Well what can I say. My WebGL development has been in the way lately (sorry I can't place more light, wish I could!), and low and behold I find that the beta version of the Playstation® Suite is available. Now in version 0.98 at time of post; this is a beast and I have tried the some of the examples and I have to say. Wow...
Ok, before I get carried away, The Playstation® Suite SDK is a dev kit which allows you to write code for both Sony Based Android devices or the Sony Playstation® Vita handheld. Yesterday, I 'borrowed' my friend's Vita to run the sample program code and boy am I impressed with this SDK and 'the whole Shebang'. Then when I had time to myself I tried the examples on the very solid emulator which comes with the SDK, it is not as exciting as the 'real thing', but you get my drift :D.
So what about it that makes me so keen...
It uses MonoDevelop, an open source C# IDE, which is a solid platform to develop with. It has been re-branded Playstation® Suite Studio. You cannot build and distribute Vita executables (of course!), or write in native C/C++ code; which might be a total off putting deal for some. C# is a good language, as I've used it in the past on previous projects years ago; the only caveat would be is the performance issues compared to lower level native languages. When you install the SDK, you have to deal with so many terms and conditions which I'm okay with; but I can't see some of my esteemed FOSS friends and colleagues jumping onto this promising platform.
The thing that makes me so impressed is seeing the demo run, which is very promising for all you creative types. Tutorials are solid and easy to grasp. There are even demo game example code, which is great for the intermediate who has completed the tutorials; so the learning curve isn't too high.
They might not be the tools the AAA game developer would use, but you can produce powerful 3D games and apps. There are conversion tools, and other gems to help produce solid interactive software. The nice thing to see is that it allows you to use the Playstation® input control mechanism.
The code is typical C#, in that it is purely Object-Orientated. The 3D graphics library looks like a OO hybrid version of Direct3D9 and OpenGL, which if you know one of these API's; will be simple to use or port existing projects. The shaders used reminds me more of NVidia's CG/HLSL, rather than GLSL. With shaders the syntax difference is fairly small as they work the same in execution.
Potential
...Yes, there is loads in this regard. Budding programmers and hobbyists can develop on PS Vita on official dev kits (watered down, but one none the less). Indies have a chance to shine with this, and the added user base of Sony based Android devices, this can seriously make it a great time for Indie game development. I've been impressed by so many great Indie games (Humble Bundle have allowed some amazing Indie games to arrive on my Ubuntu Linux box). As long as Sony doesn't treat this platform the same way Microsoft treated XNA; in being neglected and be left as an afterthought. I think with the development of Google Play/Android and iOS platforms, it is becoming apparent that serious developers will look at this as a solid platform; and can make or break it's potential of user adoption. And when if the devs produce quality software, it only benefits the platform it is on; as Platforms and Operating Systems live and die by the available applications (Look at Windows Phone 7 at this current time).
Well then...
I'm not going to borrow my friends Vita, as I am envious and my projects take too much time for me to play with PS Suite coding; maybe too much of a distraction. I want to code for this beauty, so I will have to do something I wasn't going to intend doing. My intention in a nutshell - Buy this Vita beauty; and code for the real hardware. Emulator is robust and solid enough, but it is not the same.
Maybe I will have to settle with a very good emulator for now, as I am becoming a gadget whore now in my old age. But on all I've seen, it is very solid and robust, with a very good emulator and tools. And bear in mind it is still beta at this point. If you have developed full blown games, publish them and let us all know.
In the meanwhile, download this brilliant SDK.