PSPGo Impressions

Opinion from Jae - Tuesday, 10 November 2009 @ 12:35pm

So I’m sitting here on a lonely weekend in Perth with my PSPGo and it goes dead flat. Realising I left my mains charger in Sydney I suddenly have no way of charging this thing. This was a flaw with the recent renditions of the PSP and sadly it is still a flaw with the new PSPGo. The latest gaming machine brought to you by Sony has hit our shores and its time to put it through the yellow litmus test.

I own a PSP Slim, which was the second version of the console that was thinner and brighter than the first. The PSP Slim and Lite was the third iteration to be released which boast a brighter screen, although with graphical flaws, plus a built in microphone. Sony have now released the fourth and hopefully the final version called the PSPGo. This one is a giant leap in the system as the aesthetic has changed and many things have been updated for the system.

Don't throw away that old PSP, use it as a foot rest

This first thing to go was the UMD drive. The power sucking proprietary disc media that made the system sound like a minidisc player. Standing in it’s place is a 16GB drive that can house roughly 15-20 full PSP games. When you think about it that is quite a few games and could, depending on your gaming needs, take you a couple of years to fill up. There is a memory card slot on the side that accepts Sony’s micro memory stick mark M2 which is the same card that all new SonyEricsson mobile phones use. I ain’t a fan of this too much as Sony memory sticks are still the most expensive cards to get on the market right now. Current memory capacity of those cards sit at 8GB so you can easily bolster your games library with interchangeable cards. This feature sounds good and made me think that the battery life would last longer, since there are no longer any moving parts or lasers, but I was wrong. The PSPGo has a featured battery life of between 3-6 hours of gameplay. The PSP Slim has the same. We all know that those quoted battery lives don’t take into account the volume or contrast levels the average person would be playing their portable device on. I would’ve liked to have seen it be able to reach above 10 hours on a single charge but I guess that’s too hard for Sony to do. Or too expensive.

Discussing more on the UMD drive removal the first thing many people will think about is what do they do with their old UMDs. Well Sony screwed you over kids, the PSPGo hasn’t been aimed at you, or if it is, it’s aimed squarely on your wallet and hoping that you’ll re-purchase a game you already have. It’s something the company has done before. Carefully extracting PS2 compatibility from the PS3 was initially all about cost cutting in manufacturing. Now you see the announcements of many PS2 re-releases such as God of War 1 & 2. Lather, rinse and repeat. It’s all about money so if they can squeeze some extra cash through a downloadable port than so it shall be. Not all hope is lost however as there is currently deal where you can get three free PSP games by registering your old PSP and a UMD game through the PSN store. Good for some but not for all. With the new flash memory system you will need to use the trusty power of the internet and the PSN store to purchase your games. In Australia we have yet to get PSN recharge cards sold through retailers so your only choice is to use a credit card. This pretty much rules out half the gaming population straight away and takes an even small proportion of gamers that are willing to use a credit card online. The one interesting thing to watch for is to see if this helps kick off the new digital age. Where middlemen retailers are given the boot and downloadable purchases become successful. Only time will tell.

Superman plays PSPGo...down his pants

Before I got the system the controls were my number one concern. After playing it for a few weeks I see no reason to really worry. Even for the big handed folk you can still reach all the buttons in their new layout. Having the volume, brightness and sound buttons in between the shoulder buttons and behind the screen do seem odd but seeing as they are hardly used during gameplay it doesn’t make a difference. It will take getting used to with the buttons as they don’t push down like they used to. These ones are flatter and are in vain of the many mobile phone buttons you get out there. It sounds bizarre but the only physical feature that discourages me is the weight of the console. As it feels so light and flimsy my Alyssa Milano premonition powers tell me I will break this in the near future. There are two rubbery grooves in the back that will prevent it from sliding and scratching on flat surfaces, which are great but will eventually darken to a dirty colour on my white PSPGo.

My biggest gripe with the console has to be it’s lack of recharge-ability. It’s probably something your average gamer wouldn’t have trouble with but I’m not always near my mains charger for the system so I rely on USB charging against a laptop, home console or phone charger. When your system goes completely flat you have only one option which is to use the AC adaptor. It’s a problem that past PSP models have had but it continues to be a problem with this one. With the unique plug on the PSPGo I feel this is a step backwards in alienating accessories for the PSP and makes the system less of a convenience. Don’t worry I’m sucking it up like a good princess but still want to have a whinge about it. The port next to the headphone jack, that use to allow remote control and TV playback has gone. For those of us with a video cable it’s a big disappointment as we would have to purchase a new cable or cradle. I’ve figured that I’ve used the cable for one game in the past so I wouldn’t really look to re-invest in another.

A new initiative that has come about with the PSPGo is Minis. These are the smaller downloadable games that come at a cheaper price. So far there is about thirteen games on the PSN. I’ve had a go of Field Runners, a tower defence game that is already available on the iPhone, and it’s pretty good. With many games you will find a small playable demo available for download. Downloading onto the PSP wirelessly seems to take a very long time, I’d suggest either using the PS3 or a PC to download large PSP games first. The thing to note with the Minis is that they’re not exclusive to the PSPGo. As long as you have a sizeable memory stick on your older PSP you can still download and play Minis.

PSPGo fits everywhere even whilst busking in your own kitchen for spare change

Oh wait I almost forgot to have a whinge about the price tag. Retailing in Australia for $449 has to be the most preposterous thing about the PSPGo. Sony are known to always start high with their console launch prices but being $50 cheaper than a PS3 is like a kick to your Johnson. If you have enough money to buy a PSPGo and you don’t have a PS3 you would need to think long and hard as to why you’d want the portable. As I’m writing this the Australian dollar is hit a 14 month high of over $0.90USD so I see absolutely no reason as to why the PSPGo has such high price tag. I fortunately bought mine from Singapore where I paid the equivalent of $320 Australian dollars. A major difference if you ask me. I would recommend importing a machine but the downside is your warranty is null and void if the machine isn’t from Australia. A risk I took but you may not want to. While we’re on about price the PSP games on the PSN store are not exactly cheaper. Most are a very similar price to the retail UMD counterparts which begs the question behind the move to digital. It is however early days, when we start to see new games with a simultaneous UMD and PSN release then prices can be compared. Gran Turismo PSP has been priced $5 cheaper through the PSN store but everybody knows you can easily get it cheaper from discount retailers.

I’d love to sit here and talk this thing up but in all honesty the current drawbacks outweigh its advantages. If you own a PSP already there is virtually no reason to get the PSPGo, except to upscale your yuppy level. For everybody else I’d suggest hunting for the cheapest price you can find as the current price tag is simply too much to pay. If you’re willing to play the waiting game the PSPGo can be a more attractive system in the future but for now save your money and go invest in your nearest Nigerian friend.