I was fortunate to get my hands on a PSP Go! Yesterday and have spent most of the night and today checking out Sony’s newest PSP model and overall I have to say I’m very impressed. If you’re on the fence about upgrading your current PSP or if you’re new to the PSP world find out what I have to say about the device.
What comes in the Package?
Well what do you get for $249, inside this very small box you get the PSP Go!, Media Go Disc, a voucher for Rockband unplugged, USB Cable, AC adaptor, AC power cord, manual and quick start guide. A Patapon 2 demo also comes preloaded on the PSP Go!
Teh Good
Design – Simply put this is a very sleek and well designed device from the sliding mechanism to the beautiful screen to well place and designed left and right shoulder buttons the PSP Go! Fits perfectly into my hands and feels comfortable in my hands.
Digital Library – Since I’m not a current PSP owner I don’t have any UMD’s so the facts there are over 150 UMD released games for me to download and play. Also all new UMD releases will be released on the Playstation Network Store on the same day. I am downloading Gran Turismo as I type this. There are over 60 Playstation One games to download and play on your PSP Go! Hello Metal Gear Solid!. Finally we have our Minis which are bite sized games for gamers on the go, which could be very similar to most IPOD Touch/ IPhone games if they are priced accordingly.
Plenty of Storage – The PSP Go! Comes with a whopping 16 gigabytes of internal storage. That means you could hold 15 1 gigabyte games on the console. This is probably the most important thing you can add additional memory to the unit by purchasing Memory Stick Micro M2. So far the biggest M2 stick I’ve seen for sale is 16 gigs that could give you a whopping 32 gigs of space for games, movies, music and podcasts. That’s more than enough content for a flight across the Atlantic Ocean or your every day commute.
Teh Bad
Upgrading your PSP, trade in those UMD’s as well – Well if you have a current PSP and a collection of UMD games you have 1 of 4 options if you want to get a PSP Go!. 1 being trade them in, 2 sell them or 3 throw them in the trash and finally put them in a box and put that box in storage. As of right now Sony has Zero plans to offer some sort of trade in program or anything for those users with UMD games that want the go. Your only option at the moment would be to buy them on the Playstation network at full price. Luckily, this doesn’t affect me as I’ve zero UMD’s however I fully understand how this affects a lot of people. Hopefully Sony does something to address this quickly.
1 Analog stick and no Touch Screen – People have been calling for a second analog stick on PSP’s for a long time. I understand we have limited size on the GO but surely you could have put the second analog stick to the right of the other analog stick and bumped up the start and select button to the middle of the device. Here’s a big annoyance for me, no touch screen. This could have potentially been a IPod Touch Killer if it had a touch screen. Just the thoughts of browsing the XMB and selecting what music, video, podcast, game or what I wanted to buy in the PSN store with my fingers would have been killer.
Software Costs – I’ll start with the mini’s they seem to be a bit over priced if there suppose to be bite sized games on the go. $4.99 to $9.99 simply won’t compete with the tiny bite sized games that belong in the ITunes store. Digital downloads should generally be cheaper in my opinion then there UMD or full retail released counter parts. Why you might ask? Well there is no UMD disc, no packaging and no manual to be printed this 3 factors a lone should add to minor savings for the consumer. Gran Turismo UMD retail is $39.99 Canadian and should be $31.99- $34.99.
Teh Conclusion
At the end of the day I love my PSP Go! Am I sucker for new hardware or is it a well designed device. I am definitely leaning towards the later for a variety of reasons that I listed above. Add in the fact that the games I’ve been playing have been totally fun as hell. I also managed to watch a full episode of a television show that will remain nameless and was very impressed with the quality of the screen and sound. I highly recommend that if you currently have a PSP you’ll hold off a for a little bit as I have a feeling Sony may have to do something regarding UMD’s and people wanting to upgrade. If you’re looking at buying a PSP this is the model for you.
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