New €99 PSP model loses WiFI, debuts this Fall in Europe [update: more details]

by Richard Mitchell on Aug 16th 2011 2:00PM

Speaking at Sony's Gamescom press conference, new SCEE president Jim Ryan revealed that a new model of the PSP will debut in Europe later this year. This new PSP variant will sport a refined design, though it will not include WiFi. The kicker, however, is the price: a mere €99.00. The new model is expected to launch this fall in Europe. No mention was made of a launch in other territories, but we'll let you know as soon as we hear something!

Update: PlayStation Blog Europe has posted a few more details about the device. The new PSP will be dubbed the E-1000 and will feature the same matte finish as the PlayStation 3 slim console. As the handheld will lack WiFi, the only way to connect to the PlayStation Store will be via Sony's Media Go software. So, uh, we hope there aren't any Mac users among the E-1000's prospective buyers.

A range of discounted UMD titles is also planned to launch alongside the device, including EyePet Adventures, Invizimals: The Lost Tribes and FIFA 12. Each game in the new lineup will be priced at €9.99.

Strangely, another feature completely lacking from the E-1000: Liquid metal.

Tags: gamescom-2011, playstation, price, psp, release-date, sony

Reader Comments (99)

Will definitely pick this up, pending possible screen issues of course. Only have the original PSP, and a ridiculous library of UMDs I won't be able to play on my Vita, so this seems perfect for me.

@Epoque

Sony should get with the program and get all the UMDs on PSN:

Snoopy vs. Red Baron
N+
Ridge Racer 2
Space Invaders Extreme
Pac Man World 3

to name a few.

@Epoque

Just wondering. If you have the original PSP, why do you need to buy one? I have the original PSP too, but I have about 5 games... I never found many games I wanted to play =/

@FriedConsole
It's more of a licensing issue that Sony issue. As always with digital games. Everyone being cheap and greedy at the same time. If both parties only made $1 per sale, that's still $1 more than what they had before.

I just don't get the idiots out there who would rather "stick to their guns" or whatever and not make a deal to make extra money. At the same time, I'm sure Sony is also wanting to make more money than they ought to. Just plain stupidity to not meet in the middle so everyone can make more money and everyone can have access to more games.

Apparently no one likes win, win, win.

@killerjuice That's your problem. I have the same problem with ds. Hardly any games I like. psp on the other hand has tons of games I like. So it's all personal choice.

@killerjuice The battery barely doesn't even last for three hours of gameplay and drains when not in use to the point I have to recharge it if it's been sitting around for a week. It's also an original PSP, and they've made genuine hardware improvements in new models ... improvements which I'd assume are present here. I've wanted to replace it for a while.

So let me rephrase my original statement. I'll buy this as long as the screen is problem free and the battery is up to snuff of modern consumer electronics standards.

Plus, I don't have 5 games. I have a lot of games, and a lot of them I love enough to want to continue playing them ... having more reliable hardware to do so would make my investment in so many UMD games worth it. Also, I don't want to repurchase any of them on PSN when my PSP stops working or I get the Vita, which would make even less sense than buying another PSP model.

@Epoque My thoughts exactly.

@Epoque sez: "and they've made genuine hardware improvements in new models ... improvements which I'd assume are present here. I've wanted to replace it for a while."

Please DON'T assume that it has ALL the improvements of the later PSP models. Just from what I can see from the gallery pics, it looks like it doesn't have the headphone remote/ video out port that the PSP-2000/3000. it may not be playable on a TV, if that's something you're interested in. It looks like it's only a headphone jack. And there only seems to be 1 speaker (as opposed to 2 in the other PSPs)

When it comes to Son, don't EVER *assume* anything good.

@Epoque
You just need a new battery, not a new PSP. Get the high capacity battery - works great with PSP-1000.

@killerjuice
Only 5 games you want to play? Wow, I am having trouble narrowing down my top 5 PSP games.... well, I certainly hope you have Crisis Core, Dissidia, Chains of Olympus, Ghost of Sparta, and Peace Walker? Then again I am not sure I could give up the other MGS games on PSP: Portable Ops, Portable Ops+, Acid and Acid 2. Or the dozens of brilliant RPGs (P3P, Tales of Eternia, and Disgaea being particularly wonderful, although Ys I/II/Napishtim/VII is my current RPG arc; also many exclusives including Jeanne D'arc, Brave Story, 3rd Birthday, etc.) Or the great games in basically every genre. Or Patapon, Locoroco, LittleBigPlanet, Lumines, Crush..... Anyway, yeah. It's an awesome system. Oh, and it also plays all of those PS1 games on PSN (e.g. Final Fantasy 7/8/9, Vagrant Story, Xenogears, etc.), though I mostly just play the original discs on PS3.

@spyder256
What, only 5 DS games? I've played many more games on PSP, but uh, Zelda? Mario? Final Fantasy III? Devil Survivor? Professor Layton? Ace Attorney? The World Ends with You? Dragon Quest IX? Revenant Wings? I would be tempted get a DS just for the Shin Megami Tensei games (DS or DS Overclocked and Strange Journey) frankly, but that's because I think it may be the best current RPG series going on on any and all platforms...

hmm what is the point of this launch when vita is around the corner and you could also get a pre owned one prob just as cheap .

@bo1982

The vita won't replace the PSP.

You never know how many bathrooms a preowned handheld console has seen.

@bo1982 This is perfect for those (like me) who have a broken PSP and would like to enjoy playing old games again. Remember just because the Vita is around the corner doesnt mean the PSP doesnt have an amazing collection of games.

Also what im wondering is if this thing has some sort of antipiracy measure.

@Epoque

Or how many beds its been in ¬_¬

Slagstation

@bo1982

It's worse than that: a new PSP 3000 costs 129€! That's just 30€ more or half the cost of a brand new PS3 game! If I shop around I can probably get a discount, some coupons or a free game on it even. I see no point whatsoever in ditching what is probably one of the cheapest parts of the system unless they want to shutdown the online services for the current PSP *dramatic chipmunk*

@Mr Hett
Right, the same way PS3 totally didn't replace PS2?

It'll be the same deal; you can still buy the system, because it's cheap, but there will be basically no new games for PSP (except the ones already in development pipeline) after Vita comes out.

This is a good buy for anyone who doesn't already have a PSP and wants to play through the existing library (most of which they can probably pick up used on the cheap). That's as far as it goes.

@xxxsam

This. The PSP is already cheap enough for most people: $130 is a steal, AND you get Wi-Fi, so no need to tether to your computer.

And there is no point in having a PSP with no Wi-Fi.

@bo1982

What was the point of still selling the PS2 when the PS3 came out? Oh, that's right: the PS2 is still selling to this day as a budget console.

If you have the library and over the years have reduced the production costs to a minimum ( specially in the PSP- 3000 series) why not offer a budget version of the product for those who don't want to pay for a Vita right of the bat but can be enticed to become PlayStation players after having access to a cheap console?

@tendoboy1984

That's true, and it will still be true once this comes out. Nowhere it says that this SKU will replace the original PSP. This is actually what Sony should have done with the PSP Go: rather than launch a more expensive version of an existing hardware, launch a cheaper model of the same hardware.

Sony is just giving you a cheaper option of the console and not replacing the WIFI enabled PSP. Somebody who knows of games and consoles will pick up the WIFi enabled $130 while a casual player who just wants to play single player games and not spend a lot of money will pick up the $99.

And, btw, this is only for Europe where we would need to see a) how much a WIFi PSP costs in dollars when converted from Euros and, b), what is the market breakdown of PSP consumers. More than likely in the US and Japan there will be a price drop on the WIFI PSP before or after the launch of the Vita with the console only SKU dropping to $99 and the bundle SKU's dropping to $130-150.

this is fair. Nice move sony :)

Great deal and all but I'm just too... Living la Vita Loca... to buy any other handheld.

With the Vita, what's the point of releasing a new PSP model?

@The Only Girl The Vita is not replacing the PSP.

@(Unverified)

The Vita is very much replacing the PSP no matter what anyone at Sony says. Its the same for every hardware successor. To believe otherwise is just naive.

@(Unverified) Sure it's not. Just like the DS didn't replace the GBA and the GBA didn't replace the original GB. Those systems lived on forever. /sarcasm

@MEGATOOL
You know how many years the PS2 still lived after the release of the PS3?

@The Only Girl

I'd imagine this is targeted for Eastern Europe so as to introduce the people to the PSP?

@The Only Girl

because not everyone is going to have 250 to spend on a handheld. but 99 isn't bad especially considering the amount of cheap games already exist.

think about this. when the PS$ and the Next Xbox come out I'm going to buy whatever the newest 360 is for cheap and play all of the games I missed out on over the past 4 years.

@eat it
You know this is 99 euros.
A core is about 120.

@The Only Girl Why not? It gives people a budget model for kids and people who missed out on the PSP. It's not like wifi will be needed anymore and this new PSP looks slick.

@The Only Girl
It seems strange to release a new PSP without WiFi, considering many excellent PSP games (e.g. MGS: Portable Ops, Katamari, Darkstalkers) are hard to find on UMD but still available on PSN. It's possible they don't want it to compete with the Vita, which will play the same PSN games, but I'm not entirely sure who the target market is.

Maybe it's like the re-release of the Sega Game Gear that was smaller, brighter and cheaper but also (I believe) couldn't play Master System games (via the Master Gear adapter) or use the (awesome) TV tuner cartridge...

So can you not go online?

@byaboy
The best part of lacking wi-fi isn't not going online, but not showing everyone line that you didn't.

@byaboy: The same question I'm thinking. Why would you get rid of Wi-Fi? In this day and age, it makes no sense. Unless its a 3G only model.

I guess its just for games, and isn't meant for upgrades or PSN connectivity or anything else.

@BPMOmega XBL PSN Steam
*not showing everyone online

@216 No wifi means it can be sold for a lower price. Also ..

A large amount of "online" games no longer have working servers to play online on.

At this point who hasnt enjoyed Wifi battles on the PSP ?

Download games on the PSP sucks because of 802.11b network speeds.

I have an andriod phone (and im sure many people in this age have other means of internet) so I already have a device to handle all my online needs.

My only problem with this PSP model is, How in the world are you going to use Qriocity, buy comics, use internet radio, rss. Anything else that would really use Wifi for ?

@MiguelAMX They shut down the comic service, not sure if they did with Qriocity and internet radio, but thats why you have your android for that ;)

I don't think losing Online is a problem at this point in PSP's market life, and actually a smart move by Sony
.

@ShoTime

Region-specific hardware differences doesnt seem that great from mass production pov. Can't market this in Japan, where the PSP is thriving, either since the market is almost wholly dependent on popularity of multi-player MonsterHunter-esque games.

@ShoTime

Sometimes its preferable that a console doesn't have online. If the new model comes State side I might buy one for my son. He doesn't need online and its not a "huge" loss if he breaks it.

So no PSN access? Seems kind of dumb to remove wifi

@RCizzle65 since vita wont play UMDs and not all PSP games are on PSN it makes perfect sense to have cheaper PSP just for UMD games

@RCizzle65 if you have a computer just use media go to download stuff

@RCizzle65

Or plug into a PS3 and xfer...truthfully that's the way I go to speed the downloads up.

...I still think its a dumb idea too though...this almost completely negates the awesome that is Monster Hunter.

Might get this to use as a portable PS1. I have been meaning to get a PSP for a while now, had one when it released but sold it in early '07 because it didn't really have any games worth playing.

@TraceurRyuk Part III

I would kill for a portable PS2...true story.

This could possibly be more misguided than the PSP Go. Is there an ethernet port? Who wants to be tethered to their router on a handheld? Seems too cheap to be a 3G model...

@PersonOfSorts
There aren't a ton of PSP online games, so having a budget sku without it is interesting.

Odd choice though, as this mean you'd have to use a ps3 or PC to get anything off PSN.

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New €99 PSP model loses WiFI, debuts this Fall in Europe [update: more details]

Reader Comments (99)

Posted: Aug 16th 2011 2:03PM Epoque said

Posted: Aug 16th 2011 2:22PM FriedConsole said

Posted: Aug 16th 2011 2:23PM killerjuice said

Posted: Aug 16th 2011 2:29PM Mmmmz said

Posted: Aug 16th 2011 2:31PM spyder256 said

Posted: Aug 16th 2011 2:48PM Epoque said

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Posted: Aug 16th 2011 2:50PM Dextro said

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Posted: Aug 17th 2011 3:36AM ptcamn said

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Posted: Aug 16th 2011 2:05PM Slixshot said

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Posted: Aug 16th 2011 2:06PM The Only Girl said

Posted: Aug 16th 2011 2:08PM (Unverified) said

Posted: Aug 16th 2011 2:22PM Suichimo said

Posted: Aug 16th 2011 2:24PM MEGATOOL said

Posted: Aug 16th 2011 2:38PM Andrew12h said

Posted: Aug 16th 2011 4:22PM AntiPhoton said

Posted: Aug 16th 2011 4:30PM eat it said

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Posted: Aug 16th 2011 2:13PM BPMOmega XBL PSN Steam said

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