Sony: Direct-to-PSP store 'possible'

PlayStation director of network operations Eric Lempel says an online store accessible without PC, PS3 is "definitely something we're thinking about."

Late last month, Sony gave PlayStation Portable owners who do not own a PlayStation 3 an alternate method for accessing downloadable games with the PlayStation Store. The new store lets PSP owners access content previously available only through the PS3's PlayStation Network by hooking up their handheld directly to PCs. The PlayStation Store offers many of the same original PlayStation games currently available through the PSN, as well as PSP exclusives SOCOM Fire Team Bravo and Twisted Metal: Head-On.

Although the PC-to-PSP store offers greater flexibility for accessing content, the store isn't the limit to Sony's ambitions for the handheld. Speaking to MTV game-focused blog Multiplayer, PlayStation director of network operations Eric Lempel said the company is exploring technology that will let the PSP connect directly to an online store.

"With the capability of the PSP, it's something that should be possible, so it's definitely something we're thinking about," said Lempel. "It's just a matter of priorities and some technology that we need to make it all work right and make sure the content is delivered securely, just to protect some of our [intellectual properties]. Yeah, it's definitely something we're thinking about."

Addressing other prospects of the PlayStation Store, Lempel assured PSP owners that more content was in the offing. "You'll be seeing a lot more content coming on there in the near future that is made exclusively for the PSP and isn't available anywhere else," said Lempel.

"And the other thing was to really create a nice, clean place where people can get a lot of content for their PSP that's all formatted correctly, that all works well," he continued. "It's all something we've looked at and said, 'This is something that should go on your PSP.' [That includes] themes, wallpapers. We have the ability to do music. Longer term we'll be looking at movies and TV shows."

90 Comments

  • Benny_a

    Posted Dec 8, 2007 1:01 pm PT

    2 power-baron If you own PSP Slim, you already have progressive output with Component Cables.
    And actually, its somewhat higher than 480P, its 640P, I checked my TV Info button.
    Played Silent Hill 0, looks nice.

  • power-baron

    Posted Dec 8, 2007 10:51 am PT

    Well good idea. Personally, I wish Sony would offer PSP games through the PSN and let those of us who hate handhelds but still wish to play the games the option to Download them to the PS3 and play them off the PS3 on our TV's. It could work much how the Gameboy Player allowed GBA games on the TV.

    Put a border around the game screen area like how the GBP did since your obviously not going to get full screen. Heck be imaginative and have a border that looks like a home theatre screen or somthing. Pretty neat.

    If the GBP can make GBA games look as amazing as it did then I can't imagine how much better PSP games would look on a TV at 480p. drools.

  • Ravenlore_basic

    Posted Dec 8, 2007 12:18 am PT

    I have, as its been said, waited for this for a long time. They should have thought of this prior to launching the PSP and worked hard to make it happen. If so they would have sold far more PSPs by now!!! Not only this, but a thumb board and roll keyboard would be great!!! Also had they rolled connex into this with music videos .... plenty of Sony content... that would have done a lot better!!! Since the beginning there has been, and still is a lot of potenchal for the PSP it is too bad that Sony has a lot to work on.

  • bka4u2c_basic

    Posted Dec 7, 2007 9:56 am PT

    I have been waiting on this for a while. As an owner of a PSP and NOT a PS3, (nor do I have plans of buying one or know someone with one), I was left out in the cold until recently. I was a huge fan of Jet Motto back in day and when I heard it was being release to the PS store I got excited only to realize I needed a PS3 to buy and transfer to my PSP. Good job Sony, still getting good use out of PSP.

  • HXCDEW

    Posted Dec 6, 2007 11:51 pm PT

    PS Store on PSP would be great!

    Btw, buy Beats for PSP. It is awesome! Make sure you buy this game! It's a ton of fun for a fiver.

    Wild Arms is also great and a classic. If you are a fan of JRPGs you must play it.

  • MGSteve

    Posted Dec 6, 2007 11:01 pm PT

    @chickenselect I think he's on about the 40GB version with no PS2 compatibility. The PS2's chip was called the Emotion Engine, IIRC.

  • chickenselect

    Posted Dec 6, 2007 9:51 pm PT

    lamprey,
    emotionless design?
    i have no idea what you are trying to say

  • Loucetios

    Posted Dec 6, 2007 1:33 pm PT

    anyone wondering, today's PSn update gave us Wild Arms for ps3/psp, awesome game i checked gamestats and it had a 8.7 averagescore

  • lamprey263

    Posted Dec 6, 2007 1:29 pm PT

    I wonder if the new PS3's emotionless design with its BC issues has something to do with the delays of these games making their way to PSN.

  • Alukun

    Posted Dec 6, 2007 12:54 pm PT

    believe that this does not go here but I have a suggestion, ist possible to send PSP songs to PSP via WiFi? always iwanted to do that...

    sorry my english isnt too good >_

  • mashom

    Posted Dec 6, 2007 11:56 am PT

    wow thats new idea and it is perfect to use on perfect console.

  • sandy4v

    Posted Dec 6, 2007 11:34 am PT

    well its nice
    BUT I WANT THE GPS RECEIVER and CAMERA

  • Putzwapputzen

    Posted Dec 6, 2007 10:06 am PT

    heyyy, this is pretty cool, makes things a lot convenient too

  • Loucetios

    Posted Dec 6, 2007 8:55 am PT

    To people wanting more Ps1 games, they are working on it, they have to go through a bunch of legal stuff over copyrights and what not for downloads and yes i agree FFVII on psn would rock

  • mmarsh1972

    Posted Dec 6, 2007 7:48 am PT

    The UMD Drive is the PSP Greatest weakness. It slows down the unit with its poor seek times and it kills the battery (moving parts kill batteries). If Sony is smart, for the PSP2 they will adopt a Internet software distribution system such as Steam to distribute games on the internet, and replace the UMD drive with the largest/Fastest flash drive they can find.

  • Pastehunter

    Posted Dec 6, 2007 5:39 am PT

    This would be great ... but luckily untill then we will have the PC version

  • devil_alireza

    Posted Dec 6, 2007 5:03 am PT

    yeaaaaaaaaa
    again new good news for psp.
    ....thanks god!

  • Generic_Dude

    Posted Dec 6, 2007 4:00 am PT

    Of course it's possible... but why do it direct when you can force people to buy a PS3 for it?

  • M-ManLA

    Posted Dec 6, 2007 3:50 am PT

    This will be nice.

  • daveg1

    Posted Dec 6, 2007 3:09 am PT

    you should be able to do this with a psp alone.....the turn on function of the ps3 with the psp is a let down i thought since the ps3 is still actualy running even though it is at a lower power level...but still you have to leave the ps3 turned on all the same which for a service like this is still not very good...instead of doing this like making it easyier to get things from the store they want to concentrate on actualy getting some worth while d/l's on there!

  • Grouchy_Dude

    Posted Dec 6, 2007 2:17 am PT

    To lhardwick692: I couldn't have said it any better. Amen, brother. Amen.

  • crunchb3rry

    Posted Dec 6, 2007 2:09 am PT

    "And Japan is suppose to be the technological wonder of the world?"

    Well, in Japan you can get something as simple as a TV tuner for the PSP. Not in America though. Because Corporate America wants too big a piece of the pie and creates roadblocks for something that should be simple. Even the DS has a TV tuner in Japan but not America. A freakin' TV tuner would get more use than that lameass GPS device or a webcam. But, yet again Sony is oblivious to the most logical applications of the PSP, even the PS3 has glaring omissions.

  • RomisSandthief

    Posted Dec 6, 2007 1:54 am PT

    Not a big fan of the PSP browser but the choice would be nice

  • mastertimx

    Posted Dec 6, 2007 12:32 am PT

    the psp is awesome, alot of great games on it in my opinion. right now i'm playing socom fire team bravo 2, chili con carnage, tales of the world, and burn out dominator, i have a large library of games for all systems, but my psp library is getting almost as big as my ps3 and 360 library, although nowhere near my ps2 collection.

  • megamanzero32

    Posted Dec 5, 2007 11:55 pm PT

    Give me, Chrono Trigger, and Xenogears,(And a few other good stuff) on the store. And you'll have a happy customer.

  • RaiKageRyu

    Posted Dec 5, 2007 11:48 pm PT

    That would be nice.

  • Suuji

    Posted Dec 5, 2007 11:37 pm PT

    The PSone game I desire most is PERSONA 2...

    I tried the PC Store but the download speed is even worse than using a PS3... (and I did't finish because overtime error and transfer stopped.)

    If I live in Japan and have that 60Mbps bandwidth I really dont care which way I download.

  • football_legend

    Posted Dec 5, 2007 11:28 pm PT

    I would prefer to be able to download things directly to PSP.

  • ArchAngel2284

    Posted Dec 5, 2007 11:26 pm PT

    still barely has any games? please, the psp has A LOT of high quality games. w/e lol

  • mortzilla3 posted Dec 5, 2007 10:07 pm PT (does not meet display criteria. sign in to show)

    mortzilla3

    Posted Dec 5, 2007 10:07 pm PT (hide)

    Psshh, psp. Yeah whatever.

  • mortzilla3 posted Dec 5, 2007 10:01 pm PT (does not meet display criteria. sign in to show)

    mortzilla3

    Posted Dec 5, 2007 10:01 pm PT (hide)

    Psshh, psp. Yeah whatever.

  • joshsta7

    Posted Dec 5, 2007 9:38 pm PT

    cool!

  • deth420

    Posted Dec 5, 2007 9:04 pm PT

    good god, why has this taken so long? why is there hardly any good games coming out? gta is still listed as the number one game on the psp, and its not really that fun. ive had this thing since it came out and i have one game for it, i mostly use it for video and music on the go. just seems like a waste with no games to play on it. "And the other thing was to really create a nice, clean place where people can get a lot of content for their PSP that's all formatted correctly, that all works well," geez what 2-3 years later. got a real think tank running the divsion!

  • crunchb3rry

    Posted Dec 5, 2007 8:36 pm PT

    Possible...they're just too damn lazy to do it. But at least we can watch TV on our PSP if we buy a grossly overpriced special purpose media router.

  • APOLLOCJD posted Dec 5, 2007 8:22 pm PT (does not meet display criteria. sign in to show)

    APOLLOCJD

    Posted Dec 5, 2007 8:22 pm PT (hide)

    expect this on holiday of 2009 lol

  • star51

    Posted Dec 5, 2007 8:04 pm PT

    and the goodies keep on commin

  • Sandro909

    Posted Dec 5, 2007 8:00 pm PT

    Of course it's possible! Now do it! GAWD! *Storms out*

  • ivanfred

    Posted Dec 5, 2007 6:52 pm PT

    waza000 "WHEN WILL THEY REALLY FIX THE CREDIT CARD BUGS with psn ... (where they make some kind of verifications with credit cards and it just doesn,t work at all with some cards)"

    i want to buy warhawk, pain and littlebigplanet
    ==========================================
    I thought that I was the only one who experienced the credit card problem. Sony must resolve the issue, now!

  • lamprey263

    Posted Dec 5, 2007 6:49 pm PT

    They really need to put PS1 games on the PSN for play on the PSP/PS3. If Final Fantasy VII - IX went up on PSN, it'd probably sell a lot more PS3s and PSPs. Plus, I can think of many other games they should have. Metal Gear Solid for starters. Silent Hill. And I'm sure there were many more loved RPGs on the PS1 that older gamers would love to return to, and new gamers still might find appealing. And what about Psygnosis's old titles like the Colony Wars series, the two G-Police games, the WipeOut series. There's also the Twisted Metal series. The Resident Evil 1-3. Parasite Eve I & II. The Fear Effect 1 & 2. The Return Fire game. Loaded and Re-Loaded. Alien Trilogy and Die Hard Trilogy. Dino Crisis. The Tomb Raider games. Destruction Derby and Jumping Flash series. Tekken and Battle Arena Toshinden series. Ridge Racer and Gran Turismo series. I mean, off the top of my head those are the games I want to see make it on there, but the list of good games from that day go on and on. I'm sure there's many more PS1 games I haven't tried and want to. I mean, I was only in junior high when the PS1 came out, and it's not like I was loaded or anything back then. But for a few bucks a piece for digital media rights for each of these games can bring a lot of money to Sony, and they're blowing it not doing anything about it.

  • BPDecPimp

    Posted Dec 5, 2007 6:46 pm PT

    Yeah this sounds good. I was quiet disappointed at how the content that is available hasn't been updated since before the release of the slim. No huge deal, but if there were more frequent updates then I might go online with the psp more.

  • zeecorner

    Posted Dec 5, 2007 6:34 pm PT

    wow it has the Internet, hopefully they can put two and two together there...

  • books83

    Posted Dec 5, 2007 6:34 pm PT

    So in another words it is going to be another year or two.

  • BoogieManZero posted Dec 5, 2007 6:21 pm PT (does not meet display criteria. sign in to show)

    BoogieManZero

    Posted Dec 5, 2007 6:21 pm PT (hide)

    Neat they can make roughly $20 off this deal if everybody who still plays their PsP buys something.

  • ctg867

    Posted Dec 5, 2007 6:18 pm PT

    Yea. And the fact that a portable system is making larger leaps in the online front then a console that has been praised for it's online (360) is pathetic. Really. Microsoft needs to step it up already. There's a lot of crap I can do on my PSP that I can't do on my 360, that ain't right.

    Anyway, glad to see Sony is being much more modest with things and appealing to what people want. Just more and more reasons to get that PS3 this Christmas. I love my 360, it's my primary gaming machine, my PSP, then PC right behind that. But come on, Sony is making moves, I'm not going to ignore that.

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