Sony PSP go - Pearl white

More on http://forum.psp-fanatik.ro/
[img]http://cache.gawker.com/assets/images/9/2009/09/500x_custom_1254159249503_pspgo.jpg[/img] Smaller, easier to use and completely devoid of a disc drive of any sort, the PSPgo is powered only by digital media, a brave step into the future of gaming. But is it a future in which we want to live?

Loved

Pure Digital: The PSPgo is smaller, sleeker, better designed than its predecessors, but the thing that really separates it from all of the Playstation Portables that came before is its lack of a Universal Media Disc drive. Gamers will rely almost entirely on a WiFi connection to download pictures, movies, music and games to their system.

Granted, you can use the Media Go software and a computer. You can use the Playstation 3 and a cable. You can even use a Memory Stick Micro to put content on your PSPgo. But those are all safety nets. This device is meant for online purchases and play.

A gamer's main access point for buying content is the Playstation Store, a built-in option on the PSPgo's cross media bar. Once set-up, gamers can use a credit card or store-purchased redeemable cards, to get new content. The store, available on the Playstation Portable as well, is a well constructed digital shopping center that makes finding and grabbing the content you want a breeze.

Over the course of a week I purchased TV shows and games, rented a movie and downloaded demos from my home in the U.S., airports abroad and even the press room of the Tokyo Game Show. Getting content onto the device with a wireless connection from virtual anywhere was a breeze. And with five games, four demos, some music, pictures and a TV show and movie, I still had 9 of the 16 built-in gigs of memory free.

Accessing the content is also a breeze, with a folder for system storage and another for the Memory stick. Within each folder are icons for the games already installed.

The system of downloading, installing and playing full blown games is very similar to the iPhone, though the store is much better organized and the selection much more diverse and often of a higher quality than the iPhone's game section.

Feel: My more-than hour long sessions spent playing games on the PSPgo never ended in hand cramping, despite the device's smaller size. The portable has enough heft to keep it from feeling like a toy, but it's light enough to minimalize any hand fatigue.

The back of the features two slightly raised ridges which make clutching the go with your fingertips a bit easier while your thumbs dance across the front of the system.

The directional pad and face buttons aren't as raised and don't have as much give as the ones found on the PSP 3000, but that's something I adapted to fairly quickly. While the single analog stick is shifted over a bit, now down and to the right instead of below the d-pad, I got used to that quickly as well. The big issue will be with games that require gamers to switch quickly between that right d-pad and the thumbstick. The new location for the two will make that much harder to do. The shoulder buttons were far less clicky sounding and feeling than with the original Playstation Portable, but I felt that was a change for the better, not the worse.

The button changes that did bother me a bit were the Select, Start, Display and Volume buttons. All four have almost zero give when pressed. The volume buttons, tucked away behind the screen on the top edge of the system, were hard to find and

sssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss