THE president of Sony Computer Entertainment’s Worldwide Studios, the group of videogame developers owned by the company, reassured programmers and designers that the company will be taking their advice to heart in future — and confirmed that Sony are at work on a new hardware platform.
Speaking to Britain trade publication Develop, Shuhei Yoshida said that Sony’s studios had been involved in new hardware development since Kaz Hirai took over as company president in 2007.
“[Hirai] wanted developers in meetings at the concept stage of the new hardware, and he demanded SCE people talk to us. We are undergoing many activities that we haven’t yet been talking about in public. Some future platform related activities.”
Both Sony and Microsoft have been talking about the importance of extending the lifespan of the PlayStation3 and Xbox 360, by introducing motion controls and, in Sony’s case, 3D gaming.
However, Nintendo have already found global success with the Wii console and DS handheld, despite their competitors’ advanced technologies.
They were able to show the 3DS at June’s Electronic Entertainment Expo, showing how its screen’s 3D effect works without the use of special glasses as current 3D TVs do.
Sony representatives have until now refused to be drawn on questions regarding a replacement for their own counterpart handheld, the PSP, only just stopping short of a point-blank denial.
Remaining announcement opportunities are generally limited to Germany’s Gamescom in August and the Tokyo Games Show in September.
Nintendo, having promised to release the 3DS before March 2011, are well placed to launch it at the Tokyo expo, meaning that Sony need to start revealing key details if they want to dissuade current PSP owners from jumping ship. — Relaxnews
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