Yesterday, Sony held a meeting in Tokyo to go over business and strategy. Not quite designed to be a trade show, or marketing razzle-dazzle fest, or even a press conference, speculation abounded that the meeting would focus on the rumored and widely-leaked Playstation Phone or even the next generation of the Playstation Portable. Instead, we got a pleasant surprise, and a somewhat unexpected surprise. It is this approach that made me think about where things would go, and what we could be in store for in the coming years.
First off, the pleasant surprise. Although the PSP has mostly been holding up well, with people gradually coming around to purchase one for various reasons, a newer generation model was in order. Yes, there have been refreshes, and iterations which have added some new functionality or even attempted to introduce a new way of accessing content (the ill-fated PSP Go). But it felt like it was about time to kick it up a level. Thus, we get a familiar architecture, with a healthy amount of specifications and features in the currently codenamed PlayStation Next Generation Portable or NGP. A short overview and the press release here at Engadget. And the official PlayStation one.
The unexpected surprise? The news that Sony is working on a framework called the PlayStation Suite. A framework aimed at developers or content creators that will allow them to target Android smartphones and tablets, in addition to the upcoming PlayStation NGP. Additionally, many titles that have been written for the PlayStation One can potentially be ported over to this framework. The idea is to enable content creators to target a much larger audience than ever before. So what's the future of gaming, then? If you would have asked me previously, say 2 or 3 years ago, I might have claimed burnout and fatigue. Both technologically and even culturally, gaming wasn't accessible to the average person. Gaming was frowned upon by the average person. "I'm not one of those people."But there has been a change afoot, and this change was powered by technologies introduced by Nintendo and Apple. Nintendo through its approach to casual gaming by introducing the Wii, allowed people to rediscover that they did enjoy playing games, most particularly with other people. (They would also soon find out, that once the initial novelty wears out, having a variety of creative games and game play will keep you playing. No compelling games, no reason to keep playing.) Apple through the infrastructure of allowing mostly quality apps to see the light of day, eventually took away the stigma of playing games, by introducing casual games that appealed to a wide variety of people. Now people readily shared and recommended favorite games to one another. Now that gaming, and in particular portable gaming is viable form of entertainment for the average person, I see that most people who will game regularly will fall into one of three types:1. Casual gamers
2. Hardcore gamers
3. Gamers that fluctuate between the twoCasual gamers will not ask much more out of the device that they choose to play their games on. Whether it is some mobile version of solitaire, or hearts or some tablet version of Chutes and Ladders, the type of experience that they'll look for is well within reach of smartphones and tables today. Hardcore gamers on the other hand, would and will ask for the world if they were given the choice. These gamers are looking for immersive experiences depending on their preferred genre. These gamers require..nay, demand a console that can deliver the best and brightest experience. With these first two gamer types, it's already obvious what their choice in platform would be. For fluctuating gamers, this is where the new battle will lie for content creators. Now that gaming is getting wide acceptance as a form of entertainment on the go, more and more people are starting to crave more variety and immersion in the types of games that they play. Some days you might just like to whimsically slice fruit, or fling virtual avian creatures at smug uncooked pork products. Other days you might enjoy a bit more stimulation, perhaps playing with friends working to take over a base, or a round of golf together. This is where both the PlayStation Suite and NGP will each have an effect on what we'll see in the next couple of years. With a single framework to handle the heavy lifting of managing different form factors of Android, game creators can go back to focusing on content, versus trying to worry about working on a version for the smartphone and a version for the tablet. Additionally, previously successful games can even be introduced to the framework, and enhanced by newer control features such as touch and the gyroscope. The NGP will open up the possibility of maintaining the living room experience on a portal device, including introducing the dual touchpad which should open up for some interesting gaming possibilities as well. Easier said than done of course. The first hurdle that they'll encounter is making the PlayStation Suite as developer-friendly as possible. You never hear about how you can't do anything with PlayStation APIs. You will hear about how difficult it can be to get up to speed with developing with them. The second hurdle will be pricing. Pricing for the NGP will be one thing, based on the number of next generation features, in addition to similar devices that will be available during the Holiday season of 2011. Pricing for PlayStation Suite for content creators, and the price of games for the framework will ultimately make or break the success of this vision. I'm cautiously excited and optimistic that we'll be in for exciting developments revealed at E3. Only the future knows for sure.
2. Hardcore gamers
3. Gamers that fluctuate between the twoCasual gamers will not ask much more out of the device that they choose to play their games on. Whether it is some mobile version of solitaire, or hearts or some tablet version of Chutes and Ladders, the type of experience that they'll look for is well within reach of smartphones and tables today. Hardcore gamers on the other hand, would and will ask for the world if they were given the choice. These gamers are looking for immersive experiences depending on their preferred genre. These gamers require..nay, demand a console that can deliver the best and brightest experience. With these first two gamer types, it's already obvious what their choice in platform would be. For fluctuating gamers, this is where the new battle will lie for content creators. Now that gaming is getting wide acceptance as a form of entertainment on the go, more and more people are starting to crave more variety and immersion in the types of games that they play. Some days you might just like to whimsically slice fruit, or fling virtual avian creatures at smug uncooked pork products. Other days you might enjoy a bit more stimulation, perhaps playing with friends working to take over a base, or a round of golf together. This is where both the PlayStation Suite and NGP will each have an effect on what we'll see in the next couple of years. With a single framework to handle the heavy lifting of managing different form factors of Android, game creators can go back to focusing on content, versus trying to worry about working on a version for the smartphone and a version for the tablet. Additionally, previously successful games can even be introduced to the framework, and enhanced by newer control features such as touch and the gyroscope. The NGP will open up the possibility of maintaining the living room experience on a portal device, including introducing the dual touchpad which should open up for some interesting gaming possibilities as well. Easier said than done of course. The first hurdle that they'll encounter is making the PlayStation Suite as developer-friendly as possible. You never hear about how you can't do anything with PlayStation APIs. You will hear about how difficult it can be to get up to speed with developing with them. The second hurdle will be pricing. Pricing for the NGP will be one thing, based on the number of next generation features, in addition to similar devices that will be available during the Holiday season of 2011. Pricing for PlayStation Suite for content creators, and the price of games for the framework will ultimately make or break the success of this vision. I'm cautiously excited and optimistic that we'll be in for exciting developments revealed at E3. Only the future knows for sure.