E3 might be over, but the PSP rumours haven’t stopped. Not by a long shot. The latest gossip from PSP land says that the next step for Sony’s PlayStation Network is to open up the handheld platform to “non-game apps”, which would put the console on a collision course with Apple’s iPhone and iPod Touch, and go one up on Nintendo’s DSi Ware.
According to the rumour, Sony’s decision to slash the cost of PSP development (announced at E3) has also come with a move to not restrict devs to making games, instead allowing them to make whatever interesting applications they like. File sizes are believed to be limited to 100MB, and the prices should be set somewhere below a fiver.
Sony refused to make comment on the rumour (and we know it’s not feeling particularly warm and fuzzy about PSP rumourmongers right now), but it’s a strategy that makes good sense. Since the PSP first launched, Sony has been in battle with hackers who have sought to unlock the system’s tight security in order to install their own homebrew software. By opening the platform up to non-game apps, it’ll unlock more the hardware’s potential and help reduce some of the incentive to hack the system.
Sony is expected to announce its new software strategy, along with a new-look PlayStation Store, at Gamescon in August. The service would then be put in place by the end of the year, in time to greet the arrival of the UMD-less PSP Go.
Out TBA | £TBA | PlayStation (via Destructoid)
