PlayStation suite

I'm not suggesting anything. Sony is in partnership with Google for a few projects, including GoogleTV. Most of Google's apps are web-based. As long as NGP and PS3 have a good web browser, they should be able to work well together.

 

What are games sales like on Android?

Aren't they poor and even the most successful games have gone ad-supported?

So what kind of pricing models will they have for these old games? They would have had a better chance to sell games on iOS. Of course the ASPs are very low but probably still higher than on Android.

 

Sales trend probably still evolving…
http://www.businessinsider.com/android-game-developer-com2us-2010-8

 

Saw the Xperia Play announcement thread on GAF:
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=25921356&postcount=1

Quite a few videos in the link.

Engadget impression:
http://www.engadget.com/2011/02/13/xperia-play-final-hardware-hands-on/

 

This is the one hidden factor that may negatively affect Sony. Most of the time if you highlight the lack of sales of the Android market especially games on the other tech sites, the forum goers will mention emulators.

If emulators are having a major affect on games sales on Android it may make the PS Suite less viable as PS1 and PS2 games can already be played on Android based phones.

 

There is no game emulators on iOS ?

 

From Patsu's cite but not posted:

Emulated games would exacerbate the performance issues mentioned above on Android hardware. The PS Suite port is to Android "C which is not emulated. Add to that, Sony has started with a minimum Android hardware spec that is equal to an iOS portable...at least for then next few months until a new line of iOS is released.

Patsu is providing the (two) links for this point but is not spelling it out. Perhaps to balance out my being too wordy.

I'd like to clear up what may be an incorrect assumption on the part of myself or other posters: " have its target applications running on PSS", "They may need native access for entertainment titles.", "Android is supposed to be platform independent, and will support more architectures. If you dont plan on using this single standout feature, why not just code everything in C/C++."

Correct if wrong.

PS Suite ports to Android are not to Android bytecode to be emulated by the Android engine, but to Android "C".

It is possible for PS Suite to compile to Android bytecode but that would reduce performance and games generally require high levels of performance and suffer under emulators. Google has provided a "C" to Android "C" tool for porting games to Android.

http://droidfreeapps.com/2011/01/apps-written-in-c-and-c-can-now-be-ported-to-android/

And there is a link to the Android NDK in the above link, a quote from that link follows:

So which is it, PS Suite is "C" to Android "C" or bytecode?

The method used would affect how PS Suite was implemented. For instance, non-bytecode would be processor dependent and only ARM (mentioned above) processors are supported at the present time. There are probably other issues. One, since compiling to native language was mentioned might require, if other processors are eventually supported, multiple versions for different processor families. There must be some provision in Gingerbread for a communication with the Android store that would select and only display the correct application for your platform. Who would be in charge of compiling to different CPU families? Each hardware platform developer who would get a cut? This adds another layer to the hardware developer level in the three levels for PS Suite I mentioned.

Load times for games from SD memory are going to be terrible. Sony's Duo SD memory would be twice as fast. That might give that division of Sony a kick in profits.

 

I don't think so. Sony wouldn't provide a Killer Google App using javascript as that that wouldn't protect their IP. Also a killer app should have support for DRM, might interface with a Cable company's DVR and also have other features easier to support with "C" or would need IP protection (DRM). The "C" compiled to native language app can call and use webkit and that would still satisfy most of the conditions to protect IP.

PS Suite will probably contain applications that will access Google web features. Some will be free, all will probably be "C". Shifty was I believe correct on this issue. Sony will probably have a few free Widgets, will probably support widgets on their platforms.

Google TV code is to be released this year which means Sony can have access to it for PS Suite.

http://code.google.com/tv/web/faq.html#whensdkaddon

That Sony was talking about eventually using PS Suite to port to Google TV means Google TV will be updated to support 2.3.

 

You can answer all your questions by reading the appropriate documentation on android.com

None of this is new. Ever since the very earliest incarnation of the Android Market place, different phones, carriers, and even phone vendors can have specific id's associated with apps such that users see different content on the android market when they connect from specific devices/carriers.

For example, when I had the G1 from T-Mobile, Namco's Pac Man was a free download on my phone. Not so for my friends with Verizon and the Motorola Droid. Angry Birds is a free, ad supported app for me, but is a 99 cent app for another friend on Virgin -- of course, he can just simply download the app from the publishers website, for free.

 

Which can be a marketing issue not Android hardware compatibility. I understand the same process could be used for processor family and "C" compatibility.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jx3pdWBlZ34&feature=player_embedded

Thanks. The video is a must watch for PS Suite - Android 2.3 optimized for game development

Lots of talk about native access. So I gather PS Suite is 'C" to Android "C", that was the big question.

 

http://www.google.com/events/gdc/2011/

GDC 2011 Cloud Gaming: Chrome Wants To Play

As the previous video link indicated, Android 2.3 includes many updates to allow Games and Google is to have a presence at the 2011 GDC. Tie-ins to Sony and PS Suite?

http://schedule.gdconf.com/sessions/track/Social---Online-Games-Summit

Interesting; Sony's PS Suite playbook taken in part out of Google's lectures or points on gaming.

 

None that I know of that are sold in the App Store and available without jailbreaking. Emulators on sold on Google Marketplace and some don't require rooting meaning there available to general users.

You still have to side load the games, but the emulators being allowed on the marketplace act as a marketing tool. Its the way I found out about the emulators when I saw several on the marketplace while looking for games right after I purchased my Captivate. I was enticed by the prospect but Im morally opposed to pirating so I made no use of them.

 

If it's legal, it may change in the future...
http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/32136/Hudson_Releases_TurboGrafx16_GameBox_Emulator_For_iOS.php

 

I meant Google's own applications like gmail, maps, search, and other web apps.

For native or Android TV apps, I suspect they need to solve the OS and hardware issues first. TV has a huge screen these days, GoogleTV for example doesn't seem to have enough power to command it (It's too slow).

 

Another cellphone software+content sales related article:
http://gamasutra.com/view/news/3303..._Less_Ad_Revenue_Per_User_Than_Other_Apps.php

 

Sony S1, a 9.4" Playstation certified tablet:
http://www.engadget.com/2011/02/16/exclusive-sony-s1-brings-qriocity-to-9-4-inch-honeycomb-table/

 

They _seem_ to be moving quickly.

How big is iPad ?

Wonder if it has a 3D screen. I think I'll get a new iPhone (since I lost mine), and an S1 pad. Then wait and see on the NGP.

EDIT: How does the Tegra 2 compare to what's in NGP ?

 

Tegra 2: 2xA9 cores, ULV GPU by Nvidia.
NGP: 4xA9 cores, SGX543MP4+ which is better than the Tegra 2 GPU.

Tegra 2 has other stuff like a video encoder that NGP doesn't need, otherwise it is weaker.

 

Opinion: Sony’s Portable-Game Strategy Lacks Vision
http://www.wired.com/gamelife/2011/02/sony-playstation-tablet-xperia/

 

Xperia Play going GSM:
http://www.engadget.com/2011/03/01/xperia-play-goes-back-to-the-fcc-this-time-with-gsm/