Sony reportedly has planned to make a new product that combines the functions of the company’s portable game player, the PSP and Sony Ericsson’s mobile phones, in an effort to better compete with the iPhone and iPod Touch, which have become popular platforms for games among their owners.
It is not a secret that iPhone and iPod Touch owners like to play games and by average iPhone and Touch owners have 10 games on their devices, and so this is how portable gaming giants respond.
But Sony Ericsson, Sony’s phone-making joint venture company, has denied the report and said that is is merely speculative, so the company did not comment on rumors, speculation or future product announcements.
The report was made after the launching of the third-generation iPhone and the latest upgrade to its mobile operating system, which are appealing to game developers in particular. The newest software enables in-application purchases, that could easily be applied to unlocking new weaponry or additional gaming levels.
Additionally, many game developers have expressed excitement over the new graphics capabilities of the iPhone 3GS, which allows for better 3-D graphics.
It is agreed that traditional gamers are not likely to give up their big-name titles and D-Pads for a cellphone, but the wildfire successes of Apple’s App Store is having an effect on the gaming industry. In October, Sony plans to release a new version of its flagship portable gaming device called the PSP Go that won’t use cartridges at all; rather it will deliver software directly to the device - just like an iPhone.
In May, Nintendo of America said that the company did not have plans to add phone functionality to the Nintendo DS or any of its hand-held game devices.
Ngmoco, a publishing company that creates titles solely for the iPhone, thinks the iPhone one-ups the hand-held as a gaming platform. For the most part, the company feels like the iPhone and the iPod Touch have all the necessary pieces to be a killer gaming platform - a unique blend of inherent device capability coupled with usability.
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