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GC '09: Sony talks to Pocket Gamer about PSP Minis

Higher quality bar promised, but higher than what?

GC '09: Sony talks to Pocket Gamer about PSP Minis
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PSP

Perhaps the biggest thing to come out of GamesCom in the handheld space this year is Sony’s announcement of the new Minis range, a category of games that will position the PSP as an aggressive iPhone competitor.

We got a chance to sit down with the PSPgo European Product Manager Adam Grant to chat about what to expect from the Minis and the PSPgo. First off, it seems that Sony is serious when it says that PSP Minis do not constitute an App Store.

When pressed on the issue, Grant explained, “This isn’t going to be a separate store, you’ll be able to get PSP Minis on the current PSP Store when they launch in October”.

Sounds like sense, but Grant was reluctant to divulge anything about pricing, saying only that Minis would be “competitively priced”.

The word from developers however is that games will cost between 1 and 5 euros.

App Store is a dirty term in Sony’s book, and Grant was reluctant to draw comparisons. When quizzing Grant about how easy it will be for developers to get their games onto the PSP Store, however, we did finally manage to needle a response: “We think the quality bar is going to be higher”.

It seems Sony’s strategy won’t result in the endless piles of shovelware that plague the App Store, then.

That said, Grant assured us that Sony won’t be ignoring smaller developers, and it was hard to dispute the point when, not six feet away, G5 was busy showing off the PSPgo version of mahjong.

Next up was the question of user feedback. Is Sony planning on implementing some sort of comments system on the PSP Store? “We don’t have any official plans, but we are always looking for new ways to connect with our customers”, came the response.

And what about UMDs? Are consumers going to get digital download codes included in the box when they purchase UMD games? A short sweet, “no” was our answer and with that our interview drew to a close.

Naturally, Sony doesn't want to be seen as following Apple's lead, but the tables could well turn if Sony's more stringent quality index turns out to be successful.

With 50 PSP Minis promised before the end of the year and glowing reports from the developers that have already worked with Sony on the planned 15 launch titles, things could finally be looking up for the PSP.

We were lucky enough to go hands on with several of them, so keep an eye out for some hands on reports very soon.