Nvidia has updated the Tegra Zone app for Android with news that Sony's PlayStation Suite will be coming to Android smartphones and tablets equipped with Tegra processors and Android v2.3 "Gingerbread" or greater later this year.
This is the first solid news of Sony's PlayStation app landing on Android smartphones and tablets since the official reveal of the PS Suite and Sony Ericsson's PlayStation-certified smartphone, Xperia Play, last month. Featuring a slide-out gamepad, the phone isn't powered by Nvidia's Tegra, but rather Qualcomm's MSM8255 Snapdragon chipset combining a 1 GHz Scorpion processor and an Adreno 205 GPU. Currently it's unknown what other non-Tegra Android 2.3 devices will receive the PlayStation stamp of approval.
"On the software front, Sony plans to provide PS Suite content within this calendar year, starting with original PlayStation games such as Wild Arms, Cool Boarders 2, and Syphon Filter that will allow users to enjoy "PlayStation quality" gameplay on their Tegra-based portable devices," Nvidia said. "Moreover, Sony will provide a new game development environment in an effort to ensure new and compelling content is delivered on PS suite, which will also offer opportunities for a wider base of developers and publishers to further expand their business on various portable devices."
Other reports have limited Nvidia's announcement to just Tegra 2 devices, but the company clearly stated "Tegra-equipped Android phones and tablet devices" throughout the report. This indicates that current Honeycomb-based Tegra smartphones should be compatible with the PS Suite app and games. There's also speculation that the report hints to PlayStation 2 games sometime in the future. However, that may have to wait for Nvidia's Kal-El quad-core chipset which is slated to launch in August.
For those who are looking forward to Sony's upcoming NGP portable gaming console, Nvidia also offered one interesting little nugget-o-news. "Sony unveiled PlayStation Suite at a press event in Japan, along with a new PSP gaming device called the Next Generation Portable Entertainment system, which will play both PlayStation 3 quality games and Android games and apps."
Does that mean the NGP will have the ability to run Android apps? Will it be using an Android OS underneath Sony's typical PlayStation UI? Android 2.4 perhaps? We won't find out until E3 2011 in June most likely, and it would definitely make since given that Sony has embraced Android 2.3 "Gingerbread" as the foundation of its official PlayStation smartphone.
Meanwhile, SCEE president Andrew House is promoting the upcoming PS Suite app by claiming iOS and Android app models aren't good enough for gaming. Thanks to both Apple's App Store and Google's Android Market, it's difficult to differentiate premium gaming from lesser quality games. Naturally, that's where Sony comes in to set things straight.
"With PlayStation Suite, we are trying to establish a PlayStation Store within the Android marketplace," he told MCV in an interview. "This will be a destination for games that have a seal of quality which use the PlayStation tried and tested interface, either physically or via virtual or on-screen representation of that. Where it is easier to differentiate your content of being of good quality, it becomes easier for consumers to navigate through. And we think consumers are prepared to pay a little bit more of a premium if they can get that sense of quality."
To read the full interview, head here.
