PlayStation suite

The difference beting one is $99 for countless millions of devices, and the other is $99 for a few million devices. There's something to be said for getting in early on PSS, but at the same time it isn't offering the same potential as the other options.

Well, you say potential, and there's a potential for a lot of Android devices to become PS Suite certified. ;)
 
That depends on Sony implementing PSS effectively and people wanting to get certified, which needs to be taken on faith at the moment.
 
That depends on Sony implementing PSS effectively and people wanting to get certified, which needs to be taken on faith at the moment.

I really don't understand why Sony needs manufacturer approval for PSS certification other than to lock down the devices themselves from playing pirated material.

Sony seems to more interested in discouraging piracy on their PSS devices than the ubiquity of the PSS software itself. But this isn't the console market and the hardware itself doesn't have to subidized using software sales. If Sony just made PSS available over Google Marketplace to regions where piracy isn't as heavily entrenched they could make an appreciable amount of mobile revenue right now.

I doubt if PSS gains any real traction with the Android userbase with the snail's pace that Sony currently moving.
 
The difference beting one is $99 for countless millions of devices, and the other is $99 for a few million devices. There's something to be said for getting in early on PSS, but at the same time it isn't offering the same potential as the other options.

Ah, but Mono can target iOS devices also. ^_^
http://xamarin.com/monotouch

If he talks to Sony, he will be able to find out more about their iOS story.
It will be worthwhile for someone to look at MonoTouch, PS Suite and their differences.

He will also need to look at the marketing support for PS Suite. It is not easy to grab attention in the crowded iOS app space. But being the first few apps on PS Suite will be more noticeable for the press and existing Playstation fans. Renegade_Rocks and his friends are already working on an iOS game anyway. So he should be familiar with the challenges there now.

There are still a lot of unknowns and questions for PS Suite. I think talking to the right Sony people is the only sure way to find out more.
 
I really don't understand why Sony needs manufacturer approval for PSS certification other than to lock down the devices themselves from playing pirated material.

Sony seems to more interested in discouraging piracy on their PSS devices than the ubiquity of the PSS software itself. But this isn't the console market and the hardware itself doesn't have to subidized using software sales. If Sony just made PSS available over Google Marketplace to regions where piracy isn't as heavily entrenched they could make an appreciable amount of mobile revenue right now.

It's because Android is open. Companies tailor it to run on all sorts of devices. For clarity and supportability, it is imperative for them to define what is compatible and what is not.

If they are really concerned with DRM and piracy for PS Suite, they probably won't consider Android at all.

I doubt if PSS gains any real traction with the Android userbase with the snail's pace that Sony currently moving.

Yeah, Sony hasn't said anything about marketing and business support yet. Speed of execution is also slow as expected because PS Suite is a difficult beast to maintain. I suspect they work with outside parties to enable this. Otherwise, PS Suite wouldn't be where it is now.
 
It's because Android is open. Companies tailor it to run on all sorts of devices. For clarity and supportability, it is imperative for them to define what is compatible and what is not.

If they are really concerned with DRM and piracy for PS Suite, they probably won't consider Android at all.

And? Everyone else manages to release software that works across a bevy of devices thats way bigger in terms of the number of different versions of Android and volume of hardware configurations than the limited selection of PSS devices. They are able to do so without having to create such a structured certification process that exists for PSS.

What other choice do they have? Put PSS on iOS and Apple wants a 30% cut of all ware sales. Nevermind, Sony will never take part in the iOS hardware sales. Put PSS on WinMo and you still have a device that still can be rooted and hacked with MS support but with a userbase no where as large as Android.

All I know is that Xperia Play can be rooted to ICS and I have heard of no one complain of losing PSS compatibility. I also know that the PSS's emulator has been hacked to play unofficial PS1 wares.
 
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And? Everyone else manages to release software that works across a bevy of devices thats way bigger in terms of the number of different versions of Android and volume of hardware configurations than the limited selection of PSS devices.

Depends on what their apps do, and what final experience the game developers want to deliver. Testing is also a big concern if the hardware market is too fragmented. Developers will have to do all the work testing out numerous configs. It is possible/common to do so but not necessarily the best foot forward. As I read it somewhere, some early Android versions were omitted because they didn't allow high performance native code execution.

If it's simple games that can be done on say... Apple's CoreAnimation framework, perhaps there is no value add for Sony anyway. They may be targeting the more advanced gaming needs.

What other choice do they have? Put PSS on iOS and Apple wants a 30% cut of all ware sales. Nevermind, Sony will never take part in the iOS hardware sales. Put PSS on WinMo and you still have a device that still can be rooted and hacked with MS support but with a userbase no where as large as Android.

All I know is that Xperia Play can be rooted to ICS and I have heard of no one complain of losing PSS compatibility. I also know that the PSS's emulator has been hacked to play unofficial PS1 wares.

... which is why piracy won't be their main concern. ^_^ They can only do a best effort there since Sony don't control the OS.
PS Suite certification is simply to guarantee that the Mono and graphics run-time can work consistently in a high performance way. They should have done the same certification approach for Blu-ray players years ago, but it's too late now. ^_^

As for iOS, Sony can't sell PS Suite apps on iOS. But I think they should at least have a built-in mechanism for PS Suite developers to target iOS easily.
 
Depends on what their apps do, and what final experience the game developers want to deliver. Testing is also a big concern if the hardware market is too fragmented. Developers will have to do all the work testing out numerous configs. It is possible/common to do so but not necessarily the best foot forward. As I read it somewhere, some early Android versions were omitted because they didn't allow high performance native code execution.

Yet I don't see anyone excited and drooling about the huge level of disparity between Sony high quality wares and everyone elses' less than stellar offerings because Sony uses a long drawn out certification process while everyone else uses a test bed of devices for development purposes.

Emulation of PS1 games have been on Android for ages now and I bet because Sony's execution has been so lack luster in terms of pushing PSS to more devices that the number of users who are using unofficially emulators to play PS1 based games is much higher than the user who have PSS.
 
Yet I don't see anyone excited and drooling about the huge level of disparity between Sony high quality wares and everyone elses' less than stellar offerings because Sony uses a long drawn out certification process while everyone else uses a test bed of devices for development purposes.

Do you have info on the certification process ? How long does it take ?

PS Suite SDK is not out yet. What's out there now are PSOne games for PS Certified hardware. I doubt people will drool over titles that are decades old.
 
Do you have info on the certification process ? How long does it take ?

I know enough that the Xperia arc and Xperia arco were released in April 11 and July 11 and they both got PS certified in Nov 11.

PS Suite SDK is not out yet for third parties but it most of been available to Sony Ericsson for some time. I also know that there are a host of Xperia based phones with specs similar to the Play (a couple with the same cpu and gpu and running 2.3.4) that aren't certified.

PS Suite SDK is not out yet. What's out there now are PSOne games for PS Certified hardware. I doubt people will drool over titles that are decades old.

You do know that the most compelling feature of PSS is that backlog of 10-15 years old games. Thats the biggest trump card Sony owns when it comes to the mobile space, the ability, through official emulation, of transitioning that giant library in a quick and cost effective way to Android and the mobile market.
 
I know enough that the Xperia arc and Xperia arco were released in April 11 and July 11 and they both got PS certified in Nov 11.

PS Suite SDK is not out yet for third parties but it most of been available to Sony Ericsson for some time. I also know that there are a host of Xperia based phones with specs similar to the Play (a couple with the same cpu and gpu and running 2.3.4) that aren't certified.

Hmmm... priority of Sony-Ericsson old hardware is probably to migrate to ICS first. Don't know whether and when SE submitted all their SKUs for certification. Best is to get an official answer from Sony. I only heard Sony-Ericsson was trying to shoot for March timeframe to move all applicable SKUs to Android 4.

I did a quick search. The newer models (Xperia S and ION) seem to be certified at launch.

You do know that the most compelling feature of PSS is that backlog of 10-15 years old games. Thats the biggest trump card Sony owns when it comes to the mobile space, the ability, through official emulation, of transitioning that giant library in a quick and cost effective way to Android and the mobile market.

I don't know if PSOne games is PS Suite's killer feature. As you mentioned earlier, those who are interested may already run their own emulators. I am more keen in PSP games on PS certified devices: http://n4g.com/news/925994/psp-games-coming-to-playstation-certified-devices

The new apps written specifically for PS Suite may be more interesting to me personally.


EDIT: In addition, I don't know if all PSP games can run on PS Certified hardware, but the idea of running the "same" Playstation Portable games on PS certified phones, tablets, Vita and PS3 is strangely appealing. Hopefully there are some bundle deals for these PSP games.

Basically, we need more info from Sony !

EDIT 2: We may have to separate these 2 concepts cleanly: Playstation Certified hardware and Playstation Suite software + platform.
A Playstation Certified hardware may run PSOne, PSP, and PS Suite games.
 
I was really hoping that this thing to have started earlier and rolling out some apps by Vita Western launch. Just wondering has there been any crazy popular apps on iOS or android that created is a very very short time frame?
 
Its a new clean empty market and everyone would like to grab it. Just Vita is lucrative enough, even if we don't worry about the rest of PS certified phones. iOS market is so damn crowded and so many paid games go free each day that anyone can keep playing games there and not a pay a penny for months together. Selling a game in that market is a night mare for smaller devs (like us). I would be much more comfortable if my game comes to Vita immediately. Even it has sold only 1.2million units yet, it has a lot of eager gamers waitng to spend money on new shiny new devices.
And why look at it as competition? If a game is already on iOS, why wouldn't I bring it over to Vita. Even if small, its another market I can sell my stuff in.

The biggest bummer is that licenses will come later this year. Thats too far away, too slow a pace by Sony. By that time, the Vita market will be also start looking like the iOS one. Crammed to the brim. Every dev wants licenses right now, when the psn vita store is sparsely populated. Good games will sell no matrer what, but visibilty is prime for a ny sale.

The other part is the confusion regarding what can be made with a $99 license and what cannot. Cos Sony also has the pther £1600 devkit sdk for Vita. We need guidelines quickly regarding what kind of games can be made on the $99 license.
 
GDC 2012: PlayStation Suite Shown On Vita, To Support Non-Game Apps
http://playstationlifestyle.net/2012/03/07/playstation-suite-shown-on-vita-to-support-non-game-apps/

Sony answered a developer’s question over whether they’ll need to buy an expensive Vita dev kit, saying that developers can test the games running on these devices including the Vita, even without the device. Emulators are built into the SDK and devs can compile one executable file, and it will run all ALL PS Suite compatible devices. Sony continued:

"Yes, the consumer Vita will run these games, you don’t even need a debug Vita to test them."

Other news from the conference includes a revelation that the PlayStation Suite will support non-game applications and will use the PSN id system and wallet.

Developers will be able to set the price of their software, and the review and approval process will much faster than PSN – as well as being a single global submission process. Dev SDKs will cost $99 later this year, but the program will be in open beta next month.

Sony said to not expect Uncharted level games using the PS Suite, and that if developers want to make games like that they should become a full licensed dev.

Also found PS Suite twitter account:
http://twitter.com/#!/pssuitedev

Hey androvsky... lookie lookie here:

PS Suite Dev Support
FYI. Codes/docs are NOT allowed to be public, while screenshots/videos of your works are allowed to be public.

...

Martin Caine
@PSSuiteDev Hey there, I'm just wondering if I'm permitted to post on my blog about my experience with the closed beta + screenshots? Thanks

PS Suite Dev Support
.@MartinCaine As we posted to the forum, we are allowing users to share screenshots/videos of your running apps(not the SDK/code) on public.

;-)
 
They should make it more clear regarding what can be made with the $99 license and what not? Eg, how do you define a "uncharted level game. Thats vague :???: . What if my game uses lotsa 3D but is pretty simple in gameplay?
 
I assume there are certain limitations in terms of hardware access on Vita. These things will presumably be running inside a VM, yeah? I think Xbox Live Indie games face similar restrictions related to the XNA environment, so PS Suite isn't an effective way to sneak a high production value game onto the Vita.
 
Hey androvsky... lookie lookie here:
;-)

Oh like I have anything even close to being ready to be shown. :p No fault of the SDK, just... not ready. Keep in mind I'm just one guy with no studio backing whatsoever; if I want art assets, I have to hit up royalty-free sites or draw it myself. Either way, it'll look terrible. And if I'm the first one to post screenshots publicly of a third-party PS Suite app or game, uh... I'd rather not. :oops: It's something I can deal with, it'll just take a lot of time.

Yeah, I could make a decent-looking non-game app, but there's no point in getting early screenshots out of something that's just a gui, even if it's a cool-looking one.
 
They should make it more clear regarding what can be made with the $99 license and what not? Eg, how do you define a "uncharted level game. Thats vague :???: . What if my game uses lotsa 3D but is pretty simple in gameplay?
It is vague, but I think it's understandble. Think of PSS as somewhere between PS Mini's and full PSN download titles for PS3. The fact it runs on lots of devices at different performance levels means you won't be hitting the hardware hard. You'll be aiming for a lower common denominator. Thus you won't be maxxing the Vita hardware. If I were to guess random ball-park pie-in-sky-figures, you could say something like only 50% of the raw grunt of Vita will be manifest in PSS games running on it. Maybe not even that depending on what the minimum spec is for PSS certification.

But I imagine it'll also be a standard that any iOS title can fit in with. I expect, though could be well wrong, that a(n older) Gameloft FPS would run on PSS as it does on current Android devices because the PSS overhead will be mitigated by the higher performance hardware.
 
Oh like I have anything even close to being ready to be shown. :p No fault of the SDK, just... not ready.

Fer shame ! :runaway:

Keep in mind I'm just one guy with no studio backing whatsoever; if I want art assets, I have to hit up royalty-free sites or draw it myself. Either way, it'll look terrible. And if I'm the first one to post screenshots publicly of a third-party PS Suite app or game, uh... I'd rather not. :oops: It's something I can deal with, it'll just take a lot of time.

Yeah, I could make a decent-looking non-game app, but there's no point in getting early screenshots out of something that's just a gui, even if it's a cool-looking one.

Yeah I understand. We are all busy with life.

RenegadeRocks, I think you'll have to wait one more month. Open beta starts April. It sounds like the set up is almost the same as XNA. So you probably understand PS Suite limitations by looking at XNA's frameworks.
 
About the need for certification and harmonizing h/w specs...

Android Platform manager steps down after failing to fix app sales
http://www.appleinsider.com/article...teps_down_after_failing_to_fix_app_sales.html

...

Developers have frequently described Google's Android app market, recently merged into the company's music, movies and ebook sales under the new, non-Android specific name Google Play, as not worth their time to support given the added complexities of the wide open hardware configurations among Android devices compared to the minimal revenues the store generates.

Mika Mobile recently explained why it was dropping support for Android, noting that "it doesn't make a lot of sense to dedicate resources to it," and stating, "we spent about 20% of our total man-hours last year dealing with Android in one way or another - porting, platform specific bug fixes, customer service, etc."

The developer told customers, "I would have preferred spending that time on more content for you, but instead I was thanklessly modifying shaders and texture formats to work on different GPUs, or pushing out patches to support new devices without crashing, or walking someone through how to fix an installation that wouldn't go through. We spent thousands on various test hardware.

"These are the unsung necessities of offering our apps on Android. Meanwhile, Android sales amounted to around 5% of our revenue for the year, and continues to shrink. Needless to say, this ratio is unsustainable.

"From a purely economic perspective, I can no longer legitimize spending time on Android apps, and the new features of the market do nothing to change this," the developer wrote.

...
 
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