Slashdot Mirror
Hands-on With the PSP Go
ANkleStrong writes "Sony Corp unveiled on Tuesday a smaller, lighter PlayStation handheld game device called the PSP Go, in a race to catch rival Nintendo in an intensely competitive mobile games arena."
E3 attendees were able to take the new Sony handheld for a test drive, and more pictures and videos are now available. It's set to be released on October 1st, and will retail for $249. A new Resident Evil game is being designed specifically for the updated hardware, and Metal Gear Peace Walker is coming as well.
Once again Sony is probably overpricing the market. Sony would love to wipe the venerable DS off the face of the planet, but the DS is what, $130 or $180 for the DSi?
Test your net with Netalyzr
Seriously, once you notice the resemblance it's impossible to see it as anything else.
http://gizmodo.com/5273445/psp-go-a-dead-ringer-for-south-parks-eric-cartman
The price would be OK if it played Blu-ray Discs.
Yeah... sure... if by, "intensely competitive," you mean that the DS / DSi are throttling all other handhelds.
You are using English. Please learn the difference between loose and lose; they're, there, and their; your and you're.
The price tag is bad enough - but until I can flip a PSP closed to protect the screen and controls the way anybody can with any of the three models of the Nintendo DS, there's just no way in hell I'm going to waste my money on one of these.
I carry my DS in the hip pocket of my cargo shorts - it gets banged up, sat on, smooshed against the hull of the bus. It's spanged off of desks and doors, barstools and bannisters. And while the case is scraped and scratched (and mildly pulverized in one corner thanks to a FLYING LEAP the thing took onto pavement), the screens are still in working order and the machine continues to give me games on the go without complaint.
Sure, I could buy a screen protector or whatever for the PSP like I have for my iPod - but the only thing I've ever had to buy for my DS is games, and I prefer to keep it that way. If I'm gaming outside and it's raining, I just stick the thing in a ziplock bag.
As I see it, I'd be paying a hundred bucks more for the "privilege" of the screen getting scratched all to hell the second I stick it in the pocket with my keys... and it doesn't play any of my games. And I have a lot of DS and GBA games.
Sony may have owned the 32-bit generation of consoles, but they have yet to come up with anything compelling in the portable (or online) arena. Heck, the one friend of mine with a PSP uses it to run a Skype client. What does that say about the platform?
On a related note - when the first GBAs hit the market, they could play GB games. That was dropped with the DS, which could play GBA games. Now, finally, with the DSi, Nintendo has dropped the GBA capability (along with battery life, which is why when my DS gives out I'll be buying a DS Lite - or even another DS if I can find a new one. The DSL is a smidge too small for my hands). Nintendo has gone through several generations of handhelds and has maintained backwards compatibility with at least the first generation of each. Sony's on their second PSP and they've already dropped UMD - which screws over anyone who's paid good money for games that come on UMD media.
Clearly, they don't understand why Nintendo continues to dominate the market - only that they do. Kinda like Microsoft and Google - Sony, like Microsoft, seems to keep trying to take the lead, and every attempt is further and further proof that they just don't get it.
But, can it still play my rips of FF7-FF9/ANY ps1 game like my current PSP?
Is it even legal to make copies of Sony's PS1 emulator for PSP using the "Popstation" tool?
(1001 w/ 5.02 m33 firmware).
But it appears the ChickHEN jailbreak doesn't work on 5.50 that comes on new PSP-3000 series units, nor does it run PS1 games. So people who want to get into PSP homebrew might have to rely on eBay for used PSP hardware.
Sony is out of touch with the market. This thing wouldn't last a week in my kids hands. Toys should survive normal usage and the Go looks fragile . I think clamshell designs are more durable, and keep the screens from being broken or scratched when they're dropped out of the car onto concrete. Will it come in a pretty pink?. I think Sony is trying for the upscale, male geek, with lots of money. I'll pass.