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Digital Comics on the PSP
Sony's latest update adds support for a new digital comic feature, launching next month. We take a look.
Written by Dave Taylor, 23 November 2009
Can you believe that the PSP is now up to Firmware 6.20? It launched recently and yet with little fanfare, as we've come to expect from the PSP. In actual fact, the update is rather convoluted, because you need to update the firmware via the PSP as normal, and then take yourself off to a separate PlayStation comics site.
You then have to attach the PSP to your PC via USB, and go into the actual folder structure, create a new APP folder and download a file to it from the site. It's all a bit techie, and you do wonder it doesn't use the InstalledSoftware folder that already exists on the PSP. UPDATE: PSP comics has just told us that there is an ability to install directly from the PSP if you have the latest firmware. Just click on the Digital Comics icon from the XMB and it will download directly.
With the PSP updated and the software downloaded onto the PSP, you now have "Digital Comics" in the Extras menu. It doesn't do anything really yet, as you don't have any comics, and the service doesn't launch for a few weeks.
Wait! Wait, we haven't finished. There are however, some free comics for you to download today that you can use to see the viewer in action. Firstly, there's a Transformers Megatron comic, and this code is available from the PlayStation comic site: A8D2-KMBF-JKE4 works for UK users. However, not mentioned on the site is a bonus code, which was given away by their Twitter feed: ANTL-MGBH-BN2H (again, UK code), which will get you Issue 1 of Aleister Arcane, a sort of horror comic, which has an interesting story, and great art, though the words seem sometimes heavily forced.
To activate these, you sign into your PlayStation account on the PSP and go to Manage Accounts and Redeem Code. Then download and you're good to go. A word of warning - don't cancel the download, as there seems to be problems restarting it. Hopefully, this will get sorted out, because people will want to be able to remove issues from their PSP and be allowed to re-download them later.
When you then go to Digital Comics, you can then select the Comic to view and the system has an "Autoflow" function that works quite well. You see an overview of the page, which then zooms in on the start, which may be text or may be an image. You then hit right and it moves you to a zoom-in on the next relevant piece, which could be the caption, or speech. It means you can easily read the pages. We'd guess that the system works by the authors marking up each page manually with some sort of XML, as it's not an automatic system. This is a good thing, as unlike other auto-zoom readers we've seen on PC, this actually works, giving you the right level of zoom on each element and moving you forwards sensibly.
When you've finished a page, it zooms out and uses the page turn effect that digital publishers like so much.
Apparently, the comics won't be available as subscriptions to start with, but as single issue sales. Marvel Comics, Disney, IDW, Ape Entertainment, Dabel Brothers, Red 5, 2000AD, Archie, and Insomnia are signed up, so there are some big name characters coming and they claim that 40 new comics will be added every week.
It's interesting to see the PSP add yet another string to its bow, and the comic viewer works well, but it is simply the print magazines in digital format. There's no added content, or links even. You can listen to music off the PSP while you browse, but this is very much a "Version 1" release.
UPDATE 2: PSP comics has also just told us: "We do allow publishers to add sound - like author / artist commentary or even SFX where appropriate. If present they will appear under an Extras tab on the summary page." We haven't seen an issue yet with this implemented, but we look forward to it.
As digital publishers ourselves, we're always interested in seeing the format pushed forwards. Digital Comics is a step in the right direction, and more importantly, it means you can get direct access to comics, which in the UK at least proves harder than you might imagine. Where's DC though?
amtojfriends
29 June 2011 @ 11:12AM GMT
amtojfriends
29 June 2011 @ 11:12AM GMT
NurseDave
3 January 2010 @ 13:41PM GMT