I met up with John Koller, Sony’s Director of Hardware Marketing for North America, in downtown Toronto on Wednesday morning. In town to “massage” relationships with local retailers prior to this fall’s launch of the PSP Go, he had one of the devices with him and let me fiddle with it for a few minutes during our chat.
I liked what I saw and touched.
About the size of a smartphone, this is the first PSP that made me feel as though I could just slip it into my pocket. The screen is a smidgeon smaller than previous models, but it’s the same resolution and still a bit larger than, say, the iPhone’s touch display.
A control panel slides out from the bottom of the device, revealing what felt to me like a much superior analog stick that was slightly recessed and rotated more easily than those of previous PSPs.
Another new hardware addition is Bluetooth. Players will be able to use their existing PlayStation 3 Bluetooth headsets for online games, and future Bluetooth peripherals—including headphones for those who use their PSPs as music players—are in the works.
But the big story with the PSP Go is that the UMD disc slot is gone. The device plays only downloaded games. Hundreds of back-catalogue titles and all future PSP releases will be made available for download through the PlayStation Store at prices equal to their UMD counterparts (which will still be sold to accommodate those who own older PSP models).
The unit’s built-in 16 GB solid state drive can hold up to 30 PSP games, which typically range in in size from 600 to 900 MB each. However, a Memory Stick Micro slot allows players to expand that capacity as much as they like. And, unlike the expandable memory of, say, the Wii, games can be run off of removable memory (assuming they were downloaded via the same device—Sony's DRM locks the software to the hardware through which it was acquired).
Not surprisingly, the download-only nature of the PSP Go has some brick-and-mortar retailers concerned that they’ll be cut out of the PSP software picture, and, more than that, that the PSP Go model is indicative of the future of console game distribution as well. And that's to say nothing of their obvious concern that downloaded games can't be resold, which would effectively kill many retailers' lucrative used game business.
Hence the reason why Sony has sent one of its top executives on a mission to assuage these fears. Mr. Koller told me that not only will UMD editions of future releases still be offered at retail, but also that gamers will be able to purchase cards with download codes at traditional retailers rather than online. He also said his company is working with retailers to make them part of the download model, leveraging their knowledge and experience in helping customers select the games they like (though he declined to elaborate on what that might mean).
Still, there's no denying that digital distribution is a scary prospect for the EB Games and Microplays of the world. I wouldn't like to be the one trying to convince them that it won't take a bite out of their business.
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