Ben-DutkaShiny founder and operator of GameConsultants.com, Dave Perry, has had a lot to say about game consoles lately. First, he issued his theory on the Nintendo Wii's "death clock," and then the Earthworm Jim designer put the PSP in his crosshairs.
During a recent interview with GamesIndustry.biz, Perry doesn't embrace Sony's move to redesign their handheld. In fact, he calls it a "head in the sand" maneuver and says Sony should actually "restart the PSP program," which would include removing the controversial UMD format. Instead, Perry thinks they should go with a digital download service. This transition would be mostly "painless" for Sony, and it would be very simple to develop software that would authenticate and re-download titles you already own.
While this sounds okay on the surface, we wonder if it's a logical business move, and how the consumer might respond. Think about it: a 1 Gig memory stick will run you at least $30 (possibly $40), and you'll still be forced to purchase the titles in question. Furthermore, considering this is a unit-on-the-go, why would we want to carry a bunch of mem sticks around just to keep a few games at our disposal? We think the PSP redesign is pretty nifty, and it does address several of the complaints we've heard…the UMD may not have been the best idea, but digital download may not be, either.