Tag Archives: psp go!

Over the weekend, some people got het up at the prospect of PSP Go having a 480Mhz CPU. It doesn’t. The confusion arose from a figure taken from a stats page that, in fact, references something to do with the machine’s USB port.

That’s it. Get more detail from Engadget.

Sony bossman of product planning, Naoya Matsui, has stated that the company always planned to eventually release a UMD-free PSP once the digital distribution market matured.

“We’d planned to release a PSP model without a UMD drive since the very beginning,” Matsui told GameBusiness. “But if we’d simply released the hardware, there wouldn’t have been much for everyone to enjoy.

“We needed to prepare the right environment for it first – things like the transferal of content with the PS3 and PSN, and PC software to manage content like music and movies such as Media Go.

“We wanted to release it when the delivery of digital content was on par with the delivery of physical media. That’s what we’ve been working on these past two years. We’ll be selling the PSP Go alongside the existing PSP models, because it’s a product targeted at those people who are more accustomed to digital content.”

PSP Go is slated for release in the US and Europe on October 1, and in Japan come November.

More over on Develop.

SCEE boss Andrew House has offered up an explanation as to why the PSP Go has such a large price tag.

“When you introduce a new piece of hardware you have the opportunity to say there is a certain premium that is associated with it, and we took that into account,” he told MCV.

“As with all hardware launches you look at the business model, the cost structure, and the necessarily level of profitability, and you use that to set the wholesale price. Much as we do with any other hardware.”

So the $249 will be spent by those who want it, basically, and those who don’t wont. That simple. Same as all things, really.

More through the link.

Game Watch has upped a bunch of photos from a Japanese PSP Go event showing both black and white models alongside their PSP 3000 counterparts.

There are some UI shots there as well.

PSP Go releases on October 1.

Independent retailers Chips and Grainger Games have small expectations for the PSP Go release in UK shops.

Both have yet to receive pre-orders for the handheld, and while Grainger plans to offer small quantities of PSP Go, Chips doesn’t see a reason to stock it unless customers specifically ask for it.

“From my point of view I’ve got to think, ‘Do I want to stock this?’ Right now I can’t see any justification for stocking it,”managing director Don McCabe told Edge. “Certainly I’m not getting the response from consumers. Normally when a new piece of kit is launched or announced I’ll get a multitude of people saying ‘As soon as that comes out I want one of those.’

“[Potential] first adopters are on the phone within seconds of it being announced and you’ve got your pre-orders. I don’t have a single pre-order for PSP Go at the moment.”

Chips currently has 30 stores in the UK,  and McCabe said that if the chain “suddenly gets a wealth of pre-orders”, he’ll reconsider his position.

Until then, the store has no intentions of stocking the product.

SCEA PR chap Al De Leon’s told CNET that dropping the price of PSP dev tools – a move announced at E3 – will open up PSP Go to “non-gaming applications.”

“The goal with that is to enable all sorts of developers to be able to develop content for the PSP,” said De Leon.

“It’ll mostly be games but there’s certainly an opportunity to develop non-gaming applications.”

We were given a very strong hint yesterday that the rumour of “non-retail” PSP apps being announced at Gamescom in Cologne in August is, in fact, true.

Watch the video interview after the link.

More »

Rockstar Games has announced that Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars is heading to PSP as both a downloadable title and in UMD format.

“We’re proud to extend this truly unique handheld Grand Theft Auto experience to PSP and offer a downloadable version of Chinatown Wars for PSP Go!,” said Rockstar founder Sam Houser.

“Rockstar Leeds has shown incredible talent in creating games that raise the bar in terms of depth and innovation on portables, and with Chinatown Wars we have a rich, fast-paced, and incredibly addictive entry into the series.”

SCEA CEO Jack Tretton was equally delighted with news: “Rockstar’s work with the GTA series has been an enormous part of the success of PlayStation platforms,” he said.

“We’re excited to welcome the critically acclaimed Chinatown Wars to the outstanding line-up of great games headed to the PSP platform this fall.”

Press release after the break.

More »

Looks like you can still play games on PSP Go when it’s in shuttered mode.

When asked if Sony had any titles in development that would focus on using just the L and R shoulder buttons, a rep told Joystiq that new titles for that specific function have not been announced just yet, but sure.

“Users will be able to access content and applications on the XMB such as videos, music and Skype when the panel is closed — but users will need to launch the application first before closing the panel, said the rep.

Games that use the L/R buttons will allow “users will be able to play those games with the PSP Go in closed mode” while “original applications” like the clock and calendar will also be accessible when shuttered.

Good to know we guess.

More through the link.

EG.fr’s running a PSP Go movie showing how its accompanying Media Go software allows you to manage content on the discless handheld via a PC.

The video also shows just how small the unit is compared to the demo guy’s hands.

Take a look. It’s out on October 1 for €250/$250. The UK price is still unknown.

Rumor has it that Sony plans to reveal “non-retail” games and apps for PSP Go at Games Con in August.

The apps will run anywhere from $2 to $6 and free applications will be made available as well.

Sources close to D’toid say file sizes are limited to 100 Mb, and “non-game apps” and 2D titles are encouraged and to be made available to the public during Q4.

Again, file this as a rumor until more is revealed.

Hit the link for more.

Wedbush Morgan’s Michael Pachter has told IndustryGamers that he “sincerely regrets” saying Sony is “ripping off” punters with PSP Go’s pricing.

“I sincerely regret the choice of words in my response to Geoff Keighley’s question in last week’s Bonus Round, where I said that Sony is ‘ripping off’ the consumer by pricing the PSP Go at $249.99,” he said.

“I made a poor choice of words, and I do NOT think that Sony is doing anything nefarious in choosing their pricing strategy.”

The full statement’s through there. PSP Go launches on October 1.

Loads of things have already been said across the internet about the price point for PSP Go, but Michael Pachter has been virtually silent – sort of.

During a recent taping of Bonus Round with Geoff Keighley, this is what the Wedbush Morgan analyst had to say on the matter:

“$249 is too much, period,” he said. “The [current] $169 PSP-3000 is a profitable device – the disc assembly, for a UMD, costs more than 16 gigs of flash does. So this new device doesn’t cost them as much to make as the PSP-3000 and they jack the price up $80.

“I’m sorry to say it. I don’t want to get bad fan mail from the Sony fanboys, but… They’re ripping off the consumer until they sell a couple million and if consumers don’t buy it then the price is going to come down… they’re making a lot more money on the PSP Go than the PSP-3000. And the PSP Go helps them because there’s no piracy.”

Watch for yourself.

Thanks, GamePolitics.

Sony plans to make almost every PSP UMD game released after October 1 available for digital download.

Jeff Rubenstein said over on the US PS Blog that when third-party titles are released digitally would depend on the publisher, all first-party titles will hit PSN.

“It’s my understanding that just about everything hitting after October 1 will be available for download,” he wrote.

October 1 is when PSP Go hits the market.

More over on CVG.

SCEE president Andrew House has stated that neither price point for PSP Go will pose an issue with consumers.

“If it’s cheaper would we sell more? The answer would probably be yes,” said the boss.

“I think on PlayStation 3, and the potential with an extension of PSP, we’ve got an opportunity to go even further on that. The overall value proposition which, by the way, European consumers get very, very well, I don’t think they are as price driven as other markets.

“So the overall value proposition is really strong and trends towards that lifecycle. And then you’ve got for the first time a networked community for the business and the strength that implies. That’s a huge factor in retaining people for a longer lifecycle with the product they have, because now they’ve bought into not just a packaged media relationship with games, but they’re bought into a community that they’re sharing with people and they’re interacting with.”

In the US, the handheld will retail for $249 and in Europe for 249 Euros ($350).

More over on GI.biz.

The EU PS Blog is inviting questions on PSP Go, to be answered by product managers this Friday.

Here’s one: how much is it going to cost in the UK?

Get to it.

Remember Qore episode 13? The one that leaked the week before E3 with all the PSP Go info? It’s been delayed to include some… PSP Go info.

The following was sent out to Qore subs yesterday:

Dear Qore Subscriber,

As mentioned on the PlayStation blog on Friday, we are experiencing a delay in the release of Qore Episode 13. We are currently revising the content of the episode to bring you the most up-to-date information. With all of the great PSP (PlayStation Portable) content announced at E3, we are planning to have a full feature story on the PSP go in a future episode. We apologize for any inconvenience.

As a Qore subscriber, you are a valued part of our PlayStation Community. We appreciate your patience as we work to get Episode 13 to you.

Sincerely,

PlayStation Network

Shouldn’t be too long. What’s left to say?

PSP-3000 will sell alongside PSP Go because there’s still an opportunity to sell disc-based portables, SCEE president Andrew House told GI at E3.

“The decision to push [PSP Go] alongside PSP 3000 is absolutely the right one because there’s still a very large, untapped market there for a traditional, package media-based portable gaming,” said the exec.

“This allows us to extend into other areas. The beauty is that we can respond to consumer’s tastes and balance the two platforms against each other.

“There’s a price point difference between them and we’ll monitor that as we go along.”

PSP Go was announced at a splendid $250/€250 launch price at E3.

There’s a fill interview through there.

Shigeru Miyamoto was spotted visiting the Sony booth at E3 checking out the new PSP Go.

Later on, Peter Molyneux gave him a demo of Project Natal and Milo.

This is really not earth-shattering news, but it’s Saturday, and everyone pretty much likes Miyamoto so why not.

More over on D’toid.

Tecmo introduced a new title coming to PSP at E3 called Undead Knights, and it’s basically about a murdered knight seeking vengeance on the King and Queen who betrayed him.

Players will take turns as the knight, his wife and his brother as they revive the dead to do your bidding.

It’s a third-person affair with zombies not only fighting but helping the character solve puzzles and allowing themselves to be used for all sorts of things. Like ladders and projectiles.

Heavily inspired by Evil Dead, the game supports up to four-players in multiplayer mode.

No release date as of yet.

Loads of screens are over on Eurogamer, and a preview is posted on IGN.

Sony says that it will offer a digital replacement for UMD games if you buy a PSP Go. Some maybe even be for free.

“We’re in the midst of putting together a good will program”, John Koller told Gizmodo. “We’ll be unveiling that soon [because] we actually think there’s a significant group that will be upgrading from the 1000.

“In the past, we’ve seen a 20-25% trade-up factor, and I assume that’s going to be the case here. We’ve modeled that. So we’re looking at a good-will program—a short term good-will program that would continue for years afterward.”

Stipulations and specifics were not mentioned regarding the service since nothing solid has been decided.

More through the link.