New Release: BioShock 2 for Xbox 360, PS3 and PC. Valid 2/9-2/13

Sony have officially announced the PSP Go! just now at their E3 press conference. While most of you will have watched the PSP Go! video that was leaked, we now have a confirmed price and release date for the device.
Kaz Hirai has stated that the PSP Go! will be priced at $249 and will be available in North America on 1st October. Along with that, Sony also revealed that they will be reducing the cost of PSP development tools too, which is always nice.

PSP Go! will have brand new software available for it in the way of Media Go and new music software which creates playlists based on your musical preferences.

Fri Oct 2, 3:05 am ET“PSP Go!” hopes gamers will embrace digital distribution instead of traditional exposure gained from having games in shops. One online shop reverted their decision to boycott stocking the console due to its digital download content only limitation. At Game Stock a decision was taken to give the PSP Go! a go. The PSP Go! console is out to pre-order now for release on 2nd Oct 2009, Game Stock has put together a page about the new console and how it compares to its predecessors.

London, UK (PRWEB) October 2, 2009 — With a noticeable lack of third party support by games developers, “PSP Go!” hopes gamers will embrace digital distribution instead of traditional exposure gained from having games in shops. One online shop reverted their decision to boycott stocking the console due to its digital download content only limitation. At Game Stock a decision was taken to give the PSP Go! a go. The PSP Go! console is out to pre-order now for release on 2nd Oct 2009, Game Stock has put together a page about the new console and how it compares to its predecessors.

The only place to buy “Sony PSP Go!” console games is going to be on Sony’s PSN. Once downloaded it is believed the games can re-downloaded time and again as and when required, in cases of changing a console and memory perhaps. The most beneficial aspect gamers want is the ability in trade in old for new at their favourite game shop – but no confirmation has been announced to date. Meaning digital content is likely to be locked to your PSN user ID. From a copy protection viewpoint it would be completely acceptable, to create similar EULAs for content, but for games this is a new concept. On the one hand Sony can control the monopoly of Go media on the other it could easily be integrated at retailers on the high street and online by simple asset management transferring digital license ownership to lock and unlock media. “We look forward to the possibility of comparing digital media download prices”, as much as game consoles.

Typically games players engage in conversation about pre-ordering and the joy of a product being physically delivered to their door. Similarly engaging in conversation about trading in games where to get the best bundle, deal and price is something that will be foreign in PSP Go community. Elite members with no physical game collection. Kudos will be given to those owning both the PSP 3000 Slim and PSP Go. Meanwhile the PSP 3000 is to remain on sale during the testy transition into the digital download market.

A brief look at the competition spotlight focuses towards two other main contenders for on-demand gaming. Apple iPhone and DS I: Both have similar handheld consoles which allow on demand software accessibility via WiFi, open 24/7 for download. Nintendo DS I console lets you have the best of both. Digital on demand gaming and provides 100% backward compatibility with DS games. These next gen handheld mobile devices all appear to be pushing customization-ability Apps, and exclusivity. PSP now with Apps. DSiWare – Nintendo. ‘There’s an App for that’ – iPhone.

With much uncertainty in the current economic downturn a handful of excellent games in shops will surely guarantee to keep Sony PlayStation owners happy. UMD games for the 3000 console and Blu-ray on its big brother (the PS3) set for 2009/10 release in order of ‘most anticipated’ at Game Stock: Modern Warfare 2, FIFA 10, Unchartered 2, and Final Fantasy XIV.

At GDC Austin on Wednesday, Sony confirmed that the bite-sized PSP Mini digital download games will not be allowed to have wireless multiplayer functionality, downloadable content, or software updates.

Sony Computer Entertainment America senior account manager Justin Cooney said that the decision to bar the features is to “accelerate the approval process.”

“When you look at it from a testing perspective, you have to do more QA. [Allowing those features] would defeat the purpose of having a dedicated service for smaller content,” he told Gamasutra after a GDC session. “It increases the barriers.” While Sony is barring wireless multiplayer, there are announced Mini games that have “hotseat” multiplayer in which players can swap the handheld and take turns.

Sony announced PSP Minis in August. The games are restricted to a 100MB download size and centered on pick-up-and-play accessibility. Minis launch with the revised PSP hardware, PSP Go, on October 1, with a library of 15 games, including iPhone-derived games like Fieldrunners and Hero of Sparta.

Cooney said that the QA process for PSP Minis typically take three to five days, compared to up to two weeks for full-sized PSP games. “Perhaps other times of the year, it may be shorter.” He said that barring downloadable content and software updates are also “part of the streamlining” process for Mini QA.

“From our perspective, if we’re going to reduce the time it takes to get through our internal process, it helps that we don’t have to check multiplayer features,” he said.

The PSP Mini guidelines are a marked difference from those of iPhone and iPod Touch games, in which developers can implement online features, downloadable content, and software updates that allow developers to evolve their games beyond release.

Would iPhone developers who want to bring their products over to PSP become turned off by Sony’s PSP Mini restrictions? “I think from an iPhone perspective, you can create a Minis product from your iPhone product, or create a [full-size] PSP game,” Cooney said. “Nothing stops you from bringing an iPhone product to the PlayStation platform. It’s just really up to the developer to decide if they want it to be a regular title or a PSP Mini title.”

John Howard with InMotion software, developers of the iPhone game I Dig It, is one developer expressing interest in porting iPhone games over to PSP Minis. Howard wasn’t terribly concerned with the inability to have multiplayer, DLC, or even updates. He was just pleased to see that there is yet another venue for small, bite-sized games.

“If it’s going to be as simple as they say it’s going to be, and the pricing model is realistic, we’ll deal with the downsides. All platforms have a downside,” he said.