The PSN Store in America is sort of light on content for the PSP. There are original titles, such as Echochrome and Super Stardust HD Portable, but the PS1 library is fairly weak, especially in contrast the the Japanese PSN's. Sony isn't content with that difference, and hopes to expand the American PSN Store with full retail games, as it has in Japan, so PSP users can begin downloading full games as they are released without the need of pesky UMDs.

However, it might be a bit before they're able to pull it off, as John Koller, head of PlayStation marketing, said in a recent interview.

Koller: There are a few hurdles you need to jump through. A lot of them are legal, so if you have a music game, for example, you have to clear all those rights. The same goes for any other type of game, there are certain negotiations that still need to be done. But we expect all that to be done and cleared, and most games should be able to be placed on the network. The big goal is to ensure that there is content to be downloaded. If you don't have that content, then the PlayStation Network is not a destination for the PSP consumer, and that to us is not acceptable.

It sounds like they are determined to add the content, which would explain both the rumors of the UMD-less PSP and the reason it is yet to be confirmed. Without any means of digitally distributing full PSP games online, dropping the drive entirely seems like a poor move, but after the hurdles are jumped there's really nothing in their way. With the summer convention season rapidly approaching I'd expect their leaders are stretching their legs and preparing for war, because Sony isn't ready to give up on the PSP just yet.

[Source]

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