Developer Panel Gives Its Verdict On Sony's PSP Go 55
An anonymous reader writes "A panel of games industry veterans have given their final verdict on Sony's PSP Go. David Perry thinks the handheld is an excellent step in the right direction, though he wants it to include free-to-play games. Andrew Oliver of Blitz Games Studios was also optimistic: 'The iPod has demonstrated that, given a nice small device and a good interface and easy buying process, people are happy to download content. I think this will work and move gamers to accepting legal digital downloads, which is the way we want the market to go.' In total, a panel of eight developers discussed four key issues surrounding the handheld, including whether or not they will develop for it."
Custom firmware please (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:Terrible. (Score:4, Interesting)
I have an original PSP, properly modded. It still sits unused unless I want some old NES titles on the go.
No need to upgrade to the "Go".
Re:Terrible. (Score:4, Interesting)
Which is why the DSi is starting really small with they digital distributions - they need to get people used to the idea of paying for downloads in a low-cost way. Eventually they will release larger / full games, I'm sure, but when people are ready for it.
Sony expects people to go straight there with no transition, no mention of cheaper (or even Greatest Hits back catalogue) to entice a switch. They haven't given the consumer a single reason to want a PSP Go over a normal PSP, they're doing it strictly because of the higher-profit cut-out-the-middle-man business model. Good luck with that.
The PSP Go is DOA (Score:5, Interesting)
Seriously, way too overpriced compared to the DS. And say what you will, existing PSP owners wont convert nobody wants to throw away a perfectly fine UMD collection and rebuy all the games again.
I am not sure what Sony thought introducing it, but definitely this thing seems Dead on Arrival to me!
Where's the Creators Club for PSP? (Score:3, Interesting)
If Sony wants to go the iTunes Store model, they need to reevaluate their pricing structure.
That and open it up to homebrew. Apple copied Microsoft's model of the XNA Creators Club and Xbox Live Community Games when it created the App Store; why can't Sony?
Re:Terrible. (Score:4, Interesting)
Yes, you lose access to all the used PSP games that are already out on UMD. That matters (somewhat) to people like me who already have a PSP and have a (small) library of PSP-UMD games that I occasionally re-play:
Every game I own on UMD, I've already converted to ISO so that I can push it onto a memory stick. Cuts down on the annoyingly long UMD load times, makes it so that I can carry 5-6 games without worrying about losing/swapping the UMD cartridges in and out, and saves me up to 25% battery life as well. UMD was a colossal mistake from Sony, if they'd wanted to make the PSP a real success they would have never bothered with it and just put out their titles on pre-made memory cards. They could have fit four memory card slots into the space of the UMD drive.
The only way I can see buying the Go is if/when it gets hacked, so that I can port my current library over. And even then, my old PSP would need to die.
Hint to Sony: When you release the PSP Go, please also release [at least] the top 50% of games from your UMD PSP game catalog as digital downloads from PlayStation Network, so PSP Go owners can buy older, popular games. Really, I'm telling you to make half of your "UMD classic" games available on PSN. Just do it. It's the only way you'll build traction for the PSP Go.
Problem #1: people hate re-paying to get something they already paid for, especially in such a short term. Yes, I know people pay money for old arcade titles or NES/SNES titles on the 360/wii services, and even a few will pay for old Playstation titles, but that's because those are OLD and many people either lost their old copy, broke it, sold it at a garage sale, or remember playing it over at a friend's place. If you turn around and tell people, two years after buying the UMD, "well if you want it on the new device you'll have to buy it again", you'll have a customer revolt.
Problem #2: The PSP, functionally, has problems. 99% of the titles for it are either old Playstation copies, or re-treads of Playstation properties. Lacking a secondary analog stick and enough buttons, playing many of those is way more difficult than it should be.
Problem #3: you can only produce "Grand Theft Auto: Yeah I Fucked Your Mom" so many times before it gets old and boring. It hit "old and boring" 5 years ago as most of its old fans finally grew up.
This is the future (Score:2, Interesting)
And the PSP Go will be a success story.
Too expensive! (Score:3, Interesting)
I have a DSi but no PSP, so when I heard about the Go, I thought, "Hmm, sounds cool, and I don't have any UMDs, so I won't miss the drive..." Then I heard about the price. $250!? For something less capable than an existing PSP? I don't know who Sony thinks they're kidding. This one is going another "Game Boy Micro." Potentially interesting, but it won't take off with consumers since it's way overpriced.
Gameboy Micro = PSP Go (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:Terrible. (Score:4, Interesting)
That's true, the cost of using MS media could have been huge. That said, I think the biggest mistake they made with UMD (especially UMD Video) was not including video out with the original PSP.
It was stupid to sell movies on UMD for $20 (the price of a DVD) which at the time could only be watched on the PSP's tiny screen. If people had the option to hook up their PSP's to their TV and watch the movies on a bigger screen, then I could definitely see a larger proportion of people shifting money from DVD purchases to UMD purchases (and thus made the $20 pricing more acceptable).
Heck, UMD's could have made inroads replacing DVD's for long car trips (by using external screens connected to the PSP's video out).
Of course with how cheap flash memory is, the point is now moot.
Re:Complain all you want (Score:3, Interesting)
I think not.
Diminished? Sure. There's a compelling argument. Eliminated? That's ... asking a lot.
On the technical end, I would hate to download a dual layer BDROM's worth of data through my internet pipe. Never underestimate the bandwidth of a jewel case travelling at speed limits from the store to my house. Not to mention activation, and other issues.
on the usability end, I'd hate to have to prove i owned a game I don't have physical access to should my Steam account get hacked or my PSN/XBLA account get compromised.
Re:Terrible. (Score:3, Interesting)
Right, but it's also much more expensive than the regular PSP. So, does this sell on the shelf next to the PSP? Can the old PSP play the new PSP Go games? If it's not supposed to replace the traditional PSP, it just opens up a whole new world of confusion on the part of consumers.
Sony seems to be the master at making devices that blur so many lines that people aren't sure if they should buy it and why they should buy it, especially lately with their game consoles.