Going, Going, Gone? PSP Go Production Ceased
Any PSP talk over the last few months has been related to either the PSP2 (aka the NGP) or the European price-drop of the PSP. The PSP GO has not been in the press for while and if the most recent rumors are to be believed, the device might soon be disappearing from headlines altogether.
According to a blog post penned by a Japanese Sony shop worker, production has ceased on the poorly-received handheld console. The employee said that his manager had been told by Sony that the PSP Go was no longer in production. The post, translated by blogged Andriasang, also points to the fact that the PSP Go is ‘out of stock’ on Sony's Japanese Sony Store website.
The PSP Go never quite reached the heights of popularity experienced by the original PSP and Sony has even gone on record as saying it was more of an experiment than anything else. Now it seems the company is finally ready to let the UMD-less portable go. When asked by Eurogamer about the Japanese blogger’s claims, Sony did not confirm or deny anything.
"It is a very exciting time for PlayStation portable devices. Before the end of the year we are launching NGP, our next generation portable device, which we believe will revolutionize portable gaming."
"In the meantime, the current generation of PSPs continue to be in demand, especially since the introduction of our value for money, Essentials range of games and we will continue to meet that demand."
The PSP Go currently retails for $199 in BestBuy and GameStop. It debuted at $249 when it launched in 2009.
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Yay?
and nothing of value was lost
I guess u can call it PSP Go-ne.
ba-dum tiss
why would you get anything that has faster graphics and clear HD quality on something less than 10". Even I have trouble playing WoW on my Alienware M11X R2. The screen is small and the freakin' hands touch too close when I do arenas
I also think she's being discontinued because in my country there are just a few left and the stores are selling them cheap. I bought one less than a week ago for around $100.
Well you know it's not exactly a bad move when no'one in the world cares that production has stopped.
I can't wait for the NGP however, Christmas is sorted for me!
Go go go!
No surprise; You had to have internet to get your games, you could only buy them, didn't have a memory slot... All goodies of the PSP removed!
What people are looking for is exactly the opposite. An open system that has storage space, and can run DOS and old windows games on the go, with enormous battery life.
Not a midget sized consolepad with a screen mounted on, that has a battery life of a few hours.
The PSP Go was quite the failure for several reasons. The lack of the UMD is the most obvious but one of the major factors is that it just came way too late. By the time of its release the PSP had already gone through several versions all with UMD. So by the time the PSP Go came out almost anyone who truly wanted a PSP already had one. But it gets worse as this also ties into the other major problem of the no UMD this means all PSP owners have no logical reason to get the Go for any reason as they will not be able to use their existing library of games.
If Sony ever decided to try this again I would hope that they just release two models at the same time. One with UMD and the other without. The one without however should be presented as a ease of use as well as offer a discount on game prices (as this would be much cheaper to distribute the games than though UMD) Also to assure people that they can re-download games anytime for no extra cost even if something unfortunate happened to their original handheld console. Perhaps throw little extras here and there as well such as free DLC for that version. This way there is reason for people to buy it and it become the norm and by then it and any future products would sell naturally thus ending the physical media completely.
Then Sony can simply higher game/media prices and stop providing the extras as now gamers would willingly fall into the trap.
Quick note, ever wonder why digital versions of things cost the same if not more than a actual retail copy? Because your buying it at that price. This also applies to the now $60 price-tag on games. If people did not buy it for that price it would be forced to be marked down. (even more so retail copies as they take up space that needs to eventually be re-stocked of a new item)
Can't say I'm at all sad to hear this. The PSP Go was a huge flop due to a number of things. I'd chalk it up mostly to the lack of UMD and the unability to mod it which was a HUGE thing for the PSP and the reason I still have mine and play it. Being able to carry around all my retro games (NES,SNES,Genesis and Mame as well as Neo Geo) makes it irreplaceable. Add to that the fact that I can take all of the games I legally bought back them up to my external hard drive and then just carry a few of them with me on the memory stick along with everything else is just icing on the cake. Last but not least would be playing movies,tv and music right from the memory stick. Granted I do have my netbook and use that on most long trips (train or if I carpool with some friends and it's not my turn to drive) but for just commuting to work on the city bus (gas is WAY too expensive in my area to bother driving to work) it's the perfect thing. Throw on an episode of family guy and chill and when the episode is over I'm at the front door of my work.
If the PSP Go had had the simple feature of being able to run 3rd party apps like emulators it would have soared but not having that plus the lack of UMD was it's death knoll
They couldn't run Homebrew and Pirate software on it is why it died. My old psp with m33-6 gets played that much i had to buy a new battery for it. I will be buying generation 1 of the psp2 with the hopes someone manages to crack the thing. Portable ps3 player....Yelp i think so.
I guess there wasn't much of a point in having a UMD-less PSP.