Sony on New Aibo Rumours? “No Plans to Revive”

Brian Ashcraft — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 09:00:45 +0000

Previously, we floated a rumour from magazine Stuff that Sony was creating a PSP/PS3-connected Aibo. According to the piece, the Sony Aibo, as it’s dubbed, was being resurrected to “bolster the PS3’s arsenal.” Apparently, the Aibo PS will have its own Home avatar and react in the real world like he does in Home’s virtual one. Other tidbits: You can download new personalities for the dog via PSN, and the dog is controllable via PSP. Website Digital World Tokyo contacted Koji Kurata at Sony Japan’s Electronics Department about this rumour. Kurata was crystal clear, saying:

Sony terminated Aibo production at the end of FY2005 [and we] currently have no plans to revive this business in the future.

Odd, because we previously heard that Sony was in fact “talking” about working on something like the Aibo. Then again, that was just “talk,” and talk is cheap. Robotic dogs aren’t.
Sony Fesses Up [Digital World Tokyo]

New Aibo PS3, PSP Compatible?

Brian Crecente — Sat, 08 Dec 2007 23:36:34 +0000

It looks like Ash may have been right. Stuff magazine is running a rumour item on the possibility of an upcoming Aibo, the robotic dog, working with the Playstation Portable and Playstation 3. The rumour goes that the Sony Aibo PS, as they call it, is being resuscitated by Sony’s Playstation division in an attempt to “bolster the PS3’s arsenal”.

The Aibo PS will appear with its own avatar within Home and react in the real world as he does in the PS3’s upcoming interactive environment, according to the article. The rumour article goes on to say that you will be able to download new personalities for the dog from the Playstation Network and that the dog will be fully controllable using a PSP via WiFi. The dog’s head camera will send a real world vid feed to the PSP’s screen as well. The Dpad will control walking movement and the four main buttons will deal with head movement, which seems odd.

The Stuff folks rate this rumour as having a 53 percent probability. Seems like a cool concept, but I wonder if there’s the market for it to hit the real world. Who am I kidding? A remote control dog that can send live video from its head, sign me up for a baker’s dozen.

Matt Smith’s Facebook [via Gamespot UK, thanks Matthew]

Kotaku Australia » aibo

Sony on New Aibo Rumours? “No Plans to Revive”

New Aibo PS3, PSP Compatible?