Sony of America via Joystiq

We are continuing production of PSP Go for North America.”

That’s pretty cut and dry although how long will it stay in production? Sony is likely focusing mainly on the radically different NGP, so the current PSP offering is likely on its way out anyway. But as it stands right now, the PSP Go is still shipping to the US.

Andriasang points out that it’s not to be found on Sony’s Japanese website, and MCV UK says stores have received notice not to expect any new shipments. That the Go was never popular is on the record: it was criticized for its abandonment of the UMD format, and launching without a clear plan for converting existing games or getting new ones via PSN.

Sony later suggested the PSP Go was an experiment, but I don’t think anyone bought that. Nobody bought the console, either: some indications had it selling less than 20,000 units in all of Japan during 2010.

The end of the PSP Go hasn’t been denied by Sony, though they haven’t announced it either. Our guess? Fire sale, and then let us never speak of it again.

[via 1up]

We can’t say we’re very surprised: Sony announced [JP] a substantial price cut for the PSP Go today, both in the USA and Japan. In the States, the handheld will officially cost $199 by the end of this month, according to Reuters. Amazon has it already listed for the new price, while Sony’s official Playstation website still shows a $249 price tag as of this writing.

In Japan, Sony has been selling the PSP Go for $335 so far and is now ready to push down the price to $211, effective as early as tomorrow. That’s right, the price will be slashed by a whopping $124 or 37% in this country. Sony didn’t say anything about possible price cuts in Europe and other markets.

The PSP Go was launched in the US on October 1 last year, followed by Japan one month later. Sony has been suffering from disappointing sales numbers since then, especially in Japan.

Hmm. I guess I can’t blame them for trying. The world of content distribution is changing, of course, and disc-based platforms are, in the words of EA’s Peter Moore, a “burning platform.” But the way Sony went about trying to change that platform downright ridiculous. The PSP Go had little in the way of compelling features and cost significantly more — and then there was the whole issue of getting your library of games onto the thing. Oh right, you couldn’t.

I mean, not that these numbers prove anything, but the PSP Go sold around 18,000 units in Japan during 2009. By comparison, the DS sold over 10,000 units per day in Japan. That’s pretty much a total failure.

But as CEO-man says of the worth of the PSP Go: “Is that measured by success in sales? I don’t think it is.” Well, I’m not sure I agree. But at least they’re willing to admit the Go isn’t what consumers had in mind. They were considering a re-launch, but… somehow I doubt that would make any difference. Is this a CYA moment, or do you think they were legitimately just testing the waters?

[via iPodNN]

Last month, we reported that according to some rumors in the industry, Sony is seriously considering relaunching their portable gaming device, the PSP Go, with a price cut and marketing campaign.  And today, Tokyo-based research firm Media Create released [JP] the latest hardware sales numbers for Japan, one of the biggest video game markets in the world.

And these numbers indicate that sales-wise, the PSP Go is poised to go down as the biggest failure in recent video gaming history: According to Media Create, a mere 1,275 units were sold all over Japan between March 1 and 7. By way of comparison: The Nintendo DS Lite (not the DSi or the XL) found 4,316 buyers in the same time frame. The regular PSP (the best portable gaming device ever in my opinion), on the other hand, was the No. 1 console, selling 64,808 units in that week.

Sony was able to sell just 17,618 PSP GO [GER] in the ten weeks between December 28, 2009 and March 7, 2010 -  an almost unbelievably low number. Good for Sony that in the same time frame, 667,961 of the regular PSPs were sold, making that device the best-selling game system in Japan in 2010 (if you ignore the three-way split of the DS systems).

In Japan, the PSP Go currently goes for 26,800 Yen, a more than steep price when compared to the 16,800 to 19,800 Yen buyers have to pay for a PSP-300o or the 29,980 Yen a PS3 costs (10,000 Yen=$110).

It looks like the rumored price cuts, marketing campaigns and hardware changes don’t come out of nowhere.

My idea of market research is to browse various message boards to get a sense of what the people think. I recently found myself on a PSP message board—I’m a baller, you see—and discovered that the kids there (I assume they’re kids) now refer to the PSP Go as the PSP No. So yeah, Sony would do well to re-launch that bad boy.

The story comes to us by way of Gamervision, presumably a trustworthy Web site. “Someone close to Sony” told the site that the company is seriously considering re-launching the PSP Go. Sales haven’t been great and critical reception has been somewhat mixed. (My main complaint with the hardware is that it’s only 802.11b—it took 70 minutes to download Silent Hill: Shattered Memories a few days ago! I could have gone to the store and picked up the UMD in half that time.) So yeah, by all means, Sony, re-launch away.

What would a re-launch mean? A new marketing blitz and price drop, primarily. Really, all they’d need is a price drop (it’s about $100 more than the “regular” PSP), but a price drop without getting the word out is sorta pointless.

Of course, all of this is based on that lone person “close to Sony,” so don’t lose sleep over this.

Off the top of my head, the following are worth tracking down if you’re looking for fun PSP games: Final Fantasy: Crisis Core, God of War, Silent Hill: Shattered Memories, Gran Turismo, any of the Grand Theft Auto games, Metal Gear: Portable Ops, Jeanne d’Arc.

Feel free to leave your own suggestions in the comments. I’m not exactly a PSP expert.

Yeah, you probably could have guessed that one already, but now someone from Wedbush Morgan has said it, validating your opinion in the process. So the deal is that both Microsoft and Sony are likely to cut the price of their respective consoles this year, probably around summertime. The thing is, because Microsoft’s manufacturing costs are lower, it has the ability to lower the cost more than Sony does.

And what’s all this talk about Microsoft releasing an Xbox 360 with a 250GB hard drive? Could Microsoft be doing that to give Xbox gamers the illusion of still being “elite”? So says Mr. Wedbush Morgan analyst!

As for the PSP Go, Sony will have to cut the price for that to be relevant.

Sony’s in a weird spot with the PSP Go. It’s clearly aimed at early adopters, but you can only get so far relying upon early adopters. The device is supposed to help Sony user in the era of download-only games, but doing so will annoy its retail partners (Best Buy, Wal-Mart, etc.), partners it totally needs if it wants the PS3 to continue on its good run. If Sony says “full steam ahead!”on a download-only culture, why should Best Buy bother to stock Sony hardware? With no games to sell, it has no reason to sell the hardware.

Maybe it would be best if retail stores simply disappeared altogether?

So there’s an early preview of where consoles are going this year. I can’t think of too many really big games that are scheduled for this year… Mass Effect 2 in a few weeks? I’m totally drawing a blank here.

Flickr

“A source” has said that Logitech is working on a UMD drive add-on for the Go, which is a bit like a gas-powered engine add-on for an electric car. Logitech UK denied knowing anything about it, but Logitech USA and Sony have yet to comment.

I think it’s pretty funny, but somehow I don’t think Sony is laughing.

[via Kotaku]

Oh, dear. The first sales reports of the PSP Go started trickling out yesterday, and they were sorta so-so, let’s say. (It’s no PS3 Slim, that’s for sure!) More details have emerged today, and, again, the PSP Go isn’t exactly lighting the world on fire.

An online retailer, ShopTo (I guess it’s big in the UK), has characterized the PSP Go’s start as “slow.” You can’t get any more dire than that, I don’t think.

What could be holding the PSP Go back? Well, for one, the reviews weren’t great, so perhaps people got scared off. Two, $250, really? (It’s even more in Europe.) Three, maybe people just aren’t prepared to drop their physical media yet? (The 802.11b connection doesn’t exactly help when you’re trying to download 1.00GB+ games.)

Sony did ostensibly bundle the biggest PSP game ever, Gran Turismo, with the system in Europe, so it can’t be that.

Or, maybe, the PSP, from Day One, back in 2004 or 2005, was never meant to be?

So the PS3 Slim was an absolute monster at retail (look at us, using superlative adjectives on a Monday!), selling one million systems since its release. (Keep in mind that’s an old number by now.) How’s the PSP Go doing? It’s doing well, yes, but I don’t think we can call it a monster yet. Sales in the UK were up 120 percent in the week following its launch. We don’t have U.S. numbers yet. Sorry.

Are those numbers good? Yeah, they’re good, but, much like the PSP Go itself, they’re not out of this world or anything.

Sony Europe put out an OFFICIAL STATEMENT~! (yes, I’m ripping off Figure 4 Weekly) that reads:

PSPgo has performed in line with our expectations, driving 100 per cent incremental volume for the category and has benefited the broad PSP portfolio with PSP-3000 also enjoying a big lift. PSP software sales also having been a standout with both new releases GT PSP and FIFA 10 performing well.

Note that Sony said it’s performed “within” expectations; expectations weren’t exceeded. So I don’t know if we can attribute sales directly to the PSP Go, or to the pretty big releases in Gran Turismo and FIFA. Unlike the Europeans, I paid full price for my copy of Gran Turismo!

And now we play the waiting game vis-à-vis U.S. numbers.

Surely I’m not the only one who remembers Homer and the Sorny television?

The PSP Go has been out for, what, three or four days now, and it’s already been partially hacked. (Is that a record?) Amazing.

It looks to be some sort of save game exploit, but is such that, for now, doesn’t allow enough access to the hardware to support, say, the installation of custom firmware, and all that that implies. (Homebrew is a distinct possibility, though.)

There is, however, a nice bit of HELLO WORLD action for you:

In any event: how much do y’all want to be that the PSP Go will be totally hacked before Christmas?

Rumored for God knows how long, and teased for months, the Sony PSP Go is finally available at your friendly neighborhood retailer. We have one—well, I have one—and have been playing with it for a couple of days now. As such, consider this a review. Spoiler: It’s not bad, but not great either.

What is the PSP Go? Nearest I can tell, it’s Sony’s attempt to usher in the Download Era. No more visiting the local shop to buy Game 3: Yes, It’s a Sequel to the Sequel, or waiting for the UPS man to bring your Amazon or Newegg order. Nope, all you’ll have to do is fire up your device, which, in this case, is the PSP Go, connect to a virtual store, then download the latest game directly to the device’s storage. Congratulations, you’re now the proud owner of Game 3, all without having to leave the comfort of your home. The concept itself, I think, is fantastic, and has been used by the likes of Steam for some time now. Who needs a pile of discs, and their plastic shells, when all you want is the game itself? That’s my attitude, though I can totally understand when people say, “I want the disc!” Your business is your business, and who am I to judge how you want to play your games?

Even Sony recognizes that there’s bound to be more than a few people who aren’t quite ready to give up their discs, which is why the PSP-3000 isn’t going anywhere for a while. (In fact, there’s gonna be a wicked Gran Turismo bundle coming out later this month, which, if I didn’t already have an old PSP (and now the Go), I’d be all over.) Expect the PSP Go and PSP-3000 to co-exist for some time, just like how the Nintendo DS and GameBoy Advance co-existed for some time. Should the PSP Go prove to be any sort of success, I wouldn’t be surprised to see Sony axe the PSP-3000 in the future.

So that’s the philosophy of the PSP Go: a neat little device that’s able to download PSP (and PS One classic) games from the Internet.

While the philosophy is fine, and is one I subscribe to, the actual execution isn’t all there. If the PSP Go were a pro wrestling match, and I were using the Wrestling Observer five-star rating system (which I’ll be doing from now on with my reviews, thank you very much), I’d give the PSP Go a solid three point five (3.5) out of five stars. It’s not a perfect device, and it’s just shy of being very good; it’s good. (For comparison’s sake, I’d give the Zune HD a four point five (4.5) out of five: if only the screen were a little more legible in direct sunlight it would the best piece of hardware I’ve ever owned. It really is that good.)

So what’s wrong with the PSP Go? Let’s talk about what’s right first, then get into its shortcomings.

Eu gosto de…

• See you in Hell, UMDs. The UMD could be the worst disc format I’ve ever used. It’s clunky and brittle all at the same time (doesn’t it feel like a slight wind could shatter a UMD?), dreadfully slow, and, in 2009, entirely unnecessary. With flash storage being so cheap these, not to mention so fast, I’m very happy to see Sony kill of the UMD in the PSP Go. That’s right: If you didn’t already know, there’s no UMD drive in the PSP Go. At the moment, that means that your collection of UMD-based PSP games are 100 percent obsolete, provided you don’t plan on keeping a PSP-3000 (or older) handy. Sony has said that it’s planning some sort of trade-in program for the future, but it’s currently being held back by legal reasons. Or, if you’re a cynic, perhaps Sony wants us to buy Vice City Stories or Soulcalibur all over again, this time from the PlayStation Network?

• The general size and shape of the device. The PSP-3000 isn’t exactly huge, but unless you’re wearing Rocawear jeans you’re gonna have a hard time fitting it in your pocket. The PSP Go’s display has the same resolution as previous models (480×272), but on a smaller screen, so images “look sharper,” in layman’s terms. It slides open and shut sorta like the T-Mobile G1 (or pick your slider phone), but never feels like it’s going to break on you. The PSP Go also just looks neat, maybe not as neat as the Zune HD, but neat nonetheless; you tell it was recently designed, whereas the PSP-3000 looks so 2005 by this point.

• The screen. The screen, she is not bad. I played Gran Turismo, Rock Band, and Silent Hill (the PS One game), and all the games looked pretty good to me. I understand “pretty good” is more or less a worthless phrase, but at no point did I think, “Well this screen is rubbish.” Once again, playing the thing in direct sunlight just isn’t going to happen, but you probably assumed as much by now. Besides, I imagine playing this while on-the-go, as it were: on the train, at the airport, etc. If you’re on the Copacabana in Rio playing a portable video game system you may have to check yourself.

Eu não gosto de…

• The download speed. This, I feel, is the single worst part about the PSP G0: it only has 802.11b Wi-Fi! I’m sorry, is this 2003? For a system that’s supposed to usher in the dawn of a new era, this is the absolute dumbest thing Sony could have done. What’s the price difference between an 802.11b and 802.11g chipset? (The Rock: It doesn’t matter that the price difference is!) How much money did Sony lose already with the PS3, $400 zillion? Man up and go with 802.11g. Let me illustrate how slow this is, and keep in mind that I have the fastest residential Internet connection in the United States of America: Gran Turismo for the PSP weighs in at 937MB. It took 21 minutes to download the game, and a further 20 to actually install it. This is not good enough! At that point, I may as well have driven to the store, bought a physical copy of the game, stopped at Taco Bell, then watched a good chunk of The Ultimate Fighter all in the time it took to download and install.

• Game prices. Downloaded from PSN, Gran Turismo cost the same price as it does at retail stores: $39.99 (plus tax! bite me, New York state!) Couldn’t Sony throw us, say, a $5 discount because we’re not buying a physical item that costs money to produce, then ship, then sit on Wal-Mart’s shelves? Isn’t that one of the allures of downloading content, that it cuts out the middleman (the retail stores like Best Buy), and has zero costs associated with production? It’s not like there’s a truck that deliver the ISO from Sony’s servers to my PSP Go, a truck that needs gas, has a driver who’s on a salary, etc. These prices need to be lowered because, otherwise, what’s the point? I already said how it’s not terribly fast to download the game, and now it’s not any less expensive? Lame.

• The nub. If it’s at all possible, I will never use that thing. The physical location of the nub is fine, I have no problems there, but it just feels useless. (Needless to say, I’ve been using the D-Pad to play Gran Turismo, like I did in 1998 when the first game came out.) Would it be impossible to include an actual analog stick? (The D-Pad, for the record, feels more “clicky” than “pushy,” if that makes any sense.)

Conclusão

Again, using the Wrestling Observer five-star rating system, I’d give the PSP Go a fair three point five (3.5) out of five. It’s not going to light the world on fire like the iPhone or anything, but it’s not a huge bucket of fail either. The Wi-Fi is murderously slow, and for something that’s supposed to be all about downloads, well, I think that’s an oversight on Sony’s part. Once your games have downloaded, though, then you’ve got as much space on there as you want. The PSP Go comes with 16GB of built-in storage, which is expandable up to 32GB with the addition of a Memory Stick Micro card. (Are there even 32GB of PSP games worth playing out there? So that’s plenty of space, unless you want to watch movies and whatnot, which I patently have zero interest in.)

So, not bad, but could have been a little bit better, absolutely.

While the PS3 Slim was a pleasant surprise in Sony’s increasingly baffling strategy in the gaming sector, the PSP Go is a dog. It’d be in the dustbin already if it weren’t Sony’s probable intention to make it the only handheld they make and move their PSP system entirely online. An interesting idea, but the PSP Go is a mighty poor start.

The new firmware update adds compatibility with the new MediaGo function, as well as with the upcoming change to the way PSP titles are published. The update will also make it possible for you to tether your PSP to any Bluetooth connection (mobile phone, PC, etc) and game online when you don’t have access to a wifi.

Included in the update (in a way) is the upgrade to the PSP store online. Sony is changing the look of the store in order to make sure that it works properly with MediaGo, which is a PC application that will enable you to organize and transfer your music, movies, and photos to the PSP/PSPGo. It will also enable you to purchase and download software from the Playstation Store using your computer, as an alternative to downloading using your actual device.

Over, it’s quite impressive for a combination firmware update and store refresh. But the PSP Go is still overpriced.

Oh, Sony. You’re so close to being back, and then this happens. As you all know, the PSP Go comes out next week, and judging by all the random unboxings I’ve seen on various message boards—maybe CrunchGear’s PSP Go got lost in the mail? It’s not like we haven’t been writing about the bloody thing for ages now, lol!—it looks like a fine, fine piece of hardware. The kicker, though, is: what happens to all those UMD games we’ve bought over the years? The original plan was to have some sort of trade-in or transfer program, whereby for every UMD you bought, you’d get a code to download the game. (Remember, there’s no UMD slot in the PSP Go, so all games have to be downloaded onto the device’s memory.) Turns out there’s a small glitch.

Sony told Kotaku that it cannot move forward with the trade-in program because of “legal and technical reasons.” So if you buy a PSP Go the day it comes out, then you won’t be able to trade-in, say, Soulcalibur, for a downloadable code or whatever. That’s bad, yes.

Now, that isn’t to say that your UMDs are, henceforth, totally useless, it’s just that Sony couldn’t figure everything out in time for the system’s launch. Maybe in the future everything will be A-OK, but for the time being, yeah, we’re boned.

Sony says that, once all the Is are dotted and Ts crossed, it’ll announce what’s up. I just hope, for Sony’s sake, that it figures something out that’s not altogether a slap in the face to the people who’ve bought UMDs over the years. That’s not a way to keep these people’s business.

I just want to see Sony’s swagger back, for the good of the industry as a whole. Screwing up the PSP Go’s launch is not conducive to swagger-getting.

Want Fieldrunners but don’t have an iPhone or Touch? You’re in luck — if you’ve got a PSP Go. The long-overdue tiny games market for the PSP is going to be launching, starring low-priced, sub-100MB games called Minis. 100MB is actually extremely generous; every game for a 16-bit system was far below that, and freeware games like Cave Story and La-Mulana (though both getting high-def remakes) are far below the limit as well. You can bet there’ll be some gems on this service.

Even if there isn’t too much developer interest at first, there are a fair number of iPhone games that can be ported over. Pricing is expected to be between $1 and $5, like most iPhone games. Man, if I had a PSP Go I’d be happy as hell right now; this could be a really fruitful marketplace.

[via 1up]

Look what just showed up on Amazon. That’s right, it’s the PSP Go, ready for pre-order for $248.99. That’s a deal, too—you save an entire dollar. That’s red-hot.

There’s really nothing too crazy going on here. The white model is the full $249.99, so no idea what’s that about.

I don’t know, I’m still on the fence with this one. If Sony were to go out of its way to insure that a tremendous amount of PS1 games were available to download, not just a smattering of meh titles, then I could see this being a pretty great little system. Imagine playing a little Gran Turismo or Crash Bandicoot or whatever while on the god-awful 7 Train in New York.