Prices already falling for the PSP Go. Who didn’t see that coming?
About a week ago the PSP Go was released in the UK. At the time, the RRP (Recommended Retail Price) for the item was £224.99, but the price has already seen a noteworthy fall. With the RRP dropping by about £25 in most retailers, you may be wondering what could influence sales pricing so dramatically?
The PSP’s higher screen definition always impressed me.
You can already witness the extend of the price fall just by a quick visit to a search engine. Popular sales sites such as Amazon, Game, Gamestation, Play and HMV have already dropped their prices to follow the RRP trend.
The handheld’s launch on October 1 didn’t exactly gather much attention, but then again, it’s not exactly a step up in technology. I suppose most people are just going to play it smooth and wait for the PSP-3000.
While the PSP Go launched with a promise of quantity-on-quality action, I already had the smell of impending disappointment on my nostrils. It seems that the odor had a source too, since most of the titles are annoying to access (causing a large forum outcry) and, here’s the kicker, the PSP UMDs are not compatible with it.
That’s right: you can’t use PSP UMDs in the PSP Go. They have offered a free copy of Gran Turismo PSP to try and calm the storm though, and they have offered 3 free game downloads to each customer who owns a UMD through the PSP Go rewards scheme… but to add insult to injury, you are limited in which free games you can choose and this offer is only available in the UK at the time of me writing this article. Hmmm…
For many who would be reading this from other countries in the world, I suppose this would seem to be just an inconvenience. I foresee many PSP Go owners downloading their PSP content when they go to sleep, or when they are at work. Then again, most of you don’t have to deal with internet caps.
What’s an internet cap? Well, you start by paying for your internet speed and cap itself. An example of a typical plan would be a 20gb capped ADSL2 connection (which itself isn’t that fast: expect 150ms speed on FPS servers in your state) for $99. The 20gb cap signifies that once you have downloaded/uploaded 20gb total (usually 10gb limit for offpeak hours, 10gb limit for peak) you either must pay a fee per megabyte to continue using the service or your speed is throttled to dialup proportions.
Maybe if the fee for breaking the cap was understandable I wouldn’t be so frustrated, but it usually costs 15c per megabyte. Considering the data that a modern game uses can range from 1kbps to as much as 5kbps (or higher in some cases) and you realise that you could be paying 15c a minute to play your game. So if you were playing, say, Red Alert 3 with your cap broken, then things could add up very quickly.
Facts from Gaming History: 19 years ago at its time of release on October 6 1990, the Sega Game Gear was a marvel of hand-held technology, offering an ergonomic design, crisp colour (their competitor Game Boy didn’t release a colour counterpart for some time) and many powerful (not to mention optional and useful) accessories, including an adaptor which converted it into a portable television. Unfortunately, the price was significantly higher, and they could only hold a mediocre portion of the market.
So the question remains: Why do game companies and console manufacturers think that pigeon-holing us to downloadable content will work? We can’t download the content without decimating our ability to play enjoyably! I wasn’t this bent out of shape since they announced that Uprising would be downloadable only. With many games breaking the 10gb mark (or as high as 20gb with expansions or mods, many of which can operate stand-alone nowadays) how do they expect to sell their products to the Australian public?
By the way, look at the size of this thing:
Yes, a small-handed individual can hold it lengthwise with one hand.
Is it just me, or is this uncomfortably small? The PSP itself was already a bit small, often causing finger cramps from crunched-up hands (although this problem was different person-to-person, since not everybody has my size of hands)…
So why make the case smaller?
Why make the screen smaller?
Why decrease the sound quality?
Why make it incompatible with PSP UMDs or the original accessories?
Why dramatically decrease the storage of the PSP Go to 16gb… on a platform where you have to download and store content?
Are there really this moronic?
Do they really think any competent-minded Australian will buy this thing?
Ugh… I’m sure they will sell a few to the gadget whores.
You know the ones I mean… everybody knows somebody who they’ve heard say something like this: “OMG my phone is so awesome! It slides on an axis thing and look it calls somebody when I press this button and say their name! *click* Jenny… Jenny… Jenny… It works when you aren’t around I swear!”
They are the kind of people that actually buy those fake phone radar GIFs off of television ads for $5 and then wonder why they are losing $15 credit a week for seemingly nothing. I hate stupid people.
Sony Australia states: “In relation to our business and the launch of PSPgo, we are already experiencing solid support for launch day on October 1 in Australia. Retail support of the PSP platform, includes both PSP-3000 and PSPgo. Many retailers will choose to range both PSP models side-by-side, as we continue to offer expanded choice for the consumer for the handheld device platform. 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.”
An interesting statement to make, since not even EB Games Australia will sell or stock the PSP Go. Maybe they will at least reduce the Australian sale price and follow suit. By the beard of Zeus, i’d probably buy Hello Kitty Online before buying something of this calibre, and that’s saying something.
Well, that’s my post for now people. Come by again and i’ll TTYL!
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