The PSP is "Go?"

[Shiki Tohno]

Well, I do hope you appreciate it -- it's been a long time since I actually defended Sony with claws and teeth like I'm doing now, but I'm doing it now precisely because I think and have faith in that it's gonna work; otherwise I wouldn't have bothered. I'm admittedly a rabid Sony fanboy, but I'm also a brutally honest and down-to-earth guy who knows plenty well that Sony has been screwing up FAR beyond what my tastes could possibly consider remotely bearable lately. Which is the main reason why I WANT this to work.

[STM]

I'm just not a fan of not physically owning a game. I honestly prefer to have a physical copy of the stuff I own. With the way digital media works and can be controlled, it's a wonder who really owns it and how long will you be able to get it after the service shuts down. That's my largest problem with this revision.

[Jericho]

Well, I do hope you appreciate it -- it's been a long time since I actually defended Sony with claws and teeth like I'm doing now, but I'm doing it now precisely because I think and have faith in that it's gonna work; otherwise I wouldn't have bothered. I'm admittedly a rabid Sony fanboy, but I'm also a brutally honest and down-to-earth guy who knows plenty well that Sony has been screwing up FAR beyond what my tastes could possibly consider remotely bearable lately. Which is the main reason why I WANT this to work.

Me, I'm just a games enthusiast with a slight lean towards Nintendo. In all honestly, when it gets right down to it, I'll call it as I see it for any side, but I'll never be one to stay one sided, hence why I love hearing from the opposing side so often.

Also, Digital Distribution of main games is a concept with amazing promise. I just hope that Sony doesn't go and "SEGA 32X" it.

I'm just not a fan of not physically owning a game. I honestly prefer to have a physical copy of the stuff I own. With the way digital media works and can be controlled, it's a wonder who really owns it and how long will you be able to get it after the service shuts down. That's my larges problem with this revision.

This too honestly, I'm one of those traditionalists who needshis discs, cartridges & whatever else just for reassurance.

[Gotham Ranger]

This is an absolutely terrible idea. I'm not at all a fan of digital distrubution. When I pay money for something, I want to own a physical, tangible product. I want to have my UMD disk in my hand. I want to say "yep, I own this". Especially when something goes to [parasitic bomb], you still have your games and you don't have to redownload them.

I think this is just terrible in all aspects. I'm a huge fan of "getting it right the first time" and I'll even allow a second attempt but this 3rd and 4th model bullshit is just that. Bullshit. I want this to fail and I want it to fail hard.

[Protoman Blues]

Read my above reply to Jerry. If done correctly, the kiosks would practically be self-fed points of sale, needing no further investment from Sony except for their initial establishment. Of course, this also depends on the price point established to transfer the games... And you also have to take into account the techies who will probably figure out one way to do this themselves.

Very true, but if the game was somehow linked directly to the system hardware, it would make it WAY more difficult for the potential crackers to find ways to circumvent the system, unless Sony plays a stupid move and hides their security in plain sight.

See, it's these two points here that have me questioning the whole thing, and here's why.

Recently, in a post on Kotaku, some Sony guy was discussing how the rampant piracy of PSP games is what's really hurting it so much, at least here in the US.  Ninja Lou works at the 3rd best selling GameStop in the country, and I asked his boss today how the PSP sales were doing.  The PSP sales were fine.  However, the games aren't selling at all.  It's real bad.

There in lies the problem.  By my logic, Sony is making the PSP Go! to compete with the DSi as well as try to stop the piracy issue.  From what I've learned over these years, it's that trying to stop nerds from doing what they want regarding this kind of thing is a completely fruitless effort.  They WILL find a way, and Sony has to know this.  So, this is my personal analysis of the whole situation:

-The people buying PSP's in the US are primarily hackers & people looking for a portable movie/MP3 device, that just happens to play games.
-These people aren't buying the games at all, due to lack of interest or the fact that they are pirating them.
-The PSP has about as much protection & security as Arkham Asylum.
-The people who own the PSP will possibly/only buy the PSP Go! if/when the codes and everything about it are cracked.
-The majority of PSP owners are cheap and/or pirates, do not care about/own/legally own the games, and thus will not spend the money to use the UMD-MemStick kiosk, which I'm guesstimating will cost no less than $10 a game.
-Sony will wind up losing money on all the kiosks that they have to put in every GameStop.
-Sony will wind up losing money on all the Digital Games either from people not buying them or pirates cracking the code.
-Sony will probably sell a decent amount of PSP Go!'s, but not enough to ever come close to competing with the DSi, which is probably just in it's infancy with showing what it can do.

Now, this is all just pure speculation on my part, as I'm not a business major either, nor do I have all the details.  For all I know, instead of Kiosks, Sony will make a USB UMD-MemStick converter that can work via your PS3 or PC, and charge $30 for it.  At least that way, you don't have to pay per game.  However, we shall see how it will "Go!"

[Gotham Ranger]

I'd like to say that while I do pirate, whenever I get the chance, I go out and buy the game. I have no problems paying money on something I like and I avoid pirating PSP games unless its something I really wanna play or something I'm iffy on. Other than that, its just typical old school emulation. I'm all for paying to own and getting a hard copy.

[Satoryu]

it's really the whole transfer kiosk idea that really spells a bad omen. i absolutely refuse to pay any more money for a game i've already legally bought. PB's USB transfer idea sounds a little better. but i'm still not keen on digital-only distribution.

[Shiki Tohno]

it's really the whole transfer kiosk idea that really spells a bad omen. i absolutely refuse to pay any more money for a game i've already legally bought. PB's USB transfer idea sounds a little better. but i'm still not keen on digital-only distribution.

Yeah, that could also prove to be a viable way of dealing with the issue. A single one-time-payment so you're able to do the transfer from physical to digital yourself.

[Fxeni]

Yeah, that could also prove to be a viable way of dealing with the issue. A single one-time-payment so you're able to do the transfer from physical to digital yourself.

While this is the smarter idea, it clearly isn't the idea that has the most potential to make money. Making people pay for each game would add up to more cash, in their own minds at least. Too bad for Sony that no one would actually want to pay again for each of the games they already bought.

[Jericho]

More to add on this growing development:

Exclusive: Sony PSP Go! Storage Tech Revealed

Sources close to Sony PSP development have hinted to Game On what Sony's planning to stick in its rumored smaller, sleeker PSP Go!. Remember this CES 2009 press release back in January? The one where SanDisk revealed a panoply of tinier, higher-speed memory products? Think those. Think specifically the trailing bullet point, the one where Sony and SanDisk "have co-developed two expanded Memory Stick formats." Think something like the Memory Stick HG-Micro, with a 60MB/s transfer rate, app

Rumor status weakening on this story? Also, awesome storage idea, but what about the games we already has Sony? Discuss.

[Gaia]

I'm willing to bet that this will be very expensive moreso than the average iPod, I say.
Aside from that, looks like it may be no longer a rumor and maybe a definate? Who knows, let time take it's course.

[pyromonki12]

I opened this thread expecting a G gundam fighting game for the PSP. I am disappointed.

I quite honestly am not seeing the point of this though, just like the DSi. :/

[Shiki Tohno]

Official leaked pics are go. (Haha, I made a pun, see it?)

http://www.engadget.com/2009/05/30/sonys-psp-go-leaks-out-before-e3-is-obviously-a-go/

[Gaia]

Tiny, ain't it?

[Emiri Landeel]

PSP GO! is sad 

[Protoman Blues]

LoL.  Bravo, that made me chuckle! 

[Gotham Ranger]

This thing is ugly and looks even more uncomfortable that using a DS actually is. Some people say the PSP2000 looks cheap, what the hell does this thing look like? No real grip to it, from what I can see. Looks like it would slip out of your hands like nothing, not to mention they shrunk the screen.

[Fxeni]

I waited to post here, so I could give a little more thought to the design and give it some sort of chance past my initial reaction. That initial "wtf is that" reaction still sticks, however. While I think that dropping the UMD is a good choice, the sliding screen is... ugh. I can see that thing causing problems. Not to mention, there's still no protection for the screen, which is just a bad idea. They should really find some sort of way to protect that damn screen. I'm still not a fan of the analog nub, although it's positioning looks like it might hurt less than the current iteration. We'll see how it goes I guess, but I'm leaning more towards "not so well".

[Solar]

Now that this is confirmed we have an important question to discuss. PSP Go or MvC2 for HD consoles, which is the worst kept videogaming industry secret?

[Satoryu]

I'm still not a fan of the analog nub, although it's positioning looks like it might hurt less than the current iteration.

really? to me, it looks like it'll hurt even more. the d pad and face buttons are already too low as it is to be comfortable. and the analog is even lower than that, as well as practically in the center of the damn thing.

[Fxeni]

Well, whenever I find myself having to use the nub, I have to hold the PSP differently, which not only cramps up my thumb, but the rest of my fingers as well. This way it seems like the thumb would stretch out rather than be scrunched up. Then again, the rest of the damn thing looks like it may be a pain to hold on it's own, so it's not necessarily a saving grace of any sort.

[Gotham Ranger]

You know, I've never had a problem with the nub. I don't know why, I guess have an odd thumb. But the Go! has a ridiculous looking design that does look quite uncomfortable.

[Protoman Blues]

Still need more details, however it's definitely a step in the right direction.

Although, I was thinking about this the other day, regarding Digital Games.  Does this also include imports?

[Satoryu]

doesn't really help the piracy issue, though.

[TeaOfJay]

Sony really should have worked something out before announcing the damn thing.

As it is I'm seeing little reason to buy the Go. At least with the DSi I was given the option of still being about to play with the catalog of DS games while still being about to have to the features of the new console.

I don't see how I can easily justify putting down $250 on something I already paid the same amount for once already.

Yeah, I'll admit that the internal harddrive of 16 gigs with an SD slot does interest me a little, but that's the only I can justify it, and that's just a little bit.