Well, this debate has been heating up for quite some time now. The battle between the Colossus that is Sony Computer Entertainment, and the the hard working owners who want to love the company that made their beautiful handheld. This week Sony officially stated in writing what their feelings on the Homebrew scene are. Now this is nothing new in and of itself to PSP owners. They continue to circumvent the measures Sony has tried to implement to lock down the PSP. But, I believe this battle is just getting started for 2 very good reasons.
The first reason is the Pending release of God Of War for the PSP. This will be the first time since, well, launch day that Sony has had leverage on the Hombrew scene. The demand for this game is going to draw a line in the sand for Homebrewers and Sony. Like thirsty people in a desert land Sony will say "update or no new games!" I don't believe we have seen the true potential of a firmware update yet. This one will be just short of having an SCEA employee sitting next to you making sure that you haven't installed hombrew on your beloved PSP.
The second reason is the pending opening of the PSP store. PSP owners have been itching for this since the PS3 launch made PS1 games available on the handheld. As great as the release of God Of War is I think this is where Sony becomes the 800 lb gorilla. For some reason Sony hasn't realized that they could have PSP owners lined up like crack fiends for this thing. More games are what people want. Retro games, new games, any kind of games they can get their hands on. I think that part of the reason Sony hasn't realized what it's got in it's hand is that it hasn't figured out that this group of gamers are net savvy. I don't believe your normal demographic for the age group fits here. I know I am more apt to buy a game if all that I have to do is go on the net and download it instead of having to trapse to the store to buy it. I think that they are seeing the potential of what the PSP store could be in Japan. I have read many times where people in the US are dieing for the selection of games that Japan has. Now that I think of it, I've come to an interesting conclusion. I think that Sony has the US and Japanese markets pegged backward. Japan to me seems like more of a laid back culture. Not a "give it to me now" culture at first glance. And we all know the US is very much an instant fix society. Sony get a little crazy, try something new out in the US for once. You might be surprised at the response. The PS2 did so well because it was just that good. I have played with both the DS Lite and the PSP, and I'm sorry, but the PSP is miles beyond the DS. They need to realize that the PSP is JUST THAT GOOD!! LocoRoco is just as addictive as any pokemon game ever was. So start there and put the stranglehold on the DS!!
Now I have heard that Sony has called out their game devs. Asking them to be imaginative. I hope that Sony has been kind to Ready At Dawn, because they are the goose that lays the golden eggs. GOW is already impressive, and we haven't even see what it will truly be able to do with the speed upgrade. RAD needs to put on a seminar on how to design for this platform, because they have it down. They have embraced what this platform can do rather than complain about a missing analog stick. They have proven that this little handheld is more than a match for many full fledged consoles out there. Sony needs to remember that the whole industry shuttered when they heard that Sony was making a handheld. Nintendo should be scared, this thing can turn out pure visual crack!! Sony stop keeping the PSP being "the little handheld that almost was", and turn lose the machine to live up to it's potential.
Wow!! that was a rabbit trail. Anyways back to the topic. Homebrew and Sony. The Homebrewers are sick of waiting on Sony to make this into what they want. Sony would be smart to troll some blogs and get a feel for what people are really looking for. IR keyboard support, SKYPE, Full Flash support, maybe that second analog joystick. Much of what people want is software. You want to make money Sony, people are telling you what they want. People really are willing to pay if you give them what they want!!! So in parting, referring to the slogan above, Sony we want to play in your world. Just remember that ours is the one that pays your bills. Here's an equation Sony would be well served to learn: Giving us the things we want+PlayStation Network= BIG $$
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