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Sony SmartPhone To Work With PS2
thryllkill writes "Yahoo is reporting a new Sony plan to implement a telephone that can talk to a Play Station 2. Of course it pushing the idea of training characters for games on the run, but wasn't this already tried with the VMU? ."
The VMU wasn't made "mainly" as a private second screen. It was made mainly to be used as I assume this phone is supposed to be used...as a memory unit that also acts as a detached game playing device. The VMU was also designed with the private screen function, but really it's a glorified memory card that can play simple games; that's why it's detachable from the controller, and not just an LCD built standard into every controller.
(Don't tell me you've never heard of people raising their pet Chaos from Sonic Adventure on their VMUs, or baby Godzillas. What do you think the D-pad and buttons on VMUs are for? Such portable game data could then be used by games, since the VMU is just a memory interface any way.)
And while you can't use the VMU as a mic, there is a Dreamcast mic that comes with some games (domestically: Alien Front Online, Seaman) that acted this way. So yes, this phone is a glorified VMU/mic combo, with a phone at its foundation (making this thing expensive). Please also note that in the article, the Sony Ericsson exec mentioned that this thing would likely be connected to the PS2 via USB...I seriously doubt you will be dialing into or remotely accessing your PS2 remotely, not when you consider the hassles it would be trying to deal with the as-yet non-bundled PS2 modem or BBA.
< tofuhead >
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