Sony Online looking at PSP for future massively multiplayer online games
Also considering PSP integration with current MMOs
Sony Online Entertainment president John Smedley has revealed the company is considering PSP as a platform for future massively multiplayer online games.
Speaking in an interview with MTV Multiplayer, Smedley said, "I think PSP is something that we're definitely looking at. 34 million [sold] worldwide really opens your eyes, and they're all connected."
"We started to get very interested in [the PSP] when we switched over from Sony Pictures to Sony Computer Entertainment back in April," he explains. "And as we've kind of got our heads up looking around the world within Sony Computer Entertainment, we're really starting to see a big push for PSP. We think it's a world-class device… In the future, we see full MMOs that are designed for the PSP."
Another avenue the EverQuest publisher is considering is one which allows it to integrate the handheld with its existing online games.
Smedley offers Free Realms, its upcoming pet-based MMO for younger gamers, as one example, saying it could incorporate a PSP pet-training system which connects to the online game and allows you to "mess around with your pet" on the move.
"Another way to do it might be to give them mini-games that they can do [on the PSP] when sitting at a bus stop," he continues. "You're sitting there levelling up your character, you log in at home when you're on wi-fi, and all of sudden your character has levelled up. We think those kinds of experiences are very possible."
It's good to hear someone coming up with some game-related innovations for PSP for a change when all we seem to hear about is multimedia ones.
Whether this home console-to-PSP compatibility would actually take off though remains to be seen - these things often seem to end up being neat-sounding gimmicks no one actually uses. A proper MMO game for PSP though - and one geared at gamers in the West too - would be a good thing. Let's just hope it happens.
