Seemingly solid PSP-4000 rumors give new hope for UMD fans
By Tim Stevens 
posted August 26th 2009 8:29AM
posted August 26th 2009 8:29AM
Put away black mourning clothes, PSP owners, there's life yet in them thar UMDs. When the PSP Go was announced it seemed like there was little time left for the plucky (and generally disliked) format, and indications that Sony had planned to ditch it "since the very beginning" were further nails in its apparent coffin. But now, according to a particularly reliable tipster (who accurately predicted the PS3 Slim in June, right down to the inclusion of proper buttons), there's a PSP-4000 inbound that will still sport a UMD drive. According to the tip this new machine will live along-side the Go, but little is known beyond that... other than it's apparently "nothing to actually get excited about." Tell that to the kids with the Lumines discs rattling away in the spokes of their bicycles.
UMD fans?
I met all three of them in front of KFC a couple of days ago. I hope they are happy for these news.
This makes total sense; it's the PSP-3000's replacement.
They can't just ditch the standard model PSP, there are too many games in the channel that are on UMD. And eventually they will replace the 3000 model.
My guess is that this is a 3000 with on-board memory (8GB or 16GB).
@ Dave: Exactly what I thought when I read this.
I'm going with built in 8gb and bluetooth
Another gripe about the engadget comment system: Let us use italics!
Well, it was worth the try.
Saad:
This applies to anyone who has a reasonable library already and is in need of an upgrade. Me, for example.
Actually, the only change in this version, if it exists, is probably just anti-piracy measures. I doubt they'll introduce anything new this time around that will benefit the consumer. Unless they really want to be the next Sega with hardware. Well, I take that back, every revision they make (minus the GO) replaces the previous model. So it's not exactly like Sega, but there's parallels for sure.
@ tobz1000, u must be one of those people Saad Rabia met
Hopefully they are smart and make it a detachable/clip-on UMD drive.
in NEED of an upgrade? you must mean money burning a hole in your pocket.
Ya, seriously. Who are the umd fans. All the guys with psps that I know just put custom fw on it and download games onto their memory sticks.
I love UMD and don't hang around junque foode establishments.
They can be re-sold without selling your unit, without downloads tied to your hardware. They can be sold, swapped, shared.
They can be bought second-hand as opposed to bought from:
.....one company
....in one download store
....setting one price
Downloads too are great, but not when the cost savings aren't passed on to the customer. I would rather have tangibles if that's the case.
w00t!
There are UMD fans?
Yes.
Yay for Sony and failed/failing formats!
(like Blu-ray)
I kind if like the UMD format brings back memories of my old sony minidisc player
Why carry discs, when you can carry more content in a MS? That's the purpose of the PSP GO, and seriously, i like my PSP games in digital form.
Sure, as long as Sony gives us a way to copy our UMDs to our PSP Go's without having to rebuy the games we want to play... oh wait, that is never going to happen. When you have a library of UMD video games, why would you want to rebuy the games you want to play on a newer model?
You own a UMD disc. They can be lent and sold as you desire. Conversely you can buy them used.
You don't own games downloaded off of PSN. You can't lend or sell them. And they will cease to work if Sony ever decides to pull the plug on the DRM server.
UMD's? ISO/CSOs ftw
ISOs/CSOs come from UMDs...
Well what can I say, some companies sometimes tend to be too dumb to notice that their product is a failure.
I can understand Sony's Memory Stick since Sony have tons of Cybershots Cameras and phones, but the UMD ?
It really has to go now.
You are an idiot
This makes me happy. I was finally going to buy a PSP and they released info about the PSP GO and I as really excited...until I read that they were removing the UMD slot/player. I could careless really about the UMD format and I can't ever see myself watching a movie on a PSP, but I do want the ability to trade-in games I'm done with toward the purchase of other games or have the ability to buy "used" games. I buy a game, play said game, beat said game, maybe replay said game to get all the secret stuff and then I don't play said game again. Having the ability to recoup any amount from that game afterward is a plus and downloadble games just don't cut it in that area.
So while not a "fan" of the UMD, I am a fan of physical games. The PSP-4000 can't come soon enough for me!
The cost of the making UMD's and distribution would fly out the window so you wouldn't be paying as much for said game in the first place. You are paying what 40- 30 bucks for a brand new PSP game? Its not like you are getting more then 15 bucks TOPS for any used game you are selling back to GameStop. So what you would save in buying a download that would probably cost 10 to 20 bucks would have you saving in the long run.
http://incompetech.com/gallimaufry/care_less.html
Here, here! I also think they should sell BlueRay/UMD movie bundles (i.e. buy the blueray and get the UMD included). Physical media will be a fact of life for the near future especially with regards to 40GB+ titles. The pipes (especially here in the US) are just to slooooow!
@jiggie82 you can't say that the price of games would come down if they were download only. How much of a price difference is there for a downloadable CD versus buying it in a store? $10 on iTunes in most cases and the same CD at Best Buy is $10. So why haven't CD prices come down since a sizeable amount of people download thus eliminating the need for large production runs of physical CDs?
Yeah, $30-40 for a NEW game that doesn't have to be traded-in/sold to gamestop, but can be sold on ebay, craigslists, to your friend or neighbor or whomever. The ability to buy used games for up to 50% (more in some cases) is also a plus. I didn't even think about the "this game sucks" factor. I've purchased games that I wish I could have either rented or bought used so that they could be returned or not even purchased to begin with. Granted you can't return new games in most cases, but if it sucks you can hopefully find someone to buy it and if not, you trade it in at gamestop/amazon/toysrus and lose less than you would have if you downloaded it and it sucked. And before you say it, they don't make demos of every game out there to try first.
The point being is that you have the ability to trade, borrow, lend, rent, sell, etc. a game or games. I'm not an adopter of the Kindle/ebook either for the same reason. I and my wife constantly trade books with ourselves and others, can't do that with a Kindle/ebook reader.
Well said, I also want the ability to recoup my investment.
Well said, but I think you should see yourself watching movies on the thing:
http://mediacoder.sourceforge.net/download.htm
PSP is a fantastically versatile device with excellent usability, IMO.
Cheap, used games and ownership FTW!!! Screw over-priced licenses!
psp go has nothing to be exited about either
Make that a psPhone for me plz
not a SE with the PlayStation brand but a playstation with a 3G radio
and YES that is different
UMD fans my ass. I have a PSP-3000 that's only about a week old. Why did I choose it? THE SCREEN IS EFFING HUGE AND BEAUTIFUL! I don't care about the scanlines in the 3k (I can see them, but it doesn't break the deal), but the larger screen and big-hand friendly form are what did it for me. I didn't even care that the Go would be $75 more, I just want that screen. Plus used PSP UMDs are CHEAP as holy hell, so I can go to GameStop, pop $100 down, walk out with a ton of used games, then rip them to MSD and play them all I want via 5.03GEN-A. No ridiculously shady torrent sites, no lame intro BS, and I get that GORGEOUS screen. Bring on that 4k, if it fixed the scanlines that would only sweeten it.
"Tell that to the kids with the Lumines discs rattling away in the spokes of their bicycles."
You're assuming kids actually ride bicycles nowadays.
Based on Sony's inability to keep their secrets secret, I'd say that this is in fact coming. It'll be the low end PSP (cheaper).
At first I was gonna say that Sony's trying to do too much by supporting two handhelds, but reading the link and what Kaz was saying about certain markets not having the infrastructure to support full on digital delivery of content, it makes sense.
Of course, people will continue to hate Sony for such a move.
Is there any chance that there will ever be any PSP games that are compelling enough to make someone want one, though?
afaik :psp is able to play some older playstation games.
Maybe I'm just stupid (not impossible) but did Sony ever reveal a way you could upload games you already have on UMD to be playable on the PSP go? If there's no way, then I have no reason to get one. Smaller overall would be nice to make it more portable and not feel like I'm lugging a big thing around, but if I can't play any of the games I already have then what's the point.
I absolutely cannot understand why they don't replace the UMD drive with a 1.8" HDD and use the leftover space to expand the battery. How much better would a 120GB PSP be than a PSP Go?
Drop it and you're absolutely screwed. Not to mention spinning parts + movement regardless = bad.
1.8" ssd ;).
CHRIST! Will they ever release a real new PSP. with better graphics, battery life and two sticks. It's like releasing a PS2 then a PS2 slim then a PS2 slimmer and then a PS2 slimmest... now comes a PS2 anorexic.
Anyone else not see the upside to UMD's? They are currently selling them for 3 for £10 near me. If all we can do is download them then Sony can force on us any price that they wish for games. I hope that they just don't have the nerve to charge us the same as the boxed equivalent and with the cloud that sony is on at the moment I imagine they will.
With the PSP, I have two choices:
1) UMD
2) DRM
I choose number 1. Guess that makes me a UMD fan.
(Besides, I can buy the UMD, then rip it with my gritty Custom Firmware enabled PSP, dump it on my memory stick and stick the UMD in the rack along with the rest.) *Waits to be assaulted by the frothing "PIRATE!" screaming masses*
I don't understand why people say UMD is a failed format. They place games on it, they play. the put overpriced movies on it, a few sold. As far As I know they never even wasted time putting music on it as it would have been overpriced. The point is Nintendo made cartridges for the original Gameboy, no one called that a failed format. They only worked on the Gameboy, they didn't fit in your VCR so why wasn't that a failed format. You mean to tell me if they would have been able to put movies on an original Gameboy and came out with a movie on a $30 cartridge back then and very few sold you would have called it a failed format? NO.
HD-DVD was a failed format, it came out made people buy equipment and media then went under. it FAILED. As far as I can tell, you can still buy a PSP, games and movies 4 years after it was launched. I'd say that is a success.