Tag: PSP

It has been a while (a few days; maybe a week) since I last posted about the PSP Go. Just came across this “unboxing” of a PSP Go at CVG via NG4.

Most of the user comments focus on the price, which at $249 is a little high, but I am still more focused on what sort of UMD trade in program Sony may offer.

I will probably make a decision this week to purchase or punt. If I decide to wait, then I am going to hold out for a price cut. Of course if I make the decision to preorder a PSP Go, then I am all in. I have never had much luck turning in UMDs for cash via eBay so I hope that Sony gives PSP owners some sort of incentive program to “upgrade” to the all digital PSP Go format.

From time to time I like to quote articles that may not be examples of brilliant observations, opinions, or insights; instead the articles are posted because they contain highly entertaining comments. Here is one from kotaku – GameStop expect PSP Go owners to trade in their UMDs.

Instead of expressing apprehension about a system that can only run games that are downloaded — i.e. not the games primarily sold on GameStop’s shelves — the company’s executive vice president of merchandising and marketing, Tony Bartel, expressed enthusiasm. “We’re very excited to be selling the PSPgo,” he said. “We have a very clear roadmap as to how we can drive profitability on the sale of games.” Bartel noted that GameStop would do well selling points cards to help downloads.

And, Bartel said, there would be this perk: “It will also be a strong contributor to our trade-in process where you have people that will have UMD games that will no longer work on that platform that will fuel additional currency for GameStop.”

Still waiting with baited breath to see what type of trade-in program is in the works. If I wait long enough on Sony, the PSP Go may sell out, which will solve the problem for me.

PSPWorld recently posted an article about the problem Sony faces with current PSP owners that want to upgrade to a PSP Go. How does a gamer that invested many duckets in UMDs get the games transferred to a PSP Go?

How will users who already own an older model of PSP transfer their UMD games to the 16GB internal storage of the PSP Go? Surely, Sony can’t expect us to buy all of our old games again in digital form, so they must be considering various options to placate those gamers with a big pile of UMDs.

The problem for Sony is that there might not be all that many new customers out there who have been on the fence about the PSP all this time simply because of the presence of the optical disk format. Undoubtedly, the real target customer for Sony’s new PSP model is pre-existing PSP owners like you and I, who wouldn’t mind upgrading to a new model if it contained the right features. In order to get some of us on board, Sony needs a system for transferring old UMD games to the PSP Go.

The article then goes on to offer three suggestions. An external UMD drive – this is almost ridiculous. A code redemption program – plausible, but I do not think this route will be offered as a solution. And finally, a mail-in program – this is very likely for two reasons. First, Sony controls who gets a digital version of a UMD game. Second, Sony can turn around and dump the UMDs in the 2600 ET grave.

According the MCV, UK retailers are lukewarm on the PSP Go. Understandably their concern is over the price, and of course, what is in it for them?

CHIPS joint-MD Don McCabe added: “Customer reaction to PSPgo is currently a no-go. I can’t see anybody going for it if Sony confirm a high price tag. If we get customers through the door we will sell it, but that remains to be seen.”

If there is any retailer money to be made with the PSP Go it is clearly in accessories and PSN prepaid cards, although I am sure Sony receives a chunk of revenue from the cards.

The article also indicates that UK retailers do not expect many PSP owners to upgrade to the Go format, and they expect to do a strong PSP and UMD holiday sales cycle.

My opinion? If the PSP Go were priced at $199 I would have already pre-ordered one.

T3 gives the yet to be released PSP Go 3 stars (out of 5). The article pretty much tells you everything that you have already read here and elsewhere, but there is a brief two minute video of the PSP Go in use with a rather attractive host. I guess that is something.

If you’ve got a big UMD library, you might want to wait and see what Sony offers existing PSP users. It’s hinted that it will bring in some kind of sweetener for anyone trading in their old PSP and assures us that most of the back catalogue will be available for download – presumably for free if you already own the relevant UMDs. The ideal would be some sort of software to convert your UMDs for Go play, but as that would raise all manner of piracy “issues” for Sony, don’t hold your breath.

For me this is still the open question about the PSP Go. How is Sony going to help out owners those owners that have a decent library of UMD games? If necessary, I can sell my PSP-1000 on eBay; I do not need that to be part of some special trade-in deal unless the deal is too good to pass up. What about the UMDs? I guess we will have to wait a little longer to see how Sony responds.

I continue to soak up all the PSP Go goodness that I can find; both the good and the bad. kotaku (via N4G) has an interesting article about how light the PSP Go is compared to the iPhone. All that is well and good, but I thought this part of the article was interesting.

For many of the vocal readers on this site, the questions that linger about the PSPgo are the price and the system’s support of existing disc-based games, particularly those that prospective Go buyers already posess. The Sony rep I spoke to in New York stuck to the comments chief U.S. PlayStation marketing man Peter Dille gave Kotaku during E3, that the October 1, $250 unit is priced for early adopters.

It will remains hard to assess the true cost of that $250 price until Sony explains how gamers will or won’t be able to play the many disc-based PSP games on the disc-drive-free Go, via data transfer, some sort of trade-in system, re-purchasing discounts or whatever. As of yesterday, that plan remains to be announced. (Going forward it does seem that major releases will be released digitally for the PSPgo, as Sony has previously announced. The timing of those releases remains unclear, though, as, for example, a LucasArts rep at the Sony event was not able to say whether the downloadable version of the upcoming Star Wars Battlefront: Elite Squadron would be released the same day as the disc game hits stores or a little before or after.)

At this point I do want a Go, but I am having a hard time justifying the price. There is nothing wrong with my PSP-1000; being old and heavy as a brick, it still works fine. Football season is about to start; I need a new tailgating grill and the Webber Q220 is about the same price as a Go.

If I go with a Go [I know, the pun sucks] I will want to replace my UMD library, using my PSP-1000 for some homebrew fun. I wish Sony would publish WTF they are planning to do for a UMD trade in program, but for now it looks like we will just have to speculate.

First let me say that I understand why Sony is going to push for digital distribution. Right now I do not have the time to publish bullet point for bullet point why I think Sony is going in this direction. Second let me say that I still have not clicked “order” from Amazon for a PSP Go.

With that out of the way, check out this article from the Official PlayStation Blog about Unbound Saga being available via digital distribution only.

But why would Vogster, or any other publisher for that matter, buck the trend and do something as radical as bypassing brick-and-mortar? What do we have against the good people at Gamezoinks? Nothing at all, I assure you (In fact, we just made that name up.). But the benefits of digital distribution cannot be overlooked. For the consumer, digital download offers unparalleled convenience. If you want it, you can have it NOW, regardless of weather, bus schedules, gas prices, etc. RIGHT NOW. In fact, I just bought the first three seasons of Dexter from the PlayStation Store while writing this. My fingers barely left the keyboard. How convenient is THAT?? It also guarantees availability. It would have stunk to drive all the way to the mall for that set of DVDs only to find they were sold out. Well, the internet is never sold out, and it is open 24-7. How ‘bout them apples?

I actually have no interest in this game, but considering folks are already busy downloading PSN only games, it is surprising how hard Sony is trying to make digital downloads sound not so frightening.

I just have to say that it would totally kick ass to get my hands on a green PSP. A Green Lantern PSP? That would be to die for … not really, but we all know I love green, and the Green Lantern is the ultimate DC super hero. I would buy one if they were offered in the U.S.

This morning I was looking around at my usual stops and did not really find anything worth posting. IGN [good for news; not reviews] posted another not so flattering op-ed on the PSP Go, but I have done enough of those over the last couple of weeks.

Even N4G did not have much that I felt like posting. I guess we are just in the dog days of summer; somewhere between waiting for the next Madden installment and the holiday sales cycles.

Happy Monday!