Almost a year after first announcing the Playstation Suite initiative, Sony is finally rolling out it’s beta program to developers. The beta program, which will run until later this year, will let you create, debugging and testing, and it has a forum for support from other developers.
Not much info is given in the FAQ about things such as how much the apps will cost, but it does say that In order to sell developed content in the PS Store, you will be required to sign a separate contract, which includes a fee (US$99 per year).
The Playstation Suite SDK features 3 main things:
1. Create: You can develop games and applications that utilize physical buttons and touchscreen by using the integrated development environment (IDE) and simulator for the PC which are both included in the PlayStation Suite SDK.
2. Test and Debug: You can test and debug games and applications developed with the PS Suite SDK on the PlayStation®Vita system and PlayStation™Certified devices.*After the Open Beta period, you will be required to sign a separate contract.
3. Discuss: In the Developers Forum, you can discuss issues and exchange information with developers throughout the world. Of course, you can also interact with SCE employees, who will participate in discussions and offer development support.
The beta version is currently free to download and features PlayStation Suite SDK version 0.98 PS Suite SDK and is a “software package for developing applications that can be run on the PlayStation Vita system and PlayStation Certified devices. PS Suite SDK includes PC applications such as PC Suite Studio, as well as PS Suite UI Composer for laying out UI components. Further, in addition to basic graphic and sound libraries, PS Suite SDK also includes GameEngine2D for games using 2D graphics, Physics2D for 2D physical engine, as well as superior libraries such as the UI component library UI Toolkit. Rather than providing only basic samples for explaining each basic API, the SDK also gives you access to samples of games and applications using 2D and 3D graphics.”