Will Sony or Nintendo introduce branded gaming phones?

[Fraser]

There have been plenty of rumors to fuel this particular fire:

http://www.pocketgamer.co.uk/blog/index ... ile-phone/
http://www.pocketgamer.co.uk/r/Various/ ... icsson+psp

And more recently here:

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=240434

So what do we all think? Is this inevitable? Is this never going to happen?

[HiddenAway]

Not in the near future but I do believe that they will eventually get into it. I'm just not sure if the market is there for them yet. The PSP is already starting to become a phone on it's own with Skype and Go! Messenger. I doubt that Nintendo will have a crack at the market though, purely because they're more game-centric than Sony are, which should mean staying solely on consoles.

[Mandark]

I'd bet my house (and none are cheap these days ) that all handheld consoles will have a range of communication services in the near future. I think PSP 2 will be a gaming phone, with highspeed 3G, wi-fi and bluetooth capability. But it might well be a bigger 'phone capable' console to allow for a 4 inch screen rather than a true gaming phone, which would need to be quite small.

[danskmacabre]

I reckon It will happen eventually as already stated, but I doubt in the near future either.
But I don't think the time is right yet, there's too much money to be made for Sony and Nintendo with the PSP and DS.

[chris_pg]

Sony Ericsson definitely have a gaming phone in development and they've made enough hints about the Playstation phone in the past to make us think it'll be branded. I wouldn't be surprised to see it this summer actually (maybe a trial in late summer).

Nintendo is a rather different matter though and to an extent I think they'd wait to see what happens with the competition first. They've conspicuously stayed out of mobile so far, but they've a strong background in handheld and multi-format devices (remember the Game & Watch?) and aren't afraid to try mad stuff (like the Virtual boy...)

With such a strong fanbase already and their new mainstream audience from Wii and DS it wouldn't be a mad decision...oh and they do have that Gameboy brand kicking around....maybe 2008 will see the launch of the Phoneboy or the mobiDS?

[Bigbear]

A Sony PSPhone looks pretty likely all things considered, can't see Ninty getting involved in this just yet though, they've got enough on churning out DS's and Wiis!

Of course there is another gaming name you haven't mentioned... what with Zune adding gaming from Xbox Live and Windows operating systems on a lot of smartphones, surely a Microsoft gaming phone is most likely!

Not sure on branding, probably somewhere between Xbox and Zune... hey I think I've just worked out why they want to buy Yahoo!

[Accelorata Jengold]

Although I think that either a Sony or Nintendo branded phone is likely at some point, I just can't fathom how either would work. Take Nintendo - playful, mass appeal, family friendly. Where does a monthly subscription fit into all of that?

I don't know how the service end would be tied up with the hardware. One solution would be to have a subscription that allowed 'all you can eat' access to something like the Virtual Console, but then why not just make that an optional extra in a future handheld instead of a phone?

As far as a Playstation phone goes it would have to have one of two things; a UMD drive or direct access to the PS Store and an ability to play all of the content available there (i.e. PS! emu titles, download only PSP games etc). The problem here is that the PS Store would have to evolve into something much more robust in terms of content than it is just now.

Mobiles are getting better at their own type of gaming experience so do we really need to combine our beloved pocket gadgets that are designed to do different things? Is it convergence for the sake of convergence?

[Mandark]

I think it is convergence for convergence sake! Pundits and engineers all seem to be getting excited by 1 Ghz mobile processors combined with nvidia 3D mobile chips running PSP bashing games. Just like they took aim at the cheap compact camera market, they now seem to be goign after gaming. But cameras were easier. The gaming mass market will need big screens and decent controls. That new Sony Ericsson X1 has a great screen but the gaming controls look limited.

[danskmacabre]

Another thing that I find unattractive about a gaming phone is I treat my Mobile in a very rough fashion.
Chucked at the bottom of a bag or in the car or whatever.

In comparison to my DS, which has screen protectors on it and is kept in a DS cover.

My phone is also free with my contract, so I don't really care what model it is, as lng as it has a good battery life and can take mistreatment well.

A gaming phone, I'd have to be careful with.

Not to mention I'd have to recharge it quite often, as it'd be used a lot more.