We weren’t really sure what Sony meant when they said they would come up with some way to compensate those who own PSP UMD games but want to upgrade to the download only PSP Go. We now have a slightly better idea of what Sony is going to do, and it may not be exactly what you were hoping for.

Sony is offering Europeans the chance to take part in a rewards program, which involves placing a UMD in your existing PSP then downloading a special PSPgo theme from PSN. After doing this you should be sent an email containing a voucher code which you can exchange in return for three free downloads out of a choice of 17 full games. Some of the games include Killzone: Liberation (I own this, and it’s actually pretty good), SOCOM: US Navy SEALs Fireteam Bravo 3, Everybody’s Golf, WipEout Pure, Echochrome, LocoRoco, Patapon and Buzz!: Master Quiz. The offer is open to anybody who owns an existing PSP model, plus at least one game, who buys and registers a PSPgo from its release on 1st October until 31st March next year.

So, while you may not be able to turn your existing purchases into a free download it’s certainly better than nothing if you’re set on buying a PSPgo. People with a large library of UMD games are going to be disappointed, there’s little doubt about that, but I’m finding it hard to figure out how Sony would be able to turn your existing purchases into downloads anyway. How can you prove that you own a game, especially if it was bought a few years back? There must be some way of doing it, and I doubt Sony will be losing many sales by coming up with a solution as the majority of people are unlikely to buy another copy of something they already own.

Like some Dutch retailers I don’t really care for the PSPgo. A smaller screen and more cramped controls doesn’t really do much for me, especially as memory sticks are getting cheaper all the time. I don’t use my PSP much, but if I do buy a game I can now choose to between a UMD or a download, which is far better than only having one option.