PSP GO

The PSP Go.

I finally broke down and bought one. Albeit that it's only $150 used, $100 cheaper than new, I felt like it was a good choice.

First off, I'm going to skip the tech specs, you can find those anywhere.



I'm going to discuss it from a gamer's perspective.

Now, we all know I'm a bit of an internet pirate, and when I heard that the PSP Go didn't really prevent anyone from using ISO and CSOs, I was intrigued. At work I constantly badmouth the PSP GO, with the usual statements like "it's digital download only, you have to pay whatever sony wants you to pay, there won't be used games, if you don't like a game you're stuck with it, etc"

So why did I buy one? If it seems like a used PSP 2000 or 3000 would be $50 cheaper? Well, a few reasons. Finding a used PSP in good condition is about like finding a DS Lite used in good condition, it might happen, but you'll have to drive a ways to do it.

I was recently playing a PSP 3000, basically brand new, at work the other day. I was surprised to find that the brand new Assassin's Creed Bloodlines ran rather choppy, and get this, the UMD loaded louder than the highest volume on the psp. No deal.

So when I heard that the used Go's were going to be $150, I decided to look into what all I could pirate for it. The internet didn't fail me on this one, you name a psp game, you can find it on the internets to download. Perfect. What about video conversion? It still plays .mp4s. Done and done.

So why a PSP GO? Its small, it's about the size of my blackberry, it has no UMD slot so it's really small, and it has no annoying load times, and did I mention no UMD discs? Brilliant.

Here's the thing about UMD. ok, the way the packaging is made, the disc cases, if you take out a UMD properly, you actually pull at the UMDs seal, do this enough times and the disc gets ripped open.


(copyright- playtech.co.nz)

Now sure, the disc can be fixed, but most gaming stores won't take the disc in trade if the disc is cracked at all. True story, I've taken out a UMD from it's case to check in, and in the process actually cracked the UMD itself. It happens, often. The guy got his money though, don't worry.

Regardless, UMDs are moot now, since the PSP GO doesn't use them. So where do all of your games music and movies go?
Onboard hard drive, brilliant. It's a flash memory so it runs nice and fast and can transfer quick. But hey wait, if I download a game, and run out of space, what do I do?

Well, if you've purchased the game before, you can re-download it as many times as you'd like, you can also save the actual game onto a pc or mac and transfer it back and forth however you'd like. (You see how the piracy starts?)

PSP classics. They cost about $5-6 a piece, and these I actually buy. The original Resident Evils, the original Dino Crisis. Basically, if it was on the PS1, you can download it to your PSP GO, kinda brilliant. They have onboard memory cards, screen size adjustments, the classic games with all the expansions, a pretty slick way to change discs, basically if you buy a PSP GO just for the PSPone classics, you're getting your moneys worth.

Now I mentioned the small size, and you might be wondering if that small size affects gameplay. Well, I have larger hands, and sure the shoulder buttons are a bit of a stretch, so I kinda lay my finger over them. But now remember, most PSP games make use of the d pad or buttons to control the camera, so basically you move with the analog stick (which is much smaller but much more responsive on the go), and you control the camera with the face buttons. It's a little smaller in width than the DS lite, but the size is what really sold me. You can basically hide a PSP GO inside of the old PSone. brilliant. It works almost like a Sidekick in the sense that the screen is on top, and you slide out the buttons from underneath. I have the tendency to hide the buttons during cut scenes or movies, and pop it out when needed.

Movie player, same as PSP, just a basic but solid player. The sony store has a slick system for renting/buying movies. Basically if you rent it, you pay $3 and you have a week to watch it, within that week if you start to watch it you have 24hours to finish it. Or pay $10 to buy the movie straight up, or convert your dvds into .m4p format and transfer them on and ignore the whole ordeal.

Music player, nothing fancy but you won't want to take up space with music. On average the games are 600mb to 1.3 gbs, which isn't terrible considering you'll have to pirate or buy each one.

My last lie about the PSP GO I'd tell people "not every game for the PSP will be released for the GO". Totally not true, every single PSP game, and some you can't buy in stores, is available for purchase on the sony store, and get this, you're paying whatever you'd pay for the game new in stores.

I think the marketing and sudden approach of Sony is what almost killed the GO. If people were able to experience it, they'd understand that it's a pretty innovative system with some good ideas, and a really bright future. Unfortunately that future will only be experienced by people willing to take the leap, and there aren't that many willing.