Slashdot Mirror
Sony Opens PSP Store on the PC
GamesIndustry.biz is reporting that Sony has opened up a new downloads store for the PlayStation Portable. Store.playstation.com interfaces with your existing PSN network id, and will allow purchase and download of games, trailers, and demos to your Sony handheld. The company is already clarifying that this 'won't kill the UMD format', and that this is just an alternative method to obtain content. Darren Carins, head of online marketing for SCEE, was quoted as saying "The UMD business is still good for us and our publishers. It's still a burgeoning market, and we're still selling a large number of PSPs on a weekly basis, so there are a large number of new people coming into the market. I don't think that this would give us any cause for concern over UMD, I think they sit very well together. When you talk about the more casual games, pick-up-and-play games, you would definitely want to put them through the Store rather than have disc production, in to retail, and so on."
I've had a quick look at the site and more than anything it makes me want to switch to a font with no TM character - 24 of them on one page is at least 23 too many. Okay Sony, I get it, you've trademarked all this stuff. What do you want? A trophy? A cake?
I guess it's a similar problem with the PSP itself - before playing a game I have to sit through splash screens telling me who developed the game, who published it, what technology it used (again, all with little TMs, (C)s and (R)s) - all I want to do is play the thing. And that's why I leave the PSP at the back of the drawer and play DS instead. UMDs are slow to load, don't slow them down further with tedious animations and logos.