UK retailers express doubt over PSPGo

of course they'd say that, there's no market for them after selling the device

Who wants a Cartman console anyway?

Originally Posted by proxess
Who wants a Cartman console anyway?

Trey and Matt? Maybe?

Yeah, this isn't a surprise.

PSP doesn't have enough demand as it is, let alone doing a Nintendo and adding more slightly different versions to the market.

Unless the software improves dramatically, I don't see this going very well for Sony.

We've got a Chips in our town (Ashford in Kent), great games shop actually, the guys in there know what they're talking about and sell all sorts of stuff, from old Snes consoles to game memorabilia and so on... ironically i've been in there when they've sold a psp :P

Yeah, way too expensive.

Chips have been round for years, its where i spent my saturdays as a kid playing all the latest megadrive game and snes games over 18 years ago.

Chips are not very cheap and im surprised they are still around.

Sure they need to reduce the price considering you cant buy current UMD games for it. At the moment its not worth while, because the only PSP games available to download at the moment are old games and cost double online that what you can buy the UMD for.

Id consider to change my Phat for this but not at the current price. Should be less than £100 with the loss of the UMD drive, mind you it does have 16GB memory built in.

I can't see this product taking off, it's positioned awkwardly between the Nintendo DS and the iPhone.

It is outstandingly overpriced - I know it has 16GB of flash onboard, but that costs a pittance nowadays, and must surely be more than offset by the removal of the dead duck UMD drive and the reduction in total materials used and shipping weight etc. I guess the bill of costs will increase somewhat with the slider mechanism, but it can't cost much more to produce than a standard PSP can it? Anyway, Sony should be subsidising the nuts off these because Sony stands to pick up a lot more revenue share in future by using pure digital distribution, thereby reducing publishing overheads and cutting retailers out of the software distribution chain. I think unless they get the price down sharpish to more like £150, it's going nowhere.

Heck, if they released it at £99, they'd shift a lot more units and hopefully get enough developers interested and producing decent games that I'm sure the lifetime software sales would work in Sony's favour. Couple that with the opportunity for digitally distributed movies and TV episodes (they're already on the right track with the subscription Go!View service) and tighter PS3 integration, and you've got a winner.

At £250, however, it is a gigantic slice of rancid fail cake.

Originally Posted by mikeuk2004
Chips have been round for years, its where i spent my saturdays as a kid playing all the latest megadrive game and snes games over 18 years ago.

Chips are not very cheap and im surprised they are still around.

Sure they need to reduce the price considering you cant buy current UMD games for it. At the moment its not worth while, because the only PSP games available to download at the moment are old games and cost double online that what you can buy the UMD for.

Id consider to change my Phat for this but not at the current price. Should be less than £100 with the loss of the UMD drive, mind you it does have 16GB memory built in.

lol - the irony - cheap as Chips!

Agreed re price, but I'm sure they will have a stack more games for dl by launch. Otherwise it really would be a massive exercise in idiocy. As to the price of games, who knows...

say I purchased a PSP GO and it was lost/stolen or broke down......what happens to the games I'd purchased? could i just download them again to another PSP GO?

Originally Posted by Jamie
I can't see this product taking off, it's positioned awkwardly between the Nintendo DS and the iPhone.

Throw in the iPod touch and it gets really awkward!!

Steve

Yeah, it really does seem like a stupid move by sony, the PSP never really took off, I know maybe 2 people with one. If I were them I'd just scrap the whole handheld idea.

They could have done marvelous things with this bloody thing!!!! they could have made kiosk machines that shops could put around in which people could plug in their consoles (wired or wirelessly), select the game and pay with money or a credit card... then the kiosk machine would upload the game to the console and add that game to the user's account, the shop profits, the shop doesn't need to stock huge amounts of games, there would be no shortages of games and it maintains the buyer<->store system that has been the standard of game sales!

GOD DAMN YOU SONY!!!!

Originally Posted by DXR_13KE
They could have done marvelous things with this bloody thing!!!! they could have made kiosk machines that shops could put around in which people could plug in their consoles (wired or wirelessly), select the game and pay with money or a credit card... then the kiosk machine would upload the game to the console and add that game to the user's account, the shop profits, the shop doesn't need to stock huge amounts of games, there would be no shortages of games and it maintains the buyer<->store system that has been the standard of game sales!

GOD DAMN YOU SONY!!!!

Good point, also removes the risk of stock theft.

I don't understand how they came up with the price for that thing.

Consoles are mainly successful due to the way they are priced (sold far below production cost and then make up for it with overpriced games and accessoires) and looking at the Xbox, PS and Wii it works just fine...
So why did they not get the idea to apply the exact same pricing model to the PSPGo?

on further thought... f*** that, i bet that this system is patented to death and no one wants to touch it....>:(:(

We have a Grainger Games in Durham, I thought it was independent!

Originally Posted by naokaji
I don't understand how they came up with the price for that thing.

Consoles are mainly successful due to the way they are priced (sold far below production cost and then make up for it with overpriced games and accessoires) and looking at the Xbox, PS and Wii it works just fine...
So why did they not get the idea to apply the exact same pricing model to the PSPGo?

Actually for the Wii and the DS I think Nintendo makes a profit even on just selling the hardware.

But the point still stands...maybe Sony still think they're better than everyone else so think people will pay through the nose?

I recently dug out my PSP which had been gathering dust in a cupboard for the last year. Thinking that things would be massively better on the game front now, I charged her up and upgraded her to the latest firmware.

I then went online to the PlayStation Store to see what games might be out there for it. Relatively old games, most of which I considered to be overpriced. Exceptionally few that took my interest. I was expecting to see PSP versions of recent PS3 PSN games but I was disappointed.

So I also called into a local GAME store and looked at their (woeful) selection. Compared to the 3 shelves full of DS games, the PSP section was tiny, and the games in the top 10 were not exactly stunning. I would also say they were quite expensive for a 'failing' platform.

So all in all, I put the PSP back in the cupboard.

This new model has fail written all over it. I dont even think the PSP3000 model is worth what they are asking for it when the media catalogue is so dire, let alone the £200+ for this model and its over priced store.

A great shame really because the hardware itself (on the original models) was amazing compared to the under powered DS.

If however, there was a Very easy way to transfer recorded programs from my SKY+ box to the PSP, then that would be a killer app. I think their is something out there like it, but it appears to be only selected programs, and not what I record myself.

It's dead, they should just port the very best titles to other formats and scrap it, but I'm sure bullheaded Sony pride/arrogance will make them keep it.

its the most heavily pirated console if what websites say are true.

wether pspgo will sell in the uk i do not know, not a chips or granger games were i live anyway. Nearest one is 10mile away. Game is 1mile away.

own ds and psp + all 3 next gen consoles. Most played game i think was final fantasy on psp. £200 is alot for what it is though

I almost bought a psp but not for games. I found the controls on it a total nightmare to use. It would of made a decent portable player for movies and such. Could never bring myself round to forking out the cash for one and got a DS instead. DS was another disappointment tbh. Portable gaming is dead/dying. £30 for a brand new game that has little or no replay value? I miss the days of tetris and 5 in 1 games that where totally pointless but consumed hours of your time. Portable gaming tried to be an alternative to consol gaming with titles becoming "epic" It sorta failed and what portable gaming was about.....a guick 5min blast in the car.

I dont get the game argument, the catalogue is huge, and the PSP is far from dead.

Would you have said the xbox and the gamecubes were flops? The PSP has sold more units than both the xbox and Gamecube combined and still selling.

The Game boy and Game Boy Colour combined took 20 years to sell 118 Million. The PSP has been on sale for only 5 years and sold over 50 Million units.

How can anyone say it has flopped or died???

Yes the DS has sold 100 Million in the same time as the PSP, therefore selling at a rate of 2 to 1, but that still a huge market share Sony have and they would be a fool to back out.

If I was GAME, or any other store. I'd be reluctant to sell this console. I mean, the customers that bought it won't exactly be coming back to your store to buy games now, would they? The stores would just lose out on money, and Sony would gain. (if anyone actually buys this handheld).

Originally Posted by mikeuk2004
I dont get the game argument, the catalogue is huge, and the PSP is far from dead.

Would you have said the xbox and the gamecubes were flops? The PSP has sold more units than both the xbox and Gamecube combined and still selling.

The Game boy and Game Boy Colour combined took 20 years to sell 118 Million. The PSP has been on sale for only 5 years and sold over 50 Million units.

How can anyone say it has flopped or died???

Yes the DS has sold 100 Million in the same time as the PSP, therefore selling at a rate of 2 to 1, but that still a huge market share Sony have and they would be a fool to back out.

what about game titles?

When I'm not at home, it means I am busy somewhere, and if I'm not busy, I'm at home, where my gaming rig is, so personally I have never wanted a handheld console. This is just me personally, so no rants please.

That picture makes it look even more uncomfortable to hold than i originally suspected it would when i first saw it.

"Respect my authoritah!"