Station Launcher to bring downloadable movies to PSP

by Andrew Yoon { May 10th 2007 at 3:30PM }

Sony Online Entertainment is responsible for the creation and maintenance of the PLAYSTATION Network and Store. At yesterday's Gamer's Day event, they revealed Station Launcher, a new service that will bring downloadable content to the masses. The plans are quite ambitious, as detailed by Gamasutra's interview with SOE creative director Nathan Pearce. According to the interview, plans for a PSP version of Station Launcher is already in the works. Through it, players will be able do download movies directly to their handhelds.

"We have a version of Launcher where it recognizes when you plug in your PSP into the PC. You can download a movie straight from the internet through the Launcher straight to your PSP without it ever having touched your PC. There is no version on the PC, if you don't want it to be. It can download straight to your destination device like your PSP."

Movies will be formatted for PSP, and will not incur an additional cost. The possibilities of Station Launcher are nearly endless: imagine if PS1 games were made available for download, sans PS3. Unfortunately, because of the huge scope of the project, it will be a very long time until we see it: "It is going to be a pretty big endeavor, so I don't have a release date for it, but it is going to be a good time after summer."

[Thanks, Colin!]

Tags: gamasutra, interview, movies, nathan pearce, NathanPearce, playstation network, playstation store, PlaystationNetwork, PlaystationStore, soe, sony online entertainment, SonyOnlineEntertainment, station launcher, StationLauncher

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

txa1265 @ May 10th 2007 3:55PM

"imagine if PS1 games were made available for download, sans PS3."

Um ... isn't that something they have been telling us they've been working on for over a year? Isn't that something we expected to be doing in 2006?!?

Saigon @ May 10th 2007 4:38PM

Does this mean I can expect to be able to download ps1 games directly to my psp around christmas? C'mon, what the hell is the hold up? I'll probably have a ps3 by that time.

scrawledinwax @ May 10th 2007 5:10PM

This seems huge to me. From reading the article, it seems that one's 'Station' account is a centralised online service that allows you to access content from numerous devices - the PC, the PS3, the PSP or others.

While I get how 'we here' are a bit annoyed at how long game downloads are taking, I think the movie content is a bigger deal. I just wish they wouldn't tease us with information like this when the service is still months off.

Miles Pieri @ May 10th 2007 6:13PM

I'm skeptical of anything Sony announce these days. Some time after Summer? That'll be 2010 then, just in time for the release of PS4/PSP2 (assuming SCE are even making consoles by then.)
I wonder if the delay in Sony's plans to allow direct downloading of PS1 titles to PSP has something to do with them desperately looking for ways to get people to shell out for the PS3? Sure, nobody would buy one exclusively so that they could download games to their PSP but only being able to do that via a PS3 can hardly hurt its sales.

Colin @ May 10th 2007 8:58PM

The 'delay' I would think has more to do with copy protection needed to tie the game to your psp. With the Station initiative they will be able to do that.

scrawledinwax @ May 10th 2007 11:14PM

Hm. I had expected news like this to explode over the 'net. It hasn't popped up anywhere else. Am I missing something, or is this not the backbone of Sony's content delivery system?

Am I so out of touch?... No. It's the children who are wrong.

jay @ May 10th 2007 11:50PM

God this is huge in my mind. I've been waiting for a PSP movie DL service forever. At least now we have an announcement with a name, which means this is practically a near inevitability. Now they just have to make sure they come up with a smart pricing structure. If we're looking at UMD-like prices, this will be the biggest letdown ever.

Aaron Walker @ May 11th 2007 12:35AM

I would hope it is like Moviephone (I think that is what it is called) where you can download a movie and watch it like pay-per-view with the option to buy.

You can do this on a laptop, take a some movies with you for travel and watch them at your leisure.

I'd be willing to sign up for that, especially since it is a monthly service fee like Netflix.

Being Sony, all they'd have to do is DRM it to time out after a certain amount of time.

Alien @ May 11th 2007 8:28AM

Awesome , I hoped this will come before summer , but still , batter later than never :D

Michael @ May 11th 2007 8:40AM

Am I reading this right? 'Directly' to your PSP - as long as it's connected to the computer?

Michael

Colin @ May 11th 2007 11:47AM

Yes...it is direct to your PSP through USB, it doesn't leave a copy on your PC unless you want it too.

By having your Station account tied to your PC/PS3/PSP you can purchase once and watch on any of those systems. Download the PSP formatted one for on the go and if you then want to watch it on TV just download the higher res version on your PS3.

Yay!

Michael @ May 12th 2007 3:51PM

As far as I am concerned - requiring the PC defeats the purpose... It's would be OK if going through the PC was one of the ways to do it. But not allowing for downloads to be done directly to the PSP just plain doesn't make sese (PSP comes with WiFi you know; and even the b flavor is still faster than my cable modem connection; so going through the PC does not save any time).

Michael