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PSP Go Debuts, Disappoints
Sony has now officially launched the new version of their portable game console, the PSP Go, and the Opposable Thumbs blog took it for a spin to see how they liked it. Their impressions of the new hardware are almost entirely negative, despite being fans of the original PSP. One major point of contention was Sony's removal of the UMD drive in this revision, making it so you need to access the PlayStation Store to buy games. This kills price competition and used game sales in one fell swoop, while also making owners of any original PSP games unable to play them on the new hardware. The review says the new device looks sleek, but the dimensions make it somewhat cramped and awkward to use unless you have small hands. They also decry the switch to proprietary cables, and sum up their opinion by saying, "When your older, cheaper hardware is better and more able than your new offering, you need to fire some designers."
It's Ridge Racer! Riiiiidge Racer!
This kills price competition and used game sales in one fell swoop, while also making owners of any original PSP games unable to play them on the new hardware.
Translation: they killed the PSP.
Do we expect anything other than a locked-down proprietary anti-consumer mess out of Sony? After all, these are the people who gave us MiniDisc and the infamous anti-piracy rootkit.
"When your older, cheaper hardware is better and more able than your new offering, you need to fire some designers."
No, you need to fire the managers who gave the specifications to the designers.
Mod me down with all of your hatred and your journey towards the dark side will be complete!
Kinda reminds me of iPods.
They didn't kill the previous model, though, did they? This is just another model.
When they were talking about it a few months back we (family, we all have PSPs) looked at it, thought, no UMD drive, meh, not for us, and noted that (at the time) the old version was still to be made, so this was a non-issue.
You know, for kids who tend to be harder on things (and tend not to quite treat them as if they had spent hundreds of dollars on them, since generally, they didn't do that, the parents did), the no-drive, no UMD design makes a certain sort of sense. Tougher. Or at least, it could be.
I've fallen off your lawn, and I can't get up.
In the times we live in, everyone is attempting to nickle and dime you on everything. Airlines now charge for luggage (all but 1 in the USA), hotels charge for a phone line, whether you want it or use it or not, weird "fees" appear on various utility bills. The gaming industry has been attempting to stop used game sales by lobbying for legislation, but since that wasn't moving fast enough to yield short term profits, enter iPho.. I mean PSP Go. Why are we so surprised? Guess where the next generation of consoles are heading...
When Nintendo releases DSi without previous gen games compatibility (unlike DS) it's the best hardware ever made.
Proprietary cable for on iPod? It's Apple, stupid!
Downloadable games - all kosher for Apple, Microsoft and Nintendo.
Sony, on the other hand cannot do anything right - UMD is lame, no UMD is atrocious. What do you want,a 8" floppy? A DVD? Does your Zune come with one? Your DS? Your iPhone?
If you want to play games from UMDs why do you buy PSP go? You don't buy an iPhone to play your Appple ][ floppies. You don't buy Zune to play MSX carts.
I'd rather buy downloadable games for PSP since I can install them on multiple PSPs and PS3s than buy multiple UMDs to play multiplayer but I must be a crazy one.
Sony is competing with multiple markets that people aren't going view as legitimate. To them, the PSP isn't directly competing to the DS. They see it as something that is better than an Ipod Touch [same price point for a 16 gb unit]. So they view that a wise consumer is going to see 'I could get a DS, and an Ipod, or I could get a Psp!' The real world isn't working out to be that way though. Sony has classic tunnel vision.
Who honestly didn't see this one coming. Everyone commits some form of R&D and marketing fiasco resulting in terrible product. Nintendo made the virtual boy, Microsoft made the Xbox, (come on, the original Xbox was a damned joke until halo was conceived). Sega... well they did one too many and look how they turned up.
Sony is definetly under the illusion that they can "revolutionize" the portable handheld market. Let this play out and eventuallly they may learn from their mistakes... oh, nevermind that. i forgot im talking about sony.
My sincerest apologies, or should i say, condolences.
First Rule of Marketing: Give the customer a reason to buy what you're offering.
Which implies:
1. Don't try to sell a product with fewer conveniences at a higher price.
2. Don't bitch-slap the customer with proprietary and expensive and expect him to love your product.
3. Don't remind him that you think YOU own HIS stuff, such as your game or eBook collection. (AMZN forgot this one, too!)
All of the above is why I haven't bought a Sony anything since the rootkit(tm) scandal.
you need to access the PlayStation Store to buy games. This kills price competition and used game sales in one fell swoop,
Ahhh sweet, sweet capitalism. Manufacturers go to great lengths to eliminate competition. This is a big win for Sony, consumers won't care.
while also making owners of any original PSP games unable to play them on the new hardware.
That's the point. Buy expensive Sony hardware today! Yesterday's purchase means nothing to them.
They also decry the switch to proprietary cables ./ers will get one and tons more kids will have them.
ditto. Sony's not going to get rich on this, but they are taking advantage of consumers pleasure of owning expensive jails. Many
This will go over good-enough. Sony will certainly come out richer for it. We, as consumers, are poorer for it.
http://www.maxineudall.com/2010/02/should-economists-be-sued-for-malpractice.html
I am disappoint
Circumcision is child abuse.
To me, anyway -- the complete and (in some versions of the document -- there's more than one!) exclusive worldwide rights to any "user created content" -- any data you ever upload through the service -- are too much. I do not trust Sony on the other hand of an agreement like that. Conclusion: No PSN for me. Thus, no games for the PSP Go. Idiots.
My blog: http://www.seebs.net/log/ --- My iPhone/iPad app: http://www.seebs.net/seebsfrac/
First the press claimed that the UMD format sucks and that the PSP is too bulky to be carried around. At that time they were probably right. Now the same people are claiming that getting rid of the UMD format sucks and that the PSPgo is too small.
When Apple came up with the App Store for the iPhone and iPod Touch the press was excited and rejoicing over the new age of digital distribution. Now it's Sony's turn and suddenly it's a bad thing.
Well, boo-hoo. It's always nice to be able to complain about something even if that would mean contradicting yourself. This is madness.
I have the original PSP-1000 but that didn't stop me getting a PSPgo. I can play those UMD games on the old system if I want but since it's so big I rarely carry it around. The Go!Explore GPS package, however, is very useful in the car.
The PSPgo is finally small enough to be carried around and I'm happy to buy new content over the air. I don't need the old UMDs or chargers on it. I can use them with the old system since that's what they're for. The system is very sleek and I really enjoy it.
I also have the iPod Touch. No matter how much Apple wants you to think it's a gaming device it really isn't - at least for all types of games. I've really missed the control buttons. Thanks Sony for bringing us a real gaming system that can actually be taken with you.
...the fact that the battery is not 'user serviceable', which means they took away the battery door, put a warranty sticker over the battery and will charge you to replace the battery. Fun, eh?
The PSP Go isn't grasped so much as it lies on the top of your hands. The reason is the sliding top and the shoulder buttons that are on the bottom part. So your fingers can't naturaly "grasp" the top because there the sliding top gets in the way. If you got big fingers, then the PSP Go is lying on top of your hand and that is really akward.
People are not saying UMD is suddenly a wonderfull format, but it is the format that PSP owners got their existing games in, with no way to transfer them. How difficult would it have been to allow transfer from old PSP's to PSP Go's?
The PSP Go is NOT a new platform, there is no generation difference. As said in the Ars review, this would be like making the PS3 Slim 250gb not have a bluray drive.
The problem AIN'T with the digital store itself, it is about the sudden removal of the all the existing games FOR THE EXACT SAME PLATFORM.
Apples iPhone/iThouch NEVER had physical media. And did Apple with the iTouch make it impossible to use songs previously bought with iTunes? No. For Apple to have pulled the same, they would have to create an iPhone store and make it impossible to use iTunes bought songs on it. Hell, for that matter to make it impossible to use mp3's. Has Apple done any of this? No.
But you are right, Apple gets away with far more then Sony does. iTunes and the App store have indeed also meant the end of the bargain bin and 2nd hand songs/software. Non-apple fan boys do indeed mention this from time to time, but get modden down by people who think Jobs is the second coming.
To get back to your main point. Sony had mentioned that there would be some kind of system to get the games you already paid for, to play on the PSP Go. To not allow this (and to have lied about it) means that you got to question who they are aiming at?
1. People who previously didn't buy a PSP? The Go is more expensive, the PS3 gots its sales boost from a price reduction. Does Sony think they can do the same with a price increase?
2. Old PSP owners. They want to play the games they already own and not pay for them again.
3. People with to much money. AKA You. An intresting segment of the market, but in todays economy?
Sorry mate, but I think Sony made a mistake here. The more money then brains market is rather shallow. Most people, especially now, want MORE value for LESS money.
MMO Quests are like orgasms:
You may solo them, I prefer them in a group.
When a company only cares for itself and neglect the needs of its customer, it will never be successful
Road to failure awaits Sony
Muchas Gracias, Señor Edward Snowden !
The major problem is that the old PSP has a UMD drive and the new one doesn't. The millions of existing PSP owners are not going to upgrade if they can't take their games with them. If Sony had sold a peripheral that let people sync their collections (with occasional ownership checks), they could have solved this problem easily. They'd even make money from it. Perhaps syncing is a rights issue, but seriously Sony should have thought this shit out before hand. Instead they implemented an half-assed "honour" program which works with about 6 games.
Then there is the price. The PSP Go has to be marked up because stores can't sell games for it. Its expensive even compared to buying a normal PSP and a 16Gb memory stick. Again Sony might have curried favour if they'd worked out a scheme to share a cut of profits with stores. Or if they packed in a $50 PSN gift card into the box to make it more attractive to consumers. But they didn't do that either.
Then there is the price of PSN games. PSN games sell at MSRP when the physical copy is substantially discounted. Digital copies should be cheaper, not more expensive. If owners can't sell or rent games, they had damned well be cheaper.
The hardware is fine but the whole implementation is fucked up. I really don't understand why Sony didn't go the extra mile and stick phone functionality into the thing. Then the phone networks would have subsidized its price and sales would be brisk. As it is, the thing is a lame duck. Wait for version 2 which addresses some of these obvious shortcomings.
What Sony ought to do is offer to give you the electronic license to a PSP game if you sent in the original UMD. They could charge a small ($1-$2 per game) fee to cover the costs of this service.
I predict that there would be almost as much griping by gamers and here on slashdot if they offered something like this. (because there would still be DRM, you'd be paying (a small fee) to continue using your current games, etc.
From page 2 of the article:
"...The problem is, I have a copy of Rock Band: Unplugged. This is a recent game, released when everyone knew the PSP Go was coming down the line. To continue to play it, I can either keep my old PSP around, or rebuy it. There is no way to verify my copy of the game and receive a download to use it on the PSP Go."
Game developers have the same thing for selected versions of retail games that have been released through Valve's Steam. I bought Doom3 retail and there's no way to verify and 'convert' it to my Steam account so I can ditch the physical media. I'd even pay a 'nominal fee' to migrate my retail games to Steam so I can put all of my games under one digital roof.
Some retail versions of games can be registered and linked to an account (https://support.steampowered.com/kb_article.php?ref=7480-WUSF-3601#which), but the list is very short. Specifically with Doom3 on Steam, id Software is now the publisher, where the retail version had Activision as the publisher. Strangely, Activision is also a publisher on Steam as well that has no interest in allowing it's retail legacy customers into the fold of Steam. If no other option were available through Steam, I'd be willing to pay to mail the retail game to Activision and have them verify the product on their side and grant me Steam credit towards the digital version. Activision could then be released to dispose of or resell my old retail version as they see fit.
Ubisoft and Red Storm's 'Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon' is another example. I've got the retail game, there is no product key.
More publishers should provide ways to convert their retail games over to the new digital distribution schemes that the publishers are embracing, or provide a legal market for buy-backs and enable consumers to convert or get credit for the purchase of the same retail game that's being sold on the digital distribution system the publishers are supporting and profiting from. The benefit to consumers would be seamless product updates and limited lifetime media-less reinstalls.
There's been two or so PSP versions so far. What use would another PSP with similar dimensions and UMD be?
Obviously they don't want to go down the cartridge route and downloading games is becoming the norm now, see iPod/iPhone.
So the format isn't the problem, it is how Sony have implemented it.
I'd be willing to pay to mail the retail game to Activision and have them verify the product on their side and grant me Steam credit towards the digital version.
Let me underscore this. When the original Doom3 retail product was sold, Activision made money and id made money. One of the companies, presumably both since they are both participating in Steam now, should be willing to pen an agreement to grandfather into Steam their old retail shared properties and provide some form of credit exchange program to not penalize consumers that already supported the product.
It's clear that some retail games are allowed to be authenticated and registered by Steam. Don't shut out the retail consumers that supported you in some cases before Steam ever existed.
You gotta thank a company from Cupertino opening the door for such absurd things and its "community" defending it. If nobody comes up with the idea of multiple game stores, competing in prices and service (like Symbian land), it is that companies success (!) too. Nobody asks for competition anymore, ein device, ein distribution point, ein community.
If it is wasn't the case, the idea of buying an high end expensive phone/device and using no name, untested batteries and ending up with a burned face etc. suing the vendor was another reason. People have no clue what "ampere" is and what kind of gigantic power stored in a technology which is already at its limits.
Can you compare Minidisc's format (ATRAC) to MP3 and tell a single difference between them? Don't be fooled by "free" offerings, MP3 is a damn proprietary codec owned by 2 companies and besides it was cleverly shipped as licensable, it is inferior to ATRAC, especially ATRAC3. If Sony had a little oversight for future, we would see .atr files instead of .mp3.
You sound like there was a single other way to put 74 min high quality music to 160MB of space and Sony didn't choose it. Minidisc in physical form also just differs from "standard" CD with a single difference, it is not Philips/Sony joint venture, it is a Sony invention. Nothing else.
As long as Sony was going to a new design, why oh why did they not add a second thumbstick? Shooters and other console games tend to use two joysticks. in the case of shooters, one stick is used to control movement, while the other is used to control the camera angle. In PSP games, because there's only one joystick, each shooter series uses its own scheme to get around the lack of a second joystick. For what it's worth, I think the best control scheme in a PSP shooter is the one used in the Syphon Filter series. But what sucks is that when you switch games, the whole control scheme changes. It's frustrating when you push just the right buttons to do what you want... in the wrong game.
They put a little depression on the face of the PSP Go in exactly the right place for the second thumbstick, but they put the START and SELECT buttons there. If they had put in another thumbstick and moved those buttons elsewhere, they might have revitalized the whole PSP playform. Ports of console games would have immediately become much easier, allowing the number of games for the platform to grow more quickly. New games could be written with more standard (read: better) control schemes. Backward compatibility would be trivial. The second joystick could simply be ignored by old games. Playing the old games would then be unchanged, while many new possibilities would be created.
I have a PSP 1000, and even that is too small for me. When I try to play with just the PSP 1000 in my hand, it feels too small and fragile. I have an acrylic case that holds the PSP and protects it, and most important for me, gives me a big sturdy thing I don't feel like I'm going to break every time I play (yes, the DS was immediately rejected in part because of how flimsy it looked). I like the video out introduced in the PSP 2000, and I figure that with a good case, the 2000 might be decent.
So to summarize, as Sony has made new versions of the PSP, they have focused on making it smaller and flimsier, a feature I do not want. They have removed the UMD drive, which does away with used game sales and price competition. But they have failed to correct the most glaring defect of the PSP platform since its inception: the lack of a second thumbstick. Well, I'm not a hardcore gamer, so Sony doesn't give a rat's ass about me or my opinion, but I'm keeping an eye on the Pandora. It's a platform that appears to have been, y'know, designed for gaming. It won't have firmware updates to block homebrew games, and no, that doesn't mean I'll only use free or pirated games. I'm perfectly happy buying PSP games, and I'll almost certainly buy some good games for the Pandora too.
"It is nice to know that the computer understands the problem. But I would like to understand it too." --Eugene Wigner
This is what bothers me the most. Of course Sony doesn't want someone to play a game and then resell it - they don't get a cut. This and piracy are the biggest reasons for the change (battery life? sure, they care sooo much how long you can play with their console). But what about the people who simply don't have the money?
As a kid, the amounts of money I had pretty much made me choose: buy the hardware to play games or buy games. Couldn't afford both. So I chose the hardware. With consoles, I bought used games or new ones (to sell them later). Also there's rental. Unless you do these things, games are way too expensive (at least to a kid). On the PC I just pirated whatever I wanted. Didn't feel right, but I kept telling myself that I only download/copy whatever I couldn't afford anyway.
But now as an adult I do buy games. I don't play as much as I used to, so I can afford it (although I do usually wait until the price drops). But thanks to my reselling/renting/pirating childhood, I'm pretty much a gamer for life. If we had ebay back then, I'd also be much more used to buying games.
When I do buy a new, full-priced game, I still like to think it's no that expensive, because I can still sell it on ebay. I usually don't, but it does make it easier to buy something without thinking much about it. With an app store, I know that I don't really own that game. What I bought is the privilege to play it almost immediately (with no fear of scratched DVDs), as long as the company that sold it to me exists. That's it. App stores that sell games at retail price are complete insanity. Some even use bittorrent, so there's not even much bandwidth to pay for.
But you know, the market will decide. According to sony that means "new psp go owners", not "people with old psps who bitch about being ignored" and they're probably right.
This is the world we live in: buy a product, be dead to the company that made it - unless you have some sort of support contract.
Maybe this will give a chance to alternative game consoles like Pandora or the Wiz?
The problem AIN'T with the digital store itself, it is about the sudden removal of the all the existing games FOR THE EXACT SAME PLATFORM.
As you say, this and the inability to transfer games from UMD to your PSP Go make it a non-starter. At least the DSi still has a DS slot, right?
But you are right, Apple gets away with far more then Sony does. iTunes and the App store have indeed also meant the end of the bargain bin and 2nd hand songs/software.
I don't really disagree with you, but at least Apple hasn't switched media. I bet you can redownload all your apps to your new iPhone, right? We'll see if they're really "worse" than Sony when the iPhone goes through some major iteration.
If Sony could have created kiosks that eat your UMDs permanently and convert them to digital downloads, this would have virtually eliminated the actual PSP overnight, forcing future customers to buy PSP Go units and PSP Go titles; there would be no (A-list) UMDs left. You could charge the licensing fee all over again. I suppose this would alienate developers, though.
UMD was stupid, and now Sony is paying for it. And of course, so are Sony customers.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
I wonder if they will even sell it here, since its pretty hard to download 1GB+ games on our amazingly fast internets.
The price will probably drop below the original device because it is cheaper to produce and there is more direct profit from downloads.
But it looks they just released the ideal homebrew device: the unused clunky UMD is removed and it is easier to swap memory cards.
Surprisingly, Sony made a couple of business decisions:
- kill the second-hand game market, and force every one to buy from them, every time
- force punters to buy a whole new set of peripherals, alos from them
That's not a design problem. That's a company deciding to fleece its customers for every thing they can.
Is anyone surprised ?
The Cloud - because you don't care if your apps and data are up in the air.
Since I can buy a 16GB memory stick for my PSP2000 and it's my understanding I can buy the same Playstation store games that PSP Go owners can buy. Even better I hear I can run custom firmware and then just load up some of the UMD's I own and run them from the memory stick.
Did you know 80 to 90% of the moderators on slashdot wouldn't recognize a troll even if one dragged them under a bridge.
Physical media? Forget it.
Old PSP owners ? They are flying bi-planes, do you want Sony to allow them to attach the second wing on the jet the PSP Go is ? Forget it.
For people with to much money ? Downloads were, are and always will be cheaper. AppStore clearly shows the competition drops prices to sane levels pretty quick. Do you somehow in your mind believe that the physical media allow price competition ? How ? Forget it.
Sony is far too interested in their media protection than in the products they sell to access the media.
I don't disagree with the removal of the UMD from the machine. I think it made the PSP heavier than it needed to be. However, the UMD should still be available as an external or clip-on device so that games that users already own can be effectively transferred to memory stick or internal storage.
I think Sony over estimates the harm done by copyright infringement. Infringers are still an elite few. It's not likely to be a number higher than 10% by my guess. And yet they assault their entire customer base with changes and revisions and updates trying to stop PSP modding and game copying and all that. I have had problems with nearly all Sony consumer devices I have owned except those that are exclusively A/V. (TV, Camcorder and a DVD player) Their computers suck, their Clie' palm devices die with non-replaceable batteries making them useless after a while. I just don't buy Sony gear.
I have broken with my own rule regarding Sony not long ago, however. I was trying to sell my XBox360 what had a red ring of death condition, code 0102. It was already a refurb unit so I don't expect that MS would support it, so I listed it on craigslist. Someone responded with an offer to trade his PSP 1000. It works fine, has some scratches, the X button is mushy, many of the printed/painted details are worn. The UMD works fine and this is my first experience with PSP and it is a surprisingly powerful and cool device. I modded it, of course, and now play everyone off of an 8GB memory stick.
The PSP Go then became an interest for me as removing the UMD doesn't bother me as long as there are modders out there figuring out how to get my games on it. I think that by removing the UMD completely, Sony just encouraged even more hacking of the PSP and have discouraged the other 90% of their good base of users with what ultimately amounts to their prioritizing content control over the quality of the user experience. Sure, the content is all the more tightly controlled now... the problem is, fewer people care about the content because it will be harder to access.
I think that people expecting to get a free download for their psp-go of the games they already bought in umd format are a little naive unless... ...as someone said earlier, for something like that to work, the physical media would have to be returned to sony or the publisher of the game since:
umd disk + free download for pspgo = 2 copies of the game.
who would want to forfeit the ability to play with the old psp just to get the game in the go? i suppose it's a matter of preference.
i don't know if the "exchange" was already implied in the proposition of getting the free download, so far i haven't seen it mentioned anywhere else.
Or the lawyers who force the design incompitbilities to attain lock-in. :-(
Still probably isn't a terrible move for Sony even if it doesn't sell too well, as I suspect that they are moving toward convergence with cell phones and that this is a mere incremental improvement.
They wanted to allow UMD copying. They even said they hoped to have it by launch. Guess who killed that idea?
The copyright holders, IE, the developers and publishers. You see, There would be little to nothing to prevent you form buying one UMD copy, and then having each of your friends rip it. That's a massive loss of revenue for the developers, so they put that idea down hard.
The result? A service sony was counting on now doesn't exist.
I think what you're saying people are saying is not what people are actually saying (in other words, you're setting up a straw man argument).
Actually, most of the complaints that I see center around the cost. On one hand, this thing clearly costs less to manufacture than a standard PSP (no UMD drive, smaller screen) yet it retails for 50% more. Similarly, the games should cost less due to the decreased manufacturing and distribution costs (not to mention the complete lack of 2nd-hand resell value) but in fact are the exact same price as the UMD equivalent.
For what it's worth, most people actually like the PSP Go hardware, and even like the concept. It's the execution that is sorely lacking.
Wow, you are Sony's dream demographic -- people who like getting punched in the face and will repeatedly line up for more. Please think about what you are saying: the Go is *so* convenient that you don't mind the inconvenience of having to bring your old PSP when you want to actually play games.
I suppose you could *rebuy* the games that you already own , but then you run the risk putting the pieces together and realizing what an incredibly stupid decision you've made.
The result? A service sony was counting on now doesn't exist.
The logical thing to do would have been to have a trade-in service, where you trade the game and a small fee for the right to download the game. You could do it via mail-in or via exchange at a Sony store for a lesser price, or maybe even free (to get you in the door.) It would be good for everyone, except for the publishers who are expecting people to re-buy their games. I think most of them will be sadly disappointed; a few titles will have a high rebuy rate, but most will languish. It's probably only a matter of time before someone figures out how to get the Go to play games ripped from UMDs anyway :P
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
Not an Apple fanboi by any means at all, but I don't understand it when people say this about iTunes. Sure, you may be less likely to peruse it, but as long as you have an optical drive in your computer that can read CD's, the bargain bin is still a valid source of music.
I totally agree with you from the software aspect of this, though. I think iTunes and Steam are two of the worst software distribution systems ever, because they so completely restrict what you can do with games (and other software, in the case of the App Store) you've purchased once you're done with them.
--- Mr. DOS
I'm convinced the single largest mistake Sony made with the PSP Go was charging too much for it. If it had cost roughly as much as a regular PSP people would be complaining less about the other changes. I realize, however, that the new form factor has likely added to the price of this thing, but then therein lies the source of this problem.
What Sony should have done was offer an updated PSP in the same form factor as the original, but simply eliminate the UMD drive and then promote the functionality they're currently pushing with the Go. This would ensure costs stay down, and in fact, probably give Sony the opportunity to charge even less for this new PSP. Additionally, it wouldn't make existing PSP owners feel like they're being left behind.
While I prefer owning physical copies of my games, going to a download only model doesn't bother me. I personally think not being able to purchase used games is a non-issue because I never do so. I feel that, with the exclusion of buying from an individual, the used games market is a scam anyway. You're not paying much less than full price for a used game. I can go online, and sometimes retailers like Target, and find new games for the same or less than what places like Gamestop are charging for a used game.
And that's where the problem lies. With the PSP Go will we only be able to buy games via Sony? This pretty much ensures Sony has complete control over pricing. In the very least, I expect downloadable games to cost $5 to $10 less than an actual physical copy. And will games be discounted as they age and decline in popularity? I should hope so.
Unfortunately, I think this is the way of the future. It's already starting and Sony was simply the first to take such a bold step in that direction. Too many people have grown comfortable with micro-payments and overpaying for products and services. It's going to be next to impossible to stop this tide. The PSP Go might flop simply because it entered the market a bit too soon.
Is the battery life better now that the UMD drive has been removed?
If you're running custom firmware on the x000 models, using an ISO of your game preserves a chunk of battery life. (not to mention loading times)
Despite the fundamental importance of operating time in a portable, Sony seems has no interest in improving it. They improve the efficiency of the console each revision and LOWER the battery capacity so the lifespan remains unchanged. The 2000 series weighs almost nothing so I don't understand what they're thinking by doing this.
It's worth pointing out here that PSPGo accomplishes a few objectives for Sony, but also benefits the PSP platform as a whole by its existence. Case in point: look at how many PSP games are now available on the Playstation Store. 225. Before the Go came out that number was much lower. All of those 225 games can be downloaded and used on an original PSP. Which is great news for me, because I own a PSP 1000 and a PSP 2000, but loathe lugging around the huge and fragile UMD discs everyone is apparently so sad are no longer supported on the Go. I now have a much larger selection because of the Go's existence.
Also, developers have disliked the PSP for quite a while because retail stores don't carry a large enough selection of games. In fact it is the retailers themselves who refuse to carry a decent UMD selection that are now turning around and telling Sony they won't carry the Go because they can't sell the games for it. They said they hate UMD, and they got what they wanted. Too bad. The existence of the Go does two things for the PSP platform: it forces the big developers to put their titles up on the Store instead of just on UMD. A win for anyone who prefers to download their games. But now smaller developers can compete on a fairly level playing field, knowing that at least when it comes to PSP Go owners they aren't competing for a tiny amount of shelf space with the likes of EA and Activision.
Finally, if you can't tell that this is very much an effort to get devs on board for a future PSP 2 that is digital-download only, you're pretty stupid.
When the PSP was launched I found that it had impressive games and hardware, but why havn't they updated it since? Compared to the iphone/touch the games are still nice but you can feel they are running on old hardware.
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I was one of the ones who bought a psp the DAY it came out. I didnt even unlock it, I use it as is. I didnt even look at the go. Why? They removed the one feature that I would have bought the thing for. It is a slightly better size better battery life etc... But they yanked out the UMD? No external drive to plug into? No usb? Wtf... They 'said' they would let you get your existing collection for free into the go. My reaction was 'hey cool I might by that'. Then they turned around and said 'oh sorry we cant do that'. Well guess what my money went right back into my wallet. I am one of the early adopters. But this new PSP offers me nothing now. They did the same thing with the PS3 and PS2 compatibility. Mark my words PC gaming will come back if the next gen of consoles has crap backwards compatibility. People will get tired of the upgrade cycle and having to drag out years old hardware to play an old game.
If they change their minds about letting me use my existing games on the new platform at no cost. Then I *MIGHT* buy it, and now it will have to be at a lower price. Less features at a higher cost. Smooth move...
I was one of the few who was saying the psp is cool go get one. I now tell people give it a skip now and get a DS/itouch/iphone.
I read the article, and it's definitely biased. There's a lot of unnecessary negativity there, and a very classy photo of giving The Finger to a few UMD-based games. Nice.
I've said this before, but it's worth repeating: the PSP Go is not really geared for people who already have a PSP. If you own a PSP today, Sony has already made $$ from you, they don't need you to buy a PSP Go. Sure, they'd appreciate it, but you aren't their primary market for the PSP Go. There's a reason Sony has committed to selling all future PSP games as both UMD and download - existing PSP owners can buy games on UMD if they like, or as digital download, and PSP Go owners can do the digital download thing.
Instead, Sony's market for the PSP Go is people who don't already own a PSP. Really.
I'm a PSP gamer. I have a PSP 1001, it's very nice. I've bought a lot of UMD games for it. I still have a few of those UMD games - notably "Ratchet & Clank Size Matters", "Daxter", "Star Wars Battlefront 2", "Lumines" and "Loco Roco". These are all great games, and they've definitely gotten re-play value with me. And I own a few movies on UMD, great to take with you on a flight to the next conference.
But I'll say this: if my PSP 1001 died today, I'd probably buy a PSP Go. Yes, that means I'd lose the ability to keep playing my UMD games, but I'm done playing them. I want to play new games. I haven't bought a UMD since I've been able to buy games from PSN. Same for UMD movies (you can rent/buy standard-def movies from PSN, and watch them on a PSP.) For me, it's easy: I purchase & download them on my PS3, then transfer them to my PSP.
A few months ago in a comment about the then-coming-soon PSP Go, I said Sony needed to go back through its PSP game catalog and re-release the hottest titles as digital download on PSN. I'm really glad to see that Sony flooded PSN this week with a section just for PSP games - as I predicted, they re-released 100+ PSP games.
Why did Sony need to do this? And why was it important that they actually did this? Because the PSP Go is not aimed at people who already have a PSP. If you buy a PSP Go, you know you can only buy games from PSN - so you just do it.
I've followed the PSP Go quite closely. As I said above, if my PSP 1001 dies, I'd probably replace it with a PSP Go. I use "probably" because the fact that the cable isn't regular USB really bothers me. That's my only complaint with the PSP Go: it should have used a standard data cable. (I don't think the power cable being different bothers me, since almost all my personal electronic devices use different power cables, sort of the state we live in for now.)
The quality of manuals of the PSP downloaded games is the first thing that prevents me to try the PSP Go. These all-text documents with static layout and absolutely no way to search into are quite difficult to use. There are no hyperlinks too, and sometimes it's just a series of multiple language versions that you must go through, without any mean to go directly to the intended page (no hyperlink, no goto_page feature, nothing else than +/-1 page and +/-10 pages buttons...). There is a weak zoom function that is quite useless (read one page or see two pages at the same time but with blurry text). In the article I was glad to see that the lack of manual was counted as a negative side of this new machine. Now please tell me I am not the only one to think Sony should improve the electronic manuals...
psp go is indeed a download only psp. but they are not braking any compatibility with old psps. old psp systems can download and play psn titles. there relsing a psp 4000 all games will still be relesed on umd. even if they whernt as i said old psp systems can use psn downloaded games in fact thats where it all started. i dont like the go myself but dont make false clams of no more umds or old systems not being able to play downloaded games.
Or you can just get a Nintendo DS Lite/DSi and stop messing around with Sony's clumsy use of the PSP
I've said this all before and I'm saying it again here.
This is classic Bullet-Meets-Foot Disease.
Sony's cutting out the retailer. Well, the retailer sells systems for you, you dummies.
Sony's cutting out used games. Used games get people into your system, and drives sales of new games, you dummies.
Sony's still hasn't realized that the flexibility of the PSP is a driving factor for many people to buy it.
I agree with you, iTunes and Steam are restrictive and bad in principle, yet I still use them, and many people still use them. With Steam in particular, it's the convenience factor, as well as the generous discounts they tend to have during sale periods. I hope another PC games store with an extensive selection of titles can come along which doesn't use DRM, but I don't think it's going to happen anytime soon.
I really like gog.com, but that's for old games and I don't think many publishers of new games would be willing to risk DRM-less distribution.
Maybe I'm missing something obvious, but why do you say that the iTunes store means the end of the bargain bin for 2nd hand songs?
Anyone else thought at some point that this new iteration has one strange problem: it seems to be built for dedicated pirates.
Of course, the battery is set up to void your warranty if you do anything to it, but the whole pandora battery thing, as useful as it obviously was in helping you install custom firmware, it's not like that was the only ever way to install custom firmware, and besides, a warranty sticker on the battery won't stop someone from using a battery trick to hack a PSP Go if the process is documented well enough.
Anyway, I've had a phat psp since launch, a slim since launch, skipped out on the 3000 series since it was too similar to the slim, and the largest memory stick I've had has been 4GB, and 1GB before that. I can imagine having a whole 16GB built in to the thing would be a hell of a reason to buy a PSP Go if it supported custom FW. I know it would certainly be nice to be able to have my entire PS1 library on my PSP, which if I'm not mistaken is/was only possible using custom FW or if Sony offers every single one for digital distribution. The PSP makes an EXTREMELY good GBA too, plus the buttons are basically an SNES controller right there.
Anyway, with all the strange design choices Sony has made with the PSP Go, maybe it was all to appeal to or get more cash from casual scriptmonkey dedicated pirates as soon as the inevitable custom FW hack surfaces? For instance:
1. No UMD drive: pirates never use this anyway, so save on the cost of the possibly most expensive part of the PSP, the mechanical disc reader.
2. LARGE internal storage: more space for all the games that have until now been filling up a memory stick
3. a whole new suite of cables/accessories to buy: This is where Sony can get some money from otherwise cheapskates: proprietary hardware! Gotta have that component cable, hate the stupid look of the "old accessory" dock. Gotta get that sixaxis since I don't have a PS3 just to use for the PSP. New expensive non-standard USB cable means more money spent on Sony hardware when I lose it or break it.
and finally... 4. DIGITAL DISTRIBUTION!: What many might not realize is that digital distribution can possibly keep someone from pirating. Why wait for a fix to be released for that mininova ISO if it's just waiting to be bought and downloaded IMMEDIATELY without the need to swap UMD discs? Why wait till I get home to download off the pirate bay when I can crack open my psp here on the toilet at school and get the game right now, legitimately? Also, I can see the argument from a non-pirate that "hey I gotta go to gamestop to buy the new monster hunter, but why don't I download it in the meantime since I'm gonna be ripping it anyway..." and then just forget to go to gamestop or feel stupid going to gamestop and buying it after you find out it sucks or you're almost done beating it anyway.
In a similar vein, I can attest how much Steam convinces me to buy more games digitally even when I could just as easily pirate them to see what they're like. I must have redownloaded Left 4 Dead about 10 times in the past month just because I like to keep some more free space on my 80GB SSD, knowing that it's easy as crap to redownload whenever I wanna kill some zombies. Popcap games must be the easiest games to pirate in the history of PC games but I still preordered the CRAP out of PLANTS VS ZOMBIES just so I knew I could play it as soon as possible and redownload it on every machine I own, easily and quickly. I haven't played it for a while but I get supreme satisfaction just redownloading it and remembering how awesome it is. Same thing for Defense Grid, easy as pie to pirate but I knew I'd love it from the moment I heard about it, had it not been for Steam I wouldn't have bought it just because I didn't feel like trying to find it in a store. Is it even available on store shelves?!
I try to make a point of getting only Valve games via Steam, no matter how good the deal is (unless it's free, of course).
Actually, that's not as hard as it might sound, because being on dial-up, Steam is massively inconvenient - it takes a long time to connect to one's account due to what seems to be very bandwidth-intensive authentication, and starting games can take a while too because it likes to reauthenticate your account and game information when you start a game. Offline mode, which would be incredibly useful, doesn't work anything like advertised, often not working at all - Steam often hangs while restarting itself on machines with low-bandwidth connections for some reason - or starting, but with few or no games actually working (presumably due to Steam incorrectly/incompletely caching permissions).
In contrast, GOG.com, apart from the massive amounts of bandwidth required to download the games (no different from Steam; huzzah for laptops and friends with highspeed!), is almost completely headache-free and has so far been incredibly easy to use and make use of. Valve, take note: this is how online game distribution should work.
--- Mr. DOS
How many fails does it take for Sony to learn not to fuck the customer? I have a PSP. I like having the physical games in hand so I don't need to worry about which memory stick is in the drive, or who signs in to the game - the games are always available, and if I replace the PSP, I still have the games in hand. No need for DRM to require me to re-purchase, and if I tire of the game, the first sale doctrine allows me to resell it if I wish. Finally, if the game I purchased has been discontinued and is no longer available in the playstation store, I still have it in hand when it comes time to replace the PSP.
Besides, most of the games I am interested are Sega Genesis and PS1 games - games that are available ONLY on UMD.
Looks like when time comes for a replacement, I'll be buying a used one since I need the UMD. Thanks, Sony! You just removed any incentive to pay a premium for a new one. Idiots.
The Christian Right is Neither (Christian nor right). See: Matthew 23, Matthew 25, Ezekiel 16:48-50
Standard hard disk too, and you can view standard web sites on its web browser even with Flash content instead of being confined to a certain selection of internet features. You used to be able to load a 3rd party OS on the machine, and I have one and enjoy this feature.
Twinstiq, game news
I am less concerned about the lack of UMD. There are good consumer friendly reasons to lose the slow, fragile optical format. What concern me is the failure of Sony to make a better PSP experience. The ergonomics of device are horrible. They still failed to include dual analog controllers. How good is the internal speakers. Is battery life improved? Does bluetooth support DUN? Isn't the wireless still 802.11b? No multi-touch screen for an on screen keyboard? UMD-less is the least oftheir problems.
I like the way the PSP looks , it has a cool design structurally.
For people like my dad, who had principles, he planned and then left.
He was 45, no job when he left, but enough savings to fund his job search, nobody could ever tell him that he did something dishonest and he knew his children would never be ashamed of him
As it was he found a job a few months later after walking from the previous one as a matter of principle.
IANAL but write like a drunk one.
All the others give their families as excuse.
IANAL but write like a drunk one.