I'm pleased by this as well, it seems as though Sony is starting to head in the right direction. Also, by distancing themselves from censorship, I think it will allow a much wider breadth of games on the PSP, which the console definitely needs.

And just like that, Xbox Live Indie Games had competition...

A commenter on Kotaku already noted there will be restrictions, despite the lack of pre-approval:

[i]04:53 AM
Although they have this on the dev signup page: [www.tpr.scee.net]

SCEE will reject Software, Printed Materials and Advertising Materials in whole or in part the content of which:
# includes graphic depictions of sadistic or gratuitous: (a) violence; (b) torture; (c) mutilation; or (d) terrorisation;
# is sexually explicit or includes any depictions of violence, pain, injury or humiliation in a sexual context;
# portrays children in a sexualised or abusive context;
# includes extreme profane or obscene language, acts or gestures;
# encourages or glamourises substance abuse or the use of alcohol or tobacco;
# condones or promotes negative racial, ethnic, national, gender or religious stereotypes or stereotypes relating to disability;
# condones or promotes discrimination or prejudice against person(s) based on their race, ethnic group, nationality, gender, disability, religion, age or sexual orientation;
# makes negative or disrespectful use of religious symbolism, beliefs, texts or places of worship; or
# reflects adversely on the name, reputation or goodwill of Sony.[/i]
http://kotaku.com/5343816/psp-minis-documents-leaked-sony-learning-from-apples-mistakes#c14949271

So it's quite similar to the App Store, except that instead of getting approved or rejected before being made available on the store, miniS that do not comply with these restrictions will be pulled after being made available on the store. :/

Personally, I think the App Store's approach makes the most sense, but it certainly has room for improvement. What Apple should do is a developer approval process whereby, after gaining a level of trust, the developer can submit updates to apps without pre-approval. Apple would still review the initial 1.0 version and any major new versions (2.0, 3.0, etc.), but most app updates are minor (1.1, 1.2, 2.1, etc.), so those could be let on without waiting in a queue.

"As usual Jim managers to put a negative spin on good news."

As usual some mook manages to put a negative spin on a Jim Sterling post.

I did not "spin" anything. I merely voiced a concern. I think it's great news, and if you look at my past PSP Minis post, you'll see I support the service and am looking forward to it and think the PSP is doing great. But of course, you don't want to accept that I actually *like* Sony products, because that would shatter your ability to whine and moan about anything I write.

How is "they're going to let fucking anything in" good news?

Not having applesque draconian rulings is good, but I could submit furry rape pornography and call it "My first ABCs" and it wouldn't be denied?

I think that with the low cost of the mini's, they should definitely have a user rating system like the updated 360 dashboard. That way the bad stuff will just get rated poorly and end up never getting downloaded.

Also, if someone is having to check that they at least work before they can be uploaded, I'm guessing there will be SOME level of QA going on. Even if it's just a self-rating system so people know if its E, T, M, AO or whatever rating system other countries have, I think the internet will end up sorting out the good from the bad and warning everyone of shit to avoid and stuff thats a must have.

Well, I'm all for freedom of speech, but I think there needs to be at least a slight moderating done on these. I mean, Mass Effect had... something almost suggestive, and Fox went mad at it. Can you imagine the backlash if My First ABCs came out? I've nothing against somebody releasing a furry rape porn game, but not giving it a name that seems like it's marketed to kids.

That's just one example, of course, and taking it to extremes, but in a world where scrabble having "dirty" words in it causes a controvesy, this is just asking for trouble.

"You try too hard Jim."

I agree. I try too hard to explain to morons that I don't have some weird and mysterious imagined agenda against the PS3 and PSP.

The restrictions they have posted (see natetehgreat post) will prohibit any porn, ultra violent, rape based or even sony bashing content. That will pretty much let them "restrict" with impunity despite the claim of no content approval (tho it may be after the fact).

Sony dropped a Betamax on Jim's puppy when he was 5. It's quite obvious.

Has anyone but me seen the app store lately?! It's full of a bunch of shitty games and a bunch of cheap imitators of other games! There needs to be censorship or you just get a heap of trash to look through until finally you come across a hidden gem!

I'm sure masturbating over a picture of Kaz Hirai is even easier.

@reborn: you haven't touched the indie games channel on xbl, probably because you think touching something non-sony is dirty.

there is NO quality assurance there save for out right nudity and sex. here is a sample of the crap that is there: fish tank, another fish tank, yet another my fish tank, 3 "massagers", roll cage viewer (not really a game at all)

sterling has a point and a lot of people are going to get suckered in to buying pointless crap.

you might as well pull out that framed portrait of kaz hirai while you're at it
sput* sput* sput*

It's amazing how a post about how low restriction game publishing gets to the point of bashing the author of this article. Jim isn't being edgy or "super cool" he is voicing his opinion on the PspGO, Of course you are all entitled to yours but learn to pay a working man respect for his work and not criticize it and ignore the articles points. My opinion on this topic is that I might by a pspgo if i can get my hands on a developer debug one if so then ill probably get back into making games which I haven't done in forever since I was incredibad at it. As a closing note: I know this is the internet and Anonymous is the king of said internet but sadly destructoid isn't one of those "lol U are f@g cuz you like indie gamez" sites. Indy games are given respect and even reviewed by the destructoid staff so next time you wanna B1tch about someone writing style hold up and think "would I be pissed if some prick told me I'm always edgy when really this is how i always write?" The only thing this article needs is more kokomo anyway.

"I'm sure masturbating over a picture of Kaz Hirai is even easier."

That image isn't going to leave my head for a long time. Thanks Jim.

Personally, I think that having two seperate sections for Apps and games could be useful.

To be perfectly honest, I had no idea that the Appstore had quality controls. The amount of crap I have to scroll through looking for a cool new game... Honestly!
Of course, they have the user rating system working pretty well, so if Sony sets that up too, I think this PSP Mini service could work just as well.

Also, a nice hearty 'LOL' at the anti-Jim fanboys in this thread. I can't believe you're able to pick out anything negative here. Hilarious.

Has anybody noticed that the first part (and part of the URL) for that list of commandments says SCEE?

As in: Sony Compmuter Entertainment EUROPE. (That last work is the crucial bit.)

I think 'corporate' is saying 'we don't case as long as PSPGo content is downloadable and plays', while giving the regionals the right to ban specific content. (All corporate cares about is download ability and playability.)

Seriously.. it's just like always, japan gets cool stuff, and Amercia and Europe get fucked over by regional nannies. (And Australia takes it doublehard.)

YESSSSS

Cheetahmen III, here I come!