Sony reveals PlayStation Suite

zerocool84

Lifer
Nov 11, 2004
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Sony just dropped a bomb on the Japanese stage -- not a single PlayStation Phone, but a PlayStation Phone experience for everybody. The company unveiled a cross-platform software framework called PlayStation Suite, which sounds rather boring in those words, but what it amounts to is an official PlayStation Store, filled with games for your Android tablets and cellphones. Sony's starting with an emulator for existing PlayStation Portable titles and is promising an Android game store later this year, but soon it might be much, much more: the company's calling PlayStation Suite a "hardware-neutral" development framework to make games portable for all sorts of handhelds.

Sony will sponsor a first-party licensing and quality-assurance scheme called PlayStation Certified, and provide the marketplace as well, likely hoping to attract major game developers to build top-tier titles for mobile and get a piece of the action too. If your device doesn't have have a pop-out gamepad handy, it looks like PlayStation Suite will emulate touchscreen controls, and you won't necessarily need a phone to get in on the action, as Sony says the next-generation PlayStation Portable will be compatible with games developed for PlayStation Suite right off the bat. Doesn't look like we're getting any details on game prices or compatible devices, but we imagine one particular phone will change all that at Mobile World Congress next month.

Update: Looks like PlayStation Suite requires Android 2.3 at a minimum. PR after the break!

Sounds interesting. There's a couple PSP games I wanted to play but didn't since I didn't want to buy a PSP.

http://www.engadget.com/2011/01/27/sony-announces-playstation-suite/


Images:
http://www.engadget.com/photos/sony-reveals-playstation-suite/#3822677
 
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Patranus

Diamond Member
Apr 15, 2007
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Very interesting.

Is this Android only or for all OS?
The article does mention Android but no other platform.
If it is exclusive to Android it will certainly shake up the mobile OS "wars".

One thing I would like to know is what is the ratio of "full game" vs. "time wasting" are sold in app stores.

I would like to think that people would want dedicated hardware (controllers) to play "real" games.


(Also, isn't there a PSX emulator in the Android store already?)
 
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SunnyD

Belgian Waffler
Jan 2, 2001
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www.neftastic.com
Android only, likely because it looks like NGP (aka: PSP2) appears on the surface at least to be using some sort of Android OS.
 

zerocool84

Lifer
Nov 11, 2004
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Android only, likely because it looks like NGP (aka: PSP2) appears on the surface at least to be using some sort of Android OS.

I think they'd have to have it on iPhone as well since it's such a huge part of the smartphone market and Sony would want to make the most amount of money possible.
 

Phokus

Lifer
Nov 20, 1999
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As someone who laughs at idiots who obsess over smartphone games, i think this is a game changer.
 

zerocool84

Lifer
Nov 11, 2004
36,041
472
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You honestly think Sony would want to SHARE money freely with Apple?

It would help Sony more than it would help Apple. Sony's in it to make money and cutting out such a large part of the market would hurt them very much in the long run.
 

Medu

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Mar 9, 2010
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As someone who laughs at idiots who obsess over smartphone games, i think this is a game changer.

I doubt it. Touch-screens are terrible for traditional games and this will only appeal to a very small % smartphone users and that percentage will be decreasing as these phones become more and more mainstream.
 

Patranus

Diamond Member
Apr 15, 2007
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I doubt it. Touch-screens are terrible for traditional games and this will only appeal to a very small % smartphone users and that percentage will be decreasing as these phones become more and more mainstream.

That is why I want to know as a percentage of games sold what is market share of "real" games vs. "casual" games. I would guess that "casual" games hold at least 90% of the phone gaming market.

Personally, the only time I find myself playing games on my phone is when I need to burn short periods of time. I have purchased "real" games yet I find the touch screen to be a bad platform for console games.

Anyways, this instantly brings a large game library to Android.

No if Sony could get an emulator for PSX and PS2 games on the PS3 we would be set.
 

Puddle Jumper

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Nov 4, 2009
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I think they'd have to have it on iPhone as well since it's such a huge part of the smartphone market and Sony would want to make the most amount of money possible.

I think it's very unlikely that Apple would allow Sony to have their own app store like this on iOS.