When it comes to the PlayStation platform, the possibilities of interoperability between the consoles and portable devices is endless. From transferring over PS2 saves to the backwards compatible PS3s to unlocking and redeeming exclusive content between the PS3 and PSP versions of the Assassin’s Creed and Gran Turismo series, the potential was always there and still is with the NGP and PS3.
Perhaps the only barrier between possibility and inevitability of cross-platform play is the difficulty in implementation of the functionality itself. Historically, developers have claimed that the PSP and the PS3 have been difficult to develop for but, since the NGP is already hailed as a “developer’s dream”, interoperability between the platforms is already looking more probable. As it turns out, not only is it simple to achieve this but porting PS3 games to the NGP is “simple and quick”. According to Shuhei Yoshida, head of SCE Worldwide Studios:
We had to make the development environment for NGP as ‘easy’ as possible. Today, many teams are familiar with the PS3 and are used to including a variety of effects in their titles. Based on this expertise–and also the working habits they developed working on the PS3–we had to make development on the NGP as natural as possible–an extension of the PS3, if you will. So the three demos you’ve seen – Lost Planet 2, Ryu Ga Gotoku [Yakuza] and MGS4–they prove porting is simple and quick…
Yoshida also made it a point to reassure gamers that the vast majority of titles for the upcoming NGP will not just be rehashed PS3 titles by telling gamers that they can be sure to expect original, innovative content:
…but it doesn’t mean that’s all you can expect. My view of NGP isn’t just as a platform for porting PS3 titles.
While ports between different consoles literally entails the same game on both consoles, it does not necessarily have to be the same concept between the PS3 and NGP. Using the “simple and quick” porting process, developers are porting over the engines of PS3 games for the portable iterations of their subsequent franchises.
[Source]
