This post has not been edited by the GamesBeat staff. Opinions by GamesBeat community writers do not necessarily reflect those of the staff.

So this Thursday, Sony will be releasing the PSP Go. It’s their all digital PSP first introduced to us at E3 (after it had already been leaked). Will you be buying one? If you answered no, you are correct. If you said yes or maybe, keep reading. I’m going to try and save you $250+.

 

 

 

The PSP Go is a fundamentally good idea. Create a more portable version of the PSP that forgoes the system’s ill conceived UMD drive for an all digital approach. Journalist who first used the device claimed it to be quite comfortable. Sony had at the time a number of games available to download with more releases and digital version of UMD games appearing each week.

 

At their press conference, Sony announced the price of the system. $250. Echoes of 2006’s 599 US dollar PS3 sounded throughout the room. A PSP 3000 can be bought in a basic package for $170. Another $30 gets you any number of bundles, such as Rockband Unplugged or Dissidia: Final Fantasy. And these bundles even include various sizes of memory stick pro duo cards and a movie. What would come with the PSP Go? The system and a charging cable. Now granted, the system does have 16gigs of internal flash memory, but you are also losing the UMD drive. So how does Sony justify this price? They very plainly state that they are targeting early adopters.

Ok, fine. If Sony wants to go for early adopters, then surely they’ll put a little icing on the cake? How about a free game? SCEE revealed that those buying a PSP Go in Europe before October 10th would receive a free digital copy of Gran Turismo. Not bad. Soon after that announcement, rumors began to fly that SCEA would be giving American PSP Go buyers a free copy of Rockband Unplugged. And why not? It’s a great game that uses a lot of DLC. It makes perfect sense on the PSP Go. Then we find out that it is not the full game, but a lite version. It’s still compatible with DLC, but apparently Sony couldn’t find it in their hearts to part with the core game.

So I’m supposed to be a PSP Go early adopter? That means I’m probably a PSP early adopter. And in fact, I am. I still own a perfectly functional PSP 1000 (aka the PSP Phat). I’ve been forced to watch incremental upgrade after incremental upgrade with a bit of a chip on my shoulder. Smaller size? Eh. Microphone and Skype? Don’t need it. When the PSP Go was shown, I thought this might be my chance to finally upgrade the old girl. But what of my UMD library of games? What would become of them? If Sony wants me and my kin to buy, then they surely have some plan to take care of us. And they were working on it.

The above link takes you to a Gizmodo story from June 4, 2009. John Koller, Director of Hardware Merketing for Sony, said at the time that they would be “unveiling that soon.” That was June. The UMD trade in program would certainly be a big sticking point for me as to whether or not I would be getting a PSP Go. Months went by with either a no comment or a we’re working on it. Finally, we reached Tokyo Game Show, a full three and a half months later and a scant two weeks before the PSP Go’s retail release. First, SCEE announced their plan. Previous PSP owners would still need their old PSP and a UMD. They could then log into the PSN and download three games off a (laughable) list of 17 titles. According to Kotaku, this news came out at 6:30 am.

Then at 4:40 pm, Kotaku published a story announcing that there would be no UMD conversion program for the US. Well why not? Sony’s response is as follows: “We were evaluating a UMD conversion program, but due to legal and technical reasons we will not be offering the program at this time.” Really? “Legal and technical reasons” are preventing you from offering anything to the early adopter, UMD owning fanbase that you are targeting? I mean, was SCEA seriously not aware that 10 hours ago, SCEE had announced a program. A terrible program, but a program nonetheless.

Now, we are left to assume one of two things transpired here. The first scenario is that someone at Sony got drunk and decided it would be totally awesome to release a digital PSP, started making them, and didn’t tell anybody, leaving the rest of the company essentially caught with their pants down. The only other scenario is that they just simply lied to us. They knew there would be no way to have every PSP game ever released on UMD ready as a digital download and knew they would be no way to convert your UMDs as a digital copy, so they bought time by lying, waiting until a week before the system’s release to give us the bad news. I mean, in this Destructoid interview from September 21, three days before they made their announcement of no trade in program, SCEA’s Eric Lempel said they’re still looking into it.

And it doesn’t end there. For the dozens of you who own a PSP peripheral such as the camera or GPS antennae, you are not left in the dust. You just have to use this thing.

It doesn’t even look like the system can open with this atrocity on. Why not just design the system to use the existing hardware? It’s your system! You can do whatever you want with it. I guess PSP Go owners will not be playing Invizimals.

At least in Japan Sony has had a history of releasing digital titles slightly below the retail price. And why shouldn’t they? There’s no manufacturing or shipping costs. There’s no retailer cut. It’s pure profit. Oh, but then comes SCEA once again to defy all logic. In that same Destructoid interview, Lempel says that matching the MSRP is part of their strategy. Sony wants a “level playing field.” Ok, let’s have some fun with numbers. As Andrew Yoon points out at Joystiq, many games are found more cheaply at retail than online. And let us not forget things like Best Buy Rewardzone points or Gamestop trade ins. Level playing field indeed.

So let us recap. Sony wants you, the early adopter, their loyal customer, to buy a $250 version of a system that you already own and could buy new for $80 cheaper. They then want you to buy all of your games over again at their too high prices. And if you were so dedicated to the company and the platform that you bought one of their underutilized peripherals, they want you to buy a cable that makes your new system look like a Frisbee. They are not so much targeting early adopters as they are taking advantage of them, pure and simple. Quite frankly, I’d rather wait a couple more weeks and buy the $200 Gran Turismo PSP 3000. Way to support your product, Sony.