3 - 2 - 1 - PSP's are Go!

Sony's latest version of the PSP is here! But the question we must ask ourselves is; does anyone really care? Simply answer the following, how many of your friends own a DS? Lots right? Now, how many of your friends own a PSP? Exactly. If you can count more than 5 friends that own a PSP then I will be shocked.

The sad thing is though; it’s actually a decent little piece of kit. The major aspect that Sony continually fails to address is the absolute key factor for consoles, the software to back it up. With the exception of a handful of games, the quality of games on the PSP is shockingly poor. Until this is addressed Sony can reinvent the PSP until they are blue in the face. It still won't matter.

So what's new with this one? Well firstly, the UMD drive has been removed and the PSP Go now contains just flash memory and a memory stick slot. So now to buy your games you must register on for their online store, PSN. Now some of you may be thinking, what about all my UMD movies and games that I already have? Can I still use them? Simply, no. Your whole library of PSP entertainment is now useless. Nice little earner if you can get it. Make people re-buy what they already had. Apparently there is some bizarre and complicated method to make a very limited and select few games work. Customer care all over the place there.

Another fault with the PSP Go is the price. £199.99. Now let's put that in perspective for you, for that amount of money you can buy the following:

Xbox 360 Elite with FIFA 10 and Halo: ODST
Nintendo Wii, Wii Sports, Wii Sports plus, Wii Motion Plus and any 2 various of 8 chart games. (You'll still have £30 spare by the way)
2 (That's TWO) Nintendo DS's.

Hell, for an extra £40 you can get the new PS3 Slim with 3 chart games. Need I go on? It's a ludicrous price for something that's desperately trying to be an iPod Touch/iPhone. The problem is, it's simply not as good and doesn't have any of those juicy apps that you can get from iTunes.

Now speaking of iTunes apps, Sony's latest idea to coincide with the PSP Go is PSP Mini's. To cut to the chase these are games that are available for other formats, such as the iPhone, which can now be downloaded for your PSP. The only problem is, the majority of them is crap. Quantity over quality will be Sony's downfall with the PSP.

Finally, the other problem I've had with the PSP from day one is the controls. They are so uncomfortable that it feels like it's trying to cripple my hands. It's like some sort of torture. You'd hope with experience Sony would right this wrong. But they haven't. If anything they've actually made it worse. From the moment you pick it up you just know that RSI (Repetitive Strain Injury) if you play it for longer than 5 minutes a week. It's just horrible.

I want to like the PSP. It's a good little idea, a good piece of tech and with the right people directing it would give the DS and the iPhone a good run. But until someone realises it's the software that's the issue rather than the hardware it's going to be a forgotten console mocked in 20 years’ time just like Betamax.

Save your money, buy anything on the list above.