PSP download service to be delayed due to PlayStation 3 slip?

Sony announced back in March its plans to enable us to buy and download old PSOne games for our PSPs. Now Sony Japan's Izumi Kawanishi has told Japanese magazine NikkeiBP a little bit more about how the service will operate (as translated by the techies at Ars Technica).

Most significantly – given Sony has just this morning revealed PlayStation 3 will not now arrive in the UK and Europe until 2007 – Kawanishi told the magazine that the PSP download service is intended to debut alongside the launch of PlayStation 3.

Whilst he said the broadband service will also work with a suitably-equipped PC, we'd now expect Sony to hold back the PSP service in Europe until PlayStation 3 arrives here in March. Sony already offers music downloads for sale for PSP only in Japan, so it's clearly comfortable with this sort of multi-territory offering.

Kawanishi confirmed several further details to the Japanese magazine:

• While the PSOne games mainly run under emulation on PSP, some changes have been made to accommodate the PSP's single analog nub and fewer buttons

• No specific number of available games was given (Sony has previously indicated the service would be fairly comprehensive)

• Kawanishi confirmed UMD movies will also be made available (as previously reported)

• You'll be able to store movies on the PS3 or PC's hard drive, or else on PSP memory sticks

• Games and movies will be copy-protected, and sharing will not be allowed

As we wrote on the Pocket Gamer blog when discussing the glut of retro-compilations coming to PSP, we're unsure as to whether old PSOne games are exactly what the PSP needs just a year since its European debut.

Nevertheless, we await this new service with interest – whenever it finally does arrive.