[Xperia Play General] Hicsy:
doubtful but maybe...

hmm well, marketing usually says its all about image, demand and timing... but i think Playstation worked well because of 3 key things:

* Availability: Thanks to the Japs getting PS1 early, there was over 500 games for the platform when SCEE was launched (and whatever USA calls it). There was a well-established SDK to help any developer get started... and there were grants to help key devs get started.

* Exclusivity: Do you want the best racing simulator of all kind? Gran Turismo wasnt available on Nintendo or Sega, so you better consider this unique console

* Value: The first cheaply available CD player for your hifi system? How about one of the first DVD players. (In some countries) THE very first Bluray player. Oh by the way for the same price as other hifi devices, it also happens to be the most powerful consumer electronic device for games each time, too!

The android story:​

Its open, its fragmented, its saturated... The PLAY released niche hardware to an open OS: at least we had access to all the usual market games, and SOME major devs used either Android's gamepad implementation or attempted Sony's confusing methods... but there wasn't enough for the cash cows to justify the PLAY's mid-spec hardware + features compared to Korean offerings for similar (often cheaper) pricetags. Sure, somebody EVENTUALLY found a blog on Sony's dev-site explaining how to code the pads+buttons but too little too late.

Google should have noted a gaming phone w/hardware buttons as a big feature of android 2.2/2.3 and Sony should have co-ordinated the hardware support with them so that ANY games that use the silly touchscreen joysticks automatically swap to hardware on PLAY - this could have been automatic via the OS - incredibly important given the timing!

The timing: iPhone had recently established itself as THE mobile multimedia platform, thanks to accessibility of the simple-usage and the MASSIVE app-store... Google was trying to be taken seriously, and had a growing games market and Sony jumped at chance. Although Google managed the great Korean game-changer... Sony's PLAY was too niche and they were too scared to make it as important as it could have been; did not have enough support from devs+google, let alone their own catalogue (8 average PS1 games avail at launch WTF!?)

Will there be a PLAY 2?

God's gift of immaculate timing has been+gone, but as stated, xPeria might be able to snap up SOME hardcore fans thanks to the 24month refresh... Changing branding from Sony-Ericsson to xPeria was important and after Playstation, has been Sony's biggest success to date. They have rid themselves of the horrible UI overlays, bad support, and proprietary platform. Sony is now a reputable competitor again in mobile, and they still have the "gaming" rep, so all they need is the early dev support to build demand and the highly-unlikely might JUST be possible

One last note:​

Windows 8 just launched and uses free and highly supported+documented Direct-X/XNA framework across mobile, Windows, and XBOX. It will be highly adaptable and games built on Windows will almost natively work on both mobile and XBOX live...they now want to re-establish themselves as the gaming powerhouse. Sony is considering adding new Windows phones to their portfolio...

---------- Post added at 08:04 PM ---------- Previous post was at 07:54 PM ----------

^^ of course owners of Playstation would never risk developing something that potentially assists XBOX even more with their (now) superior accessibility to both devs, and multimedia users (glass, anyone?)... especially when they didnt think to do the same cross-hardware scale-ability with their own growing portfolio (every playstation product requires dev to re-learn and redesign).

All-in-all im just ****ing stoked that I got such a good use out of FPSE while in waiting rooms or on trains... and now my PLAY is THE perfect device to practice developing for the OUYA console: I have an android with hardware buttons, long before release date... and can show everyone my ideas wherever I am. It truly is for the indy games-developer like the tablet is for realestate-agents!