What will happen to the video game rental trade and companies like GameFly and Blockbuster when the market changes, and when the more direct channel -- downloads over the net -- takes over? Sony looks to be thinking ahead to that point, as evidenced by its own recent survey.

The handheld market it going to be the first to drop hard copy and go fully downloadable. With the iPhone unexpectedly proving itself a viable outlet for small-footprint, small-price tag games, Nintendo dropping its customary cartridge slot upgrade on its DSi, and rumors of a new disc-less PSP, the changeover is imminent.

In light of this impending change, Sony has been gauging consumer interest in a direct-to-PSP game rental service. The survey says: "The service will enable you to download a fixed number of games during your subscription period (the subscription period might renew weekly, monthly, or some other time period), you will be able to change the games you have chosen for the download once your subscription term renews. At launch, there will be an extensive catalogue of games to choose from, with more titles being added to the catalogue each month."

It then asks the survey participant to choose which options would most attract them to the service. In April, Sony began to test the consumer predilection for downloads be releasing the sequel to its popular title Patapon only as a PSP download. Sony issued the statement: ""We're considering a digital only format for the Patapon 2 release as a one-time test case as we continue to explore consumer preferences for digital content."

According to an unnamed source speaking to Develop Magazine today, Sony privately informed game studios at the recent Game Developers Conference in March that it planned to open a subscription rental service.

This type of service has been tried a number of times in the past for home video game consoles, going all the way back to the 1980s with the Atari 2600 Gameline and Intellivision's PlayCable. The concept was revisited in the '90s in the United States with Sega Channel on Sega Genesis, and the XBAND for both Sega and Nintendo's 16-bit consoles. These services all charged a monthly fee and gave the user unlimited access to a catalog of game titles, which would rotate in and out of circulation.

This, however, will be the first service of its kind for a handheld.