Pros and Cons of the Playstation download service

Yes, we SHOULD be able to download PS1 games to the PSP without a PS3 and we SHOULD be able to play them on the PS3 too, but the way Sony has been acting lately, I wouldn’t be surprised if they shot themselves in the foot again and never get around to this.

Still, if they started releasing some of the rarer titles for download, like Panzer Bandit, I’d buy the PS3/PSP combo in a second. I’d settle for FF Tactics, Resident Evil 2, and Castlevania though.

My understanding is that the PS3 is being used for a rather elaborate encoding routine to protect the data from piracy on the internet. It almost seems silly. There are far easier ways to pirate a PS1 game than to get the PSP version and rehack it to work with existing PS1 emulators.

But to build on what Casey said, having those titles available to play off the PSP’s own memory (rather than UMD) also addresses one of the key failings of the PSP, that is it’s rather horrendous load times caused by its use of optical media. By increasing the quantity of quick play titles, they can help the PSP fulfill one of it’s core functional roles: a portable machine readily available for a quickly played game. Rare titles that few have played can effectively be new titles that load quickly and are easy on the budget. Valkyrie Profile: Lenneth filled this role as a UMD game (though naturally the load time problem is not addressed in that example, and it’s expensive at $40). Future such releases should be done via download.

I can’t wait until they release the original Warhawk for the download service! I’m going to sit there on my browser and refresh it so much on the day it’s available! WOOOOOO!!!

heh, seems kind of lame to require people to buy the PS3 in order to download ps1 games. Also seems lame how this was Nintendo’s idea.

Either way, it would make more sense if they made this available for buying on the computer. It’s not like that many people would bother trying to hack them even if it were easy to do, which it doesn’t seem to be. Seems like Sony’s really limiting their possible sales for very stupid reasons. I wonder if this will hurt the PS3’s chances in this generations console battle.