In a recent interview Sony Online Entertainment president John Smedley has revealed revealed that they are considering massively multiplayer online games for the PSP.
"We started to get very interested in [the PSP] when we switched over from Sony Pictures to Sony Computer Entertainment back in April," he explained. "And as we've kind of got our heads up looking around the world within Sony Computer Entertainment, we're really starting to see a big push for PSP. We think it's a world-class device... In the future, we see full MMOs that are designed for the PSP."
Smedley believes that we don't have to wait for a PSP exclusive MMO to be developed; instead, PSP can be integrated with existing MMO games. "Maybe one way to do it: In 'Free Realms,' you could have a pet-training system that literally connects to our online gaming where you can mess around with your pet," he said of SOE's younger-skewing MMO due out next year.
"Another way to do it might be to give them mini-games that they can do [on the PSP] when sitting at a bus stop," he offered. "You're sitting there leveling up your character, you log in at home when you're on wi-fi, and all of sudden your character has leveled up. We think those kinds of experiences are very possible."
Is a handheld device such as PSP suitable for MMO gameplay? Does playing a minigame then uploading your score to your MMO account add to your gaming experience? We don't think so, but we sure hope Sony would prove us wrong.
