Still surprising if not a surprise, Sony has made the decoupling their PlayStation games from PlayStation hardware -- like the new PSP2/NGP -- official with the launch of PlayStation Suite. Android is the only other platform targeted right now (which makes sense given Sony Ericsson's Android phone investment) but could the 160 million install base strong iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad iOS platform come online in the future?

Hey, Verizon is getting the iPhone so anything can happen, right? Still, with Apple maintaining tight control of the App Store they and Sony would probably have to come to a special licensing and development deal to get the same type of PlayStation content onto iOS. It wouldn't be as easy as Android and likely webOS would. Sony could always develop/port iOS-specific versions of their titles but that would take more effort on their part, even with 160 million reasons to do it.

Sony also announced their next generation portable (NGP), aka the PSP2 and it's a monster in every sense of the word. If you thought the rumored Apple A5 chip was hot, this thing is on fire with a quad-core ARM Cortex A9 and quad-core PowerVR SGX543 chipset (they claim it's close to PS3 in terms of power). No word on what kind of battery that will require to deliver significant online gaming life. The 5-inch OLED display is 960x544 (close to iPhone 4's 960x640 but at a much larger size) and touch sensitive. It's got at the 3Gs and Wi-Fis, as well as a touch-sensitive area on the back of the device so you can swipe without obscuring the display. Dual cameras, dual analog thumbsticks and the usual PS controls round out the input methods. It's also got a new interface that they claim is more social but -- at least so far -- doesn't look as clean or consistent as the old crossbar. Sony does say it will be ready for a holiday 2011 release which will put it up against iPhone 5, iPod touch 5, and iPad 2 (with iPad 3 on its way).

Both Sony and Nintendo have been losing mobile gaming share to iOS over the least couple years, will hardware like the PSP2 and software like PlayStation suite start turning that tide?

[Android Central, Engadget]

The PlayStation official app is now available in the App Store. Before you get too excited though, the app does not let you play any games and seems to be available just in Europe.

The PlayStation app does let you view your gaming trophies and those of your friends when you are signed into the app with your PlayStation Network ID and password. You can also access information on the complete catalogue of games available on the PSN, PS3, PS2 and PSP. A short write up is available for each game and you can share the information via Twitter, Facebook and email if you are so inclined. There are also links to news from PlayStation.com and the PlayStation.Blog and that is about it.

The free app is available today and has been released with English, Dutch, French, German, Italian and Spanish language support. It is compatible with the iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad as long as you are running iOS 4.0 and greater.

[iTunes-Link]

Yesterday during Apple's annual Special Music Event Steve Jobs announced that the iPod touch was more popular than both Nintendo's DS and Sony's PSP... combined. Jobs also said more than 1.5 billion games and entertainment apps have been downloaded by iPod touch devices to date.

However, as every gadget and gaming blog has since pointed out, while iPod touch has sold in the mid tens of millions of units (Apple doesn't often break them out), Nintendo's DS series has sold 132 million all on its lonesome, so take this with a "biggest mobile company" type grain of salt.

[Engadget, thanks also to Freaknasty]

Sony has released a new ad for their PSP gaming system and it takes aim squarely at Apple's iPhone and iOS gaming.

"That [iPhone] ain't built for big boy games", the latest PSP spokeskid, Marcus Rivers, says to a goofy looking guy playing "Lame Castle". "That's built for texting your grandma and calling your girl."

Rivers then shows off a few older, $9.99 catalog titles, and calls the goofy guy to drive home the $9.99 price point before hitting the tag line: "step your game up."

Obviously this acknowledges the growing competition from iPhone, especially the low price point of iOS games.

And since goofy guy can text grandma, call his girl, and play great new games without having to lug around a second, gigantic device -- one that's still bound to physical media and hasn't seen a real hardware update since before Marcus was born -- it might not be a winning strategy for Sony. (That Android PSP phone, however...)

Video after the break. Does it make any of you want to carry around an iPhone and a PSP?

[Ars Technica]

Engadget has it from a reliable source that there's a device being prepared by Sony Ericsson that will look like a cross between a Samsung Captivate and PSP Go, run Android 3.0 "Gingerbread" and, enjoy PS titles like God of War.

If it pans out, if they nail the hardware and software, it will be a serious competitor to iPhone and iOS in the mobile gaming space. If Sony can work a little Apple-style magic and get it integrated with the PS3, it could be flat out awesome.

So what do you think, combine this with Windows Phone 7 getting Xbox live features, will Apple, the App Store, and their upcoming Game Center be enough to hold on to the mobile gaming market?

[Engadget via Android Central]

Eurogamer spoke to Johnny Two Shoes (The Heist, Banana Dash), Normalware (Bebot) and Firemint (Flight Control) about how Sony's new PSPgo platform may compete with the iPhone, and the answers were interesting:

• After an 80% price cut to PSP dev tool charges, bring the price down to $1500) it's still much more expensive than Apple's $99.
• Developers can't target the existing PSP install base of 50 million, PSPgo has only just been released, and Apple's iPhone and iPod touch have an install base of over 40 million devices.

However, Apple growing the download gaming market and PSP games traditionally being bigger and longer (as opposed to casual iPhone gaming) were seen as positives for Sony.

"In the end," Maxwell Scott-Slade concludes, "the consumer wins for choice and developers win for a more direct access to their audience."

[via PS3blog.net]

It's a gaming console

It's not a phone, it's a console experience

I have personally been enjoying the gaming on the iPhone. But I have to wonder; is Steve Jobs plan to penetrate the market with games in order to conquer all? The same method he has used by getting consumers to use Macs, then demanding them in the enterprise? Only time will tell. In the meantime, I plan on enjoying all the gaming the iPhone has to offer.

For the last two weeks we here at TiPb have been taking a deeper look into Apple's "Game On" push. Can anyone really doubt Steve Jobs is trying to make the iPhone/iPod Touch into the next big portable gaming device? Stop and think about it, he took the idea of a portable MP3 player and made it into a device that has dominated the music business ever since. Now, according to Jobsy, "you could make a pretty good argument [the iPhone is] the best portable device for playing games on."

Michael Gartenberg, vice president of Mobile Strategy at Jupitermedia's MobileDevicesToday.com, chimed in:

The not-so-subtle message was, ‘If you’re thinking about buying something like a PSP or a DS, maybe you want to think again because we’ve got this cool device that does all your mobile stuff and, by the way, is a pretty excellent game platform as well’

Steve Palley, Editorial Guru for Vivendi Games Mobile said:

The iPhone is going to make the mobile games industry into everything we always wanted it to be but failed to achieve.

Even Nintendo's Denise Kaigler, VP of Corporate Affairs spoke out regarding the iPhone:

Any time you have a new company enter an industry, it’s always good for the consumer. It gives them choices and we welcome that. But we have found over the last 20 years, despite all the choices consumers have had, that the Nintendo devices have enjoyed a great deal of success.

I really can not argue with Nintendo's comment. Nintendo is the king of the hill in the handheld gaming industry. Many have tried to overtake them, all failing. Here's what I'm thinking, though, Apple may not be the top dog at the moment but by the time the next iPhone is released, Jobsy might just be saying "I told you so!". Give the App Store a year to grow, software developers time to get the most out of the hardware, etc... And then lets see how things start to shake out. What are you guys and gals thinking?

[Via MSBC.com]

We had mentioned the prototype of iControlPad more than a couple months ago, but it has popped up again looking a little bit more finalized and a lot BIGGER. Back in May, I had compared the original model to a PSP, but I think this edition looks more like the Sega Game Gear from years back. This thing is huge!

It promises to be glossier in the final production model and hopefully it'll look a little bit nicer. Shouldn't it look flush with the iPhone? At least steal some of the iPhone's design cues! I will reserve my excitement and temper my expectations until I see the final product. Because even though it is kind of ugly, it might take iPhone gaming to another level.

ReadVia

As gaming developers grow more familiar with the iPhone platform and learning its capabilities, many are doling out their opinions across the interweb. Compared to the DS and the PSP, an EA developer put the iPhone in terms of power closer to the PSP than the DS. That's nothing new for us at TiPb but now Sega is claiming that the iPhone is more powerful than their last console, the Dreamcast! To remind you: the Dreamcast was home to Soul Caliber, Shenmue, & Virtua Tennis and the console was a competitor of the PS2 and Xbox.

And. the. iPhone. is. more. powerful. than. that.

But powerful as it is, as proven by the current console war, the iPhone is going to need FUN games to succeed as a gaming platform. Let's give developers some time to see what they can come up with. With such power under the hood, they'll have no excuse!

Read

Trying to break records on your iPhone? Can't manage to do it with the touchscreen? Well jailbreak nation, it looks like there is a solution---iControlpad!

Though the image above is just a prototype, it takes obvious visual cues from the PSP, just take a look at the button layout and form factor.  Supposedly, it works via serial port and is currently supported by GBA, PSX (ZodTTD developed) emulators. They are planning on releasing the source code and SDK soon so hopefully more developers can jump on board.

Honestly, I'm tempering my excitement for this. I personally feel as if putting buttons and an analog stick will trap iPhone's games 'in the box'. But emulators are for re-creating the original experience, so I'll let it slide. Either way, it could be a great idea if utilized the right way.

ReadVia

We've covered gaming here a few times already. Now Roughly Drafted Magazine's Daniel Eran Dilger chimes in with another of his highly detailed (and highly partisan) articles, this one looking at Apple's iPhone and how it compares to, and seems poised to disrupt, the established portable gaming platforms:

The most obvious competition the iPhone faces is the leading Nintendo DS and the distant runner up, Sony’s PlayStation Portable. Incidentally, both gaming units appeared on the market in late 2004; the iPhone benefits from being nearly three years younger, and therefore based on considerably more modern technology. However, gaming isn’t an easy market to break into.

Dilger covers whether or not a convergence device like the iPhone can even compete against dedicated gaming handhelds. He runs down the current console market and Apple's thus far discreet approach to gaming on iPods.

From unit pricing to hardware specs, Dilger makes his case that while the iPhone is expensive, its also a generation ahead in terms of performance, and despite the price, offers features above and beyond gaming.

Potential smart phone rivals, including Micrsoft's XNA and Nokia's N-Gage 2.0 are also discussed.

What's Dilger's conclusion?

As Apple migrates its 150 million iPod installed base toward the iPod Touch and iPhone, the company will pair a large user base with enthusiastic development efforts. Users will get the gaming environment as a free addition to the phone, media player, and web browser they purchased. Conversely, that also means that lesser phones with plodding web browser capabilities and simplistic media playback–as well as dedicated games consoles that really only play games–will have a hard time competing against the new platform. That should make for an interesting 2008.

Personally, I've considered a PSP in the past but could never justify the (then very high) cost for something I wouldn't use all that often. But I have my phone with me all the time, and if I could get games as innovative as the DS (or Wii!) and as high quality as the PSP on my iPhone, it would be a no brainer. And maybe Apple's counting on that as a way to "trojan horse" its way into gaming.

On a very deep level, using the accelerometer to fly an X-Wing into the Death Star is something I think the iPhone was forged to do. (You listening, Lucas?)

Not only did the iPhone serve RIM at the SDK event. But after Apple showcased the demos of Touch Fighter, Spore, and Super Monkey Ball on the iPhone, Nintendo and Sony better watch out as well. Game controls utilized the accelerometer and multi-touch while the graphics were displayed on that crystal clear screen--make no mistake--Apple is ready to revolutionize gaming.

With the early glimpses into the gaming capabilities of the iPhone, we've learned that:

1. The possibilities are endless
2. It looks really fun
3. Apple has a potential gaming jackpot in their hands

If we have learned anything from the current console "war" between the Xbox 360, Playstation 3, and the Nintendo Wii—consumers are more interested in buying the "fun" games as opposed to those that are graphically superior. At its bare minimum, gaming on the iPhone can be likened to a ridiculously advanced wii-mote. At its maximum potential? Quite possibly the best mobile gaming experience ever.

Earlier today Chad asked about what your favorite gaming experiences on the iPhone might be. But how will Apple deal with the business side of it? How can the iPhone conquer gaming? Find out after the jump.

Present State of Entertainment

As home entertainment becomes busier with multiple types of on-demand entertainment, there is little to no room on people’s TV stands. In a sense, to get a foot into the living room—there would have to be too much investment for such uncertain gain. Hence, the Apple TV has manifested into a ‘hobby’ unit because of the overcrowded entertainment stand. If we can compare this generation's gaming battle to a war, the living room would be its trenches where little to no room is actually gained.

However, portable gaming as a whole is on an upward rise. Sales of the Nintendo DS and the Sony PSP almost always outpace those of their home console counterparts. With total sales of the DS approaching 70 million units worldwide and the PSP with around 25 million units. The global appetite for portable gaming is only beginning to be realized.

Still the portable market has yet to be conquered. People are carrying too many items around—phones, cameras, planners, gaming devices—only because there has yet to be a true all-in-one device. Before the SDK announcement, the iPhone could only realistically cover your phone, planner, and camera (to an extent). But now? If this is entertainment war, the iPhone should be likened to the A(pple)-Bomb.

Portable Gaming Today

Today's market of portable gaming consists of two titans. The behemoth of fun, the Nintendo DS and the sleek, cool Sony PSP. Comparatively speaking, they come from two different backgrounds. The PSP has a beautiful screen that the DS lacks but makes up for in a touchscreen. The PSP CPU is light-years faster than the DS, but the DS answers back with better games and an easier to learn experience. With these two portable gaming consoles dominating the market, it begs the question--is there room for one more?

Lets take a quick look at the processors and screen quality of all three devices and see where the iPhone stands in the pack.

Nintendo DS

Processor: two ARM CPUs @ 67MHz and 33MHz

Screen Resolution: (2) 256 x 192 pixels

Sony PSP

Processor: MIPS CPU @ 222 or 333MHz

Screen Resolution: 480 x 272 pixels

iPhone

Processor: ARM CPU @ 620MHz

Screen Resolution: 480 x 320 pixels

Using that as a rough barometer of gaming possibilities, we can see that the iPhone is perfectly capable of handling any game that the PSP runs sans ugly UMD and awkward analog stick. In fact, combining the more powerful CPU processor with OpenGL and Core Animation for developers, we truly have the capabilities for great looking games. But again, being more powerful than the next machine doesn’t guarantee victory. What does help however, is having a fun and unique experience.

So taking on the current king, the Nintendo DS, is crucial if Apple wants to walk away victorious. As Nintendo continues to raise the bar in fun gaming experiences, Apple is hot on their heels. Any game that involves touching, the iPhone can match and raise with its accelerometer. In fact, as Nintendo often suggests, touching is good, but as any iPhone users would say multi-touch is much better.

iPhone users really have the best of both worlds in their hands. Not only do they have a machine more powerful than the PSP but they also combine it with a gaming experience on par with the Nintendo DS. The iPhone (and to the same extent, the iPod Touch) certainly has the technological prowess to take the portable gaming market by storm. Include the fact that with Apple’s goal to sell 10 million iPhones by the end of the year and the onset of a 3G iPhone along with more potential carriers across the world, Apple certainly will have enough iPhones in people’s hands to make a dent in the gaming industry.

Where Can The iPhone Fit In?

Looking past the enormous fun-factor in all the games demoed at the SDK roadmap event (and boy, were they fun), we should note something much more important: how quickly the games were developed and how eager the developers are. If developing games for the iPhone was tough, even the most powerful system would squander its potential without the best developers on board. Luckily, the people over at EA and SEGA continually stressed the ease of developing games for the iPhone throughout the entire event. In fact, Sega likened creating games for the iPhone to creating games for any console. The iPhone has THAT much potential.

Using iTunes to promote the games will serve as the perfect billboard for developers. Mobile gaming (and products, for that matter) has never seen an outlet such as iTunes. Gone are the days of searching for fun games on your mobile carrier’s store and scouring versiontracker for the latest build, iTunes is a media outlet that has become near universal. Having your product on the pages of iTunes is on par with being on the shelves at Wal-Mart and Best Buy.

The iPhone’s true soul is being a blank slate—that principle reflects in its design. By building a powerful device from the ground up (that just so happens to be a phone, among other things)—the iPhone has made developers re-think mobile gaming. No longer are they confined to uncomfortably small buttons or screens with horrible resolution—they truly have their blank slate to go wild on.

What Will Apple Do?

But the question remains, does Apple really want to pursue Nintendo and Sony in portable gaming or are they satisfied with being just better than mobile phone gaming? I think the answer lies somewhere closer to challenging the DS and the PSP. They have the technology behind their device, developers already on board, and a cool and fun factor that neither Sony nor Nintendo could match. But if games provide to be too tough to develop (I doubt it) or end up being terrible (Again, I doubt it), Apple can easily back off and claim it never planned for the iPhone to be the next big thing in gaming.

Either way, it is an entirely win-win situation for Apple—portable gaming just adds to the near-perfect resume of the iPhone. Remember folks, the iPhone is already a great phone, the best mobile internet portal, and the best iPod—in one device. Asking it to be the best gaming device, might be a little too much, but that’s how high Apple has set the bar. And I think they just might reach it.

With the recent announcement of the iPhone SDK, we became witness to the iPhone's possible future in gaming. If you are a portable gamer, you probably already own a Nintendo DS or a Sony PSP. Perhaps in the future, you will just use your iPhone? The iPhone is flying off of the shelf these days and with the App Store around the corner, there is no excuse for users not to get a little gaming action. Electronic Arts is a huge developer and publisher for video games. What if they port games to the iPhone? A little Need for Speed Underground anyone? Imagine holding your iPhone like a steering while and using the accelerometer as you rotate the phone left and right to steer, then lean the iPhone forward to accelerate and tilt it back to brake and change your views by touching the screen... oh, the possibilities.

What do you foresee as possible future uses for the iPhone as a gaming platform? We could start with Nintendo's Wii for inspiration...