Wireless multiplayer and downloadable content dropped from PSP Minis

PSP Mini games won't be allowed to have wireless multiplayer functionality, downloadable content or software updates, Sony has confirmed.

The barring of these additional features has been decided on in order to quicken the approval process, SCEA senior account manager Justin Cooney has revealed. As such, the QA process for PSP Minis will take between three and five days compared to up to two weeks for full-sized PSP games.

"When you look at it from a testing perspective, you have to do more QA. [Allowing those features] would defeat the purpose of having a dedicated service for smaller content. It increases the barriers," Cooney said, speaking to Gamasutra at GDC Austin.

"From our perspective, if we're going to reduce the time it takes to get through our internal process, it helps that we don't have to check the multiplayer features."

While these guidelines will mean that Sony's QA process differs from Apple's - which does allow games to contain wireless multiplayer features - Cooney doesn't believe this will prevent iPhone developers from bringing their game to the Sony platform.

"I think from an iPhone perspective, you can create a Minis product from your iPhone product, or create a [full size] PSP game," he stated. "Nothing stops you from bringing an iPhone product to the PlayStation platform. It's just really up to the developer to decide if they want it to be a regular title or a PSP Mini title."

PSP Minis games, which Sony announced at Gamescom this year, are digital games restricted to a 100MB download size. They're due to launch alongside the new PSPgo hardware on October 1 with 15 titles initially being made available.