Slashdot Mirror
Should Sony Team With Google On a PlayStation Phone?
donniebaseball23 writes "The PSP2 is already in the hands of developers, but will Sony take the right direction in the portable sector? Following a recent op-ed on fixing the PSP business, leading game industry analysts came to the consensus that the best avenue for Sony to take is to offer a PlayStation Phone, and a strong partner like Google would do just the trick. 'Sony has the opportunity to redefine the portable games category. I think the best move would be to get out in front of Microsoft's inevitable Xbox LIVE Arcade Mobile and take on the App Store and carrier deck portals. ... They could put out a proper PlayStation Phone (and a PlayStation Pad) but these should compete with smartphones and tablets, not dedicated gaming devices. To do this quickly, Sony could partner with Google and take advantage of Android's considerable momentum,' said Billy Pidgeon of M2 Research."
No because Sony's stance clashes with Google's stance. Sony is all about control. Control. Control. Heck, Sony had a firmware update to break third party controllers not to mention Sony's recent moves of removing features.
Sony wants nothing more than control. Google wants open phones. The two clash in many ways.
Taxation is legalized theft, no more, no less.
Well, sony already make phones and some of them run android.
http://michaelsmith.id.au
an inferior standard to HD-DVD,
Um, what? HD-DVD allowed for 30 GB dual layer at the same read speed as Blu-Ray while Blu-Ray allows for 50 GB dual layer.
While it could be argued that Blu-Ray has been more proprietary than HD-DVD was, I wouldn't call the practical specifications inferior.
Taxation is legalized theft, no more, no less.
Yes add more features surely playing movies music and games was not enough!!! They needed more features so they could outsell the DS!!!
The DS didn't win because it had features..... it didn't win because it had better graphics.... it won because it had more fun games to play and a bigger variety of games to pick from. Pesky consumers and there desire for choices!!!!
Sony just does not have the developer support for 2 systems, I suspect they would be better served by focusing on one or the other.
Noooo, I've written for XNA in the past and if you're paying attention you will notice that commercial Xbox games are NOT XNA based. Yes..it might be possible to run these on an Xbox, but then only the simplest of games will do so comfortably. I have seen DirectX vs XNA sheets saying there's almost an order of magnitude of performance difference between the platforms. XNA is nice if that is a non-issue for you, but if there is considerable overhead, good luck to you, if you know what you're doing, switch to DX now. XNA is NOT viable for big titles on mobile phones!
This message brought to you by Microsoft and the letters B and S.
BTW, what's the deal with the "Marketplace" slashbox? Any way to disable this?
Large screen + cpu chewing apps is no good for something that meant to work unplugged at least close to a work day. In the N900 with the game gripper you already have a not so bad gaming console/smart phone, where you can play playstation/n64/mame/native games, but battery life wiill be pretty bad.
Sony frankly doesn't have a good track record with hardware in general. The hardware tends to be quirky, and after-sales support poor -- my friend had a Sony DVD player that *specifically* advertised firmware upgradeability on the box, it was very buggy.. no firmware updates ever came out for it, Sony's solution was to just buy the next model. They've done the same thing with other products.
Sony also LOVES closed systems, the antithesis of Android. They've done stuff like take a generic off-the-shelf DVD or CD drive, and put their own firmware in it, actually introducing bugs compared to the stock firmware while adding no features; some Vaios have fingerprint readers that WOULD be standard and work with generic Linux drivers, except Sony put custom firmware in so it ONLY works with Sony's (Windows-based) software. This also is something they've done again and again.
Would I buy a Sony phone? Hell no.
The reason I'm not porting my soon to be released Flash game on iPhone or Android is that the processing power is too low. If there was a serious chip in these phones, higher quality games can be made. I'm thinking in the future many high quality games will be made in Flash.
God spoke to me.
Given all the other problems with Sony thinking they continue to "own" the hardware after they have sold it to the customer, I would not take a Sony Playstation Phone if they paid me to use it.
That's a marriage that will never happen. Sony is all about control, and that focus on control precludes third parties and regard for what Sony's users want. See: removal of PS2 compatibility on the PS3, removal of "OtherOS" on the PS3, blocking of third-party controllers on the PS3 etc. ad nauseum. Sony wants absolute control of the eco system, but they don't get it like Apple and even Google/Android does in regards to applications and features. Hell, even Microsoft lets anyone write apps for the Windows platform. Until Sony 1.) merges the PSP into a smartphone platform; 2.) loosens their control or at least modifies it in regards to applications and monetizing their platform, and 3.) opens up to partnering with companies that understand how to work with user's needs and wants, they're dead in the water. I speak as a PS3 owner who uses his PS3 95% for streaming media to the entertainment centre, as an owner of a PSP 3000 who uses it primarily for watching movies and documentaries while traveling as well as running old console games in emulation, and I have a PSP Go that I won at a vendor event (a lucky colleague won a 32Gb iTouch AND an Xbox slim! I got the shitty end of that deal).
How on earth was Blu-ray inferior? It supported all the same codecs, held far more data, and had greater support from studios. It was superior in pretty much every way to HD-DVD, hence why it won, and HD-DVD became the next Divx
By this age it's way too much to carry around mobile phone, gaming device and everything else. Mobile devices are a lot more powerful now and you can fit everything in your phone.
Speaking as a gamer... no, this is not true. If there's one lesson we've learned over 30 years of home gaming it's that the controllers really matter in ways that the processors don't.
"I like to lick butts!" by MobileTatsu-NJG (#32700246) (Score:5, Informative)
These companies have different DNA:
Sony's instinct is to use proprietary formats and lock stuff down. I bought a PS3, but psbuntu on it and intended programming it. Couldn't do anything could since Sony locked me out. I learned my lesson not to use their stuff.
Google on the other hand are the opposite. They are pretty open with their technologies and using them is a joy in comparison. While there are restrictions on some stuff (Map API) the rest of it can pretty much be used as you wish and for no cost.
These two collaborating would probably work as well as a marriage between a neurotic, secretive but immaculately coiffured woman and a hippy.
At most you only need to rewrite the graphics and maybe some game logic,
Wait, what? If you're rewriting the graphics and the game logic, you're still rewriting the game in the large, no?
I mean, what else is there? Sound, input perhaps. Not much else other than artwork (which would not be rewritten even in the case of a rewrite)
I'm a minority race. Save your vitriol for white people.
an inferior standard to HD-DVD,
Um, what? HD-DVD allowed for 30 GB dual layer at the same read speed as Blu-Ray while Blu-Ray allows for 50 GB dual layer. While it could be argued that Blu-Ray has been more proprietary than HD-DVD was, I wouldn't call the practical specifications inferior.
Yeah but HD-DVD used tech much closer to the industry standard DVD; most notably a red laser. Had the format war not occurred, there is good reason to believe adoption rate and prices would of been much better.
On the Oregon Cost born and raised, On the beach is where I spent most of my days
On the other hand, it seems to me that a phone with a spare battery in your pocket is still smaller than a phone + a Gameboy or PSP.
Inferior?
Higher capacity and higher transfer speed do not an inferior product make. The geek world preferred HDDVD because it had no region coding and no BD+. These are good reasons but do not mean an inferior format.
Sony were not the only ones pushing at and it probably won out as much because of its stronger DRM provisions as anything else.
I agree that it's not very sony-like to team up with anyone. Besides which they already have a successful (though not major market share) phone division. And somewhere in Sony, someone has figured out that if they put a PSP emulator/interpreter/whatever on to an android phone then people will find a way to rip it off, use it on other devices and pirate the games.
I think he means small amounts of logic - think of menus, save game storage, network play - the underlying structural logic may not gave to be altered, but smaller logic yes.
And on graphics, again it comes to menus, load screens: raster images in general, but if your game renders through a common API in-game, you're fine (I assume, IANGBFBMS (I Am Not Getting Butt Fucked By Micro$oft), but I digress)
Small tweaks across a similarish platform are nothing compared to complete rewrites/most of the code rewrites - still I thing Sony+google for mobile phone and gaming is a Good Idea.
Err, where do you get the red laser thing from?
You could (AFAICT) use HD-DVD formatting on a dual layer DVD to get 9.4 GB of HD format data on it, that's about it. HD-DVD proper used a blue laser to achieve higher data density.
The format war was a fix anyway, with a lot of companies in both camps and the end of the war negotiated in the boardroom, not fought out in the open market.
Google would make Android part of the deal, and it's apparent that Sony wants nothing to do with Linux.
It's Chaotic Evil and Chaotic Good.
Sony would act like the best of friends until it came time to divide the loot.
A combination PSP and telephone is a "great idea"? Why not a combination toaster and hedge trimmer?
I'm probably in the minority here, but I really don't see playing some online game and having a phone call come in on the same device as the road to great entertainment.
Maybe it makes me a curmudgeon, but I don't see how this is going to improve things for those of us who are serious about gaming. But then I also hate third-person shooters and what they've done to the gaming landscape. I guess people will buy anything.
Portable gaming could be great, but the social gaming/advertising platform that Sony is envisioning doesn't do anything for me. Nor will it do a whole lot for those who rely on wireless networks to get work done. Maybe with Sony going all out with the Sony Store purchase/download requirement just to play a game some other company will use the opportunity to make a portable platform for real gaming. I'd like to see a couple more companies competing with the tired Playstation/XBox/Wii cartel.. With the iPad being locked down, maybe something to play on the multitude of cheap and decent new tablets that are being made over in China?
You are welcome on my lawn.
Google phone: Failure
Sony PSP: Marketshare loser
But what if we combined them?!
Why, we'd have a Nokia N-Gage gaming phone. Brilliant.
Hey clueless analysts, 2003 called and they want their shitty ideas back.
What's this? Would you call Microsoft a strong PC maker? Google just provide the OS, they are a NON-PLAYER in the mobile market, both in terms of name brand recognition and manufacturing/distribution capability. Partnering with HTC or Nokia (while still not have much sense) would make more sense than picking Google.
This is pure Google fanboy wishful thinking.
An Android that plays PSP Games? It need to be so locked down for Sony to accept, that you would not be able to run any non-Sony approved Android apps, that it make no sense to buy one.
With Google's lack of emphasis on user experience, Sony will need to make major changes to the UI that you would not recognize it is an Android device anyway.
This whole idea makes no sense at all.
Oliver.
Pretty sure they've tried this idea before and it failed miserably
If there's one thing I love about this site, it's that between all the Microsoft, Apple, Google, and Linux bashing, the one company we can largely come to despise is Adobe, and the one product we can all hate on is Flash. The only dissenting opinion you ever see here is by Adobe-suite 'developers' grown indulgent by Adobe's motherly coddling and embrace.
I think Sony learned it's lesson about technical superiority with the MASSIVE market failure of Betamax vs VHS. Technical superiority will not defeat marketing. (and strong-arming and bribery, too!) They do seem to still have a problem of ethics. I mean, come on, it's FUCKING SONY! If they can't infect you with a rootkit, and cut your nuts off for trying to program on their platform without paying them a pound of flesh, you think that they'll willingly hook up with a company that has the motto of "Do No Evil"? They would probably prefer to be sodomized with razor wire.
When you want something built, come see me. If you want correct grammar and spelling, get a F*ing liberal arts student.
It might be a good idea for them, but Google should clearly say no. Sony are a bunch of closed sourced bastards who have no idea of how to please the market (and to those who say they are making a mint - sure - but they could make even more if they opened their minds)
If Google really cared they would fix Android Chrome to reflow text, instead of discriminating
They never have, and I don't think they ever will. True collaboration with google/android is therefore not possible.
Look at the PS3. Could one imagine a sorrier excuse for an online store or game community? They never took online gaming seriously. Whereas msft built in standardized online/community functionality, Sony left it to each developer. Integration with the online store is an after thought and is truly crude.
With their phones and android they trashed most of what was inherent to the os and replaced it with a crudely implemented custom UI/skin.
Memory sticks, proprietary, etc.
Community driven, collaboration, open, Sony doesn't do that.
Well, seeing as they couldn't keep the first PSP closed to hackers, what makes them think they will keep a Droid based one better protected.
Games that work on n platforms generally suck on n-1 platforms.
Good developer support is important. More important is a large customer base willing to spend money on applications and games. Apple's iPhone is doing well in this regard. Even though the iPhone market is smaller than Android, it is more profitable for game developers. I have a hard time believing Microsoft's platform is going to do much to change this. They may carve out a profitable audience, but I wouldn't expect much more than that.
The XBox and Zune are both very well reviewed devices that have sold well. They just don't make much money for Microsoft.
You mean like the Xperia X10?
Man who leaps off cliff jumps to conclusion.
The only dissenting opinion you ever see here is by Adobe-suite 'developers' grown indulgent by Adobe's motherly coddling and embrace.
---- and the developers who know who to use Flash and Adobe's development tools effectively:
Machinarium
Oh yea, that thing I used to enjoy playing games on
I have a psp phat, I have bought maybe 15 games for it over its lifetime, I still own 4...
Maybe if they focused more on making / getting content for it instead of trying to get me to buy a new set of cables every revision of the machine, Then I could say I have found more than 4 games I honestly enjoy since I got the thing back in 2006 (versus my big binder of ps1 and ps2 games)
I don't even know where the silly thing is, I think its under my desk, I don't know I haven't touched it since I beat Chinatown wars
Yes, and everything should be programmed to run on the Dalvik jvm so it can achieve a blistering 5 fps.
Got Code?
Yea program it in a REAL LANGUAGE like java so it can run at a blistering 3 fps.
Got Code?
Had the format war not happened I'd most certainly have worse business, as due to that the price of 420nm and 460nm diodes dropped like a rock.
Still waiting on Serviscope_minor to wake up to fucking reality and realize that Jessica Price isn't going to fuck him.
Major Microsoft astroturfing out tonight. This guy's first post ever just happens to read like an ad for Windows Mobile 7, and both people that call him out on that get modded troll. Posts like this have been popping up for the last two days. Mods, keep an eye out...
Let's just tackle network play. So the latest greed first idea is to expose children to hours at a time, microwave radiation, whilst playing online games on their mobile phone. No problem, why not add junk food, cigarette and alcohol adds with the claims that as only adults can initiate mobile phone contracts that only adults use mobile phone game platforms.
Sometimes bad ideas are truly horrendous ideas driven by corporate executives who can see nothing but profits and completely ignore consequences.
Chaos - everything, everywhere, everywhen
A combination PSP and telephone is a "great idea"? Why not a combination toaster and hedge trimmer?
I'm probably in the minority here, but I really don't see playing some online game and having a phone call come in on the same device as the road to great entertainment.
Maybe it makes me a curmudgeon, but I don't see how this is going to improve things for those of us who are serious about gaming. But then I also hate third-person shooters and what they've done to the gaming landscape. I guess people will buy anything.
Portable gaming could be great, but the social gaming/advertising platform that Sony is envisioning doesn't do anything for me. Nor will it do a whole lot for those who rely on wireless networks to get work done. Maybe with Sony going all out with the Sony Store purchase/download requirement just to play a game some other company will use the opportunity to make a portable platform for real gaming. I'd like to see a couple more companies competing with the tired Playstation/XBox/Wii cartel.. With the iPad being locked down, maybe something to play on the multitude of cheap and decent new tablets that are being made over in China?
Years ago when the hardware was all shitty making combination multi-function media devices was a BAD idea. Turned out they were shitty.
But we have really good components these days and most of our gadgets have the same basic parts. It actually makes sense to combine them into a single device. A gaming gizmo needs a good screen, good speakers, a microphone helps, an array of buttons, a womping big battery, and at least 802.11G, 3G or better is a bonus. A phone needs that same list. A portable music player needs most of those things. A portable movie player needs most of those things. A pocket sized camera needs most of those things and a ... camera.
If you're a hardcore gamer playing portable games and suddenly you have an incoming call you're either going to have to pause your game, find your phone and somewhere to put your gaming device, then answer the phone. If it's the same device you press a button and it pauses the game and answers the phone. Doesn't sound like much but if you're on a bus or train or other logical place to play a portable gaming device then getting to your phone in your pocket or bag can be difficult, and you likely don't have somewhere readily available to stick your gaming device. Press a button, answer the phone. And IF DESIGNED CORRECTLY the only thing interrupting your game could be a blinking LED on the side of the device. Wouldn't want your boss / mom / girlfriend interrupting your ever important dragon slaying.
And anyone relying on wireless networks to get work done are just sadly mistaken. Wireless is not reliable. In any form for all of time wireless anything has never had "reliable" as one of its redeeming values. The only thing it has ever been good at is 'convenient'.
But if you're considering an iPad or like tablet device as a gaming platform then you're clearly not "serious about gaming".
No sig for you. YOU GET NO SIG!
In terms of user experience, HD DVD is still better than Blu-ray simply because Blu-ray still takes so long to start a disc even on a modern machine. Picture and sound identical, interactivity definitely goes to HD DVD. Yes, I have a modern Blu-ray player which is profile 2.0 and yet it is still inferior to an HD DVD player from four years back. In fact I would give the win to HD DVD on the basis of it being region free.
"I have the attention span of a strobe lit goldfish, please get to the point quickly!"
Being Sony, they will just allow you to play psp1 games on the first batch. Then they will release psp2 slim, a bit cheaper and without the option to run psp1 games.
Happened before, more than once.
The DRM stuff that we love to hate so much is actually a feature from the POV of the content producers.
the only truely awesome thing to come from adobe was postscript and pdf.
Eh... ordinarily I would agree with that but Apple seems to be doing fine with games on the iPhone. There's a difference between upgrading the RAM and using a radically different architecture.
"I like to lick butts!" by MobileTatsu-NJG (#32700246) (Score:5, Informative)
It was called the N-Gage, and no one should ever ask for something like that ever again.
Born to Play
... and people who just want to watch some video from CBC on their iPad, who don't give a shit about format and only care that it "doesn't work."
Last I checked, the DS and the Wii aren't cellphones. Nor is their respective OS at all qualified to run a cellphone, even if Nintendo made one. Which is why Google with Android would be an excellent partner.
--
make install -not war
Google can skirt around their "Don't Be Evil" motto, by taking on an evil partner like Sony that can do the dirty work while letting Google keep their hands clean! ;-)
Sony may like its systems closed, but Nintendo has as long a history of locked-down, anti-piracy measures and closed systems. The Wii does not play DVDs. Homebrew (slash piracy...) cartridges for DS are banned. Online is a joke. As far back as the NES and as recently as the DSi (no transferring downloadable games between systems), Nintendo is all about proprietary.
There are 10 kinds of people in this world: those who understand binary, and nine other kinds of people.
Sony Ericsson has recently moved to only use android in their smartphones, and apparently they are already considering mixing PSP and android 3.0 (gingerbread).
Yeah nintendo is so open. i can use a standard usb flashstick to save my savegeames. i can built my own usb based arcade stick , using my old usb based steering wheel... Thank god nintendo gives us so much freedom that im not limited to closed down propriate periphicals. I love my nintendo ps3 !
Amen to this. I'm 6' 5", and the "huge" Xbox controllers were perfect for me.
Random Thoughts From A Diseased Mind (Not For Dummies)
Who cares about advanced gaming capabilities if the current line of smartphones if they can't even provide a sufficient battery-life so that one can actually *use* those gaming features for longer than a few hours?
You look like a million dollars. All green and wrinkled.
...and all seem to be stuck at 1.6 so far. Sony Ericsson is even close to the introduction of SE Liveview - small (watch-sized, and also carried on a wrist) display for showing some basic info and performing basic actions, requiring an Android 2.0 device. Well, at least it means they should be close to pushing upgrades.
One that hath name thou can not otter
Sony already has a gaming division and a 50% share in a mobile phone company. Sony also has good contacts with game developers. The only non-games software most of their potential customers absolutely need would be email, web and media players. Posibly a text editor. Sony can develop that lot in-house.
Bluray was indeed a collaborative effort; sure, with Sony one of the big guns, but...
They do that more often than people think - probably it's just how such products, once popular and widely used, often aren't perceived as ones from (also) Sony (whereas failures are very noticeably almost only from them, obviously). From memory - together with only Philips: CD, S/PDIF (what do you think "S" and "P" stand for?), SACD, one of two progenitor formats to DVD. MSX computer standard. HDV. Playstation was born out of some cooperation with Nintendo, backstabbed by Nintendo. FDD is also fun to mention, though this one purely from Sony IIRC.
One that hath name thou can not otter
What lesson did they learn with CD, S/PDIF, HDV, Playstation (that one was to be a cooperation with Nintendo, guess who walked out) or 3.5" FDD? Generally, with a company so vast and diverse it's a bit pointless to generalize like that - many parts of them are quite open; often essentially fighting with other divisions (rootkits/DRM stuff pushed by music publishing division - bought into Sony not too long ago, BTW - while their audio players and SE music phones are decent - the latter also already have Android; or one of the more open & interoperable ebook reader ecosystems)
One that hath name thou can not otter
Didn't Nokia already try this with the N-Gage? The biggest problem is, for anything other than simple time wasting games, the form factor I want for portable gaming is a long way from what I want for a phone. Even holding the DS for extended periods tends to hurt my hands, so to imagine this magnified with the smaller screen, minimal places to rest your hands and tiny buttons of a phone instantly turns me off the idea. Meanwhile the idea of a phone with a huge screen and lots of space for buttons/grip space resulting in a handset three times the size of the biggest smartphones today seems similarly silly - sure, I could use it as a phone, but would I want to? Aside from form factor, the other issue is portability of phones - if I buy a game console I want it to be around for a few years, I'd say minimum of four for a portable console, whereas most people like to upgrade their phones every 12-18 months. I don't want to be locked into one phone manufacturer for several years just so I can play my back catalogue, nor do I want to throw out all my old games and start from scratch every time I upgrade my phone. For me it makes far more sense, for "serious gamers" to have two distinct devices.
BD is region free too.
As in, it's not forced on the production.
most of the content providers doesn't region lock their BD releases.
It's not required by the BD specs to be region locked, but the feature exists.
- Don't do what I do, it's probably not healthy nor safe. -
Yeah, but I don't see the hardcore gaming nerds that are going to buy this thing getting too many phone calls.
Mixing a phone and a camera into one made sense. Sensors were small enough, software could be made compatible, and most importantly the controls were simple enough to emulate in software. You very rarely have a point and shoot camera with more than 5 or so buttons, which are easily diverted to numberpad keys on a phone. It saves carrying a camera to take a quick snap, so it took off.
Modern gaming uses almost every digit on your hand. Two analogue controls, a D-Pad, 4 thumb buttons, two shoulder buttons, two analogue triggers. That is the level of complex control required for a modern console game. Even the new PSP is only missing the analogue triggers. That's still two hands, full grip. Plus, control space on a touchscreen is dead as far as game scene is concerned. You can't see through a thumb, so you've halved your playable space instantly.
This won't work, not for serious gaming, and casual gaming is already the domain of the Nintendo DS and Angry Birds.
Finally had enough. Come see us over at https://soylentnews.org/
Gonna be hard for Google to 'do no evil' if they partner with SONY. There aren't a lot of tech companies with the evil track record that SONY has.
Suppose you were an idiot. And suppose you were a member of congress. But then I repeat myself. -- Mark Twain
Jeez! So, according to the collective "wisdom" of Slashdot:
No company should release anything, ever.
Nor should they try anything new, ever.
Nor should they be allowed to learn from their mistakes.
Nor should they spot a weakness in their DNA and get another company on-board to help address it.
Oh, and everything, every company has ever done has also been shit!
Cheers commenters one and all (apologies to anyone who made a positive contribution here). My PSP has provided years of fun on trains, planes and those odd snippets of downtime and I'd like something with deeper-than-five-minute games on a phone, so why not. No one is forcing people to buy it?
Glad we've got that cleared up, I'll head off to my cave with my Colecovision now.
If he's the Walrus then can I be a penguin please?
"Modern gaming" requires a keyboard and mouse.
You are welcome on my lawn.
...and all seem to be stuck at 1.6 so far.
I'm not so sure this is a bad thing. I've updated my iPhone 3G like a good Apple fanboi from 3.0 to 4.1, and now I'm left with a sluggish phone, where it can take ten seconds to display my agenda or shoot a photo. I've heard similar things about the HTC Hero. I've come to the conclusion that if you like a phone, you just leave the factory firmware as-is. If you want the latest and greatest firmware, be prepared to upgrade your phone hardware too.
8 of 13 people found this answer helpful. Did you?
"Modern gaming" requires a keyboard and mouse.
For you perhaps. I've enjoyed Gameloft's Modern Combat: Sandstorm tremendously on my iPad. Played it in the back of the car, in the train, at my girlfriend's place, etc.
Sure, I've played Call of Duty with keyboard and mouse, but for me gaming is no longer strictly limited to my study at home.
8 of 13 people found this answer helpful. Did you?
Unless the point of some updates was specifically to greatly improve performance; and specs of SE phones surely aren't subpar.
(yes, to 3.0 will be most likely a bad idea; but latest 2.x line seems to mostly make things snappier for semi-recent devices)
One that hath name thou can not otter
I agree that Sony in the past has been obsessed with control of its platforms, but things are changing under Stringer.
I'm sorry but I don't see any change. For one, they disabled the OtherOS feature an out of the box feature for another they disabled third party controllers. Yes. Sony doesn't even want you to have your choice of controllers. For another they've been completely against the homebrew community and are trying their hardest to break rooted PS3s. All these things have happened within the past year.
Look, if I was referencing the rootkits from a few years ago, it would be easy to rationalize as that was Sony many years ago or that was a different department. But these developments aren't just from a few years ago, they've come as recently as two weeks ago.
Taxation is legalized theft, no more, no less.
From what I've played with new phones multi-touch sort of fixes all this. Two virtual thumbpads and as many buttons are you need.
Wow, I should not post when knackered.
Yep, the tapes were smaller and the machines twice the cost and Sony flogged that dead horse for years after VHS had cleared up and retired to the smoking room with a fat cigar and some comfortable slippers.
The Betamax debate continued until DVD-R became available therefore I anticipate that the Blu-Ray / HD-DVD debate will continue until the replacement format is available and optical media becomes the next legacy system like floppy disk.
What, you buy a crappy standalone instead of a PS3?
Memory stick? UMD? yeah, that was universal. sony loves proprietary, which despite what you may think, is not a naughty word.
One look in any store which sells PC games should immediately tell you that most gaming is on console now, hence the console controller example.
FWIW, I don't own a console. I solely game on a PC. I'm just being realistic.
Finally had enough. Come see us over at https://soylentnews.org/
HD-DVD and Bluray both used blue lasers to read smaller pits and therefore store more data.
The feature of HD-DVD that was more like DVDs was the physical formatting -- there was a thicker layer of plastic, much like DVDs have, whereas Blu-ray discs have a much thinner layer, which I understand allows for the extreme cases of 100, 200, and 300GB discs.
HD-DVD lacked upward mobility in data sizes due to a physical compatibility with old mastering hardware.
- Michael T. Babcock (Yes, I blog)
A lot of discs are being mastered with a warning or loading image that stays on the screen for up to 30 seconds before the disc starts playing, usually saying things like "if you have an old player not all features may function as designed" and such.
I've found in most cases that it can be removed by hitting next-chapter (skip), but if you didn't know this, you'd think it was a natural delay in the format.
- Michael T. Babcock (Yes, I blog)
I don't know where the complaining comes from. I have never, ever had to wait for a movie to load on a BD disk. The time required for things to load is roughly equal to that of DVDs and it has never bothered me. You can find complaints about Blu-ray, but I think this one is just nitpicking.
Ya, and the Wii is you flogging around with what looks like a remote control. It'll never work...
Oh wait.
The Java hating kinda has to end when Minecraft is doing so well.
But some people never update their memes.
- Michael T. Babcock (Yes, I blog)
So if I want to game on a platform, I have to buy a specific phone for an asston of money only for an inferior product? Excellent job removing 30% of your potential customers. There's a reason all printers aren't all-in-ones and shampoo and conditioner still beat 2-in-1s: they suck.
I wonder what world these marketoids live on, this crap reminds me of hollywood.
Sony tends to have a lot of peripheral features that, while unrelated to the primary purpose of the product, still add to its value. By stretching in this manner, though, they also tend not to perfect much of what they do, sometimes pulling features altogether because they don't get them working the way they want. For some reason, they also have a hard time engaging with their customers, so they often cause the ire of their fans by removing stuff as a unilateral, business-minded decision. The suits control the company and shut down a lot of stuff which I think were conceived and implemented by engineers, designers and people more directly related to the product.The higher ups just don't understand.
Nintendo, on the other hand, usually has a very focused experience. They have few, if any, extraneous features (web browser on DS?), so they don't/can't remove anything because that would immediately cripple the core features of the machines.
Microsoft is more like Sony, but whereas Sony is a hardware company, Microsoft is a software company. I think that really shows: Sony's hardware is usually of a much greater quality than Microsoft (sleeker, less hardware defects) while Microsoft's software is far more advanced (XBL, NXE). Ironically, a Sony-Microsoft joint venture would benefit both companies far more than any other.
We already know what is going to happen. Sony is going to make a righteous little gaming device (that just so happens to be a phone too) and for about a year, everything will go smashingly well with it. Game developers will fawn, coo, and write code for the ubiquitous new gaming interface, and all will seem just peachy. Gamers will game to their hearts content and laugh hearty belly laughs at their "non-Sony-gaming/wunderkinder-devicenonhavenum contemporaries". Almost unnoticably (at first) a cancer will start growing. It seems that some of the users (not content with just playing SoCom 14: Shadow Recon and talking to their team- mates in both Guam and Amsterdam online while.... driving) will find something inherently wrong with the fact that they can't seem to get their car started and warmed up without having to go out there, put the key in the ignition and turning it. Yep, despite all of the other wonderful things the device was designed to do, it seems the dev-teams at Sony neglected to add the libs and drivers for "their" iCar that would have allowed the device to perform this task out of the box. "Shame on you Sony" will be the rallying cry, and droves of users dissatisfied with this device's lack of support for "remote" speed-control on their girlfriend's iVibrator, will come out of the woodwork, and begin conspiring to home-brew their own firmware that would facilitate such functionality. Unfortunately, Sony's firmware will be intrinsically woven into the DNA of the Cell processor, thus requiring the use of such workarounds as after-market Rogue-Cell flash-cards, and virii that invariably "brick" a solid third of all devices they are initially introduced to, (and infect another third of Cell'd devices wirelessly). The lawsuits will abound as users attempt yet more uses not covered in the original EULA, and under the burgeoning weight of the ensuing lawyer fees, Sony will drop all support within the following 2 years
BTW: iCar, iVibrator, and all other words made up by Ozlanthos are mine, so don't use them in attempts to make money unless you intend to give Ozlanthos some of it!
-Oz
"Sony is much, much more likely to release their own phone with their own OS than team up with Google."
I'm not sure why the author of the article thought Sony needed Google. Of the five analysts they spoke with only 2 mentioned Google and in each case it was only 1 sentence.
Sony has been making cellphones since 2001 so they know what they're doing there, and Sony already has the PSP and successful PS3. I don't think Sony and Google would see eye-to-eye, Google released Droid to anyone that wants to slap it onto a toaster and Sony would want to keep everything bottled up and firmware controlled.
I thinks a PlayStation Phone would work, but Sony would need to use Apple's business model so developers could make 99 cent games instead of the $5-$20 range most games in the Playstation Store cost now.
If Sony had 99 cent downloadable games I might not have sold my PSP for a iPhone.
my karma will be here long after I'm gone
There's 'need' and there's 'enjoy using'. I've played a bunch of action games on the iPhone and it just doesn't cut it. Sonic the Hedgehog on the iPad wasn't bad, I think having the bigger surface area helped. But if I'm right about that then it works against the phone.
"I like to lick butts!" by MobileTatsu-NJG (#32700246) (Score:5, Informative)
There is one advantage Windows Mobile 7 doesn't have: Market Share, not to mention user goodwill, a clue, or a hint of a desire to innovate.
Android is versatile and is becoming pretty much ubiquitous: TVs, Tablets, MP3 players, Laptops... same with iOS. Windows Phone 7 won't be used on anything beyond phones, hence the name.
Microsoft have no vision beyond what is right in front of them, by the time this version of Windows Mobile gains any sort of significant market share everyone else will have moved on: It's 3 years late and offers nothing new.
So your worry is these children will be slightly warmed or what?
What exactly is the danger of a 1W transmitter?
You're absolutely right about the potential of gaming on tablets. I could see that being a very interesting platform for games.
Rather than "keyboard and mouse" I should have said ""Modern gaming" requires more than the current controllers offered by XBox or Playstation".
You are welcome on my lawn.
This is Slashdot. Any discussion here about what "most people" do is strictly beside the point. We're the opinion leaders, not the ones who get in line behind "most people."
If "most people" use Windows, does that mean we need to simply accept that Windows is the superior platform and not discuss the advantages of the options? (note: I'm not happy with that analogy, but it's the only one that came into my mind).
Listen, I just hate what consoles have done to computer gaming. I don't believe the FUD about how "piracy has taken all the profit out of PC gaming", especially since Valve seems to be doing pretty damn well. There's no reason that console games have to be so much worse than PC games - no reason that a good FPS won't work on a console. There are so many crappy third person shooter console ports that are coming out for PC and I just can't believe that it's impossible to put out a game like Half-Life any more.
I think part of the problem is that console gamers just don't expect very much so the developers can get away with just putting out mediocre game after mediocre game. Why should they work hard to put out something that will make them a fortune for PC when they can phone it in and make a fortune on console? And now, instead of coming out with the next great PC game, they can make some lame "social gaming" crap, sell advertising and just scoop up the money. So I blame "Farmville" for the fact that there hasn't been a new Half-Life or even Burnout Paradise for chrissake, in such a long time.
Sorry for snapping about the "two analogue controls, a D-Pad, 4 thumb buttons,..." thing. I'm just so goddamn frustrated with the miserable state of PC gaming and I put the blame on the rise of the console, which makes me a little sensitive.
You are welcome on my lawn.
You're conflating different issues. Game consoles - from all three manufacturers - don't allow unlicensed programs on the system because most of their revenue comes from licensing software. That's not unique to Sony, nor does it demonstrate a company policy of locking down platforms in other markets. If it did, Microsoft would not allow unlicensed applications on Windows. Sony's approach to its game consoles doesn't mean that it can't run an open OS on its smartphones. In fact, it already does - Sony Ericsson is selling a number of Sony Ericsson handsets.
And you assume that a PlayStation phone wouldn't be part of these lockdowns?
Microsoft is effectively in the same boat with Sony, and their phones have major lockdown issues in Windows Phone 7 especially in the Windows Phone Marketplace. Granted, I believe that you can sideload apps to Windows Phone 7 devices, but it still is a lot less open than say the Android Market.
You're taking the disabling of OtherOS and third party controllers out of context. Both were side effects of eliminating flaws that would allow the PS3 to run unsigned code,
Clearly! In order to stop people from driving drunk we should tear up the roadways!
OtherOS was a feature enabled by default which Sony disabled. I don't want my devices to suddenly lose features, and for a company to break third party devices deliberately is the epitome of low. If I buy a car with a CD player, I don't want to get into my car some morning only to find its been disabled, no matter what the reason. Especially if it is as BS of a reason as simply not letting people use the hardware they paid for.
(ie, if someone set up a Cydia for PlayStation Sony's revenues would collapse)
Right, because we all know how the Nintendo Wii is losing money left and right and Nintendo is making a loss... Oh wait, Nintendo is making insane amounts of money.
Yet right now I have the Hombrew Channel installed and essentially have a repository with all kinds of games and applications. By your logic because Nintendo doesn't release tons of updates to break it (they've released a few, but only every 6 months or so) Nintendo should have been driven into the ground and be losing money left and right, but that hasn't happened.
You make it sound like the point was to eliminate third party controllers and stop people running Linux, which is false. In fact, the PS3 came with USB ports and the OtherOS feature precisely in order to allow a wide variety of accessories to be supported and Linux to run.
I don't give a shit what the "intent" was, if the end result is that people can't use features they paid for, that is a company I'm not going to support in any way. And yes, Sony did lose a sale, I was seriously considering buying a PS3 to use as a game console/Blu-Ray player when the entire disabling of OtherOS came up so I'm not buying a PS3.
As for your other points, they were things that the entire industry moved to long before Sony decided to. The very fact that Sony kept pushing ATRAC and Memory Stick long after they were superseded shows their devotion to their own standards.
Taxation is legalized theft, no more, no less.
Yeah, because if you are not manually flipping physical switches to set your memory, you are not a real 'developer'. Honestly, the Flash hate is stupid. Flash works, and it works well while being cross platform. The only real complaints that I have with Flash is the lack of gamepad support, and the fact that the have not put out their own game console to play all of those games and watch all of the media on.
Granted minecraft is a popular java game. However java is holding it back from it's true potential also.
Got Code?
Nonsense.
For one, the programmer is obviously familiar with Java; therefore you might not have Minecraft at all without it being written in Java.
Secondly and more importantly, the game isn't in any way limited by being in Java. Java also has the advantage of allowing the game to run on any platform with Java support.
- Michael T. Babcock (Yes, I blog)