This isn't the first time I've wondered if Sony would drop UMD as a requirement for playing games on the PSP, and with a firmware update that allows for loading ISO ... it just got a little closer.
While it might have looked great on paper, the UMD drive adds bulk, powers consumption and noise to the PSP while offering ... well, I guess if someone really wanted to watch Finding Nemo and didn't have a video iPod it offered something.
But I'd rather have a slimmer, quieter device that could download games off the net, myself.
Friday, July 06, 2007
PSP's ISO Loader ... Bye Bye UMD?
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Quieter? The PSP has never struck me as particularly loud, but it is true that you can hear the UMD drive. With headphones, I tend not to notice.
And here I would have expected a joke on "powers consumption". Like it drains your invisibility ability that day or something... :)
Just to add something a bit more substantive:
I think Sony isn't abandoning UMD. They are quietly phasing it out, which is a PR-speak difference. The new system will offer precisely the same movies that are already on UMD, but as PSP downloads through the PSP version of the PlayStation Store. The same movies will be playable on the PS3, I suspect. Sony will also probably offer a bundle download that contains a 720p version for the PS3 and a 272p (so to speak) version for the PSP.
The movies will of course share PSS space with PSP games. All SCEA PSP games will be available for download to the PSP. Ideally Sony should offer a PSP emulator to play those games on the PS3. That would bootstrap the PS3 to a more robust software catalog in short order.
Well it seems post E3 the UMD is officially still around. In hindsight I'd say that actually the biggest reason to cut it would actually be product cost - but Sony is ... well, Sony.
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