PSPgo European Manager talks: New functions, UMD transfer, battery life ‘equivalent’ to current PSP

In a Q&A article released on PlayStation Blog, European Product Manager for the PSPgo Adam Grant, answered some questions about the upcoming portable and revealed, amongst many other things, that the PSPgo’s battery life will be ‘equivalent’ to the current PSP.

Those in favor of the decision to axe the use of the battery draining UMD drive may find some disconcerting news from European Product Manager of the PSPgo, as he revealed in a Q&A on PlayStation Blog that the PSPgo’s battery life will be ‘equivalent’ to the original PSP.

“We have adopted an embedded battery to realise a smaller and lighter PSP system. The battery life is equivalent with the current models meaning approximately 3 to 6 hours for gameplays and approximately 3 to 5 hours for playing back videos.”

PSPgo to have new features, UMD transfer, and battery life the equivalent to the current PSP.

However, the PSPgo, while similar to the PSP-3000 in battery life, does command some new features, namely:

*Game sleep function: You will be able to operate the XMB? (XrossMediaBar) while suspending the gameplay temporarily.
*Bluetooth function: This is going to let you use your favourite wireless head phones to listen to music, play games and watch videos?.
*Clock and calendar application: We have included a clock and calendar application which can be viewed both when the sliding panel is open and closed.

And those wondering about the ability to transfer their UMD’s to the new system can rest assured, as Grant confirmed Sony is planning a goodwill program:

“We know that there are many of you excited about PSPgo but are hesitant at leaving your UMD games collection behind. We recognize this and as such we are planning a goodwill programme and will unveil more details soon.

We also know that there are many already released UMD games that you may not own but want to play in the future on your PSPgo. To make this happen we are considering every possibility to bring downloadable versions for the majority of past titles available only in UMD to the PlayStation Store along with all new releases. We will announce further details on this. -Adam Grant, European Product Manager”

Also included within the PSPgo box, will be a USB cable, AC adaptor, and Media Go Software.

The PSP Go will arrive in North America and Europe on October 1, and will be priced at $250 .

Check out more of the Q&A here at PlayStation Blog.

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