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Denver, 5:25 PM
Wed Dec 9
60 posts in the last 24 hours
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11/25/09
11/25/09
11/25/09
How long of pure play did it take to hurt?
Or are you just spouting bullshit because a) its cool to dislike the Go or b) because you dont have one, and everyone knows, if you dont own somthing, its clearly shitty.
11/25/09
11/25/09
The Go, like the GBA Micro, is clearly made for those interested in increased portability. Not much else. Both had their benefits and flaws. To act like there are no design flaws is just as bad as the bullshit you were talking about. Nothing is without them.
11/25/09
I've just not noticed any hand cramp at all, thinking about it, I do rest it on my fingers the arch my thumbs over it, however, my hands are pretty big so I think it might be the way people are comfortable playing rather than hand size thats the problem.
But yea, I agree with you, its for portability, but also style, if a handheld was to be purely based on comfort, it'd be a GC controller with a screen attached. (god damn that'd be awesome).
11/25/09
11/25/09
11/25/09
I think PSPgo's problem is it's price and availability/pricing of games. Kingdom Hearts in Japan is looking to be a UMD only release which is a major blow to me.
anyway, I am into this cradle think I will pick it up!
11/25/09
#speakup
11/25/09
11/25/09
#speakup
11/26/09
11/26/09
11/26/09
11/18/09
This is how Sony's been treating customers who bought the 'premium' version of their system. I love my PSPgo, but I hate Sony over how they've dealt with the whole thing.
11/18/09
On the other hand the game itself looks fantastic, mind blowing how good it looks on PSP.
11/18/09
11/18/09
This is just a guess, but most digital only platforms need these kind of enforcing.
11/19/09
11/19/09
11/18/09
More interesting, is the use of the the mockup PSPgo picture. Don't they have press imagery for that thing playing LBP yet?
11/18/09
11/18/09
11/18/09
11/18/09
11/18/09
11/18/09
BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
11/18/09
11/18/09
If the existing versions of digital distribution from Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo and the exorbitant pricing of older titles on PSN are any indication, then the big releases will be selling at full price for years to come.
11/18/09
You also have to remember that pricing isn't always up to Sony and price negotiation can be tricky business.
11/18/09
Ghostbusters and Guitar Hero Metallica are much better examples. They both came out earlier this year. They're both on clearance for about $20 each at Target, an average of six months after release. Ghostbusters is also $20 at Game Crazy...and so are Metroid Prime Trilogy, Punch-Out, Resident Evil 5, and Prototype. All recent games, all less than a year old, all major releases...and all about a third of their original pricing.
The turnover in retail stores is immense - unless it's a first party or flagship title, they'll be lucky to still be on the shelves in Target a year after release. The turnover is slower at more specialized stores like Best Buy and GameStop, but it still happens.
With digital distribution, there's no incentive to mark down games like that because they don't need physical space to store the games. We just haven't seen many markdowns on the console download services, and I don't see why Sony would treat the Go any differently unless the price cuts are absolutely necessary to keep the platform from dying an early death.
Right now, I'll believe it once I see it. The way Sony's treated digital media in the past, though, it's going to take a lot more than a handful of sales or markdowns to coincide with the launch and promotion of a new platform to convince me that they're serious about competitive pricing.
11/18/09
My view is that the lack of competitive pricing right across the DD scene is down to the infancy of the distribution method. I'm sure it won't be long before the threat of DD is so great to the retail markets that they are forced into joining the fray and at that point may end up knuckling the like of Sony to open up their DD market to their own services or something similiar.
Of course, before that can happen, DD must be allowed to grow and to do that it needs to be seen as a profitable method for distribution in all sectors and right now, that's not the case. This is probably why so many developers and publishers are hesitant to release their games through this channel of distribution.
Anywho, this is all conjecture and speculation on my part so take it for what it is. I'm not saying Sony has or hasn't delivered on their promises or that they've failed in some respects but I'm just trying to approach the issue with an open mind and a less-than-apocalyptic view.
11/18/09
I've made this point countless times here so I'll skip the links and drawn out explanation, but there are still big areas in the U.S. without affordable (or sometimes any) high speed internet. That's a big hurdle to overcome. Combine that with bandwidth caps, stories like this where Nintendo is effectively bribing people in the UK to get others to connect their consoles to the internet, or the fact that there's still a significant percentage (I can't find the figure, unfortunately) of people who never connect their consoles to the internet, and it seems to me that we're still not anywhere near the point where digital distribution can be the only option for purchasing games.
And lest we forget, there's consumer confidence issues too. Until they convince us that digital downloads are priced appropriately and worth the lost rights that come with a physical version (like the ability to resell or to buy used), there's still going to be some resistance to the change.
If the big retailers began to get into it, then that would definitely cause competition in the market. However, I don't see that happening until they have no choice - that is, until the console manufacturers stop producing physical games. Technology breaks all the time; I've seen price scanners with the Blue Screen of Death at Target before. Why bother setting up a fancy kiosk for downloadable titles and training the employees to use it or how to deal with it when it's damaged or breaks when it's so much easier to just lock discs in a case behind a few layers of glass and an alarm? There's also the question of whether Sony or the others would even be open to that, since it would mean giving a cut of their profits to the store. That cut might not be worth increased availability.
There are the download cards, but those aren't direct competition. If Best Buy puts their Gran Turismo card on sale for $10 off, PSN probably won't bother to match it.
Right now, the only "competition" for digital downloads is Amazon. With the exception of a few sales and pricing mistakes on Xbox Live titles, their stores for the consoles just seem to mirror the ones that Microsoft, Sony, and Nintendo run.
Like you said, a lot of this is conjecture and speculation. I'm relatively firmly convinced that, at least in the short term, digital distribution is at best an alternative to physical media, but not a full-on replacement.
11/18/09
I will add this though; while digital distribution is an alternative at best, you have to give Sony props for at least taking the risk and initiative to release a gaming device that takes no physical media...even if they have tripped up while doing so.
11/18/09
And what I've found online is frankly a lot of great convenience. So far I've bought more PSP games via their store this past month than I have in the past two years. Something about the ease of access makes it's more appealing. And then there's the tangible notion of turning the little machine into a sort of "host" for games. Instead of popping little discs into it for a different game, the thing itself becomes a game center. Host to half a dozen games, and easy access to hundreds more. And that's the appeal of that digital store to me.
But hey, weren't we here to talk about LittleBIGPlanet PSP? Yeah, what's up with that not being available yet?
11/18/09
11/18/09
#speakup
11/18/09
11/18/09
11/18/09
11/18/09
It's called being an informed customer, a concept which only appears to be mystifying to gamers.
11/18/09
PSP is a great platform, but I agree with Flashtut that it only really got great now, and that is due primarily to the Go. I know a few people that bought them, and consensus is that it is the proper PSP to get. Damn price will hold it back though, and then naysayers will spout their tales of how the "PSP is just not a good platform" when it's really just public inception to it's price and blah blah blah.
Point is, Sony really can't win on this one, but that's OK. I'm still buying PSP games, like I just bought Chinatown Wars, and Beaterator, both are amazing.
11/18/09
11/18/09
The PSP has been crippled though it's life by not only the stupid price of the software, but the cost of the hardware. Sony hasn't learned that and they never will.
11/18/09
I have a 3000 and don't have a Go either, but I love the larger selection and have bought a few myself. I plan on buying more because I've had more enjoyment gaming without the burden of UMDs.
I don't know about the PSP being crippled, at least I don't see any indication of that saleswise.
11/18/09
#speakup
11/18/09
With older games, retailers can discount them further to move them off shelves to make room for newer games that sell faster. If these are the types of games your comparing to with PSN prices, then you're not comparing MSRP.
11/18/09
11/18/09
11/18/09
11/18/09
11/18/09
Just buy any PSN card and you'll have the same result.
11/18/09
Hi. I'm a download card for Gran Turismo.
All three console companies do downloads this way - either via retail (Sony's PSPgo cards) or as a promotion (Pepsi's Rock Band content, and countless others), they issue codes that add specific games or DLC titles to your account instead of money. If you buy that Gran Turismo card for $40, you don't get $40 you can use on whatever you want. You get Gran Turismo. Period.
11/18/09
#speakup
11/18/09
11/18/09
@timothy.rawcliffe: Let's review.
Download cards only add money to your PSN account. It doesn't just download that one game for you, so there would really be no point of a card for it.
He said that there aren't game-specific download cards.
I pointed out that there were, and that all three companies have done games and DLC in this way for a few years now.
I never said that non-specific point cards don't exist, because that would be an idiotic assertion to make when we all know that they do.
Why am I a jackass again?
11/18/09
11/18/09
for the real world... i've got nothing *shrugs*
11/18/09
11/18/09
What is the reason to own any console? For the enjoyment.
I don't support the lack of UMD drive or the price point, but if someone wants one, I'm not going to call them an idiot for it. It's all about personal preferences.
11/18/09
"We recommend that PSPgo owners dejectedly slide their handheld open and closed until the situation is resolved."
The truth is for their price, they didn't really seem worth the loss of some features, specially when Sony hasn't got things together enough to make it feel like the lack of feature isn't a problem (ie, releasing for DL at the same time as the UMD, so people don't care that it can't play UMDs).
11/18/09
11/18/09