The Only Way for Sony’s PSP Phone to Succeed: Second Generation PSP Gaming, Release Two Devices

Posted on 21 December 2010, Last updated on 21 December 2010 by

Back in October, I urged Sony to get back to innovating in the handheld market and inspiring us once again. For a company whose tagline is “Make. Believe. inch They’ve certainly done that lately making me believe that they want to copy a company like HP rather than being innovative and imaginative like they once were.

PlayStation_Phone_prototypeI looked toward the whispers of the so called “PSP Phone inch that’s recently made the rounds with leaked photos and videos as a glimmer of hope. The PSP Phone has been a concept wished for by PSP fans for a long time, but recently we’ve seen legitimate evidence that it will exist. The most recent information I’ve read regarding the release of the device is from Pocket-lint, reporting that Sony will launch the PSP Phone at Mobile World Congress 2011 in Barcelona, rather than next month’s Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.

If Sony’s past gives us any indication, they’re capable of making great handheld devices. For the unique situation of combining a flagship gaming device with a phone, they are going to have to do two specific things in order to make the union a success.

Second Generation PSP Gaming

wipeout pulse concept artThe first thing is designing the hardware to not be just a PSP + phone, but a PSP 2 + phone. The device needs to represent a new benchmark for mobile gaming. Designing the PSP Phone to simply play existing PSP games will not only be unimpressive, but it won’t sell well.

Why? Because the market is already saturated with PSP devices which have been on the market for almost 7 years and Sony has yet to introduce a next generation version of the device! A whopping 62 million PSP systems have been sold worldwide as of September 2010. Several iterations have been released over the years, and all of them are capable of playing the same games. Releasing a device that can play the same old PSP games while there’s already 62 million devices that do so out there is naturally going to limit your demographic to those who don’t already have a PSP but want one, and perhaps some of those who already have one but want to combine their phone and their gaming device. The world has been waiting for the PSP 2, and now would be a great time to make that happen.

Others who are mostly uninterested in gaming won’t pick up the device over other phones because it will likely be more expensive than the competition which would be able to get away with less powerful hardware and thus cheaper prices (lacking the requirement to play serious games, not casual handheld ones) while still running the same Android version.

Additionally, creating a phone that can only play existing PSP games would also needlessly underuse the rumored specifications of the upcoming PSP Phone. Existing PSP devices have a 333MHz CPU, 32MB or 64MB of RAM, and an underwhelming 480×272 resolution screen. Scaling these games up to a presumed 854×480 screen would make them look even more outdated, and running them without allowing developers to take advantage of the rumored 1GHz Snapdragon CPU and 512MB of RAM would be nearly criminal.

So why not let developers take advantage of the hardware and create games that are “PSP 2 inch worthy? Doing this alone and abandoning all of the other PSP devices that can currently run any game in the vast library would be a bad move that would break a gaming eco-system that stretches 6 years. This is why Sony needs to launch two devices.

Launch the PSP 2 Along With the PSP Phone

Sony needs to launch a phoneless PSP 2 device alongside a PSP 2 Phone. Without it, suddenly a prerequisite for the most modern handheld gaming experience would be a cellular contract. That’s like requiring that you subscribe to the gym in order to own a car the two simply shouldn’t be connected. Not only would a cellular contract be required, but you might also need to be on a specific carrier.

If a PSP 2 Phone launches and a phoneless PSP 2 doesn’t launch alongside it, what happens if the PSP 2 Phone is only available on GSM carriers (as they commonly are, here in the US)? That would rule out the entire Sprint/Verizon demographic. Suddenly, if you are a Sprint/Verizon customer, and you want to play the latest handheld games, you have to switch cellular carriers?! That’s asking absolutely way too much of customers and is not going to get the PSP 2 Phone sold.

A PSP 2 could very simply be the same Android powered device, but lacking the cellular hardware and hopefully bringing down the cost to be even less than the PSP Phone (subsidized, a PSP 2 Phone would likely be less expensive than an unsubsidized PSP 2, assuming same hardware). Even if the two were priced the same, it would still open up the demographic of people who have carriers that won’t support the PSP 2 Phone, to people who don’t have any control over their wireless choices (ie: teens), and of course to those who can’t afford (or use alternatives to) cellular contracts.

What’s the big deal if the people willing to pay for cellular contracts (specifically, GSM carriers) are the only ones able to play the latest handheld games on the PSP 2 Phone? Developers are the big deal. Without a mass-media audience to sell to, you’ll never get the AAA developer support you need to differentiate between a hardcore gaming device and casual iPhone/Android gaming.

Continue reading on page 2… “The Precedent”

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3 Comments For This Post

  1. Lee says:

    I agree with what you are saying but we may differ on the timing of it. I don’t think there needs to be a wifi only version of the PSP Phone at launch. First they will possibly make more money up front by eager early adopters. Second, it may give them leverage with carriers (my guess is this is part of Samsungs Galaxy Tab strategy).

    For me this is the Android phone I want. The game controller alone will improve the gaming possibilities with Android (assuming apps have access). I mean the touch screen can only do so much before some games become too frustrating to play and this phone won’t have this problem that iPhones, Windows 7 Phones, and others will have.

    Plus they will probably have exclusive games, from top developers.

    My concern though, Sony had Linux for the PS3 and dropped support for it forcing some people to give it up and upgrade or not be able to access the playstation network. I would hope Android wouldn’t end up in the same boat, if Sony loses interest.

  2. shak says:

    I understand the confusion. I can’t figure it out myself. apparently there is a psp 2 apart from the psp phone which has dual analogue sticks and a touch screen on the rear side. this indicates that sony is splintering up its portable gaming consoles for different needs. one will provide android with the hardware it needs to deliver a deep gaming experience and will, I think, be a huge success. the other, I think, will be a console ‘proper’ and will probably fail unless it includes phone capabilities too.

    lets look at what is important in portable gaming.

    1. portability. this means the device must be small, which the psp phone will be. however, phone plus psp2 = double weight = no longer portable = im not taking it,I would rather play casual games.

    victory for psp phone (cue victory tune)

    2. dual analogue sticks. in my opinion the original psp failed (yes it failed) because of the single analogue nub. remember back in 2004/5 what we were promised: ‘ps2 in your pocket’ ….now think about your favorite games for your your ps2 xbox or even ps3…have these games been successfully ported to the psp? No they have not. all fps’s failed because of the lack of dual analogue, all adventure games failed (except gow) and thusly that which made the ps2 what it was was impossible to make on the psp. try playing mgs on psp…you need pretzel hands.
    psp phone has touch based analogue sticks (digital analogue sticks?) but psp 2 may have hardware analogue.

    minor victory psp2.

    honestly…I think the psp2 is doomed because if the psp phone catches on its going to explode. you have android ports of all games such as res-evil cod etc..quake fully controllable with the new control scheme….after that why would people choose a closed system with fewer developers where you need expensive sdk’s etc when you have an open platform that serves many different needs such as internet phone and entertainment device.

    I see nintendo winning the standalone console race, serving the kids who are not allowed phones, their brand is much stronger but sony has a tough time because they are aiming at an older market which has changed significantly and that expects everything on their phone. they may be starting a trend which others can quickley follow …and they may end up as just another software vendor on android all be it with a tasty back catalogue of ps1 and poss ps2 games.

  3. Lee says:

    There is an element that is missing that has potential to hurt the PSP Phone (xperia play) lainch and that is stereoscopic 3D. And the reasons I feel that it is the case :

    1) Nintendo 3DS is to be released in april (same time frame), and will likely be marketting its 3D ability.

    2) Sharp Galapagos Android 3D tablets are probabably out by now in Japan, and is expected to be released globally next year. (can’t seem to find imports or reviews yet)
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bQhd9nSCQV4

    3) There may be consumer expectations, since Sony also has 3D TVs and 3D games for the PS3. There own marketting of 3D for their other products can work against the PSP Phone.

    4) I play 3D PC games, and while 3D for movies/tv/sports events may be a gimic, 3D for games is an advancement in graphics, especially useful for low end systems that can’t have advanced shaders to produce realistic looking graphics, it can help a player separate things out spatially.

    For me I have mixed feelings. I had planned to buy a 3DS, but I was also interested in an Android device with a game controller, and now there is going to be an Android device with 3D. Next thing you know some one else is going to release an Android device with a wacom digitizer built in!!!

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