Tag Archives: psp go!

Speaking with VG247, Wedbush Morgan analyst Michael Pachter took the PSPgo to task, explaining that – without a price drop – it probably won’t be anything more than a teensy blip on gamers’ radars.

“The Go is just priced too high for the perceived value. It may play music and movies, but most think iPod Nano ($149) or Touch ($199) for that, and it is very expensive for a portable gaming device. I don’t see it boosting overall sales, and without a price cut, 3000 sales are likely to be down year-over-year,” he said.

“I think Go will sell 400,000 in the US, 400,000 in Europe and 200,000 in Japan through March. Most of those units will be incrementan ‘replacement’ sales as people trade up, and they may dampen PSP-3000 demand by half that much. The 3000 is selling at last year’s price in a worse economy, with new competition from a sub-$200 Wii. I think overall PSP sales will be pretty similar to last year’s, maybe down a small amount.”

Hear that, Sony? Pachter watches everything you do for a living. He might have a point.

Retailers aren’t too fond of the PSP Go, and with good reason. After all, who needs crummy old brick-and-mortar when every game you could ever want lies at your fingertips? Joystiq cornered Sony with this pressing issue, and – shockingly enough – got a response.

Sony of America’s keeping retailers in its corner with a series of PSP “Game Cards,” which consist of download codes and – enticingly enough – some very revealing packaging. Yeah, Sony knows how we like it. Apparently, the cards are already in stores, with games like God of War: Chains of Olympus and Gran Turismo Portable representing the initial volley.

As for Sony of Europe, well, game cards aren’t in the, er, cards. For now, anyway.

“We don’t have any plans for vouchers/gift cards like this,” Sony of Europe said. “At the moment we are only selling the PSN vouchers of £20 and £50 for the UK.”

More through the link.

Update: It’s live. Make with the downloading.

Over on the PlayStation blog, PSN Operations Director Eric Lempel brings word that PSP firmware 6.10 is just about cooked through. No date yet, but it’s coming “soon.”

Along with a couple of music-centric features, the update adds bluetooth tethering, which allows you to sync your PSP with your cell phone and use it as a modem to connect to the Internet. No wi-fi? No problem.

That one’s not free, either, Sony. Royalties or we sue. We’re Langdelling this thing.

iPhone tower defence juggernaut Fieldrunners will release as a PSPgo Mini this week, it’s just been confirmed on the Euro PS Blog.

The PSP version includes new maps, new towers, new music and “enhanced graphics,” according to that post.

Can’t say fairer than that. Hit the link for more. Movie after the break.

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Sony just announced a promotion called PSP go Rewards, which will allow anyone with a PSP go to download three games from a selection of 17 for free.

Provided you already own a current gen PSP, from the sound of it.

Here’s what you have to do:

1. Unwrap your shiny new PSPgo and start it up
2. Connect to PlayStation®Network and activate your new or existing PlayStation Network account for PSPgo Rewards
3. Start up your current PSP and connect to PlayStation Network
4. Login using the same PlayStation Network account , and launch PlayStation®Store
5. Pop one of your UMDs into the drive of your current PSP and register on PSPgo Rewards when prompted
6. Download a PSPgo theme
7. Wait for your email voucher for your three free games
8. Choose, download and enjoy!

Full PR after the break. PSP go releases on October 1.

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Kotaku’s posted up some shots of newly-confirmed PSP go peripherals from the TGS showfloor, showing a Bluetooth stereo headset adapter, the amazing converter cable Frisbee, a cradle, AV cables and in-ear headset.

Have a look.

Joystiq’s got some shots of a something Sony’s calling a “Converter Cable Adaptor,” which allows the use of PSP-3000 peripherals on PSP go.

Which is great. Unfortunately, it looks ridiculous. No date. Which is probably a good thing.

A Kotaku Australia report appears to indicate that EB Australia won’t be stocking PSP go when it launches next week.

There’s no mention of the handheld on the store’s site, and shop staff apparently said, ““EB aren’t stocking it,” when asked whether or not the machine will be available through the retailer.

EBA’s head office is refusing to comment on the matter.

“As with any new product, there will be continued discussions with retail partners to continue to expand reach over time in line with growth of the entire PSP platform,” said SCE Australia.

Full thing through the link.

SCEA PSN boss Eric Lempel has directly contradicted comments made by SCEA senior account manager Justin Cooney on the matter of whether developers are allowed to patch and add multiplayer to PSP Minis.

“You can patch Minis,” Lempel told Destructoid, “but we won’t have multiplayer functions in the beginning.

“Basically, to get these developers on board, and to make it easier to test and get it through the pipeline, we won’t be allowing that functionality for the first stage of Minis.”

Cooner told Gamasutra last week that, according to the site, “PSP Mini digital download games will not be allowed to have wireless multiplayer functionality, downloadable content, or software updates.”

What a crazy, crazy mess. Somebody should write a letter. Minis launch alongside PSP go on October 1.

SCEA chap Justin Cooney told Gama this week that multiplay, DLC and software updates have been banned from PSP Minis in an effort to “accelerate the approval process.”

“When you look at it from a testing perspective, you have to do more QA. [Allowing those features] would defeat the purpose of having a dedicated service for smaller content,” he said.

“It increases the barriers.”

Minis were announced at GamesCom last month. The games are restricted to a 100Mb and will launch with PSP Go, on October 1, with a library of 15 games.

Hit the link for more.

Large Dutch retailer Nedgame won’t be stocking PSP go this October, the chain’s told EG.nl.

Why? Two reasons. Firstly, it sees the €249.99 price tag – €80 more than the current PSP-3000 – as too steep. Secondly, the fact the console doesn’t use physical media means it won’t be able to sell any games for it. And selling games is how games shops make money.

A similar story relating to French retailers did the rounds recently, but SCEE poo-pooed it.

PSP go releases on October 1. Thanks, EG.

Hello, Mr Postman. You have a parcel. It’s a retail PSPgo, sent by SCEE. Let’s open it. Take some pictures of it. Touch it. Such a pretty thing.

It’s out October 1, RRP £224.99. Check out shots of the PS3 Slim we got this week here. You can get those right now: they’re very attractive too.

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Sony couldn’t topple pirates with firmware, so the console-maker’s taking things to the next logical level with an all-out hardware based assault. The target: the PSP Go’s battery.

“You won’t be able to rip your games and play them on the system, the firmware precludes that,” Sony’s John Koller told PlayStation Insider. “There’s no external battery, so there’s a number of protections put into place on the system.”

See, before, pirates were able to wrestle control of the platform away from Sony with something known as the Pandora Battery. Without the ability to install it, however, pirates will have a much harder time cracking the PSP Go. Or at least, that’s the hope.

Sony’s playing hardball now. It’s your move, pirates.

Sony has released videos for both the Digital Reader and PSP minis.

We have both posted after the break courtesy of Joystiq.

For now, the Digital Reader is for comics only, but who knows what the future holds. Digital copies of Wuthering Heights, The Doppelganger or Atonement may not be just a pipe dream folks. We’ll have to wait and see.

Minis are expected to launch with the Go on October 1. Yay.

Watch on.

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A SCEE rep has confirmed to VG247  that the PSP Go will retail in the UK for £224.99.

It comes as the platform holder gutted the price of the fat Playstation 3 tonight down to £249, while also sticking on the same price tag for the newly revealed PS3 Slim.

We see some special bundles coming for this and the PS3 Slim.

Sony announced during their GamesCom conference this evening that a set of mini-games, known simply as Minis, will be available from October 1: the day the PSP Go launches in Europe. They are 100Mb in size and will be available from the PS Store at launch and downloaded directly from the PSP.

SCEE president Andrew House promised that an extensive line-up of the games will be available, all the way from the PC and mobile game markets.

It’s unclear if this will work with older PSP models.

Read what happened during the conference here.

More specifically, between October 1 and October 10. All you have to do is register your PSP Go and — bam — free download of Gran Turismo PSP.

This isn’t just some measly demo, either. It’s the whole shebang, baby.

The announcement was made during Sony’s GamesCom press event.

More on the liveblog.

Belgian site consoleshop.be appears to have cracked open a hidden vein of European prepaid PSN cards, and will share its bounty with everyone else on October 1.

The PSP Go — in all its download-only glory — also launches on October 1, so pairing it with PSN cards makes sense.

The cards will apparently come in two flavors, €20 and €50.

When contacted by Edge, Sony claimed that consoleshop.de’s images were actually ‘shopped versions of North American PSN cards. However, the console behemoth has yet to confirm or deny the existence of European PSN cards.

Using our speculative crystal balls, however, we’ve seen the future. There’s fire raining down from the heavens, terror-driven riots that signal the coming of a new age, and blood caked all over the boots of a new, hell-borne regime.

There are also PSN cards, for whatever it’s worth.

Sony dev boss Shuhei Yoshida’s admitted that twin thumb sticks were a “serious” consideration for PSP Go, although the feature didn’t make the cut due to compatibility issues.

“We also felt — like many users — that we wish we had a second analog on the PSP,” he said, talking in the latest issue of Game Informer.

“But we are talking about the mid-life cycle of this platform, and the PSPgo is designed to be perfectly compatible with the PSP-3000 and all the games that released before that.

“So we had a very serious discussion about this particular subject, but we decided not to add a second analog, and some of the developers are doing quite a nice job translating the second analog functionality to different buttons. We didn’t want to divert their efforts either.”

And that’s that. Via PSL, Kombo and Kotaku.

A story doing the rounds last week that claimed French retailers were refusing to stock PSP Go was debunked by SCEE this morning.

The original JeuxVideo piece claimed that “major retailers” had possibly forced Sony to not launch the handheld in France thanks to its lack of physical media – which means no ongoing games sales and no secondhand PSP Go games market.

“No French retailers have refused to stock the Go,” we were told by SCEE. The rep added that the story simply wasn’t true.

PSP Go launched in October, priced €249. We’re still waiting for the UK price.

Thanks for the initial tip, Peter.