At the Game Developers Conference in Austin, TX, it has been revealed that PSP Mini games will not be allowed to have wireless multiplayer functionality, downloadable content, or software updates, claiming the rules are in place to "speed up the approval process".

Speaking to Gamasutra, SCEA senior account manager Justin Cooney said that including those features would "defeat the purpose of having a dedicated [quality assurance] service for smaller content". While wireless multiplayer is barred, single system multiplayer will be allowed.

Coony claims that PSP minis titles should only take 3-5 days to get through the approval process, unlike full range games that tend to take 2-3 weeks. While the iPhone initially started off as having simple single player games, it has since broadened out into having a variety of features - online multiplayer has been implemented in games after the fact.

Considering the PSP mini is an online platform which requires an online connection to actually buy anything, it seems absurd that you wouldn't allow online multiplayer. It does appear that rules are made to be broken, since Gameloft are bringing UNO to the system, and there's no chance that a Texas Poker Game isn't being developed right now.

Not allowing downloadable content also appears to be short sighted, since the game Minigore is attempting to create an episodically developed game on the iPhone which will update regularly.

It seems incredibly short sighted on their part - if the only way to get the approval process down is to cut features, what's the point? While not mentioned, I would also expect that Leaderboards are also not available either.

To read the full article, head over to Gamasutra.