Sony opens first PSP Spot

IN A MOVE that apes Nintendo more than a little, Sony has set up its first PSP spot in Tokyo. Set to open on October 8th, this is be the first of many PSP Spots.

The Spot will be located in Tokyo's Ginza district and will provide downloads of game demos via Game Sharing and wi-fi. Sony's own downloadable games on offer are preview demos of Piposaru Academia 2, Johb Hell 2000 and the highly anticipated Loco Roco. The third party offerings are no less impressive with demos of Namco's Portable Resort and Capcom's Rockman Rockman to be available for download from opening.

Sony introduced this method of downloading for the first time during the Tokyo Game Show 2005 and saw phenomenally heavy use and public interest. It plans to introduce more PSP Spots but so far has revealed no new locations.

The system is very similar to Nintendo's DS idea, with wi-fi downloads at the centre of both. With Nintendo capturing the imaginations of gamers everywhere for its new pad and originality of concept, it looks like Sony might be taking a leaf out of the nig cartoons' consumer friendly book and offering something for nothing. At the moment it may not be much but we're hoping to see some Spots outside Tokyo.

Only one thing is concrete and that is that here in Europe we're likely not to see any until after there have been Spots set up in the US. We'll just have to soldier on. µ