When PSM (Playstation Mobile) was first announced, I thought it was going to be an app store for Android ports. That sounded pretty awesome, and I was expecting Minecraft clones, and a plethora of potentially really cool titles once it launched. What happened? Was that not the idea behind it? It seems that we get a few titles a month, and most aren't really noteworthy.

I was under the impression this was a way for indie devs to get their product on a platform that was in dire need of games....

I was also REALLY excited for the potential old PC game ports, more specifically Point n' Click adventure games.

They have to be certified to be played on approved devices before they will be accepted, so the slew of clone games you're expecting might not show up.

I'm interested in that devs wanted to bring trophies into the mix, resulting in all hell breaking loose.

@Azurath: It's just taken time to get it fully running. The games last year were by developers who had an agreement with Sony to release while they were still testing the service - it's only from last week with Life of Pixel and Haunt the House we've really seen developers releasing stuff on their own.

@BlackLagoon: It's good to hear that it is starting to go somewhere. I really hope more devs get behind it.

It was more of Sony getting into android game distribution. Like Amazon. The only difference is Sony has created a restriction that prevents the games from appearing on most phones.

If I was a game developer and I was making a cell phone game I can't see a reason to put it on PSM.

@Shakezula84 said:

It was more of Sony getting into android game distribution. Like Amazon. The only difference is Sony has created a restriction that prevents the games from appearing on most phones. If I was a game developer and I was making a cell phone game I can't see a reason to put it on PSM.

PSM was made to avoid many of the issues that plague Android, like rampant piracy, and the significant cost of making sure a game runs on most of the different hardware and flavors of Android out there. These are huge headaches for many devs, and have caused a number of them to just stick to iOS.

There's also the issue of visibility - unless a dev has strong reputation or a significant marketing budget, chances are his game is just going to drown in the sea of umpteen gazillion other apps, many with real publisher backing. While on PSM, there's less crap, and good games frequently get promoted by Sony on the PlayStation Blog and Blogcast, etc.

@Shakezula84: What Sony established with PSM is a set of standards by which applications need to be run at. Having criteria for games helps them to run on approved devices to the best of their ability while keeping the cost of developing for multiple configurations down.

I've stayed with iOS because my apps generally run well across devices. Whenever I've played around Droid and multiple versions of the same application, it has been an absolute crapshoot. Given some of the iOS and Droid developers that I know, I've heard more complaints about keeping up with every SKU that Android supports rather than keeping up with Apple hardware refreshes. From the point of view of the consumer, it is easier for me to buy an app with confidence on iOS because things are clearly outlined (with the exception of the iPod category).

I can't speak specifically to PSM across other devices, but having a set of standards enhances the experience for users and developers alike. Oh, an as BlackLagoon points out, they are mentioned on the PSBlog and such (without which I doubt I'd ever hear about any of the PSM titles). Beats Slider is awesome, by the way.

I'd have to assume that there is more incentive (at least currently) or cheaper to put it on PSM than the PSN Store. It is hard to understand why you would put it there otherwise, unless you really want in on the Droid crowd.