Slashdot Mirror
PSP Go With 16GB Memory and Bluetooth Leaked
Lyonhrt writes "Engadget and Gizmodo have spilled the beans on the news of the new UMD-less PSP Go that comes with 16GB of memory and a slide screen; also among the features will be built-in Bluetooth and an undisclosed memory slot. The console will be sold alongside the PSP-3000, but there are no details on price at this time. This is obviously Sony's answer to the lost battle with the PSP Homebrew and Hacking Communities, which have cost many thousands of lost sales with custom firmwares."
The directional controls on mobile phones are crap compared to a Gameboy. Only touchscreen-based or simple puzzle games work well on a phone.
Because almost everyone who runs with customfirmware just downloads the game files via torrent?
Most consoles are sold at a loss and makeup this loss through licensing fees for games.
It loses sales because the majority of people running custom firmware do so to play pirated games. Same goes for the R4 device on the DS.
[Citation Needed]
Sure, custom firmware can be used to play pirated PSP games much as how a candle can be used to burn down a house, yet that isn't necessarily mean thats the reason for having a candle burning in a house. There are many applications such as Nintendo emulators, etc. that will never be released on the PSP with an official release yet you can get them via custom firmware.
Same thing with the DS, as someone who owns a flash cart (purchased oddly enough at Wal-Mart) there are many, many, many quality applications that are DS homebrew. Some things such as emulators will never be released for it legitimately and there are also many homebrew games that will never be officially released for it.
In most homebrew circles piracy is frowned heavily upon.
Taxation is legalized theft, no more, no less.
Because despite the people who get up in arms over how Sony is attempting to crush the poor, innocent "homebrew" community, every single person I know IRL who has run custom firmware has used it to pirate games, and maybe an emulator.
And these are very much lost sales, I've seen people go from regularly buying PSP/DS games to not buying any at all once they discovered they could pirate them. :-/
Except PSP games aren't region locked. Next excuse.
You buy a PSP 3000 then. It says right in the article that they will still sell PSP-3000s side by side with the PSP GO. This is a smart stop gap move by Sony. A UMD docking station is almost absolutely out of the question. Besides, IF they were to do that, they would force you to use a PS3 connected to your PSP.
Good-bye
PSP GO has an analog thumbstick..... It might not be the best, but its there. And yes I totally agree that no dual thumbsticks is dumb as hell in a redesign of this magnitude.
Good-bye
Imagine an android phone with the directional controls done right.
http://openpandora.org/
Sure, custom firmware can be used to play pirated PSP games much as how a candle can be used to burn down a house, yet that isn't necessarily mean thats the reason for having a candle burning in a house. There are many applications such as Nintendo emulators
Virtually no games from the NES's commercial era have been released as free software or even freeware. (Exceptions include Elite.) How many people who use custom firmware (PSP) or an R4 card (DS) to run NES emulators do so only to run homebrew NES games?
In most homebrew circles piracy is frowned heavily upon.
Including piracy of the games that run in PocketNES, nesDS, Goomba Color, Lameboy, jEnesis, SNEmulDS, etc.?
Let people build homebrew apps but prevent people from playing warez.
How is that possible? Homebrew apps include emulators such as PocketNES, and emulators can play pirated ROMs. Homebrew apps include Tetris clones such as Lockjaw, and The TetriSCOmpany thinks those are pirated.
True. A handheld gaming console is designed AROUND the controls; it's probably more important than graphics. Most mobile phones would be terrible for playing games, even if they had the equivalent of a PS3 condensed inside.
There's a reason Nintendo dominates the market; they are sticking to the idea that consoles (and handhelds) should be for playing games, and other uses are secondary. There's also a reason that Sony failed miserably this gen, and it closely follows...
Speccy: Tape recorder to Line-In of PC + Taper software
C64: 1541 drive + XM1541 or similar cable + Star Commander software
then it's just a matter of copying the resulting files to the microSD card.
No.
There's economics of scale in here. Selling it in all territories for the price they do in poor territories is not profitable. However, selling it in poor territories for the price they sell it in rich territories is pointless because they will make 0 sales.
They can sell these things for barely above the DVD pressing and distribution costs, but they also need to recover the upfront costs of making the movie.
But the PSP doesn't have regional lockout. You can already play imported games on any PSP. I think there was maybe a few exceptions to that, but on the whole, nope.
Granted there are plenty of other reasons to want homebrew. I wouldn't have bought a PSP if it couldn't do it.
If you own a PSP (I do) and have not yet seen or just don't know what "custom firmware" really does maybe you should go see.. Custom firmware allows you to turn a stock PSP into something really usable. Everything from real time GPS mapping to SQL management to real time e-mail and messaging apps. There are several hundred high quality home brew apps and games available. Note these are not available with the stock firmware. Were it hit sales is in the game area as there are so many home brew games (free) that are better than what can be purchased. There is a point - more "might" buy a PSP for "increased usability and features" HOWEVER it does take a bit of hacker ability both in hardware and software to use custom firmware so it is not "for the masses" and only adopted by the few... Sony is Sony with the PSP just like the PS3. I am sure the new 'Go' will be no different. Sony always seems to blow their chances. If they did it right there would be no need for 'custom firmware' or other hack attempts to add something as simple as an IM, email or real browser to a device.
My PSP and both my PSP games are locked to Region 1 - says so on the boxes.
This practice in other words is called price fixing and is in fact illegal in many countries!