Sony: Why the NGP isn’t a phone

For those of you who don’t know, the PSP2 isn’t the much rumored PSP Phone that everybody has been begging for. While the NGP does have 3G functionality, it doesn’t include a phone and Sony explains why.

In an interview with Eurogamer, SCEE head Andrew House had this to say:-

“Deliberately no, We’ve avoided it.”

“We think that voice capability carries with it a whole other set of expectations, and we want this to be first and foremost the ultimate gaming experience.We’ve elected not to complicate that proposition overly by trying to have it be all things to all people including voice and a conventional phone. Clearly [PlayStation Suite] addresses an already vibrant phone marketplace that serves that consumer very well.”

PlayStation Suite is a new service which will deliver classic PSone content to Android smart phone devices and will launch later this year. No games were announced. If your scratching your heads wondering how PS games can be emulated on a phone then you should know that the Suite will add a virtual D-pad and buttons. It will be interesting to see how that works out.

“We envision PlayStation Suite as an initiative that is essential to the world of portable entertainment” said Kaz Hirai.

However the PSP Phone is more than just a rumor. The handheld is expected to make its debut at the Mobile World Congress next month in Barcelona.