Sony PSP Go a no-go?

Sony has launched the new PSP Go in the US. For $250 you get essentially a PSP with a slightly different design (the controls slide out from under the display), 16GB memory, and no disc player.

It looks pretty cool and I like the form factor but if it doesn’t let me play the 20 or so PSP games on disc that I have then why would I buy one? See, I’ve had a PSP for some years now and although I don’t use it that much, mostly on trips, it’s still a great gaming machine. In fact, I prefer playing games on it over my iPhone because of the games available and the physical controls.

But what might end up killing off the Go is that Sony seems to have been looking at what Apple’s been doing with iTunes and iPhone. To get games onto the Go you have to buy them from Sony online, you can’t resell them, you can’t lend them to a friend, etc. That has worked very well for Apple, but for them there was no existing eco-system to step all over like there is in the case of PSP. So while Apple had no baggage there’s plenty for Sony and that might make a huge difference.

ArsTechnica has a review out and they’re really not happy, concluding with the verdict “skip”. I do look forward to trying the Go once it makes it to our market but I may just end up sticking to my PSP as I’m sure there’ll be UMD games made for quite some time yet.

Popularity: 1% [?]