Waaay-Post-E3: Who is the PSPgo for?
It’s been over a week since E3 unleashed it’s megaton of news on us. Now, i’m going to put out my two cents about the big news of the show, since I’ve now heard everyone else’s thoughts already.
Today’s post: The PSPgo
The PSPgo is Sony’s new iteration of the current PSP handheld system. While it’s a sweet seek system, there’s some problems that I have with it.
A big one is the lack of UMD, and the price.
The PSPgo is completely supported by download-only games. Right now, there’s several games that are on PlayStation Network’s store, but Sony now says that every game they release on UMD will also be available on the PSN store: Something Japan’s been doing for a while now. Removing the UMD drive offers some perks, like less bulk, less noise, and better battery life. However, as a person who has invested quite a bit of money on PSP games and movies, this new system is something I’m not looking forward because I have to re-buy my games again if I want to play it on the PSPgo.
My biggest problem is the price. The PSPgo is just so much to invest in if you’re a PlayStation fan: It’s a luxury device. While you do get to nicely tote around the a PSP without having to worry about memory sticks or UMDs, it comes at a price. A price of $249.99. That’s a full $50 more than the usual PSP bundles that are out there for $199.99. At least with the bundles, you get a game, a movie/video, etc, but with the PSPgo: You don’t get any extra perks. You might as well just compare it to the stand-alone PSP that’s for $169.99 ($80 less than the PSPgo).
Also, if you already have the video-out plugs for the latest PSP’s, you’ll need to buy new ones for the PSPgo.
Do you have a Memory Stick Duo or two that you’d like to use on the PSPgo to expand it’s memory even more? well, You can’t: Buy another, newer, Memory Stick Micro to extend your PSPgo’s memory.
And again, you will have to buy your games again as a download if you want to play them.
Aside from the price, let’s go back to hardware:
The PSPgo seems perfect for me with the sliding screen. At first, I was unsure why we needed a sliding screen, but as a person who actually uses my PSP to listen to music and podcasts, it’s perfect. No needing to have to worry if you put the ‘hold’ slider in place or buttons accidentally being pressed: Just slide down the screen and put your PSP in your pocket, or maybe around your neck. The PSPgo looks to be a good small size to hang from a lanyard, more so than the current PSPs.
However, a big issue with it is it’s controller. The analog nub on the PSPgo is placed at an even more awkward position compared to the current PSPs. It kinda mirrors the look of the Dualshock controller but instead of having it diagonal to the D-pad or under the D-pad like the current PSPs, it’s more to the right of the D-pad. This makes you having to extend your thumb a bit to use it instead of a more natural location like a DualShock, from what I see. And since there’s many PSP games that are dependent on the analog nub, including the coming LittleBigPlanet PSP, that’s a turn-off for me.
Overall, the PSPgo is a nice little new system from Sony, but who will actually get this? I have a PSP: I don’t need to spend an additional $250 yet. Nothing in the PSPgo makes me tempted to buy it. The thing that would make me jump on this would be something that the PSPgo has been rumored to have: A touch screen.
Had there been a touch screen on the PSPgo, it could open up some new things for the PSP.
however, It doesn’t. Maybe Sony will fix the PSPgo in future iterations, but the current one is not something for me.
Thankfully, Sony says that the PSPgo is not replacing the PSP-3000. It’s another option for to-be PSP owners, but why?
Why have this pricey option for a PSP? If this isn’t replacing the current one, why bother releasing it?
Sony seems to be release-happy to put out a new PSP each year, from the 2000 and 3000, and now go. Why can’t Sony just hold off until they have a good model? Nintendo has only had 3 versions of the DS so far, and I feel that they spaced out each iteration nicely enough that it’ll make you consider to upgrading. It became thinner, then added new functionality. The PSP? It now has 4 iterations, and I feel Sony should have waited it out. Instead of the PSP-2000, hold off until you fix everything even more with the PSP-3000. The PSPgo, i feel, shouldn’t be released yet. They should have added more functionality with that and release it in the further future: Now is just too soon with the 3000 released recently, and there’s not enough in this version that will make me jump to buy it.
How many will actually go on the PSPgo this fall? I guess we just have to wait until the NPD’s release later this year…
