The guys at GameSpot UK got their hands on the new PlayStation Portable Go – the latest version of the handheld console from Sony – and have just posted a detailed unboxing video of the same on their site.
A couple of things stand out in the video, with the most promising new feature being the inclusion of the ability to pause your game. In the old PSP-3000 and all previous versions, the best you could do was quit the game if you wanted to perform some other task, such as watching a video. But in the new PSP Go, you can simply pause the game (although it takes a lot of time to do so), go back to the XrossMediaBar and head over to the videos section to watch a movie.
This feature could be especially handy for games with checkpoints that are too far and few in-between. We have also found ourselves sometimes wishing for a feature like this when travelling in a crowded train. As playing the game becomes impossible, the option of pausing it to listen to music and then resume the game later, right where we left off, is absolutely fantastic in our books. Round of applause here, please?
Apart from that, the other big change is that the PSP Go comes with a proprietary cable now. Gone are the days of using just any micro-USB cable you have handy with your PSP; Sony is back to its ‘use our cables and make us rich’ nonsense again.
Part of the reason for this might be the fact that the PSP Go does not come with a TV-out port like the older versions. The GameSpot reviewers surmised that the new proprietary port might double up as a TV-out port – with another proprietary cable that you will have to buy, of course.
Both the reviewers were also impressed with the build quality of the PSP Go, noting that the slider mechanism feels good, the analog nub has more resistance, the chrome buttons on the edge feel better than the plastic ones of old, and overall, the console has a ‘solid, but lighter’ feel to it.
One line in the review did bother us though: Apparently the PSP Go can be synced up to only PCs and not Macs. Is this Sony’s way of welcoming the iPod Touch to the world of handheld video game consoles?
Check out the full video here: