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? ."

Comments

Sony PocketStation

[zsazsa]

but wasn't this already tried with the VMU?

Don't forget the Sony PocketStation which came out at about the same time as the Dreamcast with its VMU. It plugged into the memory port of the PS1. It was never sold in the US, but the US version of Final Fantasy VIII had support for it (documented in the manual, even.)

Ian

The negative side - Bloatware

[tempestdata]

The problem with all this WAPI stuff is that by trying to fit more and more functions into small devices like pagers and phones, they are comprimising usability. Unless they come up with voice activation, this problem will continue to increase.

For instance. Surfing the web, reading/writing your emails, and checking the news is simply annoying to do from a cell phone. Sure, its handy when you dont otherwise have access to computers and such, but the interface just sucks. Reading 5 words per page of a news article is simply not practical.

Now they will add a whole bunch of new features and that will mean the user will have to traverse a bigger more complicated menu system. What percentage of the users will actually USE those new fancy features? This just looks like feature bloat to me. Sort of how Microsoft does it.

"How do we get them to drop their old cellphones/software and upgrade to new cellphones/software in order to generate new revenue?" Answer: "Put in a whole new set of features that and hype them up the best you can!"

Ahh

[NiftyNews]

Dude, your phone just killed my Level 26 Dwarf Assassin. AGAIN.

Why, God, why?

[realgone]

Quote from Sony Ericsson president Katsumi Ihara (showing just how misguided this whole effort is):

People are going to buy a phone for a particular purpose, whether it's to take pictures, or listen to music, or whatever. That's a fact that you have to remember.

Or maybe they're buying the phones to, oh I don't know, call people?! Perish the thought.

I give up. The way this content synergy thing is going, my kitchen blender's probably gonna have a Sony-branded web browser and pop-up ads in another 10 years. Hope they've got open source margaritas by then... *sigh*

Nothing special, just Sony being Sony

[Tofuhead]

So what? It's a phone with a built-in Pocketstation/VMU-type device, with the additional bonus that you can use it talk to your games. It's just a jumble of traditional accessories (VMU & microphone) integrated into a phone that will likely be prohibitively expensive for gamers who don't need new phones. They also mention customizing phones with Jennifer Lopez digital goodies like ringtones, photos, and website bookmarks (or something like that), which tells me that they're just hyping this thing up to anybody who's interested in any of Sony's other products (PS2, J.Lo, they're all just Sony products to tie-in). Some of the latter paragraphs in the article add up to almost exactly that, quite blatantly.

I don't foresee many game developers chasing this idea down to include in their games, at least, not in ways that can't also be played by using a standard Pocketstation and mic (read: using a physical interface like USB). I doubt remote PS2 access is even being considered for these things; what game developer would ever want to tackle the issue of allowing your PS2 to act as a dial-up or web server for your low-res, low-bandwidth phone any way? Rather, I see some Sony Ericsson execs trying to tie the popularity of the Sony PS2 with their new phone line (bad pun not intended), and that's it.

< tofuhead >

Re:Unrelated

[Tofuhead]

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 >

...it has *not* been done before...

[Sodakar]

To all of you complaining about having to carry *another* item, or saying that "it's been done before"... Are you telling me that your VMU or PocketStation could make phone calls, store phone numbers, and have semi-PDA functionality?

The whole point of this product is that you *won't* be carrying anything extra, as the gaming feature will be enabled on your mobile phone. Additionally, because they claim that you'll most likely use the USB cable to synchronize your data, you won't have to have your phone plugged into your PS2 when playing with the PS2.

However, it's not without major snags. If it's going to sell, then Sony has to make it a "must-buy" product for everyone. So... while a mobile phone with gaming functions may work for adults and teenagers, what about kids? I'm guessing not too many parents want their 6-year-old to have a mobile phone just so s/he can play games, then turn around and overuse the mobile phone and run up the bill...

So... then what? Sony would have to make a non-mobile phone version of this portable gaming unit for young kids. Unfortunately, though, once Sony starts selling *just* the gaming unit for $100 or so, then all the people who already have phones won't have incentive to spend $300 on a gaming-phone when $100 will buy them the game, and they can keep their current mobile phone.

So... make the gaming/training ability not too complicated or meaningful, in efforts to lower the cost? Then people won't carry it around...

I've seen consumer spending habits for mobile phones in the last 10 years, and while I'm no expert, I think it's safe to say that very few people are willing to dish out $200-$300 on a new phone when they have a perfectly working one...

We shall see...