Showing posts with label System. Show all posts
Showing posts with label System. Show all posts

Friday, August 19, 2011

Sony: There’s a “real strong” market for rich portable gaming

Sony’s research has convinced it there is a market for portable gaming of the kind smartphones can’t yet provide.


“When you look at the type of consumer that’s playing cell phone games currently, it’s someone that enjoys smaller ‘kill time’ gaming and has not gravitated to the larger, richer, deeper experiences that true handheld gaming provides,” Sony’s John Koller told Gamespot.

“We’ve certainly seen that on the PSP, and I know Nintendo has probably commented on it for their products, but as we go toward the PlayStation Vita, I can tell you that as we started looking at that product and the market opportunity several years ago, we saw a real strong demographic for those deeper, richer, console-type experiences.”

The hardware maketing director said the controls which make Vita unique in the portable space set it apart, appealing to both core and casual users.

“That ‘new ways to play’ idea, particularly for Vita, really differentiates from what’s available on mobile phones or tablets and, frankly, what will be available on those platforms over the next three to five years,” he said.

“You’re going to see PS Vita expand what a lot of people believe to be true about handheld gaming, and you’re going to see a lot of those current mobile phone and tablet gamers come over to Vita. We’re very convinced of that.”

Thursday, August 18, 2011

PlayStation Vita dev kit priced

GDC Europe: Studios looking to make games on PSP successor will only have to pay €1,900

Speaking at GDC Europe, SCEE's George Bain has confirmed the price studios will have to pay for a PlayStation Vita development kit.

"The PS Vita development kit is going to be very affordable," said Bain. "And when I say affordable I mean €1,900 plus VAT."

The price, which Shuhei Yoshida told Develop would be within the financial reach of smaller studios back in June at E3, will come as good news to numerous small and medium sized studios. Web speculation to this point had suggested the price would be around $3,000.

The €1,900 price tag is significantly lower than the €20,000 charged for PS2 and PS3 dev kits at launch, and the initial €15,000 fee for a PSP dev kit. Those dev kits saw their prices significantly reduced in 2009.

"There is no cost to join the PS Vita Develop Program," Bain added. "There's just that cost of the dev kit. If you're a small developer, we happy to talk to you about this. It will help if you have a games portfolio. There's no reason we won't speak with smaller studios about joining up."