GAME DOWNLOADS
A flash-based PSP2, which lets you download games to internal memory, is only a matter of time, asserts Sheffield. "Sony doesn't want to anger retailers, but why should they care so much anyway? More and more people buy even physical hardware online, and the retailers that had a booming year just recently did so because of used game sales, which don't benefit the industry at all. Regardless, a PSP with a flash drive just makes sense, what with the ability to download PSone games to it, and all of that. The pitfalls are piracy, which may increase (and is already rampant), and retail anger. I think it's coming though."
Industry veteran, and respected developer, Dave Perry (of Earthworm Jim and Enter the Matrix fame), is also convinved UMD will die, and that PSP2 (or even PSP3) has the opportunity to clean up the opposition. "I've been publicly flogging the UMD drive for a long time, it's useless in a digital world. Would Apple put a UMD drive in the PSP if they designed it? Not in a million bloody years. So I'm operating on the "3rd time's a charm" concept, Sony will get the PSP right on attempt number 3. (My fingers are crossed right now.)"
DIGITAL FUTURE
Perry thinks Nintendo's slowly-does-it approach to DS updates presents Sony with a key opportunity. "Nintendo is in super-slow iteration mode on the Gameboy, one minor step at a time has been their history, the next rumor is (yawn) that both screens are touch sensitive. Well that's just great. That means that Sony can leave them for dead as when Nintendo gets around to coming up with a digital store it will likely be just as poor an attempt as the one they built for the Wii."
"So Sony needs to get the pedal to the metal, they have no competition. Go buy the new iPod touch from Apple, they REMOVED the option to download games into it! This is even better for Sony. Nintendo is moving at 2 miles an hour and Apple pulled out!"
Perry thinks PSP is central to Sony's fortunes. "I LOVE the PSP, I think it's crucial to the future of Sony to make the device that owns the handheld markets. They have everything they need to make this happen, it's really down to just making the right decisions, making the right (modern) device, with slightly more power (PS2, not PS1.something), (without a stupid TV tuner) and getting the price as low as it can possibly go."
Article courtesy of PSM3 Magazine'sofficial blog. PSM3 #98 is on sale 14 February 2008.
