You know... Kids with credit cards.... Or kids who love it when their parents buy all their games, then wait for the downloads, then transfer them to the stick, then call them out of their room for it or place it ever so gently beside their bowl of corn flakes or hold it over their heads until they clean up their rooms.

"Who would buy this?"

People who want one?

Thankfully people dont allow tech blog snobs influence their buying decisions.

people who think that its ok for sony to remover their ownership rights of the games! did sony release any actuall numbers of how many PSP Go's were sold or is this typical sony public relations SPIN?



Lets all hope that Don McCabe is correct as if the PSP Go actually takes off you can kiss goodbye to ownership of all your games & say hello to Sony's wet dream of anti-consumer licensing forcing everyone to purchase new titles only!

Bend over for sony & their anto consumer PSP Go as you are now:

NOT allowed to trade your games,

NOT allowed to lend your games,

NOT allowed to sell your games,

NOT even allowed to give your games away for free.

with this anti consumer move Sony has rendered all software purchases worthless.

the sony bloggers will argue that you still have a choice with the psp 3000, but this is only temporary, sony will no doubt switch to digital "stab us in the arse" distribution asap.

the other argument is steam, sorry sony the "they were anti consumer first" is not an excuse.


In related news to counter sony's spin Don McCabe UK retailer boss expects PSP Go to 'fail miserably' (read the story here) http://www.joystiq.com/2009/10/07/independent-uk-retailer-boss-expects-psp-go-to-fail-miserably/

Cannonfodder:

Wake up, bro...it's 2009. This is the way consoles and handhelds are going. Physical media is on the way out, whether you like it or not.

Don't expect the next XBOX or Playstation to physical media....it will come with a honking fat hard drive, you will like it and you will shut your mouth.

Sincerely,
[insert name of console manufacturer here]

I actually bought this even though i have a psp 3000. its so shiny and pretty. everything looks so much better on the psp go than the 3000. btw, im a 28 yr old kid with credit card. lol.

xcrunk - Only if more brainless slugs buy it then everyone else.

I've bought one downloadable game. It's HIGHLY doubtful I'll ever do it again (beyond arcade games).

Anthony, no disrespect, but it doesn't matter. The game companies are going this way, and it doesn't matter what you or anyone else thinks, including big retailers.

The advantages are multifaceted; slows down piracy, cuts out the middleman (retailers), physical media production costs, end of used game market.

All the console makers are going this route. And you can bitch and bitch, but guess what, you will still buy Halo 5 when the shit is DLC only, and you will like it.

I'm totally against DLC. And would rather not. And will vote with my wallet as much as possible. But this just seems like a dead fight, because they're going this way. No matter what.

Let's see... More expensive? Check. Fewer games? Check. Games are more expensive? Check. Battery life is identical to the older models? Check. Requires completely new accessories? Check.

Um. So what's the advantage here?

Ok, it's slightly smaller and lighter. But the battery life is nearly the same as the PSP-3000 since they also slimmed down the PSP-Go's battery as well.

If you're interested in games, they better be on PSN, because you can't play any of the older titles that were released onto UMD. I'm sure Sony's UMD titles will get converted, but what about 3rd party ones?

Even if you don't mind the other issues with digital-only-download ownership, there's the issue that downloaded games cost as much - or even more - than their UMD counterparts. At least with the digital distribution systems for the PC, the digital version is always sold for a few bucks less than the boxed version, and some cases the discount is quite large for the digital version.

Now if the PSP's games had always been digital download (like the iPhone/iPod Touch) this wouldn't be an issue now. However since UMD versions existed first, and still provide many advantages (including price!) over the downloaded versions.

Even the "consumable" games Sony talked about for the PSP-Go are also downloadable with the regular PSP.

Once this gets hacked (and you know it will!) and the price drops to something reasonable, a hacked PSP-Go with memory sticks stuffed full of games ripped from UMDs will be a good buy. Then again, I can do that now, with the regular PSP models.

I can't help but love Das Boot's reply. Kudos to you! :)

@cannon fodder
ur a dumbass you just have to sign in to re download your games again so u can use it again so shut up

Im not going to flame im just going to say this: i used to own a psp i baught it last year and i had some great times with the good games: patapon, loco roc, monster hunter 2, FF7 Crisis core, ......and thats it

Reason: not because the games where crap heavens no, they where great, but physical media was nowhere to be found where i used to work, and thats london ffs - psp wasnt doing well at all compared to nintendo DS... so shops started removing psp shelves and replacing them with DS shelves even the massive HMV only had 2 shelf full of games, which where mostly film games *shivers*

I had to resort to cracking my psp and getting games illegally because the games i wanted to buy (disgaea, Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops, Resistance, Star wars battlefront, God of War)

so im all for keeping physical media, but only if its there

Yo Dawg, I hear you like PSPs. So we put a PSP in your PSP so you can game while you game!

It's the way of the future. If the PSP go had two sticks, or the one stick was close to my thumb, and it cost the same as the PSP 3000, I'd buy one happily.

So what that it doesn't play UMDs? UMDs are slow and I have to carry them around. I don't mind rebuying a couple of those games and stocking up on digital games. That's great!

This PSP go is a much better size for my pocket. It's very slick the way it opens and feels. I play most games with the dpad when I can (which is not always, sadly).

The PSP go is a great product at a high price (like all new tech). I agree it's too expensive, but so what? I'll just buy it when it's cheaper.

All digital is the way of the future! I don't sell games... why would I? it's a total rip off. The iPhone, PSP go, and next gameboy will all run on downloaded games you can easily pack in your pocket. This is good!

Oh god i hope i got that math right or im going to look like a real dumb ass. Thats what you get for 4 hours sleep.

Anyway the PSP Go has accomplished what it set out to. To boost sales. Wether those sales are of the Go itself is unlikely. All it does it tell people "Wow the 3000 is a great deal!". Anyone who thinks its a serious product is kidding themselves. They are testing the market for digital only downloads. The Go is a niche within a niche. A premium system within the premium system segment.

I hate to say it, but wouldn't it be 12? After all, a 100% increase would be 6, 200% be 9 and so on. But then, it is down to the precise wording.

In fact, didn't Sony actually say 300% sales at their top retail partners, implying their bottom retailers weren't so lucky, and that the average is somewhere south of 300%?

Yes i think 300% of 3 is 9 and a 300% increase is 12. (could be wrong tho lol) Once again a joke is ruined by logic.

It's okay, your logic is far superior to Sony logic.

This is funny. People always bitch about Sony being expensive, yet it obviously still works for them :)

Just a thought but this is against the week before the launch of the PSP Go, correct? Well, uh... isn't it traditional for sales of a platform to nose dive in the week(s) immediately before a new model comes out as everyone waits for either a) the new model or b) a price drop or deal on the old model? So comparing against that data would tend to suggest to me that sales aren't exactly steller. Give us actual sales numbers or compare against something more meaningful, say, average weekly sales to date or this week last year.

@Adderz: I think you were initially right for the basis that a percentage or factor is based strictly on a multiple of the original quantity.

Its still bothering that it can be interpreted as a increase/addition to the original number, but it may also indicate that its a positive 300%(not negative).

Semantics will get'cha.

@steve

You forgot one thing. Retailers jump the gun on the launch date. The PSP Go and GT PSP were available in some shops the week before Oct.1.

As the article state, It is yet unknown how many of those sales are PSP go which in my opinion counts for the smallest percentage of those sales. the PSPgo is a fail in my eyes. and I love my PS3.

Allow me to rephrase my comment:
It is yet unknown how many PSPgo sales are tabulated into that total 300% increase. I predict the PSPgo accounts for a small percentage of said sales.

or perhaps people aren't idiots at all, but want their portable devices to be _convenient to take with them_.

I have a launch PSP and a PSP 2k. And despite how angered everyone says I am supposed to be about not being able to use my UMDs with it, I am interested in the Go. Why? Because it *is* smaller. Because it's lighter and less wide, so it's easier to hold. Because it doesn't eat batteries due to a wasteful disc drive.

They made it more portable, and forced developers to place their catalog of PSP games online--literally quadrupling the amount of games that can be downloaded to PSP in one day.

Say what you want, but launching the Go tremendously benefited the PSP platform... PSP 1k/2k/3k users included.

Best media player, except for the video and audio codecs....

Thats like saying your car is the best automobile ever, except for the lack of wheels and engine.

Am i the only one that doesnt care about the lack of codec support? On ANY device?

From what i remember the PSP uses Mp4. To me its a great codec and i can use it on just about anything and everything. Its a snap to convert to if necessary and means i can easily organise my large video library and transfer everything around easily when its all the same codec.

You can hack the firmware which in and of itself is not illegal in any way. You can still play most of your games (though it can be a bit tedious for ones that require newer firmware). But you can pretty much unlock the media features of the system (as well as any artificial memory limits) There have been 32GB PSP's seen in the wild that can run pretty much any format under the sun.

But then it's a GREAT GAMING MACHINE!

Unfortunately, the Go doesn't use the same expansion as the regular PSP, so no it doesn't support your old Memory Stick.

Your profile pic is cute.

Show me which firmware has flac decoding in it. i havent been able to find anything with it.

as for adderz, you think converting all your files is fine? If i want to watch a video on my psp, good chance i dont have 2hours to convert it. I want drag and drop onto device. conversion should not be needed.

2 hours? What are you running? A pentium 2?

Using a well known and respected format such as MP4 helps in the long run. It will be supported for longer. I dont want to have to use some obscure program in the future to watch my show or never be able to convert it to anything else.

Like Real Player formats for instance.

What? $169 + $40 = $250? You can get a 16gb MicroSDHC for $39 and a MicroSD to MemoryStick adapter for $1 on Amazon...

The ipod touch is a great gaming machine.

or... you can buy a game via a card, and the kid can go online and download the game themselves?

or, frankly, just give gift card/cash, Parents rarely get the game kids wanted anyway.

still remember them time when I asked for "Final Fantasy" and got "Fantasy land"... I was just glad it wasn't porn (or not glad? ;)

How and why would better PSP sales cause Sony to decrease the price of the PS3?

Unlike the PS3, which Sony was selling for a loss for a very long time (and still may be albeit not significant), the PSP has definitely been making money for Sony. Even if it's not that strong in the US, worldwide sales are very good and it seems popular in Japan. That the Go is sold at a higher margin with old hardware suggests that Sony would be making some serious bank if it sold well.