PlayStation 3 Aiming for Xbox 360 Compatibility? DS and PSP to Share 360 Link?

Confusion and rumour – something is afoot.

Posted by Staff
SPOnG had a meeting with a high-ranking executive from a platform holder last week. We had beers in the sun. It was all very pleasant. During our chat about the ins and outs of the games industry, we were told something that sounded too incredible even for our news pages.

“I saw a Sony PlayStation 3 presentation slide last week,” he said. “Guess what was on it.” We guessed a picture of our staff looking dubious. It wasn’t that. We guessed a PlayStation 3. We were told, “Of course a PlayStation 3 but what else…?” We gave up. With a crafty wink we were told, “A PlayStation 3 linking out to all sorts of things, being compatible with them all in some way. Guess what one of the things was.” We said we didn’t like guessing anymore and just wanted to know. “An Xbox 360! In some way, Sony is planning on making the PlayStation 3 ‘talk’ to the 360, though exactly what they are planning wasn’t explained.”

Our source was 100% explicit about what he saw and was 100% confident in his conviction. “The slide was shown to many delegates at the ELSPA summit. It was on screen behind the stage for a long time. I can’t believe no one noticed the Xbox 360 in the corner.”

Neither could we. It just seemed too far-fetched.

Then we noticed this article appear on respected blog Engadget. It reads:

Be at peace, gamers, for rumor has it that the Xbox 360’s hotly discussed extensive 3rd party hardware integration and support will include—no, you definitely did not see this coming—methods for allowing PSP and DS users to play Microsoft games online with their devices through the 360, and with one another. Of course, this is completely unconfirmed, but sometimes bizarre love triangles really aren’t that bizarre. Bring on the unity. Feel the love.


So what to make of it all? The concept of almost complete cross-company hardware integration seems less than likely to say the least, yet rumour from some decent sources says otherwise. SPOnG right now has absolutely no way of knowing and absolutely no way of finding out; unless of course, something leaks in the next few months. We’ll monitor the situation - we're sure you will too. Let us know your thoughts, as ever, in the forum below.

Comments

Joji 28 Jun 2005 13:40
1/12
Nope, don't believe this news at all. Even though April has already gone it still sound a bit fishy, to good to be true.
spicicles 28 Jun 2005 14:06
2/12
...and I have it under good authority from a very reliable source that Zelda will be a launch title on the ps3 and Mario will launch on the 360.
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Ditto 28 Jun 2005 14:13
3/12
I don't think that this is so far off the mark. I can see M$ trying to steal customers from its competitors in this way. Sony, less likely and Nintendo, very unlikely.

If they did try to do this, they would face massive legal problems though, as the companies involved wouldn't take it lying down.
kid_77 28 Jun 2005 14:35
4/12
As M$, $ony & Ninty's next-gen machines will be Wireless-G enabled, I guess it's possible for multi-platform games to be cross-platform multi-player; via Ad-Hoc peer-to-peer.

Could the next-gen machines become Wireless Access Points, for the DS and PSP to connect to the internet?
YenRug 28 Jun 2005 15:35
5/12
My best idea of what this could indicate? A cross-platform messaging system, or the ability to link up the same game online between the different systems. The latter was suggested in this current generation but never succeeded due to the disparities between each consoles online network. Knowing that all next-gen systems will be online, it seems like a good idea to explore that possibility again.
tyrion 28 Jun 2005 15:37
6/12
kid_77 wrote:
As M$, $ony & Ninty's next-gen machines will be Wireless-G enabled, I guess it's possible for multi-platform games to be cross-platform multi-player; via Ad-Hoc peer-to-peer.

I think this is the most likely answer here. There's too much "not on my network" going on. Don't you think MS would jump at the chance to let PS3 players onto live?

kid_77 wrote:
Could the next-gen machines become Wireless Access Points, for the DS and PSP to connect to the internet?

I do believe that MS had some notes about this at their E3 conference. At least about PSP conectivity.
vault 13 28 Jun 2005 20:32
7/12
At best I see you being able to see your friends on other systems playing other games and possibly a messaging service. I think, I hope at least in the future for a cross system online service. I can only afford one online service or at least only have time for one online service(read: Halo 2, period).

Is it invasion. console wall breaching, bandwidth stealing, piggybacking, etc. to let you at least view people on other networks and send them text messages?
way 29 Jun 2005 03:09
8/12
Sounds like one of those suggestions I sent Sony either last year or the year before.

Wouldn't it be good if somebody could make a descent xbox360 emulator for the PS3, would solve the, which machine is more powerful, issue.
Zeo [banned] 3 Jul 2005 21:02
9/12
Another lie from Spong.

Surprise.
tyrion 4 Jul 2005 08:07
10/12
Zeo wrote:
Another lie from Spong.

Surprise.

Hooray! Zeo's here!

Tell us more, oh all knowing oracle!
fluffstardx 4 Jul 2005 12:49
11/12
You say that like they claim to hold the truth. All they say is someone claims to have seen a Sony slide showing them connecting. You took the massive leap, not them. It is probably true, but is most likely a reference to the 360 presentation where they cheekily showed it connecting to Sony's consoles...
The dude 9 Jul 2009 04:04
12/12
UNIFY ALL GAMING SYSTEMS
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