SOE has portable MMO plans for the PSP: Free Realms tie-ins first, full games later
by Samuel Axon 
Sep 29th 2008 at 7:00PM
Filed under: Interviews, MMO industry, New titles, News items, Mobile, Consoles, Free Realms
SOE is considering investing time and money in developing MMOs for the PlayStation Portable gaming system, according to MTV's Multiplayer blog. SOE president John Smedley said that his company began to think about working on the platform after it was moved under the Sony Computer Entertainment America leg of the Sony corporation.
Smedley suggested that we will eventually "see full MMOs that are designed for the PSP." Unfortunately, he said that's not on the immediate agenda, and that limited functionality related to PC and PS3 releases -- such as managing one's pets in Free Realms -- will likely come first. In a different interview, Smedley talked about broadening the appeal of MMOs by going after console users. Portable consoles seem the next logical step, right?
In that same interview he promised that more EverQuest games are coming. This is wild speculation, but imagine an EverQuest spin-off for the PSP. Is that something we'd want to play? As cool as EverQuest Portable might be, there are reasons to doubt Smedley's plan. Unlike say, an iPhone, The PSP only has internet connectivity when it's near a Wi-Fi hotspot. How often are you really near one of those when playing your PSP? Isn't most of your time with the device spent on the train or someplace transient like that?
Smedley suggested that we will eventually "see full MMOs that are designed for the PSP." Unfortunately, he said that's not on the immediate agenda, and that limited functionality related to PC and PS3 releases -- such as managing one's pets in Free Realms -- will likely come first. In a different interview, Smedley talked about broadening the appeal of MMOs by going after console users. Portable consoles seem the next logical step, right?
In that same interview he promised that more EverQuest games are coming. This is wild speculation, but imagine an EverQuest spin-off for the PSP. Is that something we'd want to play? As cool as EverQuest Portable might be, there are reasons to doubt Smedley's plan. Unlike say, an iPhone, The PSP only has internet connectivity when it's near a Wi-Fi hotspot. How often are you really near one of those when playing your PSP? Isn't most of your time with the device spent on the train or someplace transient like that?
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
george said on 7:25PM 9-29-2008
If that would ever happen, I would buy a PSP just to play that MMO ;)
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Reader said on 8:51PM 9-29-2008
Too bad it'd be a game from SOE. I'd stoop as low as WoW if I could play it on a PSP, but not something from Sony.
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HappyFunBall said on 10:29AM 9-30-2008
Maybe the games would have some sort of offline component, that you could gain exp or do something while you're offline.
If they don't have an offline component, if you knew you were going to be away from a hotspot, I guess you'd just take different games. I usually play my PSP/DS at home, so I usually have a connection.
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