PSP 3000 or PSP Go - Consider this!

If you read my last post, I was a bit stumped that Nintendo's new handheld console 3DS is not coming out this Friday, but the month after.

So, while waiting, I instead went looking at Sony's portable gaming platforms, currently available in two different editions; the PSP 3000 series, as well as the newer, slimmed down model, called PSP Go. Deciding which one to get, I took the below things under deep consideration. Read on below!

Before deciding on getting a PSP Go...

As tech gadgets get slimmed down, the price usually slims down along with them, thus broadening their availability outside the core market; in this case, your typical hardcore gamer or tech geek. That is not the case here, however. Instead, for a long while, Sony distributed the "Go" version at a staggering $100 higher price than the regular models, with great confidence. And for those additional hundred big ones spent, you got treated with a significantly smaller display, a quirky repositioning of the analogue stick, and last but not least: No UMD support, with UMD's (Universal Media Disc) being the one and only original distribution media for PSP games as well as movies.

PSP Go (top) and PSP 3000 (bottom) - note: not in scale!

Instead, with the PSP Go, you're making yourself completely dependant on Sony's digital store online, through the PlayStation Network (PSN). Not only does this imply that you won't be able to play any older games that didn't make the transfer to the online store, but it also means that you grant Sony getting utter monopoly being the exclusive distributor of all content related to your console, without any market competition whatsoever.

Verdict

Needless to say, I went with the PSP 3000 model, now available at quite affordable 990 SEK (roughly US $150, or GB £95), which is merely a third - or at least half - the price the Go's went for over here, not that long ago. The only thing I'll probably miss from the PSP Go, however, would be the HDMI connection, for hooking the baby up to the (HD) TV. Instead, I'll need to get a bunch of bulky component cables. But I consider that being a minor drawback in comparison to what the "Go" lacks.

~the Jo