Sony crippling store downloads to prop up the corpse of UMD?
Sony are refusing to admit the failure of their proprietary Universal Media Disc (UMD) format. The discs hold games and movies for the Playstation Portable console.
A major selling point of the PSP was the ability to watch movies. However, the ability buy movies that fans likely already owned on a brand new format for the privilege of squinting at a 4.3 inch screen failed to attract many.
The optical discs are still the primary method of delivering software, despite the fact that the system has already been cracked. The idea was that, with the lack of commercially available UMD writers, pirates would be unable to copy discs.
This was true – but hackers instead found a way to run games directly from memory stick. Embarrassingly for the media giant, running games in this pirated format is actually faster and more energy efficient than playing from the official discs.
With the advent of the new Playstation download store (as we reported earlier) many question if the UMD has any place in future development. Sony, true to form, are refusing to admit any kind of failure and insist that the disc has a bright future.
Worse, they’re threatening to cripple their own products to ensure it. According to a recent article by gamesindustry.biz “full titles won’t necessarily include all content found on the corresponding retail UMD”. This wouldn’t be the first time Sony have schizophrenically sabotaged on of their own divisions to make a graph in another department go the way they want it (such as the recent backwards-incompatible PS3).
When you’re breaking your own products to compete with yourself, something has gone badly wrong. Software delivery systems like XBox Live and Steam have proved and proved again that online games purchases can work. We can only hope that the quote above was spoken in haste, that those responsible were given a stern talking to, and that Sony aren’t going to pull such a bonehead maneuver for the sake of (another) format war they’ve already lost.
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