Sony says goodnight to PSP Extended Life Battery Kit

Sony, where's the justice? How could you mercilessly kill the nine month old PSP Extended Life Battery Kit -- capable of boosting the PSP's play time by up to 80% -- while UMDs continue to be the preferred method of distribution for the system's games and video content (thereby also heavily contributing to the device's juice-drain)? Worse still for Sony, why are we not surprised?

[MadMike @ Aug 9th 2008 12:17AM]

Because corporations are run by clueless morons?

[Metkis @ Aug 9th 2008 12:33AM]

Holy crap. AOL actually does own something I use.

Well, I guess pigs CAN fly.

[EskimoPie @ Aug 9th 2008 12:33AM]

The primary method of hacking a PSP to play homebrew apps and copied games is to modify a battery to put it in a mode that lets you flash custom firmware. This battery is still easily modded... but I'd be surprised if they were really killing the entire battery line for that, juts change the design to make it impossible to mod... They've had version that aren't possible to mod, why even continue to make hackable versions?

[TavisJohn @ Aug 9th 2008 1:15AM]

Why mod a battery when you can purchase one ready to go:
http://us.codejunkies.com/Products/PSP-MAX-Power-TOOL__EF000536.aspx

And a SLIM version:
http://us.codejunkies.com/Products/PSP-MAX-Power-TOOL-SLIM__EF000513.aspx

Or you can get this device that turnes any battery into a "Service Mode" battery:
http://us.codejunkies.com/Products/PSP-Battery-Service-Tool__EF000530.aspx

So if Sony really wanted to stop hacking as you syspect... Than killing the high capacity line is not the way to do it. lol

But never fear! Thre are other High Capacity batteries available:
http://us.codejunkies.com/Products/PSP-X2-Battery__EF000064.aspx
Wich are higher capacity than the pictured Sony Battery.

[Auras @ Aug 9th 2008 5:08AM]

Because it's cheaper?

[Marvin Quach @ Aug 9th 2008 11:17AM]

@TavisJohn

You sure you don't work for Codejunkies US and/or get ad partnering revenue for that post you just made there?


--->
Why get ad blockers when you can get ads from people like TavisJohn?

[TavisJohn @ Aug 9th 2008 5:13PM]

No I do not work for them.
However I find it amusing that people cry or complain when one company stops making something... That others have for sale, and even at higher capacity...

[farinasa @ Aug 9th 2008 12:31AM]

no because Sony is receiving such high revenue from ps3 and accesories *cough*

[macserv @ Aug 10th 2008 9:28PM]

Exactly. "How could they kill this blah blah?" They can kill it because it costs more to produce and market than they make from you buying it. Or rather, you NOT buying it.

[Nightstar @ Aug 9th 2008 12:31AM]

Perfect example of negative logic!

[thedesolate1 @ Aug 9th 2008 12:33AM]

Perhaps they are in danger of exploding considering Sony's track record.

[brandon @ Aug 9th 2008 12:34AM]

Boo!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[AJ @ Aug 9th 2008 11:48AM]

ahh!

[Steffen Jobbs @ Aug 9th 2008 12:36AM]

Didn't even know they had something like that. I might have bought it if I'd known.

Apple should make something like that for the iPhone instead of having to slap some bulky after-market pack on the back.

[cesium @ Aug 9th 2008 12:59AM]

OH CMON, there was absolutely no reason to mention the fucking iphone, even if its in a negative manner

[Chris Macdonald @ Aug 9th 2008 11:08AM]

AHH THOSE MEMORIES OF JULY ARE COMING BACK TO ME NOW!!!!!!!

[Ian @ Aug 9th 2008 1:46PM]

i swear people get off to mentioning the iphone

[Lancelot @ Aug 9th 2008 6:12PM]

No wonder their earnings are continuing to fall. For a company that was on top of the world just a few years ago they sure are making some really stupid moves lately, & this one just re-enforces my statement.

[fischju @ Aug 9th 2008 12:52AM]

Lik-Sang, how I miss you! Play Asia is a poor substitute!

[jinto.lin @ Aug 9th 2008 1:14AM]

I miss them too! I loved checking it, and now that I have money to spend, they are gone. That was a sad day, when I saw the lawsuit info.

[Jhongerkong @ Aug 9th 2008 1:02AM]

Maybe they dont want peoples PSPs looking like they have tumors

[bertross @ Aug 9th 2008 1:59AM]

"Sir, your PSP...is it pregnant?"

[Sudo @ Aug 9th 2008 2:32AM]

IT'S NOT A TOOMA. Not a tooma, at all.

[Eduardo @ Aug 9th 2008 12:47PM]

Im a tumor, im a tumor.

[gerbick @ Aug 9th 2008 1:10AM]

I was waiting on the white cover for my white/Darth Vader PSP in this...

[Eric B. @ Aug 9th 2008 2:28AM]

I have a battery with 3600mAh but I only get about 6 hours on low light. WT hell

[srw985 @ Aug 9th 2008 4:15AM]

If its from ebay etc its probably fake and nowhere near 3600mAh. They just lied to you.

[xavi @ Aug 9th 2008 2:35AM]

Are they preparing to launch PSP2?

[Dave Chappelle @ Aug 9th 2008 4:14AM]

my god. for gods sake, ITS CALLED PSP 3

psp2 or 2000 was the slim down version, this version wont look much different either btw, so i guess it will be PSP1 still for you.?

[deyanimay @ Aug 9th 2008 5:44AM]

don't be stupid the psp 200 is only like a psp 1.2

[deyanimay @ Aug 9th 2008 5:44AM]

forgot a zero

[Shinigami @ Aug 9th 2008 2:55AM]

Is that because PSP2 is coming? Hope so, but probably not...

[Ethan @ Aug 9th 2008 3:48AM]

I think it's existence suggests poor battery life to potential buyers. Not having it displays confidence, and screws over the people who've already made their purchase.

[J. Baker @ Aug 9th 2008 4:52AM]

Making more money from your product > making it a better product

Apparently... :S

[Technex @ Aug 9th 2008 11:41AM]

Sony for you, no customer service, no quality it's all in the money making for them idiots.

[tekdroid @ Aug 9th 2008 5:12AM]

Odd decision, but you can always carry a spare slim battery. As far as I understand things, this extended battery was never moddable so it's not a piracy-related move, I think.

[BirdofPrey @ Aug 9th 2008 6:48AM]

Well when they discontinued the larger PS2 that could take a hard drive and network adapter their reasoning was that people hardcore enough to want that kind of thing already owned a system.

Maybe they also (wrongly) assume that anyone who plays a PsP all day long already has 5 extended batteries.

Morons

[jupiterthunder @ Aug 9th 2008 10:08AM]

may be wrong, but it they don't have one, then they've been managing without it anyway so it's a wash.

[Andrew Kim @ Aug 9th 2008 9:54AM]

sony doesn't give a crap about their customers.

i gave sony a try... but all they gave me was their crap at a more expensive price.

-ANDREW KIM!

[required @ Aug 9th 2008 11:06AM]

I take it you prefer cheaper crap or knockoff crap or qrap.

[Technex @ Aug 9th 2008 11:40AM]

I would refer to Sony as the cheap knock-off crap.

[tekdroid @ Aug 9th 2008 1:31PM]

perhaps you gentlemen can refer a fellow interneteer to a suitable PSP replacement...

[Catmambo @ Aug 9th 2008 10:57AM]

Worse still for Engadget, why are we not surprised that Block has come out of retirement to complain about Sony? One might have assumed the chip on your shoulder would disappear with time but unfortunately not the case.

[Iridium @ Aug 9th 2008 11:35AM]

What the hell is the purpose of this blog post. It is completely anti-sony in the whole tone. Complaining about a battery, complaining about UMD. Get off it.

The extended life battery has been out for a lot longer than 9 months. I've had one for my PSP Big for a long time. In fact I bought it at Target for $5 when it went on clearance.

The same battery became the kit when the PSPslim came out. Maybe there are getting rid of it because sales were poor. Wow, there's a concept. Not that many people buy extra batteries for devices when they can be recharged.

Also could it be that maybe Sony has been able to make a 2200mah battery that is th esame size as the S&L battery.

[Ruben @ Aug 9th 2008 11:37AM]

Heres a question and probably a reason they got rid of these batteries:

Could the smaller Slim batteries be converted to Pandora batteries, giving you the ability to unlock the PSP and install the custom firmware?

[Technex @ Aug 9th 2008 11:39AM]

Sony deserves all the shit they get.

[Justin @ Aug 9th 2008 11:50AM]

I typically don't bash companies or have a hatred toward a certain line of products but let's just say I'm never buying another Sony product ever again. This from a person who at one time had at least $10,000 worth of Sony gear.

[bolomkxxviii @ Aug 9th 2008 2:55PM]

What do you expect from Sony?

[gabe @ Aug 9th 2008 1:32PM]

why? Because the pep is a failure even with dark alex.

Give me all the homebrew and free games/movies it still is aboring
system.

[Tuck @ Aug 9th 2008 4:21PM]

If only they made a red backing I would gladly get this. BOO!