Sony PSP Go preview
03 JUN 2009
Launch price
£TBA
Stuff says
A far from revolutionary upgrade, but a welcome boost in the face of the Nintendo DSi and iPod Touch
The PSP Go was the worst kept secret in gaming, arriving right on cue at E3 this week. The successor to – but not replacement of – the PSP 3000 will arrive on 1st October 2009 for €249, and brings a number of welcome refinements to Sony’s ageing portable gamer.
Slide out screen
The big design change is that the 3.8in screen is now a slide out number, sitting above a set of buttons that will look remarkably familiar to current PSP owners. It’s also (roughly) 43 per cent lighter than the PSP 3000, and looks very much like Sony’s old Mylo.
The increasingly dated UMD disc drive has been jettisoned in favour of 16GB internal flash storage, which seems a little measly considering the not-exactly-new iPod Touch offers twice that.
Surprisingly, the arrival of the Go doesn’t mean the death of the PSP 3000 and its UMD discs – Sony says games will still be available in this format, and will also be available to download on both versions of the PSP.
MediaGo show
Also on board are stereo Bluetooth, a Memory Stick (M2) slot for expanding the memory and MediaGo software, which will apparently let you create music playlists and make transferring movies easier.
Perhaps just as important as the PSP Go’s shiny new design is the announcement of some new games. Both LittleBigPlanet and Gran Turismo will be arriving later this year – and with the Nintendo DSi, iPod Touch and iPhone to contend with, it’ll need all the help it can get.