I checked out Sony Computer Entertainment's new PC-based PSP store today, picking up SCE Studio Liverpool's launch title Wipeout Pure. Three other full PSP games are offered: Team Soho's Gangs of London, Sony Bend's Syphon Filter: Combat Ops, and SCE Studio London's rhythm game and basic loop sequencer Beats, the latter two of which are actually offered only via download. The games run from $5 to $20.

After installing a small required utility, you purchase the game, connect your PSP to your PC via USB, and download. Wipeout weighed in at a little under 200 megs. It loads quickly from the Memory Stick. It's a simple process, but it could be even slicker if it was actually offered straight through the PSP itself rather than a PC. This may come later.

It's interesting that Sony has now begun offering download-only PSP games; I had to research to make sure neither was available at retail, and I have to imagine many PSP owners aren't even aware, especially since there's no store on the PSP itself. Of course, the benefit is that the games are considerably cheaper than they would be at retail, and more risks can be taken since a full retail pipeline is unnecessary. Beats runs only $5, and the multiplayer-only Syphon Filter game is $10. (Of course, it remains to be seen whether a multiplayer-only game for a portable system only sold through a PC will be able to capture the audience necessary for good multiplayer.)

It probably all speaks to Sony's overall desire to make its gaming products part of a large scale Sony entertainment platform. The considerable media functionality of the PlayStation 3 and PSP, the increasingly integrated features of the two, and the investment into download-only games that in many cases are higher-end than the download-only products found on the competing consoles.