Sony Aiming For Same Day Downloadable Release For All NGP Retail Games

Sony hopes to have every retail game on its upcoming Next Generation Portable available for download from the online PlayStation Store on the day of its release, according to SCEE chief Andrew House. "One thing we learned from PSP, is that we want to have simultaneous delivery in digital and physical for NGP," House told MCV. "Just to clarify that, all games that appear physically will be made available digitally. Not necessarily all games have to be made available physically." Though the move will eliminate some of the differences between the retail and downloadable game markets for the system, House said he still thinks there will be some titles better suited for one option or the other. "What I’d like to see is a hierarchy of different games of different sizes," House said. "So at the high-end you’ve got these big, premium games, which by and large will be available physically because that is the most convenient way to access them. And then there’s an opportunity for digital-only, where we might see more experimentation." Retail titles on the codenamed NGP will come on proprietary flash cards, which will come in 2GB and 4GB capacities, rather than the 900MB to 1.8GB UMD discs of the PSP. The system has no internal storage, but will reportedly let users store downloadable titles on blank versions of the same cards. The system will come in versions both with and without 3G mobile internet access, though exact details about mobile bandwidth limits and pricing have not yet been revealed. All models will be able to connect to Wi-Fi to download games and additional content.