Nintendo’s newest portable gaming device came out just recently, but everyone knows that Sony is working on something big to respond with: the NGP. Currently, “NGP” is just a codename, meaning “Next Generation Portable.” The actually market name is still in the air; it could be anything from the PSP 2 to the PlayStation 3DS-Killer. Regardless, it will be a huge leap up from the current PSP.

The NGP is expected to be ready for release for the 2011 Holiday Season, but its biggest threat, Nintendo’s 3DS, is already available now. Fortunately for Sony, Nintendo seemed to jump the gun with regard to 3D screens (the technology just isn’t ready for mass adoption), resulting in much lower than expected 3DS sales – though they’re still flying off the shelves. Sony also has another card to play; the NGP is crazy powerful.

For those that are interested, let me run through some of the specifications really quickly. The NGP is essentially built on the same platform used in today’s smartphones and tablets. In fact, the NGP’s SGX543MP4+ video processor is a quad-core version of Apple’s latest dual-core iPad 2 (yeah, it’ll be twice as fast as the iPad 2). It will also have what is expected to be a 1GHz quad-core CPU, which again is akin to a quad-core version of Apple’s dual-core A5 processor. All of this results in an approximate Polygon/second count around 133 million, making the NGP about 50-percent as fast as the PlayStation 3. Yeah, it’s fast.

But it’s more than just fast. Take a look as this demo video and see what else it offers:

For starters, that’s the NGP version of Uncharted. You’ve probably already noticed that it looks nearly as good as the PS3 version. Then, at about 25 seconds in, we see that the 5-inch screen really is a touch screen. Continuing on to the 40 second mark is the integrated accelerometer in action (the NGP will have all of the features of the acclaimed Six-axis controller built in). At 1:20, you’ll notice something even more unique. There is an additional touchpad on the back of the device, so you can interact with the screen without obscuring it. From there on, it’s mostly showcasing the game itself, killing some bad guys and all that fun stuff.

With both Wi-Fi and 3G capabilities, it’s likely that the NGP will leverage the PlayStation Network extensively; allowing you to purchase and download games, as well as play online. Traditional game purchases will still be possible too, although the UMD format will be replaced with a Flash Cart format similar to the Nintendo DS games. It will also have an entirely new touch based interface and likely offer App downloads through the PlayStation Store, much like on the iPhone and Android devices. These apps could do anything from turn-by-turn navigation with the integrated GPS, or even video calling with the front facing camera. App development will likely be done strictly by Sony though, rather than independent developers.

The NGP really does seem to have it all; a gorgeous high-res touch screen, super fast hardware, tons of features, a great user interface, and, perhaps most importantly, potentially awesome games.