PSP Phone, What About Ngage?
I’m sure you all saw the recent patent for the PSP phone, complete with sketches. What do you think? Personally, I’m saddened. I would have liked that form factor to be partnered with Nokia’s new Ngage platform set to launch in a few months. I know it’s been stated several times by Nokia that they won’t have a hardware Ngage device, but I’m doubtful of that.
To be fair, they don’t have a great history in that genre. There were 2 previously, both with the same form factor, being piss-poor. The second merely corrected the major flaws of the first, and shrunk a bit.
I think Nokia will have some Ngage “optimized” devices, at the least. With dedicated gaming buttons. But what will they look like? I think the best possible option is something similar to the E70 device, pictured here. What if on the “open” side, though, where there’s currently a QWERTY keyboard, there was another d-pad and some gaming-oriented buttons? How killer would that be? I guess you could do the same with the N95, only the dual-slide would have gaming controls.
Do you think they’ve got something REALLY innovative up their sleeves? What other gaming-oriented form factors can you think of?
**Disclaimer** I realize that’s a horrid Photoshop job. I’m still learning, and it’s more just for a visual aid than anything else. If you think you can do better, please do, email it to me, and I’ll gladly swap it out, and credit you appropriately.
The photo shopping may not be up to snuff but the design is a damn good idea. If they could apply that form to the N95’s massive screen I think Nokia could really make a dent in the mobile gaming genre provided they don’t throw the kitchen sink at it so the cost is reasonable.