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Three free games for PSPgo upgraders News
PSP News by Tom Bramwell
Sony has announced that people with existing UMD games who want to upgrade to the new PSPgo, due out on 1st October, will receive three "free" downloads of full games.
This "PSPgo Rewards" programme involves registering a PSPgo on PSN, then logging on to PSN with your existing PSP with a UMD in the drive, which allows you to download a special PSPgo theme, which then presents you with a voucher via email for use on the PSPgo.
The voucher can be redeemed for three out of 17 available titles. We've asked Sony for the full list, but in the meantime the press release mentions Killzone: Liberation, SOCOM: US Navy SEALs Fireteam Bravo 3, WipEout Pure, Everybody's Golf, echochrome, Buzz!: Brain Bender, Buzz!: Master Quiz, LocoRoco and Patapon.
PSPgo Rewards will be available from 1st October until 31st March 2010 and is open to people with any existing PSP model and at least one UMD who buy and register a PSPgo during that timeframe.
The issue of how people with existing PSPs might "upgrade" their UMD collections to work on the download-only PSPgo has been debated a fair bit since the system's E3 unveiling, and the popular choice would seem to be a trade-in programme of some sort. We've asked Sony whether that's a possibility or whether PSPgo Rewards will be the final word on the subject.
The platform holder has previously said that it intends to support UMD despite the launch of PSPgo, with games due to be released both digitally and on the proprietary disc format for the foreseeable future.
Check out our PSPgo hands-on for more on the system, which will retail for £224.99.
Update: Sony's got back to us and provided a list of all 17 games available as part of the offer:
- Buzz!: Brain Bender
- Buzz!: Master Quiz
- Daxter
- Echochrome
- Everybody's Golf PSP
- Killzone: Liberation
- Lemmings PSP
- LocoRoco
- MediEvil
- Patapon
- Pursuit Force: Extreme Justice
- Ratchet & Clank: Size Matters
- Resistance: Retribution
- SOCOM: US Navy SEALs Fireteam Bravo 3
- Syphon Filter: Dark Mirror
- Syphon Filter: Logan's Shadow
- WipEout Pure
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Poster
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SeesThroughAll
24/09/09 @ 10:52
+5
Not good enough, Sony.
I'm not interested in the PSPGo, but want to be able to convert my UMDs to dowloadable format too!... |
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+1
I read that Sony are expecting 20 to 25% of the existing user base to 'upgrade' to the Go. This seems incredibly low to me and would acknowledge that 75% of expected sales will be to net new users. Without a satisfactory method of transferring the investment in UMDs to the new platform, I can't see the take up from a personal view point. If the platform were a newer generation e.g moving from PS2 to PS3, then it may be different. However this is the same platform just in a different form factor. I think they need to work harder otherwise this wont make a dent on the the DS / DSi and allow Apple further expansion in the download to play market.
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jonthepymm
24/09/09 @ 10:57
-2
Well, this is better than nothing! If the 17 game-list includes Lumines and God of War then I'll be happy.
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thegamesthething
24/09/09 @ 11:12
+12
"It's also a disgrace that Sony didn't update hundreds of my dvd's to blu ray when I bought a PS3. I think what their doing is better than nothing, which to be honest I think they have every right to."
You can still watch your dvds on PS3. |
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0
What's preventing PSP G(tf)O from falling completely on its arse? Not this, that's for sure.
I agree with the commenter who said that things would be different if it were a new generatiion of PSP, but this is more of a...Mess. I like the PSP, but haven't the slightest interest in being obliged to download any game I'd want to play. |
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+3
"It's also a disgrace that Sony didn't update hundreds of my dvd's to blu ray when I bought a PS3. "
Erm....the PS3 is a DVD upscaler so..... Anyway the ONLY things that would sway me to get a go is working Speccy/C64/SNES/MD/PS1 and a price about £70 lower. A list of crap Sony games (or any PSP games for that matter) won't do anything to change that. / Waits for the inevitable hackers / Then waits for the inevitable price drop / Picks one up..... |
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+3
The PSPgo is dead before its been launched nobody in there right mind will buy one.
Maybe if it was about £90-£100 retail but anyway most people that might buy one won't like the fact they can't use existing UMDS and won't have a cluw how to download stuff to it. The majority of Joe public is dumb and they won't understand the PSPgo at all. |
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chanandler
24/09/09 @ 11:40
0
lord said: "It's also a disgrace that Sony didn't update hundreds of my dvd's to blu ray when I bought a PS3. I think what their doing is better than nothing, which to be honest I think they have every right to."
Lol... the PS3 plays both formats.... so you can watch your hundreds of DVD's on it. How does that equate to the PSPGo then? I have about 50 UMD's (mostly games but some movies) so I have to buy them all again apart from 3 lol. It's not like the Go has an extra analogue stick or larger screen or touchscreen etc to make it worth while upgrading! |
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Bigglesworth
24/09/09 @ 11:41
+4
This offer reflects calculations that PSP owners have each purchased an average of 3 games over the life of the machine...
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+2
Way to take the piss Sony.
Between that, the erosion of backwards compatibility in the Playstation line, and ridiculously semi-functional backup facility in the PS3, this current generation may very well be the end of the line with Sony's gaming platforms. (Then again, MS aren't any better with their Gold vs Silver live subscriptions, and poor reliability. Can't someone get Sega to rejoin the party? Please?) |
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JohnnyWashnGo
24/09/09 @ 12:00
+1
Hahahahaha... what a crock of shit. Why did I let my hopes get up when I secretly knew they would pull this kind of bullshit?
My collection of 20 plus UMD games would love to be played on the PSPGo but looks like they will have to stay stuck in my PSP as ISOs on my memory stick. |
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+2
I read that Sony are expecting 20 to 25% of the existing user base to 'upgrade' to the Go. This seems incredibly low to me and would acknowledge that 75% of expected sales will be to net new users.
That's not true. They're not saying how much of the market that buys the PSPgo will be existing owners; they're saying that 25% of existing owners will buy a PSPgo. To illustrate, let's say there's 100 existing users and 25% of them buy a PSPgo - that makes 25 users. There might be 30 users in total (5 new buyers) or there might be 100 (75 new buyers) - you can't tell from the stats that Sony gave. All you can say from them is that 25% (so 25 in this case) of existing owners are predicted to buy one. |
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groovychainsaw
24/09/09 @ 12:48
+2
Maybe sony like people cracking their portable consoles to use what they have already paid for. Hackers will have a better system than sony for the pspgo, ripping the umds you've already got and installing them all on one memory stick (completely legally, as far as I'm concerned, as you've bought the softwrae for the format you want to play it on, why should sony stop you using it.)
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+3
This is bordering on the idiotic. Not only does it not include all PSP games, not only does it not include the games that have been released recently that are the ones people might actually want to carry on playing but they're not even the best versions of some of the franchises. Why Pure and not Pulse? Why Everybody's Golf 1 when Everybody's Golf 2 has been out for ages.
If this is all they're doing, hardly anyone with an existing PSP will upgrade to a PSP Go. And surely the people who have supported the PSP this far are the people they really want to hang on to, as nobody else seems to give a toss about it...
Edited 1 times,
most recently on 24/09/09 @ 13:54
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FairgroundTown
24/09/09 @ 12:52
+2
This wouldn't be so bad if Sony had not raised everyone's expectations of something much more expansive, like a 1-2-1 swap. Plus it stuffs everyone who wants to sell their old PSP to get a "Go".
Also... I've a horrible feeling that a lot of "Go"s are going to be returned to the shop, when people realize they can't play their existing games. |
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+1
The way I read it this trade is separate to any sort of UMC to digital affair, instead something supposedly there to benefit people who do decide to upgrade given that it's not a terribly appealing prospect as it is. Many seem to be taking this as the only thing they have to offer people with UMDs at the moment, but I don't think that is the case. I was a little unsure about whether I wanted to upgrade, but with these and GT on the table for no money then this is quite appealing for me. It'll all depend on what the rest of the list looks like, and what their UMD plan actually is. Not long now though.
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jonthepymm
24/09/09 @ 13:52
+1
PSPgo: a defence
Having seen the number of comments on this site by people who clearly dislike even the existence of the PSPgo, let me try and explain why I'm getting one. I had the original 2005 PSP. The biggest problems were UMD load times, size, weight and poor battery life (2-3 hours). For these reasons, I stopped carrying it (and UMD games) around with me - and in fact, my wife uses it now; I haven't touched it for a couple of years. Then the PSPgo was announced a few months ago. Although the PSP-3000 would have solved half my issues, it was still too big to be easily pocket portable - and the PSPgo addresses this in a big way. Down from the 17cm of the PSP-3000, the PSPgo is 12cm. Sure, it's only 5cm, but that's a big difference when chucking in a pocket. A service fully based around no UMDs suits me fine also: they're slow to load and I don't want to carry them with me. So I preordered a PSPgo at £230. Since then, the price has dropped £30 (£199 at Play, as of today), I get Gran Turismo PSP for free, and now, I get 3 free games also (provided I can wrestle the old one off my wife for a couple of hours). Sure, PSP-3000 is still £65 cheaper but doesn't come with 4 free games; and some of that £65 would need to be spent on a 16GB memory card anyway. If you don't want a PSPgo, don't buy one - but please understand that some of us are really looking forward to it. |
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+1
@Toothball
I think that's quite optimistic. The press release says "With PSPgo Rewards you can download three much-loved, or totally new PSP titles for free, and put your new PSPgo to the test." They probably wouldn't suggest downloading "much-loved" games you already have if there was also going to be a UMD transfer scheme.
Edited 1 times,
most recently on 24/09/09 @ 14:52
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0
A lot of recent UMD games come with install options anyway, and can apparently even be quicker at loading than the download versions, as they can load data from memory stick and disk simultaneously. Okay, you get four free games, but then have to pay massively over the odds for every other game you get for the machine. I just don't see how it makes any financial sense to get a Go! over a 3000.
Having your games on a memory stick is great, but as the screen isn't covered on the Go, you'd need a case of some kind to carry it around, and if you're doing that anyway then I don't see UMDs as being a huge disadvantage. Most cases will store at least three, and you can keep one in the console. |
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0
That's my main sticking point, really. I'd quite like to have a PSPGo to replace my chunky old launch model, but not if it means being bent over backwards every time I want to buy a game, especially given the fact that it's a game that I can never sell on, trade in, lend to friends, etc. Football Manager 2009 cost me about £15 to buy on UMD shortly after launch. Almost a year later, I believe it's still £29.99 through PSN.
Edited 1 times,
most recently on 24/09/09 @ 15:04
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+1
@Fodder:
It is an optimistic view, but it's one reflected in this article to a degree. EG seem suitably unsure of this to be trying to contact Sony for further clarification. I had no trouble picking out three games I would like to download from that list that I don't already own, so as an offer in itself I find it rather appealing. If this is all they have to offer though then it's a terrible deal, but until it's definite one way or the other then it's not worth writing off the whole thing just yet. Knowing Sony though we won't hear about it until next year or so. Oh, also on the cases I picked up an official leather case a while back that doesn't have have slots for games to keep it looking sleek. It came with a plastic case for a couple of games which is alright, but it only holds two. And I can see the appeal of not having to carry around loads of discs, as a while back I found the transition from using minidiscs to mp3s a very practical one. Suddenly I could carry around all my music instead of just a handful of albums. @jonthepymm: £199?! It's going to be quite hard to resist now. I wonder whether I'll make it though the night.
Edited 1 times,
most recently on 24/09/09 @ 15:11
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yorkieshaman
24/09/09 @ 14:23
+3
I completely agree with everyone who's saying 'That's a naff deal: I'm not shifting from my PSP now.'
But maybe this isn't Sony trying to convince us to re-buy most of our UMDs digitally. Maybe it's about eliminating UMDs as a source of cheap games for new PSPGo owners (as in: people who've never owned a PSP before). Let's say Sony DO launch some sort of trade-in system for UMDs - send in your disc, maybe a small charge and you get access to a digital copy. People are going to buy a PSPGo, pick up a load of second-hand UMDs off ebay (or more likely overpriced but still relatively cheap from GameStation etc.) and send them in to get their digital copies. Sony make nothing bar the small transfer charge (if they have one). If Sony stick to the 'three UMDs and that's it and you need to have an existing PSP for the promotion and it only runs for a little while anyway' line, all those new PSPGo owners are locked in to digital distribution. Even if Sony charge, say, £5 for games released previously on UMD, (and I'm guessing they'll charge a lot more) that's £5 in revenue they wouldn't have made had it been a second-hand sale. When you think of the number of second-hand UMDs there must be floating around in the world... Just a thought. |
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SpaceMonkey77
24/09/09 @ 14:47
+1
This is more Sony crap being served up, and is in no way worth it, but feel free those that are hungry for it, you suckers. Their compromises are always half hearted and lack common sense, so I'm not going to hold any hope, that they'll just release a UMD external mini drive for PSP, to allow transfers of games.
I know the best of PSP can be experienced through the current PSP. If you need a new and better PSP battery, try ebay, as better batteries were released for PSP. I have two PSP bateries which I rotate accordingly, if want longer play. |
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