SONY'S smallest PlayStation is not being used to its full potential.
It is a claim that is not only coming from games experts but from within Sony itself.
That is destined to change, though. New features will be added to the miniature console this week that could transform the way fans use the PlayStation Portable, and even bigger changes are planned for next year.
The PSP is more than just a games console and Sony expects the additions to usher in its full potential as an internet-savvy, free call-making, messaging-sending, game-downloading, live television-screening machine that you shouldn't leave home without.
And users should expect more interactivity with the PlayStation 3, too.
The revolution will begin tomorrow when Sony releases a new version of the hand-held console, called the PSP-3000. The new PSP looks almost identical to the Slim & Lite version of last year, although its form hides three important additions.PlayStation Portable features
- Web browser: View the World Wide Web with the PSP's built-in browser
- Game downloads: Access the PlayStation Store from the console for direct game, demo and wallpaper downloads
- Skype: Service offering free internet calls from your PSP to any phone
- Internet Radio: Access hundreds of internet radio broadcasts via ShoutCast
- RSS Reader: Update alerts of websites and blogs
- Camera: Go! Camera accessory fits to the top of the PSP for use as a camera.
- Photos, videos & music can be stored on a PSP memory card and played on screen
- Go! Messenger: an internet text and video message service for the PSP.
- Play TV: To arrive in 2009, the service will transform the PSP into a miniature TV.
Firstly, its screen is noticeably brighter. To eliminate complaints about its outdoor performance, Sony has increased the screen's brightness and colour gamut. As a result, the screen is noticeably more vibrant, less prone to glare and movies and photos look more realistic.
The PSP-3000 also features a built-in microphone for the first time, which makes Skype internet calls easier and can also be used in games such as the shooter US Navy SEALs Fireteam Bravo and the language translation game TalkMan.
Thirdly, the game can now be plugged into any TV, including non-HD models, so you can play games on the big screen.
Other cosmetic changes include a smaller chrome ring on the back and a PlayStation logo on the Home button.
Sony Computer Entertainment Australia and New Zealand managing director Michael Ephraim says the changes to the PSP-3000 are not designed to convince current users to upgrade their consoles, but are part of Sony's larger plan for the PSP.
"We're looking to appeal to a new market, a broader market, with this device," he says.
"These are just additional features, although the new screen is exceptional."
But the new PSP is just one element of a larger revamp for the device.
Sony last week issued a software update for the gadget adding, among other things, direct access to a game download store.
In the PlayStation Store users can download games, free game demos, movie trailers or even free PSP wallpapers. Games already available include Patapon, Echochrome and LocoRoco.
Swinburne University media and communications lecturer Dr Mark Finn says the ability to download games directly to the PSP could forever change the way users buy their PSP games and movies.
"Previously you had to go to the PlayStation Store through your PlayStation 3 (or through your PC) for downloadable content, so this will be so much easier for getting media and movies in particular," he says. "I think it might spell the end of the PSP's UMD disc (game cartridge)."
The software upgrade also added a full-size, onscreen keyboard to make entering text easier and a sleep timer that can be used during music playback.
Despite these additions, Ephraim admits some users still don't see the PSP as more than a game machine.
"The technophiles, gamers and digital savvy people really love their PSPs," he says. "It's their portable companion because you can use it to communicate and store your music, movies and games. But that hasn't crossed into the mainstream yet.
"Our job next year, ideally, is to communicate to every player in Australia what the capabilities of these machines are inside of gaming and outside of gaming. If we could talk to every consumer directly, and give them a demonstration, I think we would convert 50 per cent of the population to buying a PS3 or PSP."
But Ephraim says Sony will add one more important function to the PSP before launching an education campaign. Sony, he says, will turn the PSP into a miniature television in the first half of 2009.
The new service will be called PlayTV and will let PlayStation 3 owners record television broadcasts to their console's hard drive.
PlayTV will also let PSP owners access these downloads over the internet or play live television on the small screen.
"You will be able to access them via any wireless internet hotspot, so basically your PSP turns into a portable TV screen," Ephraim says. "That's when we're going to make a concerted effort to communicate all the incredible features of the PSP: watch TV, Skype, download games, everything."
Finn says PlayTV probably will be popular with current users, who want the PSP to be a "more versatile device", but says PlayTV's use could be hampered by a lack of wireless internet hotspots.
"It'd be fantastic in a country with good wi-fi access, but Australia isn't one of them," he says. "I can definitely see people using it at home, but outside it might be tricky."
In addition to live TV broadcasts, the PSP will earn support from another popular source early next year. Insomniac, which created the alien invasion series Resistance: Fall of Man, will create a game for the PSP with a PlayStation 3 crossover feature.
Resistance: Retribution players will be able to plug their PSP into a PlayStation 3 for the PSP to become "infected" and unlock new gaming levels.
Insomniac president Ted Price says the idea will give players a new way to play Resistance and will flesh out the game's story.
"I don't want to give away too much about this but it is another chapter of the Resistance story that links the PlayStation 3 games together really well," he says. "It's a different set of characters and we worked really closely with the team from the PSP game to make sure both stories jibe and it feels like part of this universe."
With so many additions planned for the next year, it could soon be a case of what the PSP cannot do, rather than what it can.
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