Be Excellent To Each Other

Seriously, it's almost like they *want* the PSPgo to fail. Can anyone think of any points of contention I missed? If so, I'll add 'em in.

Edit: promises not to post any links for a while.

I love Goodge. And his Ar Guide may be the best one yet.

My biggest point of contention is the closed games market - get a PSPGo and you get to download games from Sony, at a price set by Sony and by the terms insisted upon by Sony. You do have to ask yourself what it is you're actually buying when you buy your games from Sony, because it isn't a physical copy of the game you're free to resell, lend to mates or let go dusty in the loft for 10 years until you rediscover it. How long are Sony required to keep your purchase available should you delete it and want to play it again at some later date? If Sony set the price point, will older games become cheaper, or will the price remain static - where's the competition? Will games be forwards compatible - as in if you spend £500 for games now when Sony inevitably release PSPGo2! will your games still work, or will you be lumbered with an obsolete, unsupported piece of hardware and no games to play on it? If, for some reason Sony decide to cancel the service, or specifically your account, how are you protected?

The same is true with all of these download services. I've spent a fair bit of money (MS Points) on XBLA which puts me at the mercy of Microsoft. As more and more content is delivered digitally (books, music, games, DVDs etc.) I think there's going to need to be a big review of consumer rights because as it stands the law seems to favour anti-competitive and anti-consumer practices.

Which reminds me, I must get around to writing to my MP about this

All very true EoE.

Plus, they're charging exactly the same price for PSPGo games. There's literally no incentive to go for the all digital version. Unless you think it makes you hip (but the iPod Touch already has that market cornered).

With the PSP Go, I'm pretty sure the Sony board have been watching The Producers on DVD, and have mistaken it for a documentary. It's quite simply the most doomed piece of hardware I've seen since the Sega 32X. The only way the entire "all your physical PSP games are now worthless" model could have worked is if the actual unit undercut the DS by a decent margin, say £69.99, while offering a decent performance boost from the PSP-3000. While they'd be selling the hardware at a huge loss, they might have possibly tricked a lot of people into signing up for their online store, the price of each game sold wouldn't have a slice taken out of it by those pesky retailers, and the 'pre-owned' market simply wouldn't exist for your new console. Bad news if you're a consumer, but excellent news if you're a megaglobalcorporation like Sony.

But no, it's largely the same (save for the slightly less infuriating control pad and the fact it might possibly fit in your pocket), and 60% more expensive before you buy a single game. And when you do buy a game, it's a rubbishy PSP game. Jeez!

There really ought to be a sweepstake on which stupid idea Sony will come up with next. An MP3 player that will only let you play artists on the Sony BMG label, or which will only be compatible with VAIO computers? A Blu-Ray player that only works with Sony Pictures Entertainment films? A television set that won't allow an Xbox to be connected through HDMI or component sockets? A mobile phone that forces you to use micropayments before each call? How the ruddy hell did such a vast company put someone so stupid in charge? It's like me being appointed Prime Minister. Their incompetence has led to a (non-handheld) console war where Microsoft are seen as the good guys. Fucking HELL.

The sad part of it is that some will still buy it and consider it the Best Thing Evar.

yeah not that many tho, Dimz.

I mean I rate the PSP* over the DS a lot. I think the DS is more or less shit games-wise, whereas the PSP is a Playstation that you can put in a large pocket.

But I'd rather piss eyes out of my eyes than buy a Go.

* hacked, natch.