PlayStation Download Service Up and Running (for $5.99)
Over the past year, Microsoft has made a pretty penny via its Xbox Live Arcade, an online database of older games available for download. Each costs anywhere from a couple bucks to ten or so, with the price largely depending on the popularity of the original hit and the difficulty in converting it to modern use. Recently, Nintendo introduced its own classic game service, called "Virtual Console". Well, today Sony has jumped aboard the bandwagon, offering PSP-owning PS3 gamers the chance to download some of the best titles from the original PlayStation.
Sony's service is (rather unoriginally) called the PlayStation Download Service. For $5.99, gamers can reacquaint themselves with Crash Bandicoot, Syphon Filter, Tekken 2, Hot Shots Golf 2, and Cool Boarders. Although these are sketchy classics when placed next to XBLA's Doom and the Virtual Console's Super Mario 64, they're definitely popular titles worth revisiting.
We're a bit sad these games require a PSP, however. After being downloaded from the PS3's online community, gamers must transfer them to an attached PSP. Releasing these titles in such a manner might be a desperate attempt to revive Sony's gasping handheld before the holiday season, when it will almost surely be pounded into the earth by Nintendo's DS.
Sony remains committed to making classic downloads available without PSP intervention. We'll be pleased when that day arrives.
