Loose Threads: Will Sony or Nintendo introduce branded gaming phones?

In last week's Loose Threads we asked whether Sony or Nintendo will introduce branded gaming phones? It's a question that has been on everybody's lips for the better part of a year, helped in no small part by various patent applications issued by each company, detailing gaming phones.

We're willing to bet that both Sony and Nintendo will continue to remain silent on the topic for a good while yet, which is why it's great to have readers as vocal as you lot. You've been clambering over one another to have your say about this over the past week and the consensus seems to be not will they, but should they.

HiddenAway opened the discussion with:

"I'm just not sure if the market is there for them yet. The PSP is already starting to become a phone on its 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.

Nintendo has certainly been less than inviting to technology that could potentially dilute a gaming experience. Mandark, however, is extremely confident that Nintendo and PlayStation phones are inevitable:

"I'd bet my house 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 high-speed 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."

Integrating some sort of out-of-the-box phone functionality seems like a reasonably likely direction for the next PSP if the current PSP's fresh range of communication services is anything to go by. Sony just can't seem to get enough of multimedia. But another of our regulars, danskmacabre, isn't holding his breath for said device:

"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."

It's a fair point. If you've got a good thing going…

Stirring up the discussion somewhat, Pocket Gamer's official captain, Chris, was more buoyant about the prospect.

"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 Game Boy brand kicking around. Maybe 2008 will see the launch of the Phoneboy or the mobiDS?"

Hmm, we'll see. Bigbear, meanwhile, threw the cat firmly among the pigeons with something nobody had considered yet:

"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!"

All the components make sense certainly, but Microsoft has already made it clear that it isn't interested in making a Zune phone quite yet. Who knows what the future will bring, however.

Then mustachioed prince, Accelorata Jengold, muscled in with something of a diatribe on the topic:

"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?"

It's an interesting argument and one that we're sure the ever-tentative Nintendo is probably repeating mantra-like inside it's sugar cube-esque Kyoto HQ. Sony, on the other hand, has both thoroughbred mobile experience and a precedent for converging its various brands.

Tying up the debate in the end was 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 going 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."

A great discussion, then, and one that will no doubt flare up again several times before either Sony or Nintendo actually get around to launching branded gaming phones.

Unfortunately, such was the intensity of the above thread that it leaves us with little time to comb over any other Loose Threads this week. But just as a reminder, do pay our new Freebies section a visit when you get a moment and remember if you are hopelessly mired in the deepest darkest depths of handheld gaming hell, our recently added Help! section is the place to vent your spleen.

And so just before we leave you, next week's topic:

How can mobiles be better designed for playing games?

As always, the details are over in the forum. Click 'Track It!' to be sure to catch the ensuing discussion.