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Sony Unveils Portable Playstation

Posted by Hemos on from the pretty-sweet-lookin' dept.

Filly-O-Fish writes "Sony has made an official announcement, and released pictures of its online Playstation. You can go head to head by plugging your mobile phone into it. It's out this month in Japan, and in the UK in September. Full story is at Games online."

1 of 124 comments (clear)

  1. Needs always-on connection by Cato · · Score: 5

    Looks like an interesting gizmo, particularly if it supports mobile phones with Bluetooth (gives you a few Mbps to the phone) and GPRS (always-on packet-switched connection, designed for IP and not charged by the minute). Even though GPRS will only go at 25-56 Kbps typically, it should be enough for interaction between games on two or more consoles.

    Perhaps the initial connection will be via IrDA, which typically goes up to 115 Kbps but can be faster - not sure if any phones implement the fast version.

    GPRS (Generalised Packet Radio Service) is based on TDMA (time division multiple access) mobile phone standards such as GSM (whole world and some parts of North America) and the North American digital one whose name I forget (IS-136?). It's just a software upgrade to most base stations and expected by end of this year in Europe (although BT has just announced a business only service starting this month in the UK).

    For more info on GPRS, see http://www.mobilegprs.com/ - sibling sites also have good info on EDGE, 3G/UMTS, WAP, and other horrible mobile phone acronyms...