PSP 2 with multi-touch and motion sensing ? (just published Phil Harrison patents!)

[Panajev2001a]

United States Patent Application 20080150911
Kind Code A1
Harrison; Phil June 26, 2008

http://appft1.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph...uter"+AND+2008&RS=AN/"Sony+Computer"+AND+2008

United States Patent Application 20080152263
Kind Code A1
Harrison; Phil June 26, 2008

http://appft1.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph...uter"+AND+2008&RS=AN/"Sony+Computer"+AND+2008







Both patents were FILED early January 2008 back when he still was at the helm of SCE WWS so I would not look at his departure as a sign of "patents going in the trash bin" .

 

[Megadrive1988]

Since patents get filed 3-5 years or even longer before a product hits the market, what's your thinking on the timing of PSP2's release, 2009, 2010 ?

 

[Panajev2001a]

Since patents get filed 3-5 years or even longer before a product hits the market, what's your thinking on the timing of PSP2's release, 2009, 2010 ?

2010 would be about right as Sony seems to like to give each of its platform about 5 years of shelf life without a successor on the market... PSP being uber-hacked and whatnot might push Sony to go for a late 2009 launch maybe...

We will see how quickly they can ramp up their digital Distribution plans for PSP games as I smell a UMD-less PSP2.

 

[sevanig]

Psp phone in Late 2009

 

[archangelmorph]

Psp phone in Late 2009

I doubt we'll ever see a PSP phone due the to fact that it would necessitate UMD usage & thus, effectively force a form factor that is far too large for a mobile phone..

 

[Panajev2001a]

I doubt we'll ever see a PSP phone due the to fact that it would necessitate UMD usage

Would it ?

I think it will be DRM'ed Digital Distribution for portable PS consoles from now on...

 

[RudeCurve]

So Phil Harrison took the tech from Apple's iPhone/iPod Touch and patented it? I don't get it.

 

[Shifty Geezer]

I doubt we'll ever see a PSP phone due the to fact that it would necessitate UMD usage & thus, effectively force a form factor that is far too large for a mobile phone..

PSN has full games for PSP as downloads. A phone wouldn't be dependent on the optical drive.

 

[archangelmorph]

PSN has full games for PSP as downloads. A phone wouldn't be dependent on the optical drive.

But how many games..?

When compared with UMD releases I don't think you could really market a PSP phone which relies entirely on DD when at least 90% of the platform's game library isn't compatible with the device..

Unless we start seeing more DD versions of previous releases & more new releases shipping as DD either solely or in parallel then I would say it's a pretty safe bet to presume a UMD-less PSP phone wouldn't hold strong market appeal for very long..

Maybe for a next generation DD-centric PSP2 device but I think we're a bit of a way off for that even..

 

[Arwin]

Well they have to do something. Looking at the Iphone it's painfully obvious that that device could easily function as a games platform and do just as well (if currently not better) as the PSP / DS at it. Sony can capitalise on the PSP's popularity and platform, PSN framework, PS3 remote play and such to keep the edge over say Apple here right now. But if Apple starts using the iTunes platform for games, things can get messy. It would also threaten the PSP more than the DS right now, I think.

It will be interesting to see where the PSP ends up in that case - it will need to fend off DS on the low-end and Iphone on the high end.

 

[Shifty Geezer]

But how many games..?

When compared with UMD releases I don't think you could really market a PSP phone which relies entirely on DD when at least 90% of the platform's game library isn't compatible with the device..

Unless we start seeing more DD versions of previous releases & more new releases shipping as DD either solely or in parallel then I would say it's a pretty safe bet to presume a UMD-less PSP phone wouldn't hold strong market appeal for very long..

I'm sure if Sony are planning a PSP phone, they'll up the number of download titles! The existing PSP library is more a proof of concept methinks. A few key titles on there, and all future releases, and it'd be a viable platform IMO.

 

[Jack_Tripper]

God - can no one learn the lesson the N-Gauge...."gaming phones suck"



Jack

 

[Shifty Geezer]

Surely the lessons of N-gage are a matter of implementation, not concept? MS produced a motion-control stick years ago that flopped. Are the lessons from that 'motion controls suck' or 'that particular take on motion controls wasn't right, at that time'? Is the lesson of N-gage 'games on mobiles are a bad idea' or 'a different approach with a stronger software line-up and developer support is needed to introduce a gaming phone'?

 

[wco81]

iPhone probably won't have hardcore games though.

Especially if they keep games at $10 like Super Monkey Ball apparently will be.

That would dampen the enthusiasm of current PSP/DS developers and publishers, wouldn't it?

Regarding PSP2, they need to keep battery life at least on par with PSP. Could they abandon an optical disc drive to cut down on size and power consumption? Be too costly to distribute on flash memory and if digital distribution depends on having a PS3, that won't work either.

 

[Freak'n Big Panda]

For PSP2 to do digital distribution properly it would have to have at least 20GB of flash on board which should be relatively cheap in the 2010 time frame. Other than that all it needs is wifi and it's ready to go.

 

[Shifty Geezer]

Be too costly to distribute on flash memory and if digital distribution depends on having a PS3, that won't work either.

I'm assuming games would be via download, but as DS demonstrates a form of flash or ROM isn't prohibitively expensive. Digital Distribution isn't dependent on a PS3 either as the PSN store has a PC portal.

 

[wco81]

But wouldn't the size of PSP2 games at least be on par or greater than the 1.7 GB capacity of UMDs?

So ROMs with 2-3 GB of data won't be cheap. May take us back to the days of SNES with expensive carts ruining some publishers.

 

[chachi]

iPhone probably won't have hardcore games though.

Especially if they keep games at $10 like Super Monkey Ball apparently will be.

That would dampen the enthusiasm of current PSP/DS developers and publishers, wouldn't it?

I imagine there will be whatever developers want to put on it, the price of the application is up to the developer but obviously the lower it is the more you're going to sell. Is it better to sell 5,000 copies at $50 or 100,000 copies at $10?

Sony missed the market once with the minidisc vs. mp3 wars, and IMO they'd have to be stupid to not see the writing on the wall here. For all but the kiddy or hardcore gamer market a "smart phone" with a large touch screen is probably going to be the game device of choice. I think it has a chance to become the computing device of choice as well (portable use as well as docked), but they're not fast enough for that, if you've ever used an iphone to surf the web you know that while cool they don't compare to even a semi-recent computer for site loading. I'm not talking specifically the iphone here though, but that type of portable device.

Also did those patent links change? I don't see any multi-touch or even really PSP references in there, just something about creating graphics from sound file (a visualizer? lots of prior art there) and a way to allocate processor resources which just seems to be a smart scheduler.

 

[Panajev2001a]

I imagine there will be whatever developers want to put on it, the price of the application is up to the developer but obviously the lower it is the more you're going to sell. Is it better to sell 5,000 copies at $50 or 100,000 copies at $10?

Sony missed the market once with the minidisc vs. mp3 wars, and IMO they'd have to be stupid to not see the writing on the wall here. For all but the kiddy or hardcore gamer market a "smart phone" with a large touch screen is probably going to be the game device of choice. I think it has a chance to become the computing device of choice as well (portable use as well as docked), but they're not fast enough for that, if you've ever used an iphone to surf the web you know that while cool they don't compare to even a semi-recent computer for site loading. I'm not talking specifically the iphone here though, but that type of portable device.

Also did those patent links change? I don't see any multi-touch or even really PSP references in there, just something about creating graphics from sound file (a visualizer? lots of prior art there) and a way to allocate processor resources which just seems to be a smart scheduler.

Yes, it is a problem occurring when you post links directly after searching for a patent which is why I included relevant info to easily search the patent manually.

I'll update the links tomorrow morning GMT+1 time .

 

[sevanig]

I think Gran Turismo Mobile will launch with the PSP phone...