May 5th just cannot get here soon enough for me. After playing the first Patapon so much that “Pon Pon Pata Pon” has become my inner monologue, I don’t think I can accurately express just how much I want to get my hands on Patapon 2. My only real beef with the first game is the same beef I have always had with PSP games; I had to buy a retail UMD copy of the game.

Of course, that all may change if one particular rumor about Patapon 2 turns out to be true.

Find out how Patapon 2 “might” escape from the evil UMD after the jump!

UMD’s suck. There I said it. I own two PSP’s (a 1000 & a 2000), I play games on one of them every day, and I travel with one everywhere I go. Nobody can question my love of the system, but even I cannot defend UMD’s. When Pro Duo cards were still expensive, it wasn’t such a big deal, because save space was limited.

Now that you can get a 2GB Pro Duo (or bigger) for substantially less, anyone with half a brain would rather download their PSP title from the PSN rather than carry around a bunch of UMD’s. It just makes more sense for a portable system like the PSP. Hell, we should already have a big list of PS1 and other titles available for download to the PSP, but I digress.

According to ArsTechnica, who received the information from a super secret “mole,” Patapon 2 will not be released on UMD. “High five anyone?” Apparently the game will be sold on the PSN, with a retail copy being available in stores that is nothing but a PSN redemption code. Gamers will also allegedly be able to buy Patapon 2 through the websites of “certain retailers.”

Having played Patapon 2 a while back when the SG crew went to CES, I know Patapon 2 will be great. This download only idea does have a strong ring of truth to it given the impression I got from the Sony rep I met at CES. One of my first questions was whether or not Patapon 2 (and Patapon 1 for that matter) would be available as a digital download. I was not given a yes or no answer, but rather a smile and a “we’re looking into the possibility” type of response.

If the rumor is true, it would lend weight to the possibility that the UMD-less PSP2 is truly on its way. “Double high five anyone?” It should be pointed out that a retail UMD version of Patapon 2 is already available in Europe.

Personally, I think the rumor is true. Getting rid of the battery killing UMD’s would be great. A straight digital download setup for the PSP 2 would also be great, especially if it is true that store retailers would still be able to make a profit selling the cases with PSN redemption codes in them. Everybody wins.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to go take a long cold shower. All this talk about Patapon 2 has left me with one hell of a FEVER!!!

Source: Arstechnica & Patapon 2

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