News on the PSP is coming in thick and fast and the latest concerns a serious point in the handheld's development, the size of the onboard RAM. The initial Sony specs called for 8 MB of RAM, a figure contested by many developers who claimed that 32 MB were necessary in order to facilitate game development. Sony are still refusing to confirm or deny any change in specifications of the PSP but the word from developers seems to be that the Japanese giant has reconsidered and is likely to bring their handheld to PS2 standards, as far as memory is concerned.
This change does raise an issue which is considered to be a possible problem once PSP is released. The increase in RAM will make the development of 3D games for the PSP much easier but it will also make the porting of PS2 games to the handheld a lot faster. The presence of 32 MB's of RAM would limit the amount of re-coding needed in order to achieve a PS2 port. Such ease would tempt developers to focus on PS2's, extensive, library in order to produce games for the PSP at a minimal cost but could prove detrimental to the number of original titles produced for Sony's new platform.
Sony have promised to control the release of titles for PSP but only for the first 6 months following its launch. It will certainly be difficult to stop developers from looting their PS2 catalogue in search of the quick buck.
