Full-priced videogame downloads for the win

Sony's PSP looks set to become a download-only console to rival iPod Touch starting with the release of Patapon 2 in the US. This can only be a good thing.

Anyone who's sat listening to a PSP crank away at a UMD disc will surely welcome a new era of download-only games for the format. Rumours of a remodelled PSP minus the UMD drive are gathering momentum, and Sony's consideration for rhythm-action game Patapon 2 as download-only via its US online store would seem to confirm it.

The bizarre aspect to this story is that there will still be Patapon 2 boxes on Stateside store shelves come 5 May, albeit only containing a code for the PlayStation Network. This seems a bit crazy and perhaps not much more than a favour to shopkeepers, but never mind about that for the time being. The question for us is whether or not this is the future we want for games, and how soon do we want it?

We've mentioned before about game add-ons and how Xbox LIVE is showing the way forward in that area. Grand Theft Auto IV: The Lost and Damned has already served one million downloads. Patapon 2 on PSP is something different though.

The thing with Patapon 2 is that it could easily be marketed and sold as a traditional boxed disc but a Sony spokesman the US has stated that this could be used as a "one time test case" to "explore consumer preferences for digital content".

Our point of view is that the end of boxes cluttering up the area in front of the TV and on bedroom floors (or shelves if you're lucky) can't come soon enough. It might even give Sony an option to launch a cheaper PlayStation 3 that doesn't require Blu-ray for gaming, only if you prefer to collect HD movies. We'd be saving money, one would hope, as well as space.

Of course we'd all need nationwide rocket-speed broadband to support such a great service, and unless you're happy paying a premium to your ISP this won't be here for a good couple of years yet. These are genuinely exciting times nevertheless.