PSP, go...

I love it when people argue that digital distribution will lead to cheaper products cause they don't have to spend money on packaging. Well, that doesn't seem to be the case with the PSPGo. I'm guessing they're doing this primarily to prevent piracy. Same issue with the battery you have to send back to Sony to replace: they don't want another Pandora's battery situation. If they pull digital distribution in the future, what then? You have a useless paperweight for which you can never get new games or sell the ones you have?

Small screen, no way to backwards compatibilize UMDs you own ... umm.. NO SECOND JOYSTICK!

PSPGo is one of the biggest turkeys evah.

Yeah, not to derail the thread too much, but in regards to the digital content being cheaper than physical material...the average album download on iTunes is like $9.99 or $10.99. The CD is usually about the same, if not a dollar or so more. Yeah, that's big savings. DVDs are about the same. I was on the Sony movie rental/purchase site, and one of the movies I wanted to watch I actually considered purchasing, and discovered that the price of the movie to buy was exactly the same as the DVD was.

CDs had to go down in price to compete, though. When digital distribution was first coming into its own, it wasn't unusual for CDs to be $17.99 or more at many stores, and I mean just regular new releases, not special editions or double disc sets.

Digital distribution probably won't lead to big savings for the consumer, but what it can potentially lead to is big savings for the developers. By cutting out the requirement of a publisher to get your game packaged and advertised and in those big box stores, we could potentially see (and are seeing, if you ask me) a lot more independent or smaller developers able to develop better games and get them out there through previously unavailable channels of distribution WITHOUT having to be beholden to a parent company.

That said, the PSPGo is a waste of time. If it cost less than the standard PSP, I might have understood, but its current price tag is an outright fuck you to consumers.

That's what sony does best.

The sad thing is, I was working at a record store when CDs first came out, and all the distributors in Billboard and the trade magazines would tell us, "I know they're expensive now, but just wait until every one owns a CD player. Remember how cheap cassette tapes got?" And then CD players got cheaper and cheaper, but CDs didn't. Then they said, "Hey, we're going to phase out this 'long box' packaging and just use the CD case itself. The CD prices will plummet!" Yeah, that didn't happen either. You mentioned $17.99...that's what our highest priced CD was when CDs FIRST APPEARED in the store 20-something years ago. I agree that digital did make an impact there, but overall, I think CD prices were one of the biggest cons that record companies ever came up with. The cost of the media plummeted, but the sale price barely moved in comparison.

Ok, I'm done. PSP go sucks, etc., etc.

Well yeah, that's kind of my point. The high price of CDs (I remember being a young lad paying fucking $18.99 for The Gray Race, which isn't even 40 minutes of music) at music chains and other stores was an enormous con, and I really think that once digital music started to hit big, that cost DID have to come down in order for them to compete. By that point I think it was already too late. Do stores like Sam Goody's even exist anymore?

Anyway, I think my other point about the genuine benefits we'll see from digital game distribution stands, as if you look at online storefronts like Steam and Impulse, and developers like 2D Boy and TellTale Games, we're already seeing the start of where we're going to go with this sort of thing.

Anyone else here notice how cheap 360 packaging is, compared to, say, PS2 packaging? I recently stumbled across the packaging for GTA: San Adreas on the PS2, and that thing is a brick. My 360 games are all packaged in what feels like some sort of box-shaped gel.

It's making it easier for me to imagine not owning hard copies of anything, which isn't a bad thing.

And yeah, the PSP Go looks and sounds like a terrible idea.

PS3 packaging strikes me as pretty flimsy, too. However, I distinctly remember accidentally monster-trucking my God of War 2 box the day of purchase (WITH THE DISC INSIDE) and freaking out only to find that it withstood my fat ass practically stomping on it.

And again, the PSP Go doesn't interest me in the least. Just seems like gimpware.

I don't think it's the case with the new XBox Live digital download setup, either. I think all of those games available are the same price as the physical version. So you pay the same price and don't have anything to sell or trade when you're done. Total savings for the developer, total shafting for the consumer. And let's be honest, you know they're not going to take those savings and invest them back into development, or use that money to take risks on small unique games. Or am I just being too cynical?

As for CDs, (I think) they actually still list at $17 or $18, they just get sold for a lot less. Growing up, I was actually fortunate enough to live near independent record stores that sold most CDs for $11. I felt really sorry for people that had to go to Camelot and Sam Goody and pay almost $20 for a CD. What a rip off.

The PSP Go just makes me scratch my head. The high price is like them shooting themselves in the foot. Sure, it's 'new', but it does the exact same thing. The smaller screen also... why did they do that except maybe to make it fit in the shell they wanted to use? And speaking of that shell, it's another reason why I wonder why the cost is so high. It's basically based on their old Mylo phone design so it's not like they had to put a ton of cash into R&D. Not that I know anything about the specifics, but it just seems like a lot of the stuff was based on things that already existed.

There's no incentive for current PSP owners to 'upgrade' and new users get stabbed in the back with a higher price nothing to really differentiate their experience. I don't get it... Are we supposed to get it?

I don't understand why Sony would overhaul the PSP, and not actually overhaul and improve the damn thing. Give us the second analog stick already, and make it a truly awesome portable machine. I'm not a big fan of the digital distribution. I understand why it is a great option, but I like hard copies of games. I also like the option of hard copies of games, and many retailers vying for my dollars and having sales. Having to buy through Sony means taking it up the ass when a game is selling for $40 online, but $20 in the store. See the Xbox On Demand line up.

Cost savings don't get passed on to consumers unless the seller has to do so. Why would he have to? Well, it could be a legal requirement. Or, more likely, it's competition from other options, or from used-game sales. With digital distribution, you don't have to worry about used-game sales because the consumer never actually owns a physical product, so you can feel free to go ahead and pocket any distribution savings. All you have to do is make sure you're as cheap as, or slightly cheaper than, alternative entertainment options.

My store only received 8 units. There was one presell and we sold 2 units yesterday. You just know that there will be people who don't realize that the thing doesn't play UMDs. For the one I sold I really wanted to tell the customer that for a few dollars more they could get a PS3 with 120gigs and blu Ray playing capability. But then, I was sold out of PS3s.

I've no idea what this particular console brings to the table.

The original PSP had a fantastic huge screen. So that's gone. It had terrible controls, but that's ok - we'll put them closer together on the Go to make it even harder to use. Don't worry though - that bluetooth they added allows you to use the PS3 controller with it! It sounds almost as comfortable (and practical) as attempting to use a DS3 at the same time as the new motion wand thing on Resident Evil 5. Except you'll need to prop your PSP up to use it AND take a DS3 around with you!

What about those UMDs everyone foolishly bought? No worries, Sony's forgetting all about those. Especially the fact the games for them were wonderfully cheap second hand! A custom adaptor for USB? That's handy! Now i'd have to carry that thing around with me. But if you're worried about carrying around more crap, like - you know, a spare battery to replace the notoriously unreliable PSP ones, you're in luck! You don't have to - because they're non-replaceable.

There's no phone. No touch screen. No motion sensor. No camera. No innovation, or even a lacklustre attempt at a design gimmick.

If you buy this, you're mad.

If not for the Kindle, I'd call it the worst high profile tech gadget I've seen this year.

At least the Kindle's an ambitious failure and kinda does what it says it does on the tin. The PSPGo is unimaginative, doesn't achieve anything new and still lacks the second analogue nub. I'd say it's borderline broken that amount of RSI that thing causes.

The Kindle is an abomination before Odin. It is a DRM laden mess which basically means you never own anything you buy, can never sell it, and if the system ever shuts down, or breaks, or you buy a new one, or they decide they don't like you, they can take it all away. And they will. It uses a ridiculous proprietary file format that is useless everywhere else, and you can't import anything, ever. Nor is there an effective way to export what you've bought and paid for. It doesn't read .pdfs? Fuck that shit. It's expensive, even though as far as I can tell the physical construction is shoddy and prone to breakage, and the screen fairly small and not that great.

It is a product that is basically designed from the ground up to frustrate the user's ability to freely use and benefit from something they bought, and to keep all of the actual decision making in the hands of the company that purportedly sold it.

These reviews pretty much sum it up:

http://www.amazon.com/Kindle-Amazons...rBy=addOneStar

The PSPGo's DRM protected games are only useable on one PSP. This includes if you break the PSP and get a new one - you cannot move them to the new device - unlike the PS3!

Therefore, both devices are smothered in DRM nightmares - yet only one has the FINGERFUCK NUB OF JUSTICE.

I'm going to call it the PSPGoFuckYourself.

Similar problems with the Kindle. If your Kindle breaks, you don't even have the option of repairing it: you get a new one. You cannot transfer ANY of the periodicals you purchased, and if the book offered is no longer sold (which apparently is very, very common), even though you purchased it, you've lost it forever. The same thing happens if you upgrade your Kindle.

Does it have an analogue nub that causes thumb retardation? If so, it's not more awful than this travesty.

I do concede to how bad the Kindle is, but the Go really does take it to new heights. A games console that punishes you for playing it?

When I first read the specifications for the Go, my first thought was this: "Nobody in their right mind would buy a worse version of a product that can be found cheaper at any used game store." My second thought was "Fuck ... they will ... they probably will."

Destructoid offers very amusing (and kind of sad) personal account of whats ins tore for those who purchase this torture device:

http://www.destructoid.com/diary-of-...0666.phtml#ext

No wonder I bought Persona on UMD today....and got a free OST with it, how about that, Sony?

On the last Listen Up podcast one of the guys was saying they're really looking forward to this because it fits in your pocket.

...

The developer still needs to make their game. Considering that costs in game development are growing its doubtful that they will be saving much by not having a publisher. Also you generally have the problem that after a while digital distribution will be information overload at a certain point. The possiblility of thousands of games being avaliable at one time means knowing the game is from a name publisher will help more than just some no name indie game getting released.

This is probably a better time for indie devlopment than it will be in the future.

more like the PSPGoAway ammirite

http://www.destructoid.com/undead-kn...e-150623.phtml

I think this is a good example of the PSPGo fucking someone who isnt the consumer...seriously, the full game got released as a demo?

Sony's just doing a really good job of showing the consumer how convenient it is to just pirate instead.