Sony working on downloadable comic service for PSP

by Andrew Yoon { Mar 17th 2009 at 1:30AM }

SCEE appears to be prototyping a new addition to the PSP PlayStation Store. According to our tipster, Sony is planning a service that allows digital comics to be downloaded directly to PSP. Recipients of a survey were asked to watch the above video and help determine a pricing scheme: subscription versus a la carte prices.

PSP has been home to a number of interesting digital comics, most notably the Metal Gear Solid comics. These interactive comics were enhanced with slight animation, music and sound effects. The PlayStation Store currently has one digital comic available for download: The Cryptics, for $2.99.

[Thanks, Daniel & Zack!]

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

skyzbig @ Mar 17th 2009 1:40AM

Huh.

Cennus @ Mar 17th 2009 1:49AM

If they add Marvel's download service on the PSN, I will go insane.

Don @ Mar 17th 2009 1:53AM

I'd be interested in comics on PSP if only I had access to the PS Store, and if it came to North America.

A big problem with scrolling around images on the PSP is the slow refresh rate. I think they showed some of that in the video, but it seems like it would be to annoying to have to wait 2-3 seconds every time you moved the page.

Still an interesting development.

http://handheldaddict.blogspot.com/

Zac @ Mar 17th 2009 1:56AM

..thePlayStation® store

That ® is hideous.

arrness @ Mar 17th 2009 2:06AM

WATCHMEN

who watches the watchmen?

I WATCH THE WATCHMEN

Negativecool @ Mar 17th 2009 2:21AM

Yay?

Invisible Robot Meat @ Mar 17th 2009 6:27AM

No.

Zack @ Mar 17th 2009 2:27AM

They actually offered pretty good pricing schemes in the survey, too. You could download comics for $0.99 an issue, graphic novels at $4.99 an issue, and manga for around the same cost. You'd save dollars off of retail, and carry the comics wherever you went. Pretty cool. :-)

Mischa @ Mar 17th 2009 2:55AM

Okay this is nice and all, but this is just another example of Sony not getting it. Make games for the PSP, GAMES.

Nathanical @ Mar 17th 2009 6:09AM

infact id have to dissagree. I think this is a sign that sony DO get it. The psp is all about on the go entertainment, being gaming on the go, music on the go, movies on the go etc. I (and im sure many others too) find a comic store very appealing, and it fits the mantra of the system very nicely. And lets be honest, Its not like its at the expense of games anyway, its not like that big wod of new psp games wasnt announced recently, and its not like theyre writing all these novels, the game devs havnt been pulled off their projects to write graphic novels for crying out loud!

Having a couple of graphic novels on my psp for train and bus journeys is nothing short of appealing.

Kattleox @ Mar 17th 2009 11:13AM

I agree entirely. I scanned up some of my comics and have some that I downloaded off the internet as .jpegs too. I can't tell you how many times I've read the Doom Comic. But if I had a store where I could pick up, say, Batman or maybe Blame, I would be very pleased. Its the best entertainment for when you are REALLY on the go. (You don't have to go save your game, just read the number at the top of the page.)

Personally, I'm hyped.

Mischa @ Mar 17th 2009 3:58PM

I think the media features on the PSP are certainly neat. However I have an mp3 player that does all of this for me already, and I think the PSP as a multimedia device is really unwieldy.

And yes there have been a slew of games announced for the PSP, but they're either all rehashes, or already on the ps3. Which, don't get me wrong, I don't have a ps3 so that's awesome I can finally play little big planet and am chomping at the bit to play the persona remake. The point is this is not original IP specifically designed with the platform's strengths in mind.

And this IS at the expense of games! This has been going on for a loooong time! You are in an abusive relationship! The ps3 is an awesome multimedia device, but remember when the remote play feature was announced? That was in a dearth of good ps3 games. Folding at home? It seems like Sony lives on another planet where if they inject enough non-gaming related uses into their video game systems, they think they can somehow sell more units. Personally I'm waiting for the feature to be able to cook a slice of ham in the blu ray drive.

This is the kind of stuff an industry leader should be doing to keep their customers happy, what Sony needs to be doing is the exact opposite of this, they NEED to sell more ps3s, and less so with the PSP (I think the PSP is doing great), but still true with the psp. Don't get me wrong, all these features certainly are nice, but how about instead, spend all that money used on R&D of these things to start funding a team that could make some awesome games? That would sell more PSP's than a comic book reader.

Christopher @ Mar 19th 2009 11:50AM

But truly, how is this a diversion? I mean the store is already there. The ability to view images in the PSP is already there. So tell me how this diverts the attention of Sony away from games? Sony is not about games. They are about enabling companies to promote, produce and sell on their platform. It's not a console any more. None of the current gen systems are "game consoles" any more. Whether you like it or not, the name of the game today is diversity and downloadable content and if you can't see that, you're living in 2005.

Noshino @ Mar 17th 2009 2:59AM

Haha, I was going to send this as well

Anyway, here are some screens of some of the questions on the survey

http://i39.tinypic.com/14cb4uo.jpg
http://i43.tinypic.com/vhzz4j.jpg
http://i40.tinypic.com/30bpxll.jpg

Noshino @ Mar 17th 2009 3:02AM

and since Joystiq used to not allow more than 3 links per comment and dont want to find it whether it still does or not, here are the other 2 screens of the survey

http://i43.tinypic.com/1zvpfuc.jpg
http://i44.tinypic.com/2yoq1bp.jpg

Enedok @ Mar 17th 2009 10:48AM

I'm all in SCEE, Bring it on to Norway, Sweden and Denmark while your on it. It's ok to keep it in English!

Archon @ Mar 17th 2009 8:23AM

What about that 'Awesome new' Music Video service that was supposed to come to Europe very early 2009, Sony?

I'm pretty sure that's the first and the last time we hear about this new service too.

LM2007 @ Mar 17th 2009 8:48AM

There some free comics and fan made on the net, i have watched some but it have to be special resolution so text can be redeable and need to be arranged in order because the psp dumbly arrange it by the date last edited i think.

But to fix that i use PSPhoto, is great for moving comic pages in order.

samfish (is ready for MadWorld!) @ Mar 17th 2009 8:53AM

Blech. Reading comics sucks even on the iPhone/iPod. I can't imagine reading them on the PSP :/

Daniel @ Mar 17th 2009 10:41AM

The MGS Digital Graphic novel was very easy to read. I actually can't imagine it being hard, the video above had zoom and panel options. Looked rather natural to me.

Jon Acheson @ Mar 17th 2009 11:01AM

I'd rather see this on a next-gen Sony Reader.

Kattleox @ Mar 17th 2009 11:15AM

You want to buy a $400 machine for a feature that they are putting on a $170 machine you already have?

DiRT @ Mar 17th 2009 1:37PM

No terrible sound effects or lame animations?! I WANT THIS! If only eyemelt and pullboxonline hadn't imploded, this would be the best news ever.

michael @ Mar 17th 2009 1:46PM

I remember reading on Kotaku that manga will also be added for this special comic reader. Do any of you remember reading manga from Seven Sea Entertainment (or gomanga)

http://www.gomanga.com/pspmanga/index.php

Don @ Mar 17th 2009 7:35PM

Thanks for the link! Gonna check those out right now....

http://handheldaddict.blogspot.com/

BigC3 @ Mar 17th 2009 1:49PM

Hmm.. I did this survey, didn't 'Daniel and Zack' sign a contract saying that they would be legally attacked if they told anyone at all about this, never mind a popular news group?

gltovar @ Mar 17th 2009 3:10PM

I'm going to puke. I've wanted to develop this for a long time. I have many different prototypes and examples of it running.

My target device was the PSP:
http://web.archive.org/web/20071211000322/http://forums.qj.net/f-psp-homebrew-discussion-12/t-psp-dynamic-comic-viewer-73505.html

here is an example if it running on the pc:
http://deadlock.krunk4ever.com/comicviewer/
(the psp version's image would size to fill the screen as best as it could)

and I was then looking towards making it a youtube like site... problem is nobody saw this as a big deal... I couldn't get solid support from anyone to help me witht it, except for it being my senior project:
can be found at comiccrowd [dot] com > view test comic

I had big plans, I thought comicspace.com would hire me to build something like this (as they were looking for a software engineer) but never hear back from them until I really pressed them on it.

jaybcorreia @ Mar 17th 2009 7:11PM

I went to comiccrowd and i saw that test comic its pretty good i like that better then what zudaonline does. wondering if we can talk about using that I want to create a site using that if you interested contact me @ jaybcorreia[@]yahoo[dot]com and i'll give u a detailed description of my intentions.

DiRT @ Mar 18th 2009 9:23AM

This one works great.
http://exophase.com/psp/pspcomic-v10-3469.htm

He's stopped working on it, but it's fully functional and I use it all the time.

KinjiroSSD @ Mar 17th 2009 5:16PM

If they have current UP-TO-DATE manga then I would use this service.

michael @ Mar 17th 2009 8:59PM

Me too, I want to see if Sony can get manga from Viz, Bandai, Del-Rey, Yen Press and other manga publishers. I want to see OEL manga (manga that are not made in Japan) in there also. I was able to read several mangas through my PSP, and I think it's cool they do it.