Sony develops PlayStation-compatible PDA
TOKYO, Feb 19 (Reuters) - Sony Computer Entertainment Inc, a unit
of Sony Corp said on Thursday it has developed a miniature personal
digital assistant (PDA) that can download data from its popular
PlayStation games console.
A company spokesman said the PDA was likely to hit the market
towards the end of this year.
The new product will be about the same size as Bandai Co Ltd's hit
toy, the virtual pet tamagotchi, and has functions like a handheld
game player, he said.
Handheld games have been best-selling items in Japan in recent years
as Tamagotchi and Nintendo Co Ltd's Gameboy player sparked a craze
among Japanese schoolchildren.
The new product uses technology from PlayStation's memory card and
is equipped with a liquid crystal display (LCD) and infrared-ray
communication functions, the company said in a statement.
More functions for the product will be decided in the process of
developing application software, the spokesman said.
One possible function would be to download digital characters in a
PlayStation fight game software, and train them on the PDA's LCD
monochrome screen. The characters could then be downloaded back
on the 32-bit PlayStation for a fighting match with other characters.
Data on a PDA can be exchanged with another PDA through the
infrared-ray communication function, the spokesman said.
Sales of Pocket Monster software, or Pokemon, adopted for the
Gameboy player, total some seven million units since its launch in
February last year.
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