As the gaming universe very, very reluctantly starts making its way into the mobile environment, limits in play continue to appear here and there. A feature for the PlayStation Vita is cross-compatibility with some games between it and the PlayStation 3. Cross-compatibility for a game between smartphones and tablets should, by all means, be a given by now. With the PlayStation Mobile environment, you can play a game you purchase on three devices and that’s it – once you’ve played the game on your tablet and your smartphone, you get one more choice.

For a lot of people, this isn’t a problem. If you’ve got a smartphone and a tablet, you’re probably going to have those devices for some time to come. If you purchase a smartphone, you’re likely nailed in to a 2-year contract with your mobile carrier, and a tablet isn’t something you buy more than once a year – if that. What the PlayStation Mobile rule of 3 does not account for is the ever-growing multi-device-owning public.

I should not be counted as I’ve got more devices in and out of my hands than most people will ever touch as a product reviewer – but given the current release schedule for products at less than a year between one device and its upgraded version (see: HTC One X+), it’s not out of line to assume people are switching devices much more often than the 2-year lock implies. It must be then that Sony wants to work in the old world, one where the idea of piracy being so important that they limit the devices on which a game can be played for the legitimate multi-device-owning public.

And that’s your first-world problem opinion for the day. Do you own more than three devices that you’d like to play the same game on? Let us know!

There are a couple caveats that you should be aware of, though. First, the service only works on “PlayStation Certified” devices, which means the Vita, obviously, but also only a handful of newer Android devices from Sony and HTC. The list consists of the Xperia Play, Xperia Arc, Xperia S, Xperia Ion, Xperia Acro, Xperia Acro HD, Sony Tablet S, Tablet P, the HTC One X, One X+, One S, and One V.

Second, PlayStation Mobile only works on up to three devices. This isn’t too much of a problem, since most users wouldn’t own more than a Vita, smartphone, and tablet at once, but for a service where its main selling point is playing games on multiple devices, you’d think they would allow unlimited devices or at least more than three.

Once you purchase games, and have PlayStation Mobile installed on three of your devices, you’re pretty much good to go. The games take advantage of both the Vita’s touchscreen and gaming controls, as well as the on-screen virtual DualShock controller for the Android devices. Right now, there are only 20 games to choose from, but we’re guessing that number will grow over time.

[via Android Community]

Sony announced this week that it would start delivering content for PlayStation Mobile through the PlayStation Store on October 3. Sony promises that the launch of the service will see PlayStation-like content delivered on a variety of mobile devices that are popular today. The service will launch in nine different countries.

Launch countries include Japan, the United States, Canada, the UK, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and Australia. Sony says that more countries will follow and at launch, users will be able to enjoy 30 new titles in a variety of gaming genres. Games will be offered in adventure, action, puzzle, sports, and simulation genres.

Sony says that the games will sell for between 50 and 850 yen in Japan. Games will be available that were created by Sony and from third-party developers and publishers. Sony will continue to expand the available library of games on PlayStation Mobile as new titles become available. Sony also intends to accelerate the expansion of PlayStation Certified devices so more smartphones and tablets will be able to access the games.

Sony has made it clear that their own devices running Android – tablets, the original PlayStation Phone (Xperia PLAY) and a vast collection future phones will be first on their list when it comes to definite entry into the PlayStation Mobile program, 3rd party devices and manufacturers are now being accepted into the fold. Two examples are the manufacturers Asus and Wikipad, both of them ready to bring on PlayStation-certified games as they launch new products later this year.

When a device is “PlayStation Certified”, it means that Sony has literally checked out the device and approved it before it’s been released to the public. Sony’s approval process requires that each device is able to play their quickly growing set of mobile games and that they essentially agree to continued software support as well. This PlayStation Mobile initiative also promises cross-compatibility and one-download-only situations with the PS Vita this week as well.

Another notable device currently in the PlayStation Mobile universe is the HTC One X, a smartphone with either a dual-core processor from Qualcomm or a quad-core processor from NVIDIA. The power is there, and Sony wants a piece!

Have a peek at the timeline below to see more about the PlayStation Mobile initiative, and get pumped up as Sony takes a charge into the future!

[via CNET]

You’ve already seen the PlayStation Suite in different forms for months, with roots in the mobile world going back years in some cases. Have a peek a recent story of ours on the release of a Sony PlayStation Suite SDK open beta and see that not only were the two Sony tablets involved in this program thus far, the PS Vita has been as well. Now it’s time for prime time.

This program will have both the HTC One X (primarily) and the HTC One S being touted as fabulous places to play mobile-aimed PlayStation Certified games. We’ve seen such a program as well in the Sony Ericsson Xperia PLAY as it also worked with certified PlayStation physical controls. With HTC in the game, it’s time to move beyond the realm of Sony devices and controls and straight on through to the touchscreens of all Androids – some day!

PlayStation Mobile will have a store full of PlayStation Certified games ready for the picking and downloading on Sony-partnered devices across the Android landscape. This program will compete with the NVIDIA TegraZone as well as the Qualcomm Snapdragon GameCommand environments with the power of the PlayStation to back it up.

You can jump in on all the developer action over at PlayStation.com’s PlayStation Mobile Site. This will be your one-stop shop for everything a developer might need to move forward with their application on Sony-partnered devices. PlayStation Mobile branding here you come!

[via PlayStation Blog]