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Forums - Sony - Ars PSP Go review: Sony charging much more for much less

nightsurge on 02 October 2009

I searched and didn't find this article so if it was already posted, someone let me know.

http://arstechnica.com/gaming/reviews/2009/10/psp-go-review-sony-is-charging-you-much-more-for-much-less.ars

A brief recap:

We've finally had a chance to get to know the PSP Go in detail, and here are our thoughts: this isn't aimed at a clear market, it's more expensive in every way, and it takes away the choice of gamers. When your older, cheaper hardware is better and more able than your new offering, you need to fire some designers.

The new, UMD-less PSP Go is an absolute dream for Sony. Since it lacks a way to play games purchased at retail, Sony gets to set the prices for every piece of content bought on the system. Who cares if the store down the street has a game for $10 cheaper? You can only get your games from one place; competition with discounting and used games is gone. Sony will now be selling you every game that goes into the Go's 16GB of storage, and without the ability to buy or sell used games, Sony now owns every single piece of the market with this system. And without an easy way to switch the battery for hacking purposes, piracy won't be as easy.

Like we said, the PSP Go is great for Sony. For the rest of us, retailers included, no so much.

We bought our system at retail, and there was no line, no risk of a sellout, and no signage or posters in the store hyping the system. It was the most mellow system launch you'll find in this business. The unboxing was impressive, and it's easy to be impressed with how sexy and sleek the PSP Go looks. But now that we've had a day or so to play with it, it's clear that Sony's new portable is nothing but raw deal after raw deal. The complaints are numerous, the slights against consumers are many, and the hardware is flawed. On top of these issues is a price point that's so high it seems like a sick joke in the current economy. The PSP is a great system and a strong platform. The PSP Go is a terrible, terrible deal for everyone but Sony.

The Good

  • The screen is beautiful in action
  • Clicky, responsive buttons
  • Hardware is aesthetically pleasing
  • The pause function is great
  • Bluetooth headset, to use with your bluetooth headset, PS3 controllers, or to tether to your cell phone
  • Sound is strong using the built-in speakers

The Bad

  • The system can't download games while you're doing other things
  • Way too expensive
  • Absolutely no way to play any of your existing games
  • Controls are cramped
  • Smaller screen
  • Games tend to be more expensive than retail, while getting less
  • No competition in pricing for games
  • No way to sell games you buy
  • None of your cables or accessories will work, barring headphones
  • Screen is wasted while closed, only shows clock, calendar

The Ugly

  • Waiting hours to download a patch, charge your batteries, buy a game, download your game, and then install your game, and then finally... guess what? playing your game! 
  • Your system can already do what this system claims to do, and better. Minus the bluetooth and the 16GB of internal storage, this is a step back in every way
  • If Sony continues this trend expect a $500 PS3 that doesn't play Blu-ray discs

Verdict: Skip

Hit the link to read the rest:

http://arstechnica.com/gaming/reviews/2009/10/psp-go-review-sony-is-charging-you-much-more-for-much-less.ars

 

 

Their final verdict was a big SKIP.

What do you guys think?



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thekitchensink on 02 October 2009

Anyone else think Sony will pull a Game Boy Micro with the PSP Go?



Could I trouble you for some maple syrup to go with the plate of roffles you just served up?

Tag, courtesy of fkusumot: "Why do most of the PS3 fanboys have avatars that looks totally pissed?"
"Ok, girl's trapped in the elevator, and the power's off.  I swear, if a zombie comes around the next corner..."
V-r0cK on 02 October 2009

Either you love it or you hate it.



griffinA on 02 October 2009

The question has to be this: Did Sony expect anything different?



"Pier was a chef, a gifted and respected chef who made millions selling his dishes to the residents of New York City and Boston, he even had a famous jingle playing in those cities that everyone knew by heart. He also had a restaurant in Los Angeles, but not expecting LA to have such a massive population he only used his name on that restaurant and left it to his least capable and cheapest chefs. While his New York restaurant sold kobe beef for $100 and his Boston restaurant sold lobster for $50, his LA restaurant sold cheap hotdogs for $30. Initially these hot dogs sold fairly well because residents of los angeles were starving for good food and hoped that the famous name would denote a high quality, but most were disappointed with what they ate. Seeing the success of his cheap hot dogs in LA, Pier thought "why bother giving Los Angeles quality meats when I can oversell them on cheap hotdogs forever, and since I don't care about the product anyways, why bother advertising them? So Pier continued to only sell cheap hotdogs in LA and was surprised to see that they no longer sold. Pier's conclusion? Residents of Los Angeles don't like food."

"The so-called "hardcore" gamer is a marketing brainwashed, innovation shunting, self-righteous idiot who pays videogame makers far too much money than what is delivered."

nightsurge on 02 October 2009
thekitchensink said:
Anyone else think Sony will pull a Game Boy Micro with the PSP Go?

What's a GameBoy Micro?  Is that the last remake of the GameBoy Advance hardware that looked just like an NES controller with a screen in the middle and was released like after the DS was?

EDIT:  Found a picture and it was what I had remembered!



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KillerMan on 02 October 2009

Although financially Go can't flop because Sony makes so much money per system. (probably cheaper to manufacture than 3000). Even if they sell under million Go's this year they already make some nice profit (over 70$ per system?)



Grimes on 02 October 2009
KillerMan said:
although financially Go can't flop because Sony makes so much money per system. (probably cheaper to manufacture than 3000). Even if they sell under million Go's this year they already make some nice profit (over 70$ per system?)

You also have to factor in things like R&D, production tooling, network infrstructure, marketing, support and other costs. It's not so clear once you add in all the costs.



Anyone can guess. It takes no effort to throw out lots of predictions and have some of them be correct. You are not and wiser or better for having your guesses be right. Even a blind man can hit the bullseye.

nightsurge on 02 October 2009
KillerMan said:

Although financially Go can't flop because Sony makes so much money per system. (probably cheaper to manufacture than 3000). Even if they sell under million Go's this year they already make some nice profit (over 70$ per system?)

I thought the high overhead of profit was reserved for the retailers, though.  I think the only way this benefits Sony is by eliminating used sales and controlling price points for every Go game sold.



880user088 on 02 October 2009

currently, PSP go's life time is : only 1 day.

comeback after 6 months and take a look at it again. it will be great.



KillerMan on 02 October 2009
nightsurge said:
KillerMan said:

Although financially Go can't flop because Sony makes so much money per system. (probably cheaper to manufacture than 3000). Even if they sell under million Go's this year they already make some nice profit (over 70$ per system?)

I thought the high overhead of profit was reserved for the retailers, though.  I think the only way this benefits Sony is by eliminating used sales and controlling price points for every Go game sold.

Retailers probably will get bigger profit from Go than from 3000 but I still think that Go has also more air in the price. 80$/€ is just so big difference.