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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."
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!
I can see what you mean, as the PSP Go is sorta like iPods (company uses their own cables and tries their best to lock out anyone else from using the device), but the problem is that the last version was more open. It's tough to give people an ability (pick up a cable anywhere, buy used games, etc.) then take it away in a later version. The iPod has always been like that so Apple is just adding features, while Sony is taking them away.
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.
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
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 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 Nintendo releases DSi without previous gen games compatibility (unlike DS) it's the best hardware ever made.
The PSP Go lacks *current* gen games compatibility. There is a difference. But I suspect you knew that.
Downloadable games - all kosher for Apple, Microsoft and Nintendo.
Downloadable games are fine. Being the only option and requiring customers to buy new copies of current generation games they've already purchased is the issue. But I suspect you knew that as well.
When Nintendo releases DSi without previous gen games compatibility (unlike DS) it's the best hardware ever made.
Arguably the DSi does have support for previous gen games... ds games, as the ds had support for it's previous gen.. gba games.
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.
You'd think that, but it does - bizarrely - appear that, for example, Blu-ray is taking off, despite being arguably the most user hostile media format released in the last forty years with the possible exception of DIVX.
It's hard to tell if Sony will actually fail here, or just not be wildly successful. Many of their technologies considered "failures" by consensus on Slashdot were often relatively successful. Minidisc, for example, was until recently very popular outside of the US as a consumer technology, and popular as a pro-audio recording system within the US, but its lack of success as a consumer format within the US means it keeps being cited as a failed Sony technology. Betamax, for all of its faults, was actually successful for a number of years, it was just supplanted by the more usable VHS.
Looking at the complaints: proprietary connectors? Well, my DS has only one non-proprietary connector. Downloaded games instead of UMD discs? That only definitely hurts existing customers. Whether it hurts future customers depends upon whether Sony recognizes it cannot price games the same way as it can for "transferable content". Until we see Sony's pricing, we can't really tell whether a download-only world is a negative, but what I can say is that anything that reduces the weight, price, and complexity (and thus "number of things that can go wrong") of the PSP is a good thing. If I were to design a portable console today I wouldn't stick a disc drive in it either.
I'm the last person to defend Sony, I think they're scum. But I think there's no reason why what Sony's doing with the PSP Go shouldn't work. The complaints are with the existing user base. The PSP Go isn't being sold to people who already have PSPs, it's being sold to people who don't have them. Treated as a "new" console rather than a rehash of an existing one, it's theoretically a good concept, as long as Sony doesn't overprice the content.
You are not alone. This is not normal. None of this is normal.
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.
FOX NEWS.com should be BANNED from television and internet. Have the Congress take it over and give us Truespeak.