Be honest, PSP owners: how often do you use your handheld to play games with your buddies? It’s often far too fussy to set up, game sharing isn’t very widespread and it’s extremely slow, and to be honest I don’t know a lot of people who actually own PSPs in the first place.

In Japan, where every second person is playing Monster Hunter, Sony launched a piece of software called adhocParty which let you use your PS3 as a server to connect your PSP to the world, meaning you could play any PSP game’s local multiplayer mode across the internet as if they were sitting right next to you.

It’s coming to Europe. Neat.

adhocParty is laid out in worlds, each of which contains 64 “houses” to leap into and find people that own the game you want to play. It’s as simple as connecting your PSP to your PS3 wirelessly — provided, alas, that your PS3 has a wired connection to the internet — and loading up the software on your handheld. It’s then as simple as finding someone who owns your game, then jumping in together.

The games that’ll be supported when the service launches include Gran Turismo, Resistance and Dissidia Final Fantasy (along with, ta-da, Monster Hunter). While it’s not as brilliant as, say, being able to play anyone anywhere (since you’re tethered to your PS3′s internet connection) it’s a really cool idea that I can see myself using if only to not play PSP by myself for once in my lifetime.

Hell, we could even use it for PSP gamernights here on Sarcastic Gamer. That’d be pretty damn cool.

At the moment, adhocParty’s only been announced for Europe and even then without a solid release date, so all of you American folks will need to sit on your hands, twiddle your thumbs, or do whatever else you do when you sit and do nothing patiently. I have a feeling that if the service is a success in Europe, it’ll be out pretty sharpish Stateside too.

So, neat idea? Isn’t it just a massive relief to actually have people to play against on your PSP? Or am I just really, really lonely?

(via TheSixthAxis)