If you're one of those staunchly stingy European types who out and out refuses to buy any new technology until it's gone through a minimum of four hardware revisions, has stripped out arguably its most useful feature, and dropped to a price that effectively says "seriously, just buy one of these goddamned things," then has Sony ever got a piece of news for you.

Inexplicably dropped as an addendum to Sony's PlayStation Vita portion of its Gamescom press conference, new Sony Computer Entertainment Europe head Jim Ryan chestily announced that a new piece of PSP hardware will be hitting stores in the near future. This new model will retail for 99 Euros (according to a statement from Sony, this model is only for Europe, with no American release planned), and will actually drop all wi-fi functionality from the hardware. Presumably, ad-hoc play will continue to exist, but any online connectivity will be dropped. Again, Sony has yet to specify the exact schematics of the device at this juncture.

So, there you go. Sit here and marvel at the fact that Sony pretty much just announced the PSP Go in reverse. Excitedly, even. Now excuse me, I have to return to deciphering why the hell there is a dance crew busting a move to wobble bassy electro tracks to ostensibly promote the PlayStation Move. It's just been that kind of press conference, people.

If you're one of those staunchly stingy European types who out and out refuses to buy any new technology until it's gone through a minimum of four hardware revisions, has stripped out arguably its most useful feature, and dropped to a price that effectively says "seriously, just buy one of these goddamned things," then has Sony ever got a piece of news for you.

Inexplicably dropped as an addendum to Sony's PlayStation Vita portion of its Gamescom press conference, new Sony Computer Entertainment Europe head Jim Ryan chestily announced that a new piece of PSP hardware will be hitting stores in the near future. This new model will retail for 99 Euros (according to a statement from Sony, this model is only for Europe, with no American release planned), and will actually drop all wi-fi functionality from the hardware. Presumably, ad-hoc play will continue to exist, but any online connectivity will be dropped. Again, Sony has yet to specify the exact schematics of the device at this juncture.

So, there you go. Sit here and marvel at the fact that Sony pretty much just announced the PSP Go in reverse. Excitedly, even. Now excuse me, I have to return to deciphering why the hell there is a dance crew busting a move to wobble bassy electro tracks to ostensibly promote the PlayStation Move. It's just been that kind of press conference, people.

hmmm i see maybe i should get one........

SKU it on the barbie we ain't tryin to lose

Because 2011 is the year of dubstep, Alex. E3 should've told you as much.

WAWAWAWAWAWAWAWAWAWAWAAAAAAAAWAAAAAAAAWAAAAAAAAAAWAWAWAWAWAWAWAWAWAWAWAWA

Maybe I should pi-
 
*SMACKS SELF IN THE FACE*
 
NO, I'VE BEEN TRICKED TWICE BEFORE! I'm not buying a third one.

WHY?!?!?! that is incredibly stupid... and I also used wifi on my psp like all the time...

You know... I can't even remember the last time I used my PSP's WiFi... Still, this is pretty dumb. Reminds me of the GBA Micro and we all know how that turned out.

Man what? No Online? Thats dumb. SOnys dumb for this. Sony your dumb. I hate you Sony... 
 
Probably still gonna buy one...

...why?

That's kinda ridiculous, but then the PSP has a bad rep for not having even a decent parental control setting since you can reset it by resetting the system settings. Anybody can access anything on the internet regardless. This'd be nice for parents or for those who don't want unbridled access to internet browsing.

Just fucking kill this thing already.

No wifi... That's weird. I mean, one minute they release the PSP Go which has no UMD's, so the only way to get games is via downloading them over wifi, the next they release a PSP with no internet connectivity whatsoever.

It seems to me like Sony are just using this as a last minute cash-in for the PSP. Reduce the cost of producing one to the absolute bare minimum, stick it out at a super low price and sell some units purely based on the strength of the PlayStation brand in Europe.

You know... I can't even remember the last time I used my PSP's WiFi... Still, this is pretty dumb. Reminds me of the GBA Micro and we all know how that turned out.

............?

they'll release one some day that doesn't even play games, all it does is laugh at you when you start it up for wasting your money on it oh wait... my PSP1000 pretty much already does that sighhhhhhhh

Well, I'll probably get one.  Bunch of PSP games I want to play (and I have P3 and 4 other games from the Welcome Back thing) and GameStop will probably have the big trade in value for the PSP towards the Vita when it releases.

@craigbo180 said:

@Enigma777 said:

You know... I can't even remember the last time I used my PSP's WiFi... Still, this is pretty dumb. Reminds me of the GBA Micro and we all know how that turned out.

Don't talk mess on the GBA micro! That thing was swagged out.

Oh man, remember that whole faceplate scheme they had going on...

*sigh*

chestily announced...

I regret watching that press conference. Waste of time.

Trying to think of the last handheld device that didn't have Wi-Fi. The GBA?

@Bib: The DS might as well not. I've not been able to go online with mine for about 4 years now due to their lack of security support.

This thing just seems like it'd be a pirate's wet dream.
No wifi?  No updates, so once it's cracked, you're done.  Basically a hundred euros to pirate the PSP's entire backlog and emulate whatever the fuck people emulate on it.

File this under U, for useless.

So first they make a console that requires you to have an Internet connection to buy the games, and then they make a console that has no Internet at all?
 
I'm actually looking into buying a PSP, and was excited when I heard about a new model, but this is just stupid. I'll wait for more details, but definitely not buying it if I can't connect it to the World Wide Web.

the only reason i would buy another psp at this point is to replace my current one with the broken Wifi, this does not fulfill those criteria 

what?

Cut the snarky shit, this move makes a lot of sense business wise and I'm sure they have the data to back it up.

I never use the wifi on my PSP. Its useless. Even when I download games I do it on the PS3 and just move them over.

You hated the PSP GO...... So here is the exact opposite!!!

@Bib said:

I regret watching that press conference. Waste of time.

Trying to think of the last handheld device that didn't have Wi-Fi. The GBA?

To be fair, the GBA SP (I personally like micro better) is arguably the best handheld ever with a pretty damn strong lineup of games.

Maybe Sony is trying to channel that? Fuck, I think the whole thing was to meet the necessary quota of "wtf?" whenever sony does a press conference.

Dumb move to make the Vita look like a bigger improvement. Glad America said "fuck that idea."

 Who would I want a Wi-Fi-less PSP?
 
/facepalm

Wait, what? Who thought that this was a good idea?

F*ck me, f*ck my life and f*ck everything I thought I was. This press  conference  was one of  the worst hours of life. Why did I watch this. I hate myself! 
 
For the future of this web site. I hope Jeff did not follow that stream. Because then he might have killed himself by now. 

That's a weird SKU. I get that they want the lowest pricepoint they can manage to try and get more into peoples hands, especially since the Vita isn't hitting this holiday, but no Wi-Fi? That's a fundamental. I'd certainly have no interest in a portable with no wi-fi these days.

Come on Sony, just focus on the PS Vita launch!

@crow_robot said:

This thing just seems like it'd be a pirate's wet dream. No wifi? No updates, so once it's cracked, you're done. Basically a hundred euros to pirate the PSP's entire backlog and emulate whatever the fuck people emulate on it.

Heh. A good observation I'm assuming Sony suits failed to make.

The PSP never really supported online gaming, and for PSN games, you can just download it off the PC or PS3. I mean, you don't really lose anything.  It's a smart move to get UMDs off the shelves to please retailers and to be ready in place for non-UMD Vita games. They probably will retail Vita "download boxes", which has a PSN-download code in the box rather than a disc,  like they did with Patapon 2. 

Haha...wait what?

This is the dumbest move ive seen Sony make in....well a couple of months. Why would you ever want a psp with no wireless connection? You can buy a "superior" older model for around £99 so this is just baffling to me

Sony is truly insane

@VicRattlehead said:

they'll release one some day that doesn't even play games, all it does is laugh at you when you start it up for wasting your money on it oh wait... my PSP1000 pretty much already does that sighhhhhhhh

You have no idea how much I want this to be real.

It's actually a smart move, like dropping the PS2 to $99 at the end of its life cycle. Wal-Mart customers and such are gonna buy a couple millions of these I bet.

derp

Sony: Because fuck your features!