Chime In: Playing Games On More Than One Device
Posting about Puzzle Quest 2 yesterday got me thinking about something. With all of the interconnected devices that we have now — the Wii and DS, the PS3 and PSP, and the Xbox and PC (through Live) — why don’t we have games that we can start playing on one device and continue on the next?
Square Enix did something like that with FFCC: Echoes of Time on the DS and Wii, where both devices could play the same game together, but I’m looking more for a way to start playing on your console at night and pick up on your handheld on the way to work the next morning. Take Puzzle Quest, for instance. I bought it on both my DS and on my 360. The reason I got the 360 version was to play online, but I had to go through the whole game again, just so I could use my character to duel some friends online. Wouldn’t it be nice if I could have uploaded my save game and started from where I was in the DS version?
Thinking about it, the only game I can think of that does something similar to this would be Pokemon Stadium. It would take your existing Pokemon and upload them to the console so you could duke it out on the big screen.
Is cloud gaming the solution to this? Last week, Greg mentioned that Steam was coming to Mac. Valve said that with Steam Cloud, you’ll be able to continue playing your games from either Mac or PC. Microsoft is also introducing this with their newly announced Windows Phone 7 device on the Live platform, allowing you to start from where you left off on any Live-enabled device.
So I guess we’re getting there. I’m just wondering why it took this long, since we’ve had interconnected devices for years. What do you think?
Edgar - March 18th, 2010 - 
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ALH on March 18, 2010 at 10:26 am
Now a lot of us are carrying super cool computer phones, which, unlike a handheld console- are vital to everyday life- its a strategic plus to link em up and keep us loyal to the virtual stores.
Plus theres the issue of getting the majority of people to accept the idea of virtual stores/content in the first place, they’ve been around for ages, but now everyone and their dog has heard of itunes, or XBLA, or Steam – and more importantly- TRUSTS them.
Grant on March 18, 2010 at 10:44 am
I play the same online Scrabble matches on my iPod Touch and on Facebook. It rules.
Outrider on March 18, 2010 at 11:13 am
In theory, can’t you do this with PS1 games on either your PSP or your Playstation 3?
I guess you’d have to manually transfer the save file, though.
Michelle on March 18, 2010 at 2:18 pm
I suppose it’s because its in the developers best interest to assume gamers will pick up one version only – progress movement between versions better suits gaming services rather than individual games, it’s a real nice to have sure.
peshue on March 18, 2010 at 4:15 pm
I like the idea. But if I can continue a game on multiple systems, I don’t want to buy it multiple times. I don’t see many publishers letting that happen though.
Edgar on March 19, 2010 at 12:15 am
@Peshue, yeah being able to transfer everything over would be nice.
But for a feature like this, I wouldn’t mind paying the game per system w/o having to start over
peshue on March 19, 2010 at 12:23 pm
For certain games I’d consider it. A option to buy a more expensive version that covers everything would be great.
localaaron on March 24, 2010 at 3:05 pm
There were a handful of PSP/PS3 games that did this as well. MLB: The Show comes to mind, you were able to play season games on both systems and have the stats carry over.
The key thing here is lock-in, Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo have no desire to see games for other systems being promoted on their own, so you’ll only see this between systems from the same manufacturer.
BULLETHELL on July 14, 2010 at 6:48 am
Outrun on the PSP / PS2 was perfect for this, where progress on one machine transferred directly to the other. More of the same please!