PSP Minis Left Barebones To Accelerate Approval
Sony made a big splash when they announced the impending release of PSP Minis, small applications and games that would put the PSP hardware in direct competition with Apple’s App Store for the iPhone. But little did we know just what kind of sacrifices PSP Minis developers would have to make in order to differentiate said Apps from normal PSP titles.
As it turns out, PSP Mini games will be barred from having wireless multiplayer functionality, downloadable content, or even software updates. The reason for this, as SCEA senior account manager Justin Cooney explains, is actually beneficial for the developer since it accelerates the approval process.
“When you look at it from a testing perspective, you have to do more QA. [Allowing those features] would defeat the purpose of having a dedicated service for smaller content. It increases the barriers.”
The QA process for PSP games is normally two to three weeks. The Minis however can be approved within three to five days, which is a serious advantage, especially for iPhone developers who are used to seeing their applications and games sit in QA for sometimes several months.
Cooney emphasizes that despite the fact that multiplayer, DLC support, and software updates are not allowed for PSP Minis, it’s up to the developer to brand their games as either Minis or full-fledged PSP titles.
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13 Responses to “PSP Minis Left Barebones To Accelerate Approval”
as long as the minis games are cool then it’s all right
same here.
you don’t need DLC for these games, but some wireless multiplayer would have been good.
minis are supposed to be minis. They really shouldn’t have dlc.
not much longer till our own fart app appears
The problem with these minis, and why they don’t really appeal, is because they’re not on an iphone. What is great about having the game apps (when they’re actually good, and there have been some good ones) is that they utilize the unique platform which is the iphone. Without the accelerometer and touch screen, there couldn’t be some of the great games we see on that platform, and likely the games we do see wouldn’t be as well-crafted or interesting. I may be checking out some of these games, sure, but I thought the current PSN games were a good enough response to the app store. What I’d like to see more of are things like Pixel Junk and Shatter for PSP.
If anyone is complaining about DLC… WTF these games are priced about the same amount as DLC. lol
We don’t need a ton of 25-50 cent dlc things for 5 dollar games. O_o
So let me get this straight: You are not allowing software updates AND you are cutting QA time by half… Please tell me you actually mean “If you want version 1.01 of the app you’ll have to re-download the whole thing.” I could live with that. But if they actually mean that devs can’t release patched versions of their software, this will all fail miserably.
They couldn’t possibly mean it the second way, could they?
@onionpaper
in some respects i agree. the iphone touch screen, motion and shaking sensing offer something the psp does not and i can think of more than 10 apps on my iphone that wont work with the psp. however there are plenty of useful apps that would work on a psp and theyll eventually be minis. eventually there will be map apps and fandango and facebook all on your psp. i say this hopefully because im assuming youll be able to get online with minis but not play any kind of multiplayer.
@capt.fodder
i agree. the inability to patch these minis is unsettling.
patch it? heck, just write a new one & remove the old version.
Lame as hell , no mini’s multipayer booooo.
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im going to have to agree with the masses and say this was a terrible terrible idea. Patches for iphone/pod games are a blessing. The developer misses something, and gamers forum their complaints and boom, a week later you have a legit patch/update/new content. This is kind of upsetting.