Saturday, June 25, 2011

Can smartphone replace PSP?

Android phones and the iPhone family is a growing contender in the mobile gaming industry. However, for those who enjoy playing mobile gaming, it will be rather difficult to treat smartphones as real gaming devices, they may tend to see them merely as tools for gaming diversion. Tablets powered by high-end CPU and GPU can provide better gaming experience, however, the lack of physical buttons put a limit on the usefulness of these devices. Blasting away henchmen and aliens feels much more satisfactory with physical button than tapping on virtual buttons on a solid screen. Many people who love mobile gaming tend to see Wi-Fi, versatile OS and other features as unessential, they just want good screen, speedy hardware and of course, plain old keypad.
It’s like drums, bass and guitar, those musicians want to touch the strings and pick them. The announcement of PS Vita, has lowered the PSP 3000 price to $130, and it may come down even further when the device ships. On the other hand, smartphone may provide wider option on legacy gaming; for example, Android devices can easily many legacy gaming formats. In fact, smartphones can now play numerous Sony’s PSX games and perhaps, PSP games soon.

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