After a considerable amount of excited banter as to whether the rumoured ‘Playstation Phone’ actually existed we finally have pictures of an early prototype that Sony is working with. The design looks a little bare at the moment for obvious reasons, and Sony has dismissed any possibility of a 2010 release.  Aside from the clearly visible D-pad and trademark Playstation buttons it also boasts some elements of touch screen functionality.
Many Playstation enthusiasts (like me) were under the impression that the ‘Sony Ericsson Aino’ was unofficially the ‘Playstation phone’ because of the exclusive remote play functions similar to the PSP. I for one found the Aino a tempting phone based on this feature and the general futuristic and elegant look, but when I saw the hefty price tag I turned away. With this phone in effect being the next model up though, will the price be any more appealing?
So Sony are releasing the ‘official’ Playstation Phone to go alongside your sleek machine of gaming goodness for late 2011 it is believed. However there is one problem with this..erm PSP2? While I am sure that Sony will market the Playstation Phone as best they can, won’t the PSP2 sort of steal the show and kick the latest Sony Ericsson off the stage? Obviously we don’t know anything about what kind of functionality each device supports save for gaming and making calls respectively, so perhaps they could both do well own their separate merits?
I’m not so sure, the Playstation Phone is supposed to support a special piece of download kit for the phone equivalent of the Playstation Store, where users can pay and download Playstation Phone games. Yes let me say that again, Playstation Phone games. This means that Sony are going to be pushing out a whole new line of ‘phone games’ and hence are going to be looking to third party developers to polish some diamonds for them (as well as their own teams of course). How will the games look and play? I guess we’ll have to wait for till they’re ready, arse.
Is this Sony’s move to break into fort iPhone and dangle their gaming expertise in the faces of Apples most loyal? It’s a way off but I think it would be wise to keep an eye on this little gizmo, it might just be one of those Dark Horses of technology we are rarely prepared for.
