Report: Sony Developing PlayStation Phone and iPad Competitor

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The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Sony is developing at least two new portable devices: a cell-phone capable of playing "PlayStation" games and a competitor to Apple's upcoming iPad, which the WSJ says "blurs distinctions among a netbook, an e-reader and a PlayStation Portable."

Both devices are supposedly slated for release this year along with Sony's online media platform, launching later this month in the United States and aimed at competing with Apple's iTunes.

Interestingly enough, the WSJ is claiming that much of the gaming content to be available on both devices will come mostly from the original PlayStation. Though unconfirmed, the tech to run PSOne games would be easier to fit into a cellphone and convergence device. If true, it will be interesting to see if the amount of available PSOne games increases over the digital downloads currently available to PlayStation 3 and PSP owners.

Sony's mobile divisions are hurting with Sony Ericsson reporting a 41% drop in shipments in 2009 compared to 2008. In February, Sony also reduced shipment forecasts for the PSP. As for the iPad, Apple will launch the initial models in late March.

From The Chatty
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    March 4, 2010 3:07 PM

    [deleted]

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      March 4, 2010 3:10 PM

      considering my library of original playstation games vs. iphone, well, me.

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        March 4, 2010 3:14 PM

        And you think they will let you play your previously purchased games on it?

        They want to sell you your own games again.

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        March 4, 2010 3:14 PM

        [deleted]

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          March 4, 2010 3:36 PM

          No I think he means he's bought a lot more PSX games than he has iPhone games. He's purchased a lot more games on a platform where the price is $20-$50 per game than he has for the iPhone where the price is $1-$10 per game.

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            March 4, 2010 6:26 PM

            yes. i don't expect there to be any (legal) way to transfer from the disk, and i expect that i'll have to re-buy, as i already have to if i want to play these games on psp. that said, in most cases, i'd much rather play an original playstation game that an iphone game.

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              March 4, 2010 7:52 PM

              Same. The app store may have millions of apps versus the thousands of games on the PlayStation, but those thousands of games in general are of much higher quality than the vast majority of those millions of apps.

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      March 4, 2010 3:16 PM

      [deleted]

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        March 5, 2010 6:32 AM

        Agreed. One of my favorite games of all time.

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      March 4, 2010 4:12 PM

      You've obviously never played a playstation.

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      March 4, 2010 6:27 PM

      Anyone who wants decent controls.... duh!

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        March 4, 2010 6:30 PM

        Not to mention many of the PSP's own game library are much better then anything that is on the iphone.

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        March 5, 2010 1:43 PM

        ^^^this. Don't get me wrong, I've played more of Space Miner on the iPhone than almost anything on the consoles over the last month but the onscreen controller approach to iPhone games blows.

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