Lots of gamers have shown very little interest in the Xperia Play. I anticipate there will be a new version next year as there is with every other smartphone, and I see three basic things that Sony Ericsson can do to make the Xperia Play 2 far more appealing for gamers... 1. Replace the touch panel with actual dual analog nubs. We gamers dislike smartphone gaming precisely BECAUSE we don't want to have to use touchscreens to control movement and aim. We want our fingers to actually interact with the controls and get some feedback in return. 2. Stick a quad core A9 cpu + a SGX543MP4+ gpu + 960x540 resolution screen in the phone and release digital copies of Uncharted NGP, Little Big Planet NGP and Resistance/Killzone NGP on it. 3. Make it look like this... or atleast this...
From a business standpoint, this makes a lot of sense. For Sony... Entering the smartphone market is EXTREMELY lucrative. The most Sony can charge for the PSP2 is $299. Apple gets $700 from AT&T for every phone that consumers buy from them for $200. Imagine how much tech Sony can pack into the PSP Phone and still rake in a massive profit with prices like that. In addition, the PSP Phone is more likely to sell to casual gamers that might not be interested in a big bulky PSP2. So there's a lot of money to be made selling games to these customers that Sony normally can't reach. For Consumers... Lots of people prefer all in one devices. I only have so much room in my pocket. Between my keys, wallet, cell phone, camera etc, there really isn't any room for another portable device. This is why I rarely have my DS or PSP with me when I'm out of the house, where as I always have my iPhone with me, and do my outdoor gaming on that, out of neccesity. Also, consumers can get a better deal thanks to subsidies. I'm not looking forward to plopping down $300 on a PSP2, and when I do, I'm going to have to justify that purchase to my wife. But buying a cellphone every 1.5 years is seen as a neccessity. I always sell my old cellphone on ebay for $300, and use that money towards getting my new smartphone, and my wife is always happy about it. Meanwhile, Sony could well sell their PSPhone for a price of $99, or even for free, and still rake in far more cash than what they can charge for the PSP2. Sony could give away PSPhone's for free, and they would still be getting $400-500 from the cellphone carriers, more than they get for the PSP2. Assuming that the PSP Phone looks like the one in the OP and is just as well thoughtout/designed as the iPhone and is loaded with fantastic games, which would you have an easier time justifying to yourself? Buying a $300 PSP2, or getting a PSPPhone for free or for $99 when your contract runs out.
I think the reason that we're seeing such a lackluster response from the PSP phone is no one has any clue what the game library, game pricing, battery life, and all those other important details are yet. Most people I've talked to about it are totally happy with their current iOS or Android smartphone, and basically have no reason to give it up to get locked in to a two year contract for a totally new game platform that may or may not even take off. The bigger issue is the pool of people who can even sign up for a new cellular contract is hilariously small. Almost everyone is under an existing cellular contract, and would either need to pay an early termination fee or an early upgrade fee for the privilege of buying a PSP phone.
I think once it finally gets officially announced with more details, people will pay a bit more attention to it.
Playstation 1 games it won't really work even the normal PSP doesn't pull it off right the emulations perfect but because the original psx has 4 trigger buttons it effects nearly all the games quite badly. Without those 4 shoulder buttons this phone will fail and it will fair even worse on phones with less controls and as for pure touchscreen phones using Sonys latest Playstation Suite in my opinion there isn't a chance of them being playable. If they pick and choose the right games the Sony Erricson phone might give the illusion of being ok but none of the best PSX games will be all that playable with the limited controls. Sony will probably make some money but even PSP fans like me aren't all that interested I'm much more interested in the NGP.
The #1 reason people will buy this phone is to play games in the console/handheld emulators for free. When they can play all those games for free (of course pirating 99.9999% of them), they won't be too interested in buying anything. End of the Xperia.
Well for those interested in the Xperia Play who have a PS3 and/or PSP and have purchased quite a number of games from the PlayStation Store online, it's dumb that Sony Ericsson says you need to repurchase those same games you've already bought for the Xperia Play when they could've easily set up a system where you sync your PSN account to the Xperia Play and don't have to repurchase games/content you already paid for. I don't have Verizon (carrier that's supposed to have the Xperia first at least before others potentially) anyway and am very happy w/my EVO 4G but if I were looking at the Xperia (which I wouldn't but still), that alone would be a dealbreaker for me. No thank you.
