named off each of the NGP’s lots of modern features, all they could see were giant dollar signs piling on top of each other. OLED screen? Near-PS3 level visuals? touch screens? This thing’s going to cost a bundle, to be positive. But at least those perks will be optional & won’t be an element of the NGP’s standard feature set. According to Eurogamer, 3G support – which will permit users to play online games, download content & continue to ignore the world around them from any place with a signal – is included in a separate NGP model, & will cost additional. Conversely, all models will ship with WiFi capabilities, more or less echoing Apple’s strategy with the iPad last year. But what about the remainder of the world? Andriasang reports all Japanese models will include 3G, with no option for a WiFi-only version. We’d like to think if Europe receives 3G/WiFi options, the same would happen in the US, but there is no word regarding Sony’s NGP designs in the States. Which 3G provider would Sony side with in the US? Verizon? AT&T? They expect E3 will answer all these questions.