Speak Your Mind

The PSPgo launched earlier this week, October 1, 2009. All I could really think when it did was; why on earth would anyone want that?

It was not the fact that I like Microsoft's games more, or the fact that when I do play handheld games I normally play them on my DS. No, that wasn't it. It was more the fact that the system is hilariously overpriced while offering less features than its cheaper counterpart.

If you needed reasons not to buy the PSPgo, you must have missed when they said that any games that you currently own will be better coasters than games. That's right, the system is completely digital and therefore anything that you've paid for from Sony or any other developer on the console you cannot play on your new console without buying it again or holding onto all your PSP games and old PSP. But why would I do that if I was spending $249.99 on a brand new machine? I'd at least expect some compatibility there.

If that is not enough to turn you away from the machine, I mean sure, not everyone has a huge library of UMDs lying around their homes. This makes the PSPgo a little more attractive as there is not the downside of losing everything they've previously had. If you fall into this category, look at the price. It costs you $249.99 plus games for a PSPgo. It has built in 16gb memory and plays downloadable games available from the PSN Store. For $50 more, you can buy a PS3 slim or 360 Elite that play HD games and a much greater library of them.

Yeah, yeah, I know not everyone likes to sit in front of their television and play a game. Well how about the fact that for $199.99 you can get something with more functionality than what you're paying $249.99 for. That's right, Sony took out functionality from a console (mainly the ability to play UMDs), upped its price, and then has began selling it. For those that believe the PSPgo will sell, you're very, very wrong.

Nintendo recently brought out the Nintendo DSi and promptly sold almost 2 million units within three months. This is a system that has sold over 100 million units worldwide, and launches its first new iteration in a couple years and sells like hotcakes. It seems every other holiday season there is a new PSP sitting on store shelves waiting to be snapped up by consumers.

I seem to recall another system's launch that went very similar to the PSPgo's. The system doubled as a cell phone and was able to a number of neat things, if you were willing to shell out the ridiculous amount of money they wanted you to pay for it. What was its price you ask? The low, low price of $299.99. Not that far off from $249.99 you see. What was this piece of junk? The N-Gage. Some may not remember what this thing even is, but many will, and for those that do they will be able to tell you that it was one of the biggest flops in gaming history; and possibly consumer electronics period. Worse the Betamax, oh yeah, that stings doesn't it Nokia?

Obviously the PSPgo will not flop as hard as the N-Gage did, however, it will not sell nearly as well as Sony is hyping it up. The way they've been advertising it, it seems as though they have done something positive with their console, not negative. Personally, I feel the PSP generation of gaming has taken an entire step backwards with the release of PSPgo. Not only are consumers not ready for a download-only market, they will not support it. Take a hint of advice Sony and stick your money where you need to, and that is with getting more PS3 titles on the shelves. Sony has a lot of catching-up to do if they intend on beating Microsoft in software and hardware sales more frequently; thus getting more Sony made titles onto shelves (I'm looking at you Gran Turismo 5), would help them move systems and in turn even more software.

Best of luck PSPgo, but chances are you'll get to meet your good buddy N-Gage sooner than you were meant to.