I have been sitting on the fence about purchasing a new PSPgo. Part of me really wants the system – no more UMDs, fast digital content, small/compact system. Part of me also screams no – another $250 towards portable gaming, digital downloads me no more eBay (maybe … I am sure there will be some ways around this limitation).
As I getting my gaming jones going again I have discovered several non-U.S. based sites, including The Sixth Axis, which is now part of my must read list. Over the weekend The Sixth Axis posted an interesting article on the new would-be uber system.
When you press Home on the PSPgo you are given two options. You can choose to either end or suspend the game. If you choose suspend, after two to three seconds of progress bar, you are returned to the XMB. Under the Game menu you will now find a ‘Resume Game’ option complete with a tiny screenshot of your game in progress.
In game save features for all PSP games makes this a must have purchase.
There’s talk about PSP2 being in development. PSP has been out what, 4-5 years?
With the success of smart phones, there’s a lot of development being done on mobile chipsets, with nVidia pushing their Tegra SOC, which is suppose to be in the Zune HD unit coming out this fall.
I was really interested in the PSP when it first came out. But thought about it and decided I really wouldn’t use it. I’ve taken a number of 10-15-hour flights to Europe over the years.
When I did play games to kill time, I was content with what they offered in the IFE systems, which were simple puzzle games like Bejeweled and old arcade games.
It was the same with the iPhone. I had some games on there and Wall-E and Dark Knight from the Blu-Rays I bought. But I just watched the more current movies they had, when I wasn’t sleeping or just listening to the iPod.
Games on the iPhone (and iPod Touch) are suppose to have partly influenced the PSP Go, because of the success of digital distribution.
The most popular games are 99 cents. Sales are ten times higher at 99 cents than even $5. A lot of these games seem to be simpler games that you play only for 5-10 minutes at a time.
You don’t want to burn up your battery playing games and not being able to use the phone
EA is making iPhone games but you wonder for how long. They can charge $10 for Tiger Woods or the Sims 3. But they’re competing with games which are much cheaper or free.
Sure these simpler games don’t have the depth or glossy production values of console or PSP/DS games. Still, people may not necessarily be interested in a deeper game on a mobile device.
PSP had some big hits in games like God of War and GT Mobile will be huge as well. These though seem to be a handful of exceptions. I think though I’d rather play those kinds of games on a big HDTV than on a mobile device.
Nintendo has so many exclusive, proven franchises that they can still get $30-40 for DS games. But Sony? Maybe they’re not so keen to develop a PSP2 after all.
wco81 – Very nice write up. I have been on the fence for a while about a DS or DSi mostly because of all those old first party platform games. Mario is still a joy to play.
As far as the iPhone type games go, I just do not care about $0.99 games. Sure the price is fine, but there is something to be said for playing a more quality gaming experience.
Of late I have been all over the map with my gaming, epically the PSP. For the most part I do want quick pick-up-and-play games, but I also want something deeper. I spend a lot of time just playing the two pinball games I have, and I am just picking back up Untold Legends.