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Sony Is Bringing PlayStation Games To iOS and Android Devices (gizmodo.com)
An anonymous reader points us to Bryan Lufkin's report on Gizmodo: A year ago, Nintendo announced its long-overdue plans to bring its games to smartphones. Now, Sony's doing the same thing. You'll soon be able to play original Sony games on your iOS or Android device, the company announced today. Sony is setting up a new business division called ForwardWorks, which will focus on mobile services, bringing 'full-fledged game titles' and Sony's PlayStation characters and intellectual property to handheld smart devices. And it could be happening pretty soon -- the press release says ForwardWorks kicks off operations next month.
It's called emulators
You also get a free root kit with each purchase!
Sony originally did this on the Xperia Play, a little-known gaming smartphone possibly inspired by the Nokia N-Gage. Where other phones might have a sliding keyboard, it has a sliding gamepad with two touch-sensitive circles standing in for analog sticks. A small number of games were released for the Xplay, at a few bucks a piece. All of them run on the same emulator, and simply consist of CD images bundled up with it. A tool PSXperia lets you convert your own titles, and the vast majority of games do work with some notably unfortunate exceptions like Wipeout XL. (That's almost as sad as Forgotten Worlds not playing on the Sega Nomad... but uh, I digress.)
Hopefully, they are continuing the strategy of using a general emulator, and even more hopefully, it will be readily hacked to accept other game images... and have link play. Or at least, that they will sell WOXL. Because let's face it, what is really wanted is being able to play WOXL over the internet...
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
It would seem that hard-core gamers are using specially tailored PCs for their gaming requirements, whereas the vast majority of the gaming population, who play computer games casually, are migrating in the droves to phones and tablets. Which makes me think that gaming consoles are being squeezed out of the market - unless, that is, they will be able to provide something above and beyond what PCs can do. Is that going to be the case in the next generation?
Seriously haven't we established already that not only is gawker a disgrace of a website, but its satellite ones as well? Both kotaku and gizmodo themselves have been caught showing poor journalistic integrity and ethics. In fact gizmodo was even banned from E3.
More than hope it's related to their original effort, let's hope it's related to PS2/PS3 titles.
Playing PSX titles on tablets is already and old trick, and the gfx are also too crappy to the quality expected nowadays.
Most playstation games would map poorly to a tablet experience due to the absence of a controller but this isn't true for the new Apple TV now that Apple has opened the APIs up and that supports Bluetooth controllers (though Apple also forces the game to be "playable" using the remote). I wonder if Sony foresees Apple TVs & similar Android devices as being a market large enough to make PS games profitable.
Democracy is a sheep and two wolves deciding what to have for lunch. Freedom is a well armed sheep contesting the issue
Now you can pay $19.95 for Crash Bandicoot 1 on your ipad, Sony found a new cash cow.
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
Gee, Sony, thanks for abandoning the Vita in favor of this shit. I love playing games designed for buttons on a touchscreen.
Run Sackboy Run came out last year. I assume Sony were testing the waters.
Actually, just GTFO, because you're Sony. FU.
The "PCMR" crowd may need to address what consoles do above and beyond PCs (source):
Likewise, the mobile industry may need to address what handheld consoles do above and beyond iPhone and Android phones:
Mobile games have a bad disadvantage thanks to not so responsive touch screen interfaces.
You'd most likely have to add a joystick shell or something to your mobile in order to play most navigate-and-aim games.
I can't imagine playing Jak and Daxter by swiping and touching my phone screen.
Pretty please? For Android?
Since Sony released FF7 on PSN, I keep an old, busted PSP around just to fulfill the occasional Jap RPG craving. If their pricing is reasonable and they find a decent way to update the interfaces to account for the lack of buttons, this could be a very good thing. Although, TBH, I don't really expect them to follow through on either front.
I think it's time to shop for a good mobile controller.
The problem with doing that is lack of network effects. Until MOGA and other manufacturers of clip-on gamepads start releasing sales figures for clip-on gamepads, developers of well-known games aren't going to feel it worthwhile to their games to mobile platforms whose only other app-usable input device is a flat sheet of glass. This means there won't be a lot of quality games that support "a good mobile controller" unless it can be shown that a lot of people other than you are similarly shopping.
Or when and where has such a manufacturer released sales figures?
Sony tablet S (Android Kitkat) that I bought about 4 years ago or so. It had an emulator app and a PSN store-style app to purchase both original games and classics.
The tablet came with vouchers for two games from the store, and I choose Crash Bandicoot and Jet-Moto.
So yeah, I've already (legally) played PSX games on a tablet. Not sure why this is news again.
Karma: Can only be portioned out by the Cosmos.
Not their games the way you know them. You get social apps like Miitomo, or that announced pokemon board game or whatever, i.e. watered down spinoff crap that only serves to shut up idiot investors who can't stop crying for this shit, and maybe it's useful as advertisement for their actual game systems.
And a nice added bonus is that it'll infuriate all the cunts who kept asking for Mario platformers on their phone with fucking touch controls, what a bunch of incredible retards.
They're not putting PlayStation or Nintendo games on these platforms. They're making entirely new games based on existing characters optimized for the platform. You won't be playing Super Mario Bros or Uncharted on your phone.
Twinstiq, game news
More than hope it's related to their original effort, let's hope it's related to PS2/PS3 titles.
I don't think there's many Android devices out there with the power to gracefully emulate the PS2, let alone the PS3.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
It's like they programmed the games in something other than C or C++ -- Which, with minimal platform specific changes, you should be able to just recompile the damn games.
We solved the "cross platform" problem in the fucking 1970's and gamedevs (the people most capable at leveraging every feature of the hardware) are still trying to get it right? No, I don't think so.
The real headline: Sony's Publishers have Finally agreed to let Devs recompile their code for Android and iOS.
Ah, but then you'd see the writing on the wall: Consoles less relevant as phones are able to compete with them, much as consoles competed with Arcade cabinets.... Remember what happened to Arcade Cabinets? The consoles with their cheaper, more accessible and faster hardware cycle bested the arcade cabinet even though cabinets offered a better experience. Our portable devices are now cheaper, more accessible and have faster hardware cycles than consoles or PCs. This is why they best them in terms of sales even though they offer a shittier user experience. In time the console games reached and surpassed the user experience of the arcade console in almost every respect (consoles can't compete with, say, the F-Zero console with tilting chair). Soon the mobile platforms will meet and/or surpass the other platforms in terms of user experience. I have a wireless keyboard, mouse, and gamepad I can use with my tablet, for example.
Buh-bie, Sony. It was nice knowing you. You're a Sega now.
Captcha, always relevant: Miscarry.
Sony will be installing root kits in as many android and apple devices as possible.
Lemmings.
That game was made for touch-screen devices. It's a crying shame that it was never (officially; there was a fan port) released for the Nintendo DS.
How many opportunities must I grant Sony to allow my identity to be stolen? Don't tell me this service won't require just as much disclosure of my personal information as the PlayStation network did and we've all seen the shockingly pitiful job that Sony did in protecting that information. I'll sooner violate the intellectual property rights of Sony than trust them with my personal information again. Once bitten, twice F*CK YOU.
Emulation is not necessary for Sony original titles - they have the source code, they can do a port. Most modern mobile devices have a more powerful GPU than the PS2 (and an increasing number have a more powerful on than the PS3), though things that use the Cell SPU are probably harder to port.
I am TheRaven on Soylent News
There are already a lot of ports from square out there.. But I dont think any of them are PS titles now that I think about it. I never actually had any issues using emulation on my games, but most of them are turn based like FF7, etc.
I also had the xperia play mentioned above.. and it had too weak of a RNG to be able to breed my gold chocos.. no matter how many soft resets I did, I NEVER got a blue choco..
Emulation is not necessary for Sony original titles - they have the source code, they can do a port.
A port from the PS1 is relatively trivial. By now they can probably do that in their sleep. Yet, they did not when, for example, they wanted to bring these games to the Xperia Play. Why not? Because if the game is not frame-by-frame identical to the original, gamers will shit themselves. A port from the PS2 or PS3 is far from trivial. The consoles have deeply weird hardware for which dramatic optimization had to be done, and big portions of the code has to be ripped out and replaced with something substantially different. Making the game behave properly, as gamers expect, becomes dramatically difficult under these circumstances.
None of this actually precludes them from porting classic titles to Android, because Sony has certainly made stupid decisions in the past, but I really don't see it. It seems more likely that they've dusted off their old Android PSX emulator code from the Xplay, revised it to use Android controller input, and probably added some awful touch controls. It would cost them basically nothing, since it was a complete working product already.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
Android devices pretty much all support bluetooth gamepads
Android system updates have a habit of breaking apps that act as drivers for Bluetooth gamepads. For example, large changes to the Bluetooth stack from Android 4.1 "Jelly Bean" to Android 4.2 "Jelly Bean II" broke the Wiimote Controller app permanently, and the app had already been broken on several phone models. The Sixaxis Controller app purports to connect connects official Dual Shock 3 controllers to select Android devices. But it requires a rooted phone, has to have a second app just to check its compatibility with your particular phone, and is reported to fail on Android 6 "Marshmallow" and later.
Perhaps part of the confusion is whether the alternative to a gaming PC is owning only a console or owning both a console and a hand-me-down PC that doesn't play recent games.
No mods [ins]is supposed to[/ins] means no cheating in online multiplayer against strangers [ins]but yet cheaters still abound[/ins]
FTFY.
I'm out of the loop, but what form of console cheating is still viable long-term other than standbying (interfering with the opposing side's Internet connection)?
Mouse+Keyboard is a superior input combo which blows gamepads out of the water for sub-pixel pefect FPS accuracy
Which has two drawbacks: an unfair accuracy advantage for player 1 compared to players 2, 3, and 4 on the same machine, and the fact that movement is still digital. W, A, S, and D aren't pressure-sensitive.
Dedicated keyboard makes web surfing fun and trivial to reply with long detailed info. to people on forums such as /. and Reddit, not to mention GameFaqs instead of typing on some shitty virtual keyboard.
Consoles have supported text input through a USB keyboard since the PS2 and the Wii, just not always game input. Besides, a console owner's existing non-gaming PC is still very suitable for Arqade, GameFAQs, reddit, SoylentNews, and Slashdot.
Tons of innovate indie games played first on PC; most which are exclusive to PCs
And which some Slashdot regulars claim should stay on PCs because they're not as "innovate" as some people think. Many are either knockoffs of existing games (like Emacs Tetris) or reportedly comparable to 1983-1984 crash crap.
Allows anyone to make games & content; no shenanigans of overpriced dev kits
Some Slashdot regulars would call this lack of entry barrier a drawback, as it turns the PC game market into the 1983-1984 Atari market.
Aren't overpriced like consoles
How much does a gaming PC with "their favorite case" cost, especially compared to a PlayStation 4? And how much do four upgrades from a non-gaming PC to a gaming PC cost, compared to one console and four controllers? And the Steam sales have to be pretty deep to make a 4-pack as cheap as one console disc.
*Isn't a gimped 5 year old PC
* Allows anyone to run applications such as Photoshop, Krita, Inkscape, etc., Text Editors for real work such as the excellent WebStorm, etc.
"GIMPed"? You chose an interesting word. A console owner's existing non-gaming PC can run GIMP and all of the other non-gaming applications you mention.
TONS of Emulators to play all your old favorite games!
Wii pioneered emulation without having to break the law by downloading ROMs from shady Internet sources. Plus even the dinky little 1.6 GHz Atom in a six-year-old netbook can run an emulator suitable for most pre-1995 games, such as FCEUX or no$sns.
Systems aren't obsolete with an artificial console upgrade cycle
How is DX9, DX10, DX11, DX12 not an "artificial upgrade cycle"?
I agree with most of your points. If it wasn't obvious, I want to switch all the things to PC, but certain factors have historically held at least part of my gaming on consoles. So I'm looking for solid solutions to those factors.
How's that 30 Hz slideshow with 4 players on the same console working out?
A lot better than one hour of 60 Hz and three hours of 0 Hz while the others take their turns, I guess.
Most emulators are ILLEGAL due to requiring the ROMS of the machine.
Having the console maker or the game's developer provide the emulator, as in the case of Virtual Console or Namco Museum, sidesteps the BIOS legality issue.
But actually, PC-based console emulators aren't quite as dependent on "ROMs of the machine" as one might guess. Some platforms lack a BIOS, such as Atari 2600 and NES. Some platforms have an IPL roughly the same size as the Toner Loading Program from the Lexmark case, such as Super NES. Some platforms have only a small IPL whose functionality can be trivially reimplemented in native code (high-level emulation, or HLE), such as Master System, Game Boy, Game Boy Color, and Nintendo 64. Some platforms have a more substantial BIOS that is nevertheless HLE'd accurately enough to run popular games, such as Game Boy Advance. And for those few platforms whose BIOS cannot be HLE'd well due to something like fixed entry addresses, such as Famicom Disk System, there are often solutions to dump your own machine's BIOS pursuant to 17 USC 117 and foreign counterparts.
AIM is FAR more important then STRAFING as any mouse player will you.
This is more true in kill-count-driven games than in stealth games. Keyboard-controlled games need "tiptoe key" and "run key" workarounds.
Let's go play Starcraft2 ? Oh wait, you can't do that on a shitty console.
I'm interested. Is there a quality native PC game comparable to Smash Bros. series? Or is that part of said "limited place"?