Sony will bring PlayStation gaming to Android, the company announced this morning, firming up rumours and leaks that a future Sony Ericsson mobile will include gaming. But its PlayStation Suite app is a long way from the all-in-one PlayStation Phone of rumour. Indeed, it's 'one app, many phones' emphasis counts against the …

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Thursday 27th January 2011 11:14 GMT M Gale

Figured it'd be something like this.

And we could end up with a PS Marketplace on any droidphone that's been through a Sony approval process to ensure the presence of certain features (like a control pad/keyboard, minimum CPU/GPU/RAM...). Just a thought.

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1. Thursday 27th January 2011 12:11 GMT Lottie
  
  Simple enough
  
  If the coders just specify what specs are needed, the marketplace will hide the availability of those apps to phones that fall short.
  
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Thursday 27th January 2011 11:14 GMT Mike Brown

sounds great

ive been hoping this is the way sony would go. a simple app that opens the android world to playstation. great idea. and very forward thinking of sony.

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Thursday 27th January 2011 11:14 GMT MinionZero

Sony controlled app portal

I have mixed feelings about this move. On the one hand we get more mobile games which is good, but on the other hand this move is effectively a Sony Playstation portal tax on Android developers. Android already has many games which bypass the need to go through Sony and Android games work on all Android phones, whereas this Sony move means apps only work on phones with this Sony portal app installed on it, which won't be all Android phones. Plus developers can choose what apps they create on Android, whereas with Sony, they are forced to get their apps approved by Sony (for a fee) and so Sony will block (or delay) approval of apps. (Sony in the past has delayed 3rd party games which compete with its own in house developed games, so they will be able to play these same delaying tactics with this phone move).

So this move sounds very much like a way to try to control developers. There is some impressive games coming out on Android phones already, without Sony seeking a way to control and effectively tax developers. So I can't see many developers falling for this extra Sony tax.

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1. Thursday 27th January 2011 12:11 GMT Sampler
  
  Not liked their forced to
  
  Don't know where you get:
  
  "Android already has many games which bypass the need to go through Sony and Android games work on all Android phones"
  
  Not all games work on all phones - if the Sony approach means a single framework so developers only have to create one version of the game and not a desire/x10/droid/etc version then that's great - just read the Angry BIrds article on here for the fragmentation of the Android platform and the bane it is to develop for - this could really help dev's, for which they may be happy to let Sony mooch some of the cream.
  
  But being an open platform it's not like devs /have/ to go through Sony's portal, they can stick to how it is now if it's so great.
  
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2. Thursday 27th January 2011 12:11 GMT Ian Yates
  
  Choice
  
  It is a way to control developers, but only those that want to release Sony-approved PlayStation(tm) games; which I'm assuming will be supported in devices like PSP and maybe even PS3 arcade-style?
  
  I'm also assuming they'll be providing their own APIs to run within the emulator.
  
  I actually think this sounds like a good approach. You'll still get "pure" Android games, but Sony are providing the possibility of taping in to an existing catalog for decent games.
  
  This is basically adding an Apple-style walled garden market for games - with all the pluses and minuses that entails.
  
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Thursday 27th January 2011 12:07 GMT tsdadam

Good software - wrong hardware?

I don't know if it's just me, but the thought of trying to play even just PSOne games on a touchscreen is a real turn-off. Where do you put equivalent controls for a dpad, two analogue sticks, four face buttons and shoulder buttons? I know games like to use screen overlays, and I know Sony will (probably) have thought about this, but from the outset it seems like there's going to be a lot of fingers taking up screen real estate.

Maybe it'll be like a previous poster said, controlled by Sony on which hardware can run it, despite the OS being open.

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Thursday 27th January 2011 12:08 GMT Anonymous Coward

Against android store terms?

http://games.slashdot.org/story/11/01/25/0531232/Kongregate-App-Pulled-From-Android-Market

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Thursday 27th January 2011 12:12 GMT Lottie

I remember

.. when the Playstation was THE console. It representated a paradigm shift in how games could be.

Now we can run those games on our phones. Wow! I mean really, just WOW!

Imagine back in the day when we were all oohing and aahing at the bagel toaster (remember those ads) and its greatness, if someone had said "yeah, in a few years time that game will be reproduced on a mobile telephone".

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Thursday 27th January 2011 13:12 GMT Jim Coleman

So...

...this is basically going to be a PSOne emulator.

Whoop-de-fuckin-doo. I'd love to see how they're going to emulate all those controller buttons on a touch screen.

Touch screen phones need touch-screen-optimized games, not 20-year-old multibutton games with shit graphics that'll require the manual dexterity of a career-typist.

And if you're going to have touch-screen-optimized games, there's not much point in doing it through the Playstation Portal, now is there?

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Thursday 27th January 2011 13:57 GMT Anonymous Coward

PSOne?

So the games would generally be better than the garbage that is currently on the Android market place.... really guys there is more to the phone gaming world that badly reworked versions of iOS games..... unless you mean pish ports of bat and ball, or galaxian!

What iOS needs is some good game development! And not the 5 or 6 Gameloft games out there!

And before you ask.... iphone 3GS and Samsung Galaxy Tab (and a ZTE Blade/San Fran)

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Thursday 27th January 2011 14:43 GMT DrXym

Makes sense

I always wondered what the hell Sony would be up to if they consigned PSP brand to just their own handhelds. The brand wouldn't stand a chance. At least by allowing other manufacturers to certify their devices they build up an ecosystem which has the potential to become it's own gaming platform in time, independent of Sony hardware.

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Thursday 27th January 2011 15:12 GMT Sampler

Bluetooth PS Controller?

Would be the easiest route with obligatory phone stand (or clip onto handset, would be cool but also difficult to support all handsets I guess)

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