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Sony Pondering Game/Phone Hybrid
A report from a Japanese business publication says Sony is currently making plans to develop a cell phone with gaming capabilities in order to compete with the iPhone. "Sony plans to set up a project team as early as July to develop a new product that combines functions of its portable game player and Sony Ericsson's mobile phones, the Nikkei said." This comes shortly after news that the new PSP Go will be open to "non-gaming applications."
Apple considering portable cassette player
I know, I know, it's hip on /. to hate Sony for their DRM and rootkits, and their music division *can* go screw themselves in the eye over that one.
But I like their consumer electronics, they're pretty and they're slick. A game device/phone coming from such a giant could be a huge thing.
Nokia NGage :-)?
Lets build a IPhone!
Got Code?
Nokia did that and it ROCKED.
These days the usability of a device has to be counted as a significant part of it's slickness. Sony devices get marks for looking nice when they are turned off but always seem to fall short when you want to use them.
Boffoonery - downloadable Comedy Benefit for Bletchley Park
They'll never compete with the App Store and the momentum it's built. Knowing Sony they'll come up with a new proprietary hardware format and given their history, odds are not in favor of its survival.
This is very obvious, Sony are usually careful, like all big companies - theyÂre careful about making a move.
They saw iPhone, and the fact that the download store in combination with the homebrew society made for a HUGE success as a gaming platform, and Sony
thought....mmm...vely good, we make The Puss3 smaller again, and put phoneL into it. HAI!
I doubt they will make anything all that good. Part of the problem with the game/phone combination is that the input devices for one don't necessarily coorespond to the other. Apple solved this by getting rid of all "hard" buttons(save for one) and replacing it with a touch screen. This works for some games, but many of the games I play use a joystick and the "soft" joystick on the iPhone doesn't cut it. If my finger slips I lose a lot of reaction time trying to find the button again, so the all soft approach doesn't work either. However, if Sony would get back to the old days of innovating, it would be awesome if Sony could introduce some haptics to allow the touch screen to give physical feedback when playing a game.
Monstar L
Nintendo should do this too or risk losing their status as the leader of hand-held gaming. People already carry mobile phones on them wherever they go and many do not want or would prefer not to carry a second device for gaming. It would make sense to release two versions of the device, one with phone capabilities and one without as there is still a market for children and others who do not want a new phone. My guess is that Sony's offering will be PSP Go compatible.
...then they could actually have a nice machine able to somewhat compete NOW.
I still cannot understand how they ended up redesigning the PSP without a freakin' touchscreen... without it a lot of nice apps/games are not practical or even possible.
@neonux
"A people should know when they are conquered." -Maximus from the movie Gladiator
This is more competition in the market, it can only be a good thing.
If it sucks, no one will buy it, if it has great features, other phones will innovate to keep up.
Did he intend to include developers who operate out of home offices (like Apple's iPhone model, which copied Microsoft's XNA model)? Or is "all sorts of developers" limited to established companies with an office building and a published title on another platform, like it was on prior Sony and Nintendo platforms?
Sony have sat on the technology capable of dominating this market long before Apple even hinted at the iphone, and yet nothing was done. Okay so they might get some market (like the PSP gets some market) but really, Apple are well and truly gone with this sector. Sony's lack of joined up thinking between divisions (apparently recently fixed) has cost it dearly, they really should have been trying to pull the PSP into a Smartphone since the day it was launched. Could you imagine the power Sony would have had if they had gaming capable smart phones working seamlessly with PS3s PSPs and Walkman products? I don't hate Sony, but they frustrate me with their inability to develop the cool tech they have.
Sony's Linux "support" on the PS2 and PS3 is a joke. I'm not sure why they even offered if (since it's so laughably crippled). There were rumors that they were only offering this for the PS2, and later the PS3, so they could get around some EU import tax by getting the console classified as a "computer" (though that seems to be discredited).
SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
I'm guessing you don't remember Net Yaroze?
It was a very limited edition and sold out quickly.
Or the PS2 linux kit?
It was a slightly less limited edition but still sold out quickly, and Sony never made a version for the slim PS2.
The PS3, as you hopefully do know, is ready to have linux installed on it out-of-the-box.
Granted, that was a nice gesture, but the article is about handhelds. Once Sony discontinued the Clié PDA in 2005, which handheld device made by Sony supports Linux or other homebrew methods? Do any of Sony Ericsson's phones count?
Seriously, if they want a gaming phone, why can't Sony just invest time into making Android better. Sony Erickson is already planning on making phones for Android, and it's already been established that even the HTC Dream can be a decent gaming platform.
If Sony actually followed through on this, I might actually like Sony again.
interactive hologram, or it didn't happen.
...will it have sidetalkin'?
...Sony had a portable music player called the "Walkman" which was so dominant that every portable music player was referred to as a "Walkman", even if it was a clone made by some other company. Sony had the market totally sewn up. Sony was going to own portable music players until the end of time. There was only one small flaw in this cunning plan.
Sony is retarded. Or, rather, the electronic devices arm of Sony became the bitch of Sony's music arm. So everything that was cool about the Walkman was pushed to the background in order that the Walkman could better serve the interests of SonyBMG. DRM, incompatible players and media formats, you name it.
And Apple came along with a better Walkman called the Ipod, and that was the end of that.
Sony can't win an electronic-device battle against Apple even when it starts from a position of total market dominance. How do you think it's going to go this time?
Hint: Sony gonna git raped.
...but only if they bring back Side Talkin'.
the name brand games in the appstore are $9.99. A lot of good games for $.99 through $5.99. I'll buy an app for a $1 without thinking twice about it.
I think PSP games cost $50. I doubt Sony will sell a lot of these phones if the games cost $50.
Sorry but Sony Ericsson did pretty bad with the P990i which is the class of phone you need for "gaming phone". I fact I have quite a few very nice games for it. Only the Firmware is buggy and memory should be twice as much as it is. If they are as cheap with there new "gaming phone" as they have been with there smart phones it well be just another disaster.
I was there at the E3 where they announced the PsP, where it would have phone, GPS, Camera, movies and a game console.... uh.... We waited for years while none of this came to fruition, the games got crappier, the movie thing bombed (because you could watch a whole movie on a single charge).... Back then (what 2001, 2002), they could have been the leader. Now they are the retarded loser.... The iPhone has all of these AND the delivery channel... who cares what Sony does in this space? Not me.
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