The_SpaniardIt's never lupinesIrvine, CaliforniaRegistered Userregular
edited June 2009
Let me lay the whole transfer thing to rest. I interviewed one Sony heads of PSP marketing in the US at E3 and she said that they are putting a program in place to transfer games for current PSP owners. The footage is still being edited, but I'll link the interview when it goes up.
Also while I am excited about the PSP-Go!, I really liked what I played with at E3, I think it's a slap in the face that it costs less to make than a PSP-3000, yet costs 80 bucks more! :x
I don't expect the Go to sell very well past an initial excitement and curiosity over it being new. I simply don't think that customers are ready for an all digital device (and I don't think that they'll pay an EXTRA 70 bucks for it, when a cheaper option that ALSO has a disc drive is sitting on the shelf next to it.)
But but but, the ipod is an all digital device and that's doing well at $299! It's the same thing you see!!! right.... right?
This is Sony's new line of thinking. And it won't work.
$249 isn't too bad considering ipod touch 16gb is $300.. I'll take the slightly larger size if I can get a proper gamepad with better games.
Sony can't just take something seen by and large as a gaming device for the gaming market and then shoe-horn it into the portable a/v market with the ipod by simply removing its primary media input and jacking up the price.
The PSP Go won't be seen by the market at large as an alternative to the Ipod touch. It'll be seen as a handheld gaming system. As it should be. This is why the "Well the Ipod gets away with $300 and so the PSP Go can as well" line of thinking does not work.
The PSP was supposed to be an iPod killer from the begining. Also a gameboy killer. Sony spread it too thin, and while it's a fine device, it did neither.
If you want an example of Sony's absurd behavior, look no further than their entry in to the Netbook market. It's a market that is popular for it's extremely low prices. For a couple hundred bucks, you can get a basic laptop with a tiny footprint. Except, if you want Sony's version. Then you pay a thousand bucks. Because, to sony, the "Sony" brand is worth hundreds of dollars more than anything else that could possibly be offered in one of these machines. It's the same reason why savvy TV buyers buy Samsung.
Sony corporate has an issue with understanding that sometimes you need to cater to the consumer, not act as though the consumer OWES you their purchase. Sony DOES make some good devices, occassionally, so I really hope they do not come by this lesson after it is too late.
We all know that there's going to be a "Good will program," we just don't know what it entails...
Probably like get like 1 dollar off or maybe a thank you card when you buy the same game over again.
Hardy harr harr!
If Sony was prepared to drop the price of this new device on us, which is a bit much if you ask me, I think they should be prepared to give us the details on that 'good will program.' It'd better be good, what with their, "Well, new technological devices are SUPPOSED to cost more money" philosophy dicking around here.
We all know that there's going to be a "Good will program," we just don't know what it entails...
Probably like get like 1 dollar off or maybe a thank you card when you buy the same game over again.
Hardy harr harr!
If Sony was prepared to drop the price of this new device on us, which is a bit much if you ask me, I think they should be prepared to give us the details on that 'good will program.' It'd better be good, what with their, "Well, new technological devices are SUPPOSED to cost more money" philosophy dicking around here.
I doubt they HAVE any plan.
The line from the PR guy was EXACTLY the line that you give when folks are asking for something that you don't have yet, but you don't want them to know it.
"Oh yeah, we're definitely doing something. You know that guess you had? Well, it will be kind of like that, but also not like that exactly."
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HenroidMexican kicked from Immigration ThreadCentrism is Racism :3Registered Userregular
edited June 2009
Maybe they were taking questions from the press as a sort of brainstorming session.
I don't think they care what people who already have PSPs think about the Go. I wouldn't. Buy the games for the system you have, you can still download them, or buy the UMDs. The Go is obviously going after the people who are buying the iTouch. But, it'll fail, because people only buy games for that because they're cheap, no one would be buying games for the iTouch if they were £30. Even £5 is pushing it. Plus, Sony couldn't make a decent mp3 player interface if their lives depended on it.
Oh, and apple actually know how to advertise things. And they have the mp3 player market tied up in the back of their van. I just hope this doesn't fuck the PSP2 out of existence, I really like my PSP Slim.
I don't think they care what people who already have PSPs think about the Go.
They want people to upgrade. It looks bad for your revision if folks don't upgrade. The fact is, you can already see that they are afraid about this. That's the reason that they are leaving the 3000 on shelves.
Niontendo did the same thing when the DS first came out. They called it a "third pillar" and sold it along side the SP. That way, if it failed, it would have just been treated as a side project, not as the GBA successor (which is what it became, after it was successful)
ultimately, to declare the Go a success, they're going to need 1, 2, and 3000 owners to upgrade, if only so that other people won't look at all the people who still have 3000s, and wo9nder why they should bother buying the more expensive model.
People buy games for the iPhone/iTouch as time wasters. They don't want something they have to sink 10-40 hours on to beat it. Wrong audience.
Also, people who use iPhone/iTouch expect usable internet and a good music interface and all sorts of apps, which the PSP sucks at (no touch screen kills it)
I don't think they care what people who already have PSPs think about the Go.
They want people to upgrade. It looks bad for your revision if folks don't upgrade. The fact is, you can already see that they are afraid about this. That's the reason that they are leaving the 3000 on shelves.
Niontendo did the same thing when the DS first came out. They called it a "third pillar" and sold it along side the SP. That way, if it failed, it would have just been treated as a side project, not as the GBA successor (which is what it became, after it was successful)
ultimately, to declare the Go a success, they're going to need 1, 2, and 3000 owners to upgrade, if only so that other people won't look at all the people who still have 3000s, and wo9nder why they should bother buying the more expensive model.
It's more like the upgrade from the SP to the Micro. There is no hardware upgrade like there was with the DS. The people buying GBAs couldn't play DS games, but you can play a PSP game on any of the 4 PSPs, it's all one large market. Upgrades would be nice, but they clearly want new customers instead, otherwise they wouldn't have bothered with the Go, as it has no advantages over the 3000, other than being able to be targeted at a different audience, one that doesn't want to bother with memory sticks or UMDs. It won't work though.
I don't think they care what people who already have PSPs think about the Go.
They want people to upgrade. It looks bad for your revision if folks don't upgrade. The fact is, you can already see that they are afraid about this. That's the reason that they are leaving the 3000 on shelves.
Niontendo did the same thing when the DS first came out. They called it a "third pillar" and sold it along side the SP. That way, if it failed, it would have just been treated as a side project, not as the GBA successor (which is what it became, after it was successful)
ultimately, to declare the Go a success, they're going to need 1, 2, and 3000 owners to upgrade, if only so that other people won't look at all the people who still have 3000s, and wo9nder why they should bother buying the more expensive model.
It's more like the upgrade from the SP to the Micro. There is no hardware upgrade like there was with the DS. The people buying GBAs couldn't play DS games, but you can play a PSP game on any of the 4 PSPs, it's all one large market. Upgrades would be nice, but they clearly want new customers instead, otherwise they wouldn't have bothered with the Go, as it has no advantages over the 3000, other than being able to be targeted at a different audience, one that doesn't want to bother with memory sticks or UMDs. It won't work though.
Oh, this absolutely IS the PSP micro.
The problem is that it is being MARKETED AND PRICED like the DS.
PSP hardware sells just fine. The PSP's issue isn't in attracting customers, it is in selling games.
The fact that the go has no advantages doesn't mean that they only want new customers. It means that once again Sony corporate is expecting consumers to buy a thing just because it has Sony's brand name on it.
Yeah, I think the price is really what drives it home for me. I could understand more if it was priced similar to, or cheaper than the current PSP and offered as a companion device sort of thing instead of a direct replacement. Kind of like "hey, don't feel like taking your bulky PSP and UMDs out today? Well here ya go, and here is a neat cable that lets you transfer UMD games from your PSP to the Go."
But that is not the case. Another way I think they could have justified it is with a new generation of hardware. It wouldn't have to be an incredible leap, but a faster, more powerful, next gen system nonetheless. I could justify dropping the UMD drive for an entirely new system, with TWO nubs, and better specs. I would then look at it like every other system that isn't backwards compatible.
Fuck that. If the PSP2 has two analogs, I'm not touching it. Shooters are terrible on handhelds, they just don't work with smaller screens. They should include a touch screen and keep the single nub solely for backwards compatibility.
And the only better specs I really think a PSP2 would need is more RAM, particularly to expand the OS capabilities (in-game XMB, custom soundtracks, trophies, stuff like that), otherwise I think it's already powerful enough as it is. You don't want to make it so powerful that developers abandon it solely because they don't want to spend 20 million dollars developing a game for it.
I really think a digital only system could work fantastically but the problem is, Sony themselves don't seem to even be ready to support it. They don't even have PSN cards available in Europe, Aus and NZ.
I highly doubt there will be a system in place for sony to allow you to "transfer" games to the PSPGo. It's the emulator all over again, when people assumed you could "transfer" your PSX games to the PSP.
The only possable way you could "transfer" a UMD is to...
1) Allow a PSP to make a copy, which there is no way in hell Sony would allow that, and...
2) Authenticating your copy via PSN on a UMD-PSP and they will give you a free download..
The second won't work either because what is stopping a kid from "borrowing" a friends game, the UMDs have no serial numbers. The ISOs are also indistinguishable from the real thing on a modded PSP (Which is the reason why they play).
I bet that they are writing off the old systems as a sunk cost and starting over. What amuses me is that they released the PSP when portable optical drives were being obsoleted by solid state flash. Now they are releasing a device as touchscreens are becoming the norm. True story - I gave my PSP to my friend's daughter to browse the web and she was wondering why the keyboard wasn't working when she was tapping the screen. Keep in mind this is also the same system that took almost 4 years to come out with a usable on-screen keyboard.
Of course, the real dick thing to do is release it *with* a touch screen and keep it turned off until they "activate" it with a firmware update to artificially extend it's life. (Like they did with the system clock speed, look! it's 333Mhz now!)
I foresee the same business model as the PS3. Obsolete and drop the price of old system to clear the inventory, and then release something that costs less to manufacture with missing hardware at the same (higher) price point.
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-Loki-Don't pee in my mouth and tell me it's raining.Registered Userregular
edited June 2009
They could also set up a system where you send in the UMD and they give you back a download coupon. Gets rid of the UMD for further digital download exploiting and gives the consumer a downloadable game.
All this Sony hate is ridiculous. Think the PSP Go is overpriced for you? Don't buy it! There are three other revisions of PSP floating around and they are all cheap as hell.
The only thing I can fault Sony for is not having a system to transfer games to non-UMD ready but if you really need that, either wait a bit to get the news or don't buy it because it's obviously not worth it for you.
I'm personally so glad they got rid of the UMD. What a worthless format, really.
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HenroidMexican kicked from Immigration ThreadCentrism is Racism :3Registered Userregular
All this Sony hate is ridiculous. Think the PSP Go is overpriced for you? Don't buy it! There are three other revisions of PSP floating around and they are all cheap as hell.
The only thing I can fault Sony for is not having a system to transfer games to non-UMD ready but if you really need that, either wait a bit to get the news or don't buy it because it's obviously not worth it for you.
I'm personally so glad they got rid of the UMD. What a worthless format, really.
I think that's the point of contention here though. They're on their way to killing a format for a platform upgrade that operated on that format. As a consumer, yeah, it's easy to just not buy something because it's dumb, doesn't do what you want it, etc.
But as people who care about what companies do, or watch it, it would be totally fucking weird if they don't come up with something.
All this Sony hate is ridiculous. Think the PSP Go is overpriced for you? Don't buy it! There are three other revisions of PSP floating around and they are all cheap as hell.
The only thing I can fault Sony for is not having a system to transfer games to non-UMD ready but if you really need that, either wait a bit to get the news or don't buy it because it's obviously not worth it for you.
I'm personally so glad they got rid of the UMD. What a worthless format, really.
See, I love the fact that they're getting rid of UMD's and that they've repositioned the analog nub to somewhere that actually looks comfortable to use, I'm just annoyed at the price and battery life. I'll still probably get one at one point, assuming it does well and Sony doesn't throw it to the curb. Until then, my thumbs just going to have to put up with my original PSP and 4GB memory stick.
I'll agree that UMDs didn't work well for Sony. The movies never sold, and the loading times are crap. I'm guessing that's part of the motivation for getting rid of them (along with the "Must... Beat.... iPhone!" attitude).
Unfortunately, the market just isn't ready for a diskless game system. They're just too used to buying disks and sticking them in. Sure, other devices have have things you can buy wirelessly, but the idea of disks is just too firmly ingrained into people's perception of dedicated game systems.
Maybe if we had a gen with disks AND a very robust and attractive DLC system, then the gen after that we might be able to get rid of disks. But this is cutting the cord too soon.
Not to mention the price. I mean, if you're asking people to completely redefine their perception of a product, you'd want to help them along by LOWERING the price. But nope. Even though there are less moving parts and it's cheaper to manufacture. Then again, the higher execs are firmly in charge of Sony's game division now, and they have no clue what actually works.
Sony corporate has an issue with understanding that sometimes you need to cater to the consumer, not act as though the consumer OWES you their purchase. Sony DOES make some good devices, occassionally, so I really hope they do not come by this lesson after it is too late.
Seriously. The best DVD player I own is a Sony I got back in like 2002/2003. The Sony Blu-ray player I own is fantastic. Does this mean I own a Sony TV, Sony netbook, etc? Fuck no, I can get a just as good or better product for less.
I guess I just don't understand how the company can be so inconsistent like that. They are aware that they can't get away with charging out the ass for a DVD player yet feel as though I'll spend the shit ton of extra money on their other products. No Sony, I won't. My fucking LG TV cost less then your shit and LG is normally fucking expensive!
They could also set up a system where you send in the UMD and they give you back a download coupon. Gets rid of the UMD for further digital download exploiting and gives the consumer a downloadable game.
They could, and it would seem likely that's the way they would go, if they do anything at all.
But here's my perspective: I own a PSP-1000 and a PSP-3000, and quite a few UMD discs. I would be happy to consider the purchase of a PSPGo, but there are only three posibilities for ownership, and NONE benefit me as a consumer.
I see the possiblities as:
a) There is no UMD amnesty program, meaning that I need to re-buy my existing games and/or buy new games specifically on my Go, in which case they'll likely be locked to the Go, and not playable on either of my other PSPs.
b) They require you to send in your UMDs for credit to buy the game. Again, likely to be locked to the Go, and again meaning that I now have no way of playing the games that I own on my older perfectly damn good PSPs.
c) By some miracle they allow you to keep your UMDs, and use a digital copy on your Go. Since this option would be subject to massive amounts of abuse and piracy, I seriously doubt that Sony would even consider it. This is pretty much the only option I'd accept as a consumer, however.
Since the Go is far more expensive that the PSP, and I've already got a considerable investment in UMDs and Memory Stick Pros, why do I want to pay more for a device with a questionable form factor and no significant additional features? The Go really doesn't do anything more than the PSP does (granted, it has the potential to load games faster, but it's possible with a little effort to to the same thing with the PSP). Putting the UMD drive mechanism aside, the sider (and open-face) design isn't even likely to be more durable than the original PSP. It's still too damn big to be a pocket-sized MP3-player.
And oh yeah. It's using a new, Sony-proprietary, memory card standard, isn't it? Unless I'm mistaken, that means your MSPros aren't going to work in it and you'll be shelling out more money for less storage?
Until I know more about how the UMD situation plays out, and what this "new" memory stick form factor is, I have no interest at all in the Go. Pre-order? For a new system, I almost always would, but when Amazon e-mailed me to let me know pre-orders were open, I just deleted the message.
Given the situation, I don't know the Go makes sense even to new consumers. At least with the PSP, if you own more than one game, one person could play one game, while the other plays a different one. With downloadable games, the game is almost certain to be locked to the console, in which case even if the games were on different cards, you couldn't play them on another console. And then there's the question of what happens if you want to replace that console (with a newer model, or because it breaks). Microsoft learned a hard lesson about that - and eventually came up with a workable solution (it's not perfect, but at least you can transfer licenses). What happens if you sell the system? Are games just locked to the console? Or are they locked to an account and the console? Given this is Sony, I would assume that the most likely situation is the most restrictive.
So, no sale. I am really not happy with the direction Sony is going. More and more, I feel that I am just abusing myself when I buy their products.
a) There is no UMD amnesty program, meaning that I need to re-buy my existing games and/or buy new games specifically on my Go, in which case they'll likely be locked to the Go, and not playable on either of my other PSPs.
b) They require you to send in your UMDs for credit to buy the game. Again, likely to be locked to the Go, and again meaning that I now have no way of playing the games that I own on my older perfectly damn good PSPs.
c is not going to happen for obvious reasons.
But I think you are wrong on a and b. I really doubt that all of a sudden PSN games will be locked to one system. The way it works now is you can download them onto up to 5 systems, I don't see why this would change.
I’ll tell you what happens in Demon’s Souls when you die. You come back as a ghost with your health capped at half. And when you keep on dying, the alignment of the world turns black and the enemies get harder. That’s right, when you fail in this game, it gets harder. Why? Because fuck you is why.
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The_SpaniardIt's never lupinesIrvine, CaliforniaRegistered Userregular
All this Sony hate is ridiculous. Think the PSP Go is overpriced for you? Don't buy it! There are three other revisions of PSP floating around and they are all cheap as hell.
The only thing I can fault Sony for is not having a system to transfer games to non-UMD ready but if you really need that, either wait a bit to get the news or don't buy it because it's obviously not worth it for you.
I'm personally so glad they got rid of the UMD. What a worthless format, really.
I actually want a Go, but what I'm hating on is the fact that it theoretically costs less to make than the 3000, yet costs 80 bucks MORE! That makes me want to take a long skinny turd on Sony's head.
It's true that there is no UMD drive, but that doesn't necessarily mean it costs sooo much less. Are people forgetting the 16GB of internal memory that is added to the PSP Go?
Looking at Best Buy, a regular PSP is 170 dollars. Go is 250 dollars, so 80 dollars more. When you add in the cost of an equivalent 16GB memory stick, the prices are actually fairly close, with a small premium for "newness".
Pachter had some harsh words for Sony in the Bonus Round last week, saying the $249 price point for the new PSP Go was "too much, period." He pointed out that the Go has a lower manufacturing cost than the current (and profitable) PSP-3000 model and yet will retail for $80 more, and that while Sony is positioning it against the iPod Touch, it's hindered by the lack of iTunes or the App Store. "They're ripping off the consumer," he said.
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The_SpaniardIt's never lupinesIrvine, CaliforniaRegistered Userregular
Pachter had some harsh words for Sony in the Bonus Round last week, saying the $249 price point for the new PSP Go was "too much, period." He pointed out that the Go has a lower manufacturing cost than the current (and profitable) PSP-3000 model and yet will retail for $80 more, and that while Sony is positioning it against the iPod Touch, it's hindered by the lack of iTunes or the App Store. "They're ripping off the consumer," he said.
I have nothing to base this on, but I got a feeling that Sony isn't ripping people off quite as much as it seems on the outside. While I do think they are marking it up quite a bit I bet it has a bit more under the hood than a psp-3000. Something like more ram, faster mhz or a dedicated video decoder chip. Something they aren't ready to announce yet for fear of tanking psp sales. (perhaps its just wishful thinking... really wish the psp wasn't so anal the video format it takes)
I’ll tell you what happens in Demon’s Souls when you die. You come back as a ghost with your health capped at half. And when you keep on dying, the alignment of the world turns black and the enemies get harder. That’s right, when you fail in this game, it gets harder. Why? Because fuck you is why.
Well if that's true and PSP Go sales are below their expectations, then they'll have gotten what they deserved.
Which is kind of frustration to me. Regardless of anyone's position in the 'console wars' the PSP and the PS3 are legitimately quality systems, and it's pretty sad to see sony release quality products and then shoot themselves in the foot with bad pricing, bad publicity and a general all around bad image for this generation.
Industry analyst Michael Pachter has apologized for accusing Sony of ripping off consumers by charging $249 for the upcoming PSP Go, calling it a "poor choice of words" and saying he doesn't believe the company is doing anything evil with its pricing strategy.
He's right, it was a poor choice of words. Sony's not doing anything evil.
They're doing something stupid.
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Also while I am excited about the PSP-Go!, I really liked what I played with at E3, I think it's a slap in the face that it costs less to make than a PSP-3000, yet costs 80 bucks more! :x
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I never asked for this!
The PSP was supposed to be an iPod killer from the begining. Also a gameboy killer. Sony spread it too thin, and while it's a fine device, it did neither.
If you want an example of Sony's absurd behavior, look no further than their entry in to the Netbook market. It's a market that is popular for it's extremely low prices. For a couple hundred bucks, you can get a basic laptop with a tiny footprint. Except, if you want Sony's version. Then you pay a thousand bucks. Because, to sony, the "Sony" brand is worth hundreds of dollars more than anything else that could possibly be offered in one of these machines. It's the same reason why savvy TV buyers buy Samsung.
Sony corporate has an issue with understanding that sometimes you need to cater to the consumer, not act as though the consumer OWES you their purchase. Sony DOES make some good devices, occassionally, so I really hope they do not come by this lesson after it is too late.
Everyone sends in their UMDs and then Sony finds the Great Pit of Atari E.T. Cartridges, opens it back up, dumps them in, and laughs laughs laughs...
Hardy harr harr!
If Sony was prepared to drop the price of this new device on us, which is a bit much if you ask me, I think they should be prepared to give us the details on that 'good will program.' It'd better be good, what with their, "Well, new technological devices are SUPPOSED to cost more money" philosophy dicking around here.
I doubt they HAVE any plan.
The line from the PR guy was EXACTLY the line that you give when folks are asking for something that you don't have yet, but you don't want them to know it.
"Oh yeah, we're definitely doing something. You know that guess you had? Well, it will be kind of like that, but also not like that exactly."
Oh, and apple actually know how to advertise things. And they have the mp3 player market tied up in the back of their van. I just hope this doesn't fuck the PSP2 out of existence, I really like my PSP Slim.
They want people to upgrade. It looks bad for your revision if folks don't upgrade. The fact is, you can already see that they are afraid about this. That's the reason that they are leaving the 3000 on shelves.
Niontendo did the same thing when the DS first came out. They called it a "third pillar" and sold it along side the SP. That way, if it failed, it would have just been treated as a side project, not as the GBA successor (which is what it became, after it was successful)
ultimately, to declare the Go a success, they're going to need 1, 2, and 3000 owners to upgrade, if only so that other people won't look at all the people who still have 3000s, and wo9nder why they should bother buying the more expensive model.
Also, people who use iPhone/iTouch expect usable internet and a good music interface and all sorts of apps, which the PSP sucks at (no touch screen kills it)
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It's more like the upgrade from the SP to the Micro. There is no hardware upgrade like there was with the DS. The people buying GBAs couldn't play DS games, but you can play a PSP game on any of the 4 PSPs, it's all one large market. Upgrades would be nice, but they clearly want new customers instead, otherwise they wouldn't have bothered with the Go, as it has no advantages over the 3000, other than being able to be targeted at a different audience, one that doesn't want to bother with memory sticks or UMDs. It won't work though.
Oh, this absolutely IS the PSP micro.
The problem is that it is being MARKETED AND PRICED like the DS.
PSP hardware sells just fine. The PSP's issue isn't in attracting customers, it is in selling games.
The fact that the go has no advantages doesn't mean that they only want new customers. It means that once again Sony corporate is expecting consumers to buy a thing just because it has Sony's brand name on it.
Fuck that. If the PSP2 has two analogs, I'm not touching it. Shooters are terrible on handhelds, they just don't work with smaller screens. They should include a touch screen and keep the single nub solely for backwards compatibility.
And the only better specs I really think a PSP2 would need is more RAM, particularly to expand the OS capabilities (in-game XMB, custom soundtracks, trophies, stuff like that), otherwise I think it's already powerful enough as it is. You don't want to make it so powerful that developers abandon it solely because they don't want to spend 20 million dollars developing a game for it.
I really think a digital only system could work fantastically but the problem is, Sony themselves don't seem to even be ready to support it. They don't even have PSN cards available in Europe, Aus and NZ.
The only possable way you could "transfer" a UMD is to...
1) Allow a PSP to make a copy, which there is no way in hell Sony would allow that, and...
2) Authenticating your copy via PSN on a UMD-PSP and they will give you a free download..
The second won't work either because what is stopping a kid from "borrowing" a friends game, the UMDs have no serial numbers. The ISOs are also indistinguishable from the real thing on a modded PSP (Which is the reason why they play).
I bet that they are writing off the old systems as a sunk cost and starting over. What amuses me is that they released the PSP when portable optical drives were being obsoleted by solid state flash. Now they are releasing a device as touchscreens are becoming the norm. True story - I gave my PSP to my friend's daughter to browse the web and she was wondering why the keyboard wasn't working when she was tapping the screen. Keep in mind this is also the same system that took almost 4 years to come out with a usable on-screen keyboard.
Of course, the real dick thing to do is release it *with* a touch screen and keep it turned off until they "activate" it with a firmware update to artificially extend it's life. (Like they did with the system clock speed, look! it's 333Mhz now!)
I foresee the same business model as the PS3. Obsolete and drop the price of old system to clear the inventory, and then release something that costs less to manufacture with missing hardware at the same (higher) price point.
The only thing I can fault Sony for is not having a system to transfer games to non-UMD ready but if you really need that, either wait a bit to get the news or don't buy it because it's obviously not worth it for you.
I'm personally so glad they got rid of the UMD. What a worthless format, really.
I think that's the point of contention here though. They're on their way to killing a format for a platform upgrade that operated on that format. As a consumer, yeah, it's easy to just not buy something because it's dumb, doesn't do what you want it, etc.
But as people who care about what companies do, or watch it, it would be totally fucking weird if they don't come up with something.
I would probably buy one the second they came out if it was like $179 (bump the 3000s down to $129/$149?).
Maybe Sony will find some way to fix this error they've made, and drop the price quickly, or maybe bundle it with a game or two.
Bundle it with games you can't play!
See, I love the fact that they're getting rid of UMD's and that they've repositioned the analog nub to somewhere that actually looks comfortable to use, I'm just annoyed at the price and battery life. I'll still probably get one at one point, assuming it does well and Sony doesn't throw it to the curb. Until then, my thumbs just going to have to put up with my original PSP and 4GB memory stick.
Unfortunately, the market just isn't ready for a diskless game system. They're just too used to buying disks and sticking them in. Sure, other devices have have things you can buy wirelessly, but the idea of disks is just too firmly ingrained into people's perception of dedicated game systems.
Maybe if we had a gen with disks AND a very robust and attractive DLC system, then the gen after that we might be able to get rid of disks. But this is cutting the cord too soon.
Not to mention the price. I mean, if you're asking people to completely redefine their perception of a product, you'd want to help them along by LOWERING the price. But nope. Even though there are less moving parts and it's cheaper to manufacture. Then again, the higher execs are firmly in charge of Sony's game division now, and they have no clue what actually works.
Seriously. The best DVD player I own is a Sony I got back in like 2002/2003. The Sony Blu-ray player I own is fantastic. Does this mean I own a Sony TV, Sony netbook, etc? Fuck no, I can get a just as good or better product for less.
I guess I just don't understand how the company can be so inconsistent like that. They are aware that they can't get away with charging out the ass for a DVD player yet feel as though I'll spend the shit ton of extra money on their other products. No Sony, I won't. My fucking LG TV cost less then your shit and LG is normally fucking expensive!
In conclusion, umm... I
They could, and it would seem likely that's the way they would go, if they do anything at all.
But here's my perspective: I own a PSP-1000 and a PSP-3000, and quite a few UMD discs. I would be happy to consider the purchase of a PSPGo, but there are only three posibilities for ownership, and NONE benefit me as a consumer.
I see the possiblities as:
b) They require you to send in your UMDs for credit to buy the game. Again, likely to be locked to the Go, and again meaning that I now have no way of playing the games that I own on my older perfectly damn good PSPs.
c) By some miracle they allow you to keep your UMDs, and use a digital copy on your Go. Since this option would be subject to massive amounts of abuse and piracy, I seriously doubt that Sony would even consider it. This is pretty much the only option I'd accept as a consumer, however.
And oh yeah. It's using a new, Sony-proprietary, memory card standard, isn't it? Unless I'm mistaken, that means your MSPros aren't going to work in it and you'll be shelling out more money for less storage?
Until I know more about how the UMD situation plays out, and what this "new" memory stick form factor is, I have no interest at all in the Go. Pre-order? For a new system, I almost always would, but when Amazon e-mailed me to let me know pre-orders were open, I just deleted the message.
Given the situation, I don't know the Go makes sense even to new consumers. At least with the PSP, if you own more than one game, one person could play one game, while the other plays a different one. With downloadable games, the game is almost certain to be locked to the console, in which case even if the games were on different cards, you couldn't play them on another console. And then there's the question of what happens if you want to replace that console (with a newer model, or because it breaks). Microsoft learned a hard lesson about that - and eventually came up with a workable solution (it's not perfect, but at least you can transfer licenses). What happens if you sell the system? Are games just locked to the console? Or are they locked to an account and the console? Given this is Sony, I would assume that the most likely situation is the most restrictive.
So, no sale. I am really not happy with the direction Sony is going. More and more, I feel that I am just abusing myself when I buy their products.
c is not going to happen for obvious reasons.
But I think you are wrong on a and b. I really doubt that all of a sudden PSN games will be locked to one system. The way it works now is you can download them onto up to 5 systems, I don't see why this would change.
Let me tell you about Demon's Souls....
I actually want a Go, but what I'm hating on is the fact that it theoretically costs less to make than the 3000, yet costs 80 bucks MORE! That makes me want to take a long skinny turd on Sony's head.
$50 for a PSP-1000 that needs a new battery? Bought.
Can trade TF2 items or whatever else you're interested in. PM me.
Looking at Best Buy, a regular PSP is 170 dollars. Go is 250 dollars, so 80 dollars more. When you add in the cost of an equivalent 16GB memory stick, the prices are actually fairly close, with a small premium for "newness".
As I've said before, Sony really needs to provide a bit of an incentive to the customer to encourage them to go along with this harebrained scheme.
What he and analysts have said.
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/92368-Michael-Pachter-Apologizes-for-PSP-Go-Ripoff-Comment
Thank you.
For everyone else, you can still buy the old PSP which are still dirt cheap.
Let me tell you about Demon's Souls....
Which is kind of frustration to me. Regardless of anyone's position in the 'console wars' the PSP and the PS3 are legitimately quality systems, and it's pretty sad to see sony release quality products and then shoot themselves in the foot with bad pricing, bad publicity and a general all around bad image for this generation.
He's right, it was a poor choice of words. Sony's not doing anything evil.
They're doing something stupid.
Can trade TF2 items or whatever else you're interested in. PM me.