Vodafone sign with Sony
Mobile phone companies ramp up support for the PSOne
Sony have forged a new alliance with Vodafone to allow customers to link their mobile phones to the PSOne. Sony have already announced similar agreements with NTT DoCoMo, described by FT.com as the leading Japanese mobile carrier, and NTT's six overseas partners, AT&T Wireless, KPN Mobile, Telecom Italia Mobile, Hutchinson 3G, Hutchinson Telecom and KG Telecom. The move is described as strategic partnership (aren't they all?) and will initially allow users to receive tips and the like via SMS. Something which we are at pains to point out doesn't require this much fanfare. Still, where there are purse strings there's a way. Both companies are looking to explore ways of "extending the PlayStation experience into the Vodafone mobile phone environment," which apparently means the company is talking about serving games over mobiles. Both companies are excited about the deal at any rate, and if you're yearning for more there's an unecessarily chirpy write up at FT.com. We can only assume the company intend to extend this relationship beyond the boundaries of the simple telephone, because in its current format we don't rate it. Perhaps they will opt for a system similar to that of the Neo Geo Pocket Color title Dive Alert, which allowed Japanese users to multiplay against anybody within a certain distance radius. Considering the amount of equipment both companies own, we wouldn't think it that unreasonable. Related Feature - Broadband Consoles - A Pipe Dream?