How, exactly, is this a price cut? It's got less stuff in the box than the Value Pack.

where i live that is good. they rip you of and charge you $250 for the standered, and $275 for the value pack. this is great because i was about to buy 1 exactialy 1 week from today, sweet!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I was just going to say what #1 said.
This isn't a price drop, all it is is the basic package that Japan got and the US got screwed out of.

Wake me when the Basic unit drops to $150. Till then I'll be playing games on my Nintendo DS Lite and listening to music and watching movies on my iPod.

Wow Joystiq...

There was so much news on the PSP today and you put the price drop as the main headline? Please change it or we will get a million posts on how there really wasn't a price drop.

Thanks Mr. Dan Choi. I knew that I could cont on you :)

Semi good news for me since my psp was recently stolen. But yeah its not really a price cut since we barely get anything...

The Canadian dollar is worth about 89 cents US.

oh yeah, thats fair :(

(damn our socialist-hoser paradise!!!)

I was wondering when a publicized price drop would occur. I'm mostly interested in the voip option (I really thought the DS would be doing that first) and the ability to download ps1 games directly in there. As far as I can tell, they've only made two games for the thing that are worth playing.

Wait, dowloadable PSone games on the PSP ?

Wth ?

well, sony is just trying their best to cater to user demands. most psp owners complained that they had to go buy a package that gave them things that they didnt need/ want. most psp owners buy their own case, and memory sticks anyways. most people dont use the psp remote, the headphones are easily replacable. so i think its a great deal for people that already have psps.

its a good time to get one; lots of decent titles are on their way.

Yeah there was some great announcements for psp, and though ps3 stole the show, i was truly impressed by what i heard. Just imagin bringing back FFV7 - 9, MGS1, Grand turisomo 1 and 2, vib ribbon, the original tomb raider(you know when it was good) resident evils 1-3 and even crash bandicoot(I loved the game, thats good enough for me) all now for on the go gameplay. Obviously i know they need the publishers agreements but WOW, i know i would like that.

Plus the eyetoy thing would be a good idea. especially if it could work online. **saliva dribble**
Also i was wondering that since downloadble ps1 games will be on the psp, what happens for downloadable games for the ps3 version. Is it still on, or was it always just menat for the psp, if not, could there be link up play between a ps3 and psp? Because i would l kill for that.

The price cut of $229 Canadian sounded tempting till I did the math on how much it'll cost for a 1GB Memory Stick $100, and tax (15% Ontario). The total is $378 Canadian.

1 problem with playing old ps1 games...

You need a massive memory card just to hold 2 games. I wonder how they will do audio that came form the CD? This sounds nice at first, but they are really pushing it with this PS1 stuff.

And lowering the price by eliminating things out of the package is rediculous. What if they sold a DS like this? Instead, Nintendo give you a price drop and then ADD A GAME FOR FREE. That is how you do a price drop. That is how you get people to play. What good is a multimedia device without a memory card?

I guess the $199 version is the game player without save capability? I wonder if they put the old battery in too, just to save some more money for themselves?

What about the fabled PSP - PS3 compatibility? I know the P3 isn't out yet, but that was something that was getting a nice amount of lip service from sony (kinda like the whole Spring 2006 launch date) As much as Sony pisses me off, that sounded like something they need to push. Never mind trying to mimic XBlive or come up with a downloadable back catalog of games like nintendo - use the psp, it's the unique to the playstation

Downloadable PSOne games - how big & how much? are they gonna start dropping the prices on MS Duos? Would be nice, I doubt many(if any) will fit on a 32meg stick

I got a sinking feeling that the consumer may get screwed

#12: KD, the 1G memory stick hasn't been at $100 CDN for ages! The first site I visited, CanadaComputers, had it for $69.99.

http://www.canadacomputers.com/index.php?do=ShowProduct&cmd=pd&pid=007355&cid=990.190

This makes the PSP a better buy for me. I'll probably get one in a years time. PS1 downloadable games are just too excellent. original Tekken, Tomb Raider, Street Fighter games, MGS1 etc. all portable. Nice move Sony. very very nice move.

This what the PSP should have been from the get go :)

But though... what about L2 and R2? rocking the boat on a very good deal.

Few things.

1)When would these proposed PS1 games start being offered? I want Final Fantasy Tactics NOW.

2)I share concern as to how they'd handle the lack of an L2/R2. Maybe the Dpad left/right could server as L2/R2, but be really awkward. Other than that I'm not really sure.

3)Size of games could easily be reduced. Think about it. They just recently put the original Resident Evil + MORE on a DS cart... which to my knowledge tops off at 512mb right now. With the way format encoding goes these days (sound + video), as well as scaling down the resolution - it's my guess that they'll be able to drop the size of the games down to a third of what they actually were on a CD.

Personally I really look forward to that and the possibility of a high megapixel camera attachment. They may encourage me to updgrade from 1.5 with all these changes. Let's just hope they shoot through all the PS1 greatest hits games first (give me FF Tactics!). Battle Arena Toshinden 1+2 wouldn't be too shabby either =) Wonder if these games will have local wifi support?

Alright, here's a Final Fantasy Geek Off-the-Wall theory for you:

Say PSP gets the original Final Fantasy VII as one of the PSone games. Now, let's pretend that PS3 actually gets the FFVII remake. Next, to make every FF fan very happy, they make the saves between the two versions interchangable.

I can see it now: I'm leveling up Cloud and the gang on my PS3 when my wife tells me it is time to go attend some boring event I'd rather not be at. Problem solved. I save my game, swap it over to my PSP, and continue where I was once we arrive at the boring event!

Sadly, it sounds much too much like it falls into the "to good to be true" catagory of theories, but we can dream nonetheless.

It's a somewhat better deal to buy the $250 instead since you get a basic case, headphones, memory stick, etc.

A 256MB memory stick starts at ~$30 and thats before taxes...but at least he prices of the memory sticks have dropped significantly.

But the japanese core PSP was 169. I don't want an eyetoy/camera. the 4GB of NAND storage is great though. Old PS1 games are all well and good but it's always better when you have a strong library of new games to compliment a newly purchased portable. I'll wait to see if the new games have quality that compliments the older PS1 titles.

How is the PS1 game download going to work? Uber long download times, and what, only 3 1GB memory sticks for FFVII? =|

Gonzo,

Unless I'm mistaken, DS is doing VOIP first, sort of.

Metroid Prime: Hunters has voice chat lobbies before and after matches. FYI.

1)When would these proposed PS1 games start being offered? I want Final Fantasy Tactics NOW.

--

Awww... poor DS owners, if only FFT was on GBA...

Oh.. *snicker.. jk...


(seriously... i know it's watered down as hell... )

"22. How is the PS1 game download going to work? Uber long download times, and what, only 3 1GB memory sticks for FFVII? =|"

Actually, each disc being 700mb tops, that's 2100mb. Each disc is not topped out though. FF7 on my computer is less than the size of a UMD. 1gig compressed setup, like 1.5g undone.

Also, why would you need all 3 discs loaded at once? Chances are you'd be able to load one disc at a time on your mem stick (since you get at least 18 hours a pop on the first two discs, no big deal). Also with compression of video and audio files these days, and the reduced resolution, it wouldn't be too suprising if they could fit all three discs at 700-900mb or so.

Think logically, if Sony hasn't thought it through they probably wouldn't be announcing it. Everyone was skeptical about video UMDs, but hey, they sell. I have a feeling they'll find a way to make this work... Once they address the L2/R2 problem I'll be content.

"Everyone was skeptical about video UMDs, but hey, they sell."

...and they're expensive as hell too.

In other news...if you dig platformers and original (non-ported) games everyone should check out Daxter. Not only is graphically impressive but it is fun to play too.

"Also with compression of video and audio files these days, and the reduced resolution, it wouldn't be too suprising if they could fit all three discs at 700-900mb or so."

How many discs on a 32mb memory stick?

None...if you own Wipeout Pure, own the 32MB card have downloaded all the updates...you know that 32MB isn't enough. The updates and addons for Wipeout Pure equal 30MB last time I checked.

I got my PSP value pack from FYE for $219.99 months ago.

WHEN will america get the white psp

Sense, there are already two PSP games that support voice communication for online play, those being SOCOM: U.S. Navy SEALs Fireteam Bravo, and Syphon Filter: Dark Mirror. It is good to know that they are beginning to implement it into DS games also, although they need to take the next step and offer voice chat DURING gameplay (as PSP does now).

Jago, I agree that Daxter is a beautiful game that is also very fun to play. It's certainly one of the best PSP games yet!

Regarding the Wipeout Pure downloadable content, all the Gamma, Classic, and Delta packs together occupy somewhere around 60 MB on a Memory Stick.

oy vay!

Dan-man!!! that's some awesome news on the PSP... so, are you gonna get one now? :p

"None...if you own Wipeout Pure, own the 32MB card have downloaded all the updates...you know that 32MB isn't enough. The updates and addons for Wipeout Pure equal 30MB last time I checked."

Well we're all grateful for those "useful" 32mb memory stick.

60MB? Hmm...shows how long its been since I played that game.

All I care about is Vagrant Story on my PSP. Please make it happen and I will shower you with kisses and such. Thank you.

"Maybe I'll finally pick up my own copy of FFVII then. ;)"

oh, that's mean!!!! i still can't believe on the HOTTEST day that summer, i left my FFVII in the car... directly in the sun... sigh.

there is an add-on to the PSP, you've probably already seen it. a 4 GB "HDD" from Datel.

i'd actually be kinda depressed if they come out with a new PSP anytime soon... cause i only JUST got this PSP. :|

but you know, like "mwahaha" said... Vagrant Story on the PSP would be AWESOME.

Price drop???

I went to gamestop looking at the standard unit it's $249 US...

wthats the deal?