Friday
Feb152008
Sony's Rube Goldberg Device
Friday, February 15, 2008 at 9:41AM
So I decided to download the new demo of Patapon for the PSP. This marks the first time I downloaded something for the PSP via the PS3. In the past I've downloaded files on PC or Mac and just put those files on the memory stick, but I figured, hey let's try the PS3.
This is a silly process. Here's what you do.
1 ) Download the title via the store. At least you can download in the background now, so you can go play something else while stuff downloads.
2 ) OK, now the title you downloaded (which, mind you is a PSP demo) needs to install onto the PS3. This happens for anything you get from the Playstation Network store - you have to install it to the PS3 before you can use it. It would be nice if this occurred in the background as well, but I suppose I can see how random hard drive and CPU access during gameplay would be bad.
3 ) Now you need to connect the PSP to the PS3. This requires using a USB connection cable, no wireless here, no sir!
4 ) Now you run the program on the PS3 to install the software to the PSP.
5 ) Now you can delete the PS3 installer.
6 ) Now you think you're done, but wait! Has it been more than a week since the last time you upgraded the PSP firmware? (I kid Sony, but they do happen about monthly. Put it this way, I bought a new PSP holiday title (Final Fantasy Tactics) and my firmware was *four revs* behind.)
7 ) Turn on the PSP Wifi and check for Network Updates. Log into your network. (You do have your network configured already right? Else it's another whole hoo-hah.)
8 ) Download the update.
9 ) Reboot the PSP and install the update.
10 ) Delete the firmware update from the PSP memory stick.
That's it! In just 10 easy steps you've installed a hot new game demo on your PSP!
This is a silly process. Here's what you do.
1 ) Download the title via the store. At least you can download in the background now, so you can go play something else while stuff downloads.
2 ) OK, now the title you downloaded (which, mind you is a PSP demo) needs to install onto the PS3. This happens for anything you get from the Playstation Network store - you have to install it to the PS3 before you can use it. It would be nice if this occurred in the background as well, but I suppose I can see how random hard drive and CPU access during gameplay would be bad.
3 ) Now you need to connect the PSP to the PS3. This requires using a USB connection cable, no wireless here, no sir!
4 ) Now you run the program on the PS3 to install the software to the PSP.
5 ) Now you can delete the PS3 installer.
6 ) Now you think you're done, but wait! Has it been more than a week since the last time you upgraded the PSP firmware? (I kid Sony, but they do happen about monthly. Put it this way, I bought a new PSP holiday title (Final Fantasy Tactics) and my firmware was *four revs* behind.)
7 ) Turn on the PSP Wifi and check for Network Updates. Log into your network. (You do have your network configured already right? Else it's another whole hoo-hah.)
8 ) Download the update.
9 ) Reboot the PSP and install the update.
10 ) Delete the firmware update from the PSP memory stick.
That's it! In just 10 easy steps you've installed a hot new game demo on your PSP!
tagged PS3, PSP, VideoGames in Gadgetry, Journal
PS3, PSP, VideoGames in Gadgetry, Journal 
Reader Comments (6)
You know, I saw Kotaku post that you'd be able to download it to the PS3 rather than the "cumbersome" PC Sony store... I also downloaded Patapon last night but I did it via the PC. They make you download a PSP installer app the first time you sign up... but once that is done the process is:
1. Go to Sony PC store website, log in
2. Find your demo, begin download
3. Download asks you if you want to "run" via the Sony PSP download app
4. Connect your PSP to PC, put in USB slave mode
5. Hit button that lets the Sony PSP download app do its thing
done... although admittedly, I have not checked the status of my PSP firmware yet.
Oh, that's new. What I've done in the past (which wasn't via their PC "store", but files you could get from the Sony "Underground" site) was . . . well I wouldn't call it simpler per se. For instance I have a demo of Warhammer 40K that I've never gotten around to installing. It's a zip file with some localized Readme files and an EBOOT.PSP file. So you have to mount the memory stick on your computer, create the proper folder (and possibly tree) - for this particular demo it's /PSP/GAME/NPEH90001 (which is probably the SKU for the Warhammer game). Put the EBOOT.PSP file in that folder, then eject the Memory Stick on the PSP.
Which *to ME* is better than installing Sony "I SWEAR it's not a rootkit" software on my machine (plus this way is Mac-friendly), but I can totally see why it's a non-starter for the average consumer.
All of which really begs the question: Why do they have WiFi, a Web browser, and no tool on the PSP *itself* to download stuff?
Well, actually...
You can download and install demos on the PSP, through the web browser over WiFi. That's how I downloaded a couple of demos recently, including the Warhammer demo (I think).
And how I just downloaded the Full Auto 2: Battlelines demo. Which, by the way, sucks. Now, to delete it.
Here's the simple (?) process:
1) Launch Web Browser on PSP.
2) Access PSP bookmark (I think this is installed by default).
3) Click "Media Finder".
4) Click "Game Demos"
5) Click on desired demo.
6) Click "Download Now" button.
7) Accept EULA.
8) Confirm download and wait for it to complete...
9) Exit browser.
10) Find demo in games list (under Memory Stick) and play
It's still 10 steps, I suppose, but they're easy steps. And they're all on one machine. So it's a start.
Unfortunately, the web site from which you can download demos is rather out of date. So it does not contain the most recent demos.
So, once again, it just seems as though Sony is being completely schizophrenic about just what their plans should be.
OK then. The PSP browser thing sounds like what they should be doing. I guess I didn't try that for Patapon because they hammered on the fact that it was going to be available via the Playstaion Network store (which for some reason is called PSN).
Point still remains though, there's no reason why the PSP is a second-class citizen vis-a-vis the PSN. Why are the 'latest" games only available via the PS3 or the PC? Ditto with the for-purchase titles (I think the PSP ones are still all PS1 "Classics"). For that matter, why can't I read and create my PSN mail from the PSP?
I am silly enough that I'd forgotten about the rootkit thing, and installed the store's "helper app" on my work PC. Like JP, I'm impressed with how smooth the whole process is, and I've installed a bunch of demos on my PSP.
OTOH, Windows Media Player 11's "sync" operation for PSP is really goofy; it wants to put little placeholders for your entire library onto the PSP, then asks you to select playlists to sync to it. But when I browsed regularly on the PSP, there is no way to tell if you've got an artist's songs on the PSP without actually going into the directory. Grrr. So I've turned that off, now. Lame.
Patapon was fun, but I'm just SO BAD at rhythm games that I can't bear to live with the constant laughter of passers-by.
Doesn't it bug you that Sony is making you use a WIndows box though? I mean I guess Microsoft is more my bugaboo than yours, but you're enough of a Mac guy that suddenly having to use Windows for PSP stuff would be annoying. Do you normally even KEEP media in (shudder) Windows Media Player?