PSP No-Go

This guy echoes my sentiments towards the newest PSP model.

http://schmitz.blogdns.net/robert/2009/10/04/psp-what/

I hope gamers everywhere share this opinion.

I also hope the PSP Go dies a quiet and miserable death. I hope that though it will be a discontinues and rare handheld in the future, that it will be devalued as an inferior and worthless device and that no one will even want one. Seriosly, I think even the N-gage is a more sensible choice for a portable system, in design anyway (I'm leaving games out of this, which is kind of what Sony is doing anyway).

Well, that's my Hate post for the day (I think my first ever). Anyone plan on getting one? I'd love to hear why. Is anyone else baffled by Sony's business decisions?

I'm not baffled by this--I know they're trying to squeeze as much money out of their customers as they can. The worst part is that there's not really any substantial incentive to buy this device (at least the DSi offers 1000 "points" for downloadable games--I actually got Dragon Quest Wars and it's not bad), unless you're really, really bent on having Bluetooth support.

There was a guy on Ars Technica that ripped the system a new blowhole in his review. His opinion could be summed up in the article's header: "PSP Go: Way Too Much for Way Too Little." I'd have to agree... it's got me hunting on eBay for a PSP with a broken UMD drive, so I can have roughly the same experience for a small fraction of the price.

Thanks for posting this, by the way!

I hope the PSP Go is a massive success because it is a step in the right direction (and that direction is "fuck optical media"), even though it steps a bit in the wrong direction (and that direction is "botched digital distribution/microtransactioning") and the fact that it lacked built-in 3G (though the Bluetooth link sorta makes up for that).

I will certainly buy one when they hack it (don't believe that bullshit about it being unhackable, if you don't understand that everything is hackable nowdays you're probably 76) because honestly, a slightly more powerful PSP with no disc drive and smaller screen (thus better battery life) is the PERFECT emulation system (fuck the A320 and the Viz).

(Sorry for the parantheses orgy.)

You're right about fucking the Dingoo and the Wiz. It's like every five years we get another flood of largely useless handhelds. No, we don't want your Gizmondo or N-Gage. Now go away and leave this whole portable gaming thing to someone who knows how it's done (read: Nintendo).

I wanted the NGage QD at one time. I'm a bad person.

It's alright, I actually have one. I was mostly intrigued by that Pocket Kingdom game (it's nothing too special really, but I must have a strange attraction to fantasy based sprites ).

Back to the PSP ordeal: If Sony had started off with this whole download only premise in the first place, I would have less to complain about (I also might not have bought it though and I think there's a lot of gamers out there with similar buying turnoffs). They could even just ditch the PSP altogether and have a whole new platform (that I will not likely buy). But don't give us a superior version of a system, nerf it down to a shadow of what it was, and then expect people to not only pay for it, but to pay more.

Now, I'm not saying that I want to have my download privileges taken away with my regular PSP. I kind of like the PSNetwork and it's free access. I just think that the hardware of the PSPGo itself was a mistake when the (still available) predecessor is far superior.

Actually, I still say that it is a better experience. You get a larger screen with a better refresh rate, better battery life, and possibly faster download times (not sure about this yet). Also, modding capabilities are available NOW (you never know how far or convenient any possible mods will be in the future for the PSPGo).

I am your main competition for parentheses abuse.

Well, my reaction to the thing is this. "Oh, PSP go. Wow, that looks neat." "Wait....you mean you can't play UMDs on it?" "Wait...it's gonna cost me what?"

I've already upgraded my PSP to the 2000 version last year. I'm perfectly fine with it. Sony lost their minds when they made this one.

I meant to say thanks to Kitsunexus for offering an opposing opinion ( I somehow knew you wouldn't let me down). There are inherent weaknesses in having disc based media on a portable (way too many moving parts where there shouldn't really be any at all).

However, Gamer's like myself, and there seem to be a lot, are still set in our ways of having physical media in our collections to show for the hard earned money used to pay for them. And without any resale value,... well, digital media still has some obstacles to overcome before a lot of us fully embrace the option. Discounting the games as they age, like retailers, would be a start. It would be nice if we could sell our digital right to a game somehow too (or trade rights?).

But I am at least happy that Sony gives us the option by still supporting the original PSP designs. I too, will stick with my PSP Phat and PSP 3000 (and download only what I absolutely have to).

Yeah, I'm glad the PSP-3000 is around too. Maybe I'll buy one when I can actually afford it. The used PS3 pretty much cleaned me out... and I STILL don't have the drive working properly!

So I was browsing the PSN over the weekend and noticed that they had a few games for half price as a special sale. I didn't want any of them, but it got me to thinking, perhaps the PSP go would work if you could download games for rental? The biggest reason I don't want to download games as opposed to packaged media is because I have to pay the exact same damn price as I would in a brick and mortar store for them.

Overall I think the thing is a disaster no matter how you look at it, but at least if Sony said, "hey, you can play rental games on the go" maybe I might be somewhat interested. I dunno.

I think the system was designed in part to discourage rentals. As one reviewer put it, the design is entirely advantageous to Sony (they sell games, reaping pure profit without the prohibitive cost of traditional distribution methods) while doing absolutely nobody else any favors.

I'd be a lot more interested in the Go if, as others noted, the prices were a fraction of the retail cost of a game (let's see: no box, no physical game, no manual, no shipping costs, etc. etc....and they still cost the same!)...but they aren't, so I'm not. (I understand whey they're not: pure greed; competing w/ retailers that Sony still needs...for now; but it doesn't make it any more palatable.)

Yeah, that's pretty much it. The PSP go would be a fantastic idea if the PSN had a much larger library of PS One classics, but they don't. That would really be the only reason to own one, the ability to play tons and tons of PSX games on the go with no need for swapping discs.

But like everyone else said, it's all about Sony's for el dinero.

Yeah, I just went on PSN for the first time ever and was taken aback by the small selection of PSOne games in its store. Just eighty? That's it? The system had ten times this many at least! The worst part is that they've made some really dumb choices... all three Spyros is fine, but why the first two mediocre Street Fighter Alpha games but not the third one, when Capcom finally got its crap together and started making good fighting games for the PSOne? Why Bloody Roar and not the awesome sequel? And I could go on like this!

^ Although uploading Suikoden to the network was a major victory, at least. Sadly, some games don't translate well to PSP either. Metal Gear Solid is one of them.

It wouldn't surprise me--I think Nintendo wanted to cut out rentals, but lacked the technology to do so. (not to mention used game selling--I have to wonder what Gamestop thinks of this*)

*I have no doubt that this could be a "whoever wins, we lose" situation, but imagine if the retailers decided to make the publishers and developers a better offer as far as a video game system goes. If I were an executive at GameStop, I'd be strongly considering Sony's endeavor here as a pointed effort to cut me out, and would probably weigh the pros and cons of responding in kind.

Yeah, I'm surprised game stores were actually willing to sell this thing. Maybe they didn't realize WHY Sony made it, or considered it much of a threat to their bottom lines. After all, it's a PSPGo. The PSP hasn't exactly set the world on fire in America, and the PSPGo has even fewer games than the original model. They probably had a feeling that the machine was going to last about as long as the Game Boy Micro or the upcoming DSi XL.

Every store that I've seen the "go" in has maybe a couple tucked way down, almost out of view. Meanwhile they have all their PSP 3000 bundles prominently displayed in the section. I think retailers are wise to the system's purpose and appeal (or lack thereof) It's like their saying, "yeah we have it because we have to and because we carry all the latest crap, even if we don't expect it to sell."

I haven't bought anything off the PSN lately. I guess there's a few things that I want. But if anything, it's just made me want to track down original copies. I'm just set in my archaic ways, I guess.

Sony really needs to consider discounting their virtual merchandise. I've noticed a couple temprary sales or bundled games, but that just makes everyone less tollerant if/when the non-products go back up in price. To their credit, there are a few older PSP games that are in the $10-15 range, but it makes me wonder how long they will hold on to the overpriced ones (my fear is indefinitely).

I'm also afraid that the effects of piracy is still hurting Sony here. Why should I pay a premium price for a game when I can find a used copy for cheaper AND download it to a memory stick for use with a modded PSP-1000. It's the best of both worlds. The only drawback is that I have to get up off my lazy arse, but the hunt itself is actaully fun for me.

That's pretty much the core of the arguement there. Until Sony lowers its prices on DLC significantly, I see no long term benefit for me, the consumer on purchasing a PSP Go. I think that Sony has been making mostly right decisions lately but the Go will have to "go" down as one of the worst ideas in the company's history.