Sony isn't simply gunning for hardcore gamers looking for big console-style play in a portable package. It has designs on casual players and the mobile phone crowd, too.
During a Wednesday press event in Tokyo in which it revealed the successor to the PlayStation Portable, Sony announced that it also will release PlayStation Suite which will make more casual and bite-sized downloadable PlayStation content available on Android smart phones and tablets.
"PlayStation Suite provides a new framework that supports the development of games for portable devices," Kaz Hirai, President of Sony Computer Entertainment, said. "This new game framework is designed to attract as many developers as possible."
PS Suite will be hardware-neutral, Hirai said. He also announced that Sony is preparing to open a PlayStation Store for Android-based devices. Original PlayStation 1 games are among the titles that will be made available for download. And he said that they will also launch the PlayStation Certified program to perform content-quality testing to ensure their games work well across the various devices.
"The world of portable has undergone a huge change since the release of PSP," Hirai said. "When we released PSP, cell phone providers were unable to deliver PlayStation quality content. After six years, these multi-function handheld devices are ready for PlayStation-like experiences."
PlayStation Suite content is slated to be available within the next calendar year and games via PlayStation Suite will work on the Next Generation Portable device — the successor to the PlayStation Portable — that Sony also revealed during Wednesday's press conference.
Despite all this phone and tablet gaming talk, one thing Sony did not reveal during its Wednesday night event was the Sony Ericsson Xperia Play phone — aka the PlayStation Phone. Early on Wednesday, Engadget announced that the phone is a real deal and that they had got their hands on one, offering pictures and hands-on impressions of the hybrid smart phone/gaming device.
Sony is expected to finally reveal that device in mid-February at the Mobile World Congress taking place in Spain.
For related stories see:
- Sony reveals PSP successor - the Next Generation Portable
- Sony's PlayStation phone is for real
- Nintendo 3DS launching on March 27 for $250
Winda Benedetti writes about games for msnbc.com. You can follow her tweets about games and other things right here on Twitter.
