When I read this article regarding new releases on PSN regarding PSP games, my jaw dropped.

Dissidia: Final Fantasy is available for download on PSN for $39.99. What?! $39.99 for a downloadable game with no packaging, no manual, no physical disc and worse, no resale value?

The other games mentioned were mostly at full retail price too. This is a worrying trend. I've already blogged in the past about how the game industry is moving toward an all digital distribution method by incorporating downloadable games for sale on all the consoles. But one positive point I mentioned was that the savings companies would make from games not being burned to discs, mass-produced and shipped across the country would be turned around and passed onto consumers. But the latest offering from PSN is an about-face of that. Despite the fact that they're promoting an essentially bare-bones stripped down game package with no case or manual (it's pretty much the equivalent of buying the game from a pawn shop), the store is charging full retail for it.

I went to my local Gamestop yesterday and found that Dissidia is on sale brand new there for $34.99. I did a quick search on EBGames.com and found Dissidia retails for $39.99. So downloadable or not, the game costs pretty much the same.

The real danger here is that, while most people who hang out on sites like Gamespot and IGN and others have the good sense to know that this is a scam, there are hundreds of thousands, if not millions of people who have PS3s and PSPs who are going to log onto the PSN store, see Dissidia and buy it because it looks cool and they want a new game, maybe they like Final Fantasy. When people do that, they are telling Sony (and any other company that ponders charging full retail for downloadable games) that they will pay it. They will pay whatever the charge even though they're not getting nearly the value they would in a physical game. This means Sony will keep doing it. Once digital distribution becomes the absolute norm (and believe you me, that day is fast approaching), eventually every console manufacturer and game retailer, even Nintendo, will have to sell downloadable games at full retail price, if only to stay competitive. This invites the game companies to give us less for more. It tells them that it's perfectly all right to eliminate the $5-20 price point that earlier downloadable games retailed at and jack it up to a minimum of $30 (which actually started a while ago when Tekken 5: Dark Resurrection retailed on PSN for the same price as its physical counterpart. Other games like Warhawk and Gran Turismo 5 Prologue followed the same suit). It's not that downloadable games themselves are bad, but I can't think of a single argument that supports them costing the same as full retail games. They should be at least $10 cheaper just because you don't have a physical disc.

Soon every downloadable game except the cheapest indie titles will be full price and there will be nothing we can do about it. We as gamers and consumers must speak with our gaming dollar. If you must buy downloadable games, buy the cheap ones. Check the prices of physical games against their downloadable bretheren and if the price is the same, get the physical disc. And for the love of all that is good and decent, if you don't have a PSP and you want one, get the PSP-3000 with a 16GB memory stick (from Amazon, eBay, etc.) or at least wait until the PSP Go's inevitable price drop.

So I decided to send my PSP back for repairs AGAIN after the D-pad problem, amid fears that I would just get another faulty refurbished model. I have since been sent a new one (quite swiftly, I might add) and it felt fine...

Until I put my 4GB memory stick in. Then I saw that this latest refurbished PSP model refuses to read it.

I know there's nothing wrong with the memory stick. I've used it in every PSP model I've had up until now and it reads fine in my PS3. Worse, it's a SONY 4GB memory stick, not SanDisk or some other brand. Also, I have a 2GB stick that has been lying around the house unused for the most part...my latest refurbished PSP reads that one just fine, but I don't have any game files (or any other files for that matter) on it. But when I try to put the 4GB stick inside--no matter how gently, quickly, roughly or softly I do it--the PSP acts like there's no stick inside. So it's back to the beginning for all my PSP accomplishments if I hold onto this latest model. Aside from not reading that memory stick, it works fine, but this is getting ridiculous.

My wife thinks I should just keep it. After all, 2GB is better than none. At this point I have lost all faith in Sony's repair department, at least as far as PSPs go. When I got my PS3 refurbished a while back, I haven't had any problems with it. Do I play the odds and send it back again...do I sell this thing for store credit and buy a brand new PSP...

Of course, most would probably recommend just letting PSP go (heh, see what I did there?). After all, there are other ways to watch portable movies. There are several PSP games that I love playing but I can live without them... but I really like having a PSP. I wish it didn't go down like this.

I was just wondering, if you were an independent game developer, would you develop M-rated games?

I was just thinking about it because I'm currently studying to work in the games industry. It is my hope to make independent games and build a career doing it, and of course, I have several ideas for video games. It never crossed my mind as to whether or not I would intentionally develop a game with mature content.

As a storyteller, I would do as the game's setting would dictate. I have one concept in mind for which an M-rating would be profoundly fitting, and others that would not fit it so well. But at the same time, any concept can be changed or molded to fit a rating. If they can tone down Mortal Kombat and get a T-rated MK game out of it while still making a competent (if underwhelming) fighter, then anything can be done in the industry.

So, assuming you had the resources and the skills to develop a game, would your title be M-rated on purpose, or would you strive to avoid it? Me, I think I wouldn't consciously pursue mature content in my own game design, simply because I'd feel like I'm limiting my audience. I am skillful enough at figure drawing to draw strong sexual content in my works if I wanted to, but I choose not to because even though it could be veryprofitable, it doesn't suit me as a creator. Others, I know, are quite different.

How about you?