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."

Comments

Re:Sony phailed

[theaveng]

Betamax, for all of its faults, was actually successful for a number of years

Yeah. 2. Two years. Once RCA got permission from Matsushita to produce 4-hour-capable VHS recorders (1976), the Betamax 1-hour limit looked like a joke to consumers. VHS quickly became the number one brand. By 1980 Betamax barely held 1/5th of the market.

Minidisc is only "popular outside the U.S." if you define popular as holding 10% of the market, which I consider to be a flop (along with Super CD and DVD Audio). The only formats Sony has successfully parleyed as the dominant standards of their time - Umatic (for professionals), Betacam (pro), Compact Disc, and Playstation 1 and 2.