Friday Freebie: Desperate times...

Dear Sony and Nintendo,

We need to talk. Over the years, we've become friends - more than that, companions. We’ve shared victories in Hyrule, ancient Greece, The Mushroom Kingdom and Planet Helgan. We’ve been through a lot together and the DS and the PSP mean the world to us.

The thing is, I just don’t feel like you care any more. What's the point in having digital download services if you never update them with any new free content?

I mean, I can almost understand why the PSP Store has been so distant of late, given the third-party struggle it’s had, but surely a Resistance Retribution demo or a couple of freebie PSOne titles wouldn’t be too hard to cough up?

As for the DS, it has no such excuse. There are loads of new games coming out in the coming months, and yet the Nintendo Channel is as dead and lifeless as Mario after a night out on the sauce.

The situation is so bad that I've taken to encouraging the freebie children to make their own browser based games for the PSP.

The folks at Adventure Maker know that we have needs. They offer all the tools you need to get your own legal browser-based PSP point and click adventure game up and running and they don’t charge a cent.

And let’s not forget the iPhone. I’m not making any threats, but if either the DS or the PSP paid me half the attention that the iPhone does, well... Let’s just say maybe the iPhone wouldn’t be the only console that gets an awesome do-it-yourself dock made for it.

Just look at what the iPhone has offered us this week in our Demos section, a free Lite version of Super Monkey Ball. Does the DS or the PSP offer such generosity? I think we all know the answer to that.

I know that you can change. You weren’t always this way… If not for me, do it for the children. They’ve grown so fond of the DS and the PSP over the years.

Yours hopefully,

A pair of idle thumbs

p.s. Click ‘Track It!’ if you intend to show up next week, I’ll be waiting.