Sony's PSPgo UMD Conversion Plans Come to a Halt

[Frankydee]

I was sort of expecting this. Fortunately this hasn't deterred me from a purchase decision, I never had one to begin with :]

 

[obisean]

For the record on all of this. It doesn't effect me in the slightest. The only reason I care is because I hate greedy corporations.

I don't have an original PSP or any UMD's so it doesn't matter to me.

I shall meditate deeply on this. Thank you for sharing your opinion. Shouldn't he get banned or something? His reply didn't further the topic conversation in the slightest. Would be as useful as saying "Fourteenth!!1!one!11!"

hmmmmm... not good news at all... fortunately for me I only have a handful of PSP games that I never play on UMD, so that shoulnd't deter me too much (if I bother getting a Go), but I know that isn't the case for everyone...

I'm gona be honest, the Go is, unlike the Slim, shaping up (oh god, the pun) to become a complete flop.

And if you save your money for (at most) 10 hours of work ($50), you can afford a PS3. Why buy the PSPGo again? Unless you're a super dedicated Sony fan, which as is said above, not who this is targeting or you'd have a PSP already, I can't see why you would buy this over the PS3 right now.

Its the same system though, just getting the games differently.

Debatable. Newer PSP games are unplayable on UMD on 1000s for example. I agree that the change isn't as substantial as, say, PS2 to PS3, but it's definitely more than a minor upgrade. Comparable to Gameboy to Gameboy Colour imo.

But this still doesn't address my original point: why do people want to play old games on their new system? It's not like your existing PSP disappears the moment you buy the Go. You'll still have your old PSP and all your existing games.

I don't know for sure if UMDs are going out of production or not, but I'm sure I heard they are.

Imagine if the (insert console of choice) stopped making games on discs and released a new version that didn't take discs for your old games and the only way to get new games is to buy the updated version of a console you already own. Would that not piss you off? Oh and don't forget, the new version of the console is about $100 more than the old one currently on the market simply because they think you owe them a premium.

 

[samsonguy920]

I am still at a loss who would want something with that control scheme? My fingers and wrists hurt just looking at it.

 

[MetalGearSukd]

i see a lot of comments that your original psp doesn't disappear however, without the umd conversion your old games for the system do disappear. what they don't realize is that people don't want to keep two portable systems that are almost identical (save for the fact that one is pure digital). they also overlook that many people can't justify owning two of the same system to have a system that's compatible with the games they play.

additionally, even if you are a new psp owner this makes nearly all of the games in its limited library unavailable unless they become noteworthy enough to get posted on their market place (as a note not even a majority of the sony produced psp games are posted).

there is clearly little incentive for anyone new or seasoned to the psp to buy this new system that does significantly less than it's predecessor. unless you absolutely have to have a new iteration of every system it appears to be a system that really isn't worth purchasing. i believe there needs to be something that stands out about a system to warrant a purchase rather than a new body style or color.

i knew that eventually sony would give up on the idea of the free conversion of umds it's just one more reason to buy an earlier psp and get a larger memory stick if you need it.

 

[SpiritMacardi]

The Go is definitely sounding rather unimpressive, but hopefully once it reaches store shelves it'll drive down the price of the 3000 model.

 

[Signa]

I think this officially pushes the Go over the line that the Virtual Boy drew. Hate on the VB all you want, it still wasn't full of this much fail. At least with the VB, you had an unique piece of hardware that had an unique feature (3d vision) that games still don't use today.

 

[Royas]

This doesn't seem like a very sound business plan to me. If the Go is aimed at current PSP owners, it needs to cost a lot less, and not leave them in the cold as far as their old games go. If the Go is aimed at new purchasers, I'm not seeing any compelling reason why a person who hasn't bought a PSP would buy this one. If they wanted a PSP, they would have one already, I'd think. The advertising is all wrong for attracting new users.

 

[hansari]

Without a very sound conversion method, Sony could open up the doors to piracy, so the company definitely has to come up with something good. However, the lack of any method at all will no doubt turn off many consumers, especially in light of earlier promises.

Pirates probably have it figured out already...

 

[scotth266]

And that's the nail in the coffin for the Go, at least for the moment.

I mean, there's literally no reason to get one now. The lack of conversion means that those with plenty of UMDs have no incentive to buy it, and people who don't have a PSP don't need to buy this when there's a cheaper alternative available (especially considering how lousy the whole thing with digital distribution is anyway.)

The only thing that could make this situation worse would be if Sony were to make several games Go exclusive in order to try and force people onto the new platform.

 

[Eric the Orange]

Oh, Sony, you were riding high with the PS1 and PS2 and now look where you are, going the way of Sega. Will the PS4 be your Dreamcast.

 

[Radelaide]

This is a huge step backwards for Sony. If they don't convert UMD files into digital files, they won't convince PSP users to upgrade to a PSP GO. With the bad press it's been getting (EB boycotting it, pricing issues), Sony are just going to lose money. It kind of reminds me of the PS2/PS3 backwards compatibility issue they had. Come on, Sony. Pick up your game. (er, no pun intended)

 

[Jake Lockley]

1) I never heard Sony say they were working on a UMD conversion plan, just fanboy speculation that was the case.

2) Old UMD's (called UMD Legacy's) are being made available on the PSN store just like the old PS1 classics. I don't think the UMD Legavy's are playable on the PS3 though.

3) PSP Mini's are like the apps in Apple's app store and you'll see a lot of minis available for the Go (and PSP).