It had been speculated across many blogs and news articles that Sony's new PSP Go would be sporting a new, more powerful central processor. Unfortunately, Sony has failed to impress. The hype surrounding the claims of a new speedier processor had almost certainly snapped me up as a loyal customer for release day number one. But it just wasn't meant to be; Engadget burst my bubble earlier today with the article "PSPgo's 480MHz clock speed references USB, not CPU".There are a few reasons why I am annoyed at Sony for not upping the CPU speed, even if by just over 100MHz, for the PSP Go:
Firstly, a faster processor allows for better in-game control over the console. I'm sick of looking at the ugly grey 'Home' screen when I want to use the XMB. Not only that, but I want the XMB in my game, not as a separate entity to anything I do on the console. I want control over the music I listen to while playing a game, sometimes the in-game music just isn't what I fancy.
Secondly, games. If this new PSP is going to support the same old average game quality that I have seen in the past, which is rapidly deteriorating as developers get bored of the lousy hardware specifications, then what is the selling point for this? An increased CPU speed can offer developers that little extra space for improvement in their games. If the "Rachael" can sport a 1GHz processor, then why can't the PSP? I'm sure customers would be more than willing to pay a little extra for a console that carries the potential to offer better quality gaming and multi-tasking capabilities, which leads me onto my next point...
Multi-tasking; the PSP isn't just a gaming platform - it was never meant to be - so why are Sony stuffing it with low-end hardware specifications that can never support the sort of things users want to realistically accomplish. Apparently you will be able to access the XMB from your game... but rather than just pausing the games and assigning the remaining RAM to other activities the user will be doing, Sony has [I have heard] chosen to use Save States. Where have I heard 'Save States' before? Hm, my SNES emulator.
If Sony choose to stick with the old PSP specifications then the user only gains in terms of aesthetics. They are ditching UMD, which they say they planned to do since the beginning, meaning any games you have bought to use on your old PSPs are of new use when you buy the PSP Go. I don't know about you but that doesn't appeal to me at all. You'd think with a price tag of almost £250 that you would get both digital and physical options to buy games.
It looks like Sony aren't Going anywhere with this...