In an interview with the Washington Post, Nintendo of America president and COO Reggie Fils-Aime called out Sony’s PSPgo. The only gaming executive with laser-beam eyes said:
“I have the utmost respect for all our competitors, but it’s interesting to try and answer the consumer question of ‘What’s in it for me?’ in that product. [I have a] fundamental concept problem in terms of ‘Who’s it for?’ and ‘What’s the benefit?'”
Fils-Aime’s points are completely legitimate. While the PSPgo is a sexy piece of consumer electronics and an important gaming device in terms of what it represents for digital distribution, it’s also a poor value. Sony will sell systems to early adopters that must have the latest models ASAP (I guess this answers Fils-Aime’s question), but beyond that, $249 is a lot of money for a system that doesn’t have enough advantages over its forerunners.
All that said, early reports are that the PSPgo is selling well. It will be interesting to see if the brisk sales continue throughout this holiday season.
What do you think of Reggie’s comments? Does he have a point?
Now that the PS3 Slim is out at $299, I don't see how Sony can justify releasing a handheld system at $249. I just don't get it. I mean, I can get Blu-Ray, a second analog stick, higher quality games, better graphics, and a screen size that's only limited by the size of my television for ONLY $50 more! That makes the PSP Go a pretty poor value in my opinion.
Agreed. It's a beautiful system and hate how slow/noisy the UMD drive is on the older PSPs, but $249 is too much of a premium.
of note would be the fact that the games you see sitting on the shelves in UMD format aren't all available on the PSPgo. Makes the cheaper model seem more attractive…especially since you can go to gamestop or wherever and get some cheap used games. BOOYAH!
They better make a PSP2 with a second analog-nub and just generally more amazing capabilities if they want to justify a PS3-esque price tag for a handheld system. It's just absurd right now.
@Ieyke I would be very surprised if the PSP2 didn't have a second analog stick.