Tried PlayStation Portable yesterday. Sounds like it rocks MAME and the most popular home computers from the 1980s. I probably get one and start hacking when I visit Canada in the next week.
Which brings me into the fucking DRM. It is the ultimate threat to PSP’s success. Sony has been historically so full of that big brother crap. Now PSP seems to have region-lock for movies (distributed on proprietary non-standard “UMD” discs – remember minidisc?) and forced updates (anti-hack of course) with new games. There must be more. Besides, they aren’t going to release the system in Europe until September and I’ve read they already haunt gray market sellers.
I’ve heard the same story too many times before. The potential of this system is its great hardware, great looks – and maybe most importantly – the capability of users to innovate, install their MAMEs, web browsers etc, extend the functionality, and start to experience. Will they ever get it?
(Note: I changed my blogging software from Typepad to WordPress and and had to transfer all entries from the summer 2004 until this date through two hours of copy-paste.)