Little enthusiasm for PSP Go

Having recently revived my interest in handheld gaming with a new DSi, I've been motivated to bring my PSP out of semi-retirement after relegating it to the back of a dusty drawer for several months.

It's easy to forget just how impressive a piece of kit Sony's handheld is. Released nearly five years ago, it was at launch, a technical marvel - a handheld that offered home console quality graphics and gameplay - and since it's launch nothing it still remains the most powerful handheld available.

However, in those five years developer support has dried up considerably. A combination of the success of Nintendo's all-conquering DS, the failure of UMDs as a film format and heavy piracy rates have seen the PSP release schedule reduced to a trickle and relegated to the darkest, dustiest corners of stores.

Two minor handware revisions have failed to capture the public, and more importantly developer imagination, and so it was no surprise when Sony announced a more radical change to the handheld at E3, even if it left many scratching their heads as to the thinking behind it.

The PSP Go is smaller and lighter than the PSP and offers a neat slide out screen, which when not in use, hides the controllers and face buttons. It still doesn't tackle the lack of a second analogue nub which has long crippled first and third person games, but more surprisingly Sony have done away with the UMD drive.

The PSP Go is a download only machine, with games purchased from the Playstation Store saved on the handheld's 16gb of internal memory.

Taking the success of Apple's iPhone as a gaming platform as an influence, Sony's decision to scrap UMDs remains a strange one. The PSP Go will offer less functionality than the PSP, which already supports downloadable games as well as having the benefit of a UMD drive.

Sony have offered vague whispers about a 'goodwill service' that will somehow let upgraders to the PSP Go transfer their solid state UMD games to their new console but just how they intend to do this remains a mystery. When they revealed their intention to continue production and support of the PSP alongside the PSP Go, Sony appeared to sabotage their own console before it's even been launched - and that was before they announced the price.

Retailing at €250, the PSP Go will be up to €80 more expensive that the PSP, offering less features and a smaller screen. While Sony will point to the increased portability and 16gb of in-built memory it's going to remain a hard sell to both upgraders and potential new customers.

Along with the task of selling the product to consumers, Sony may well have a hard time convincing retailers to stock their new handheld. Game stores make most of their money, unsurprisingly, from game sales and with the PSP Go by-passing the retailer entirely, offering only downloadable games, there has been little enthusiasm behind the machine.

In a recent interview with Edge magazine, Don McCabe of Chips gamestore said: ' From my point of view I’ve got to think, "Do I want to stock this?" Right now I can’t see any justification for stocking it. 'Certainly I’m not getting the response from consumers. Normally when a new piece of kit is launched or announced I’ll get a multitude of people saying ‘As soon as that comes out I want one of those.’ [Potential] first adopters are on the phone within seconds of it being announced and you’ve got your pre-orders. I don’t have a single pre-order for PSP Go at the moment.' 'Right now I would have to say that it’s not our intention to stock the product at this point in time,' he added.

With little over three months to go until the PSP Go's launch, Sony would appear to have their work cut out with the console.

Rob Wright