Sony "decided to forgo 3D" on PSP2 "for the time being", wont "go off the deep end" with pricing, says Hirai

SCEI head Kaz Hirai has told PC World in Tokyo that Sony did think of adding 3D for PSP2, but it chose to "forgo it for the time being".

"We looked at the possibility of doing 3D on the NGP," he said to the site, mentioning that discussions with publishers turned Sony off the feature for the handheld.

"We decided to forgo 3D, at least for the time being."

Hirai's quotes bring up comments of SCEE 3D boss Mick Hocking telling VG247 that the focus on 3D in the PlayStation group was on PS3.

"Our focus at the moment is really on living room-based, big-screen TV, because we think that’s the most imersive 3D experience you can have," he told us, speaking in Cologne at gamescom last August when asked if we could expect a PSP 3D in the future.

"In the future, we may look at other ways of doing it, but at the moment, that’s certainly our focus: the high-quality entertainment on your TV."

Pricing won't be in "the deep end"

Hirai also said that it won't "go off the deep end" in regards to pricing for PSP2.

The device, announced yesterday and codenamed NGP, has previously been said to be "affordable", according to comments from SCEE boss Andy House.

Shuhei Yoshida, SCE WWS head, further added it would not cost 599 US dollars. But Hirai played it safe none the less.

"That's something we spent a lot of time on this time around with NGP, to make sure that we don't go off the deep end," he told the site following NGP's unveiling yesterday.

Nonetheless, somewhere in our mind, we still expect something like this to happen come E3.

PSP2 launches in Japan this year. A global launch is set to be "unlikely" according to SCEA CEO Jack Tretton.