Sony preparing 'good will' UMD program for PSP Go owners

by Stevie Smith - Jun 5 2009, 15:30

If you own one of the UMD-equipped iterations of the popular PlayStation Portable (PSP), and you’re considering the monetary leap to Sony’s recently unveiled PSP Go, then you’re probably looking quizzically at your amassed UMD games and wondering how to play them on a new console that no longer supports the format.

With most existing PSP owners likely to either sell or trade their consoles before investing in the new, slide-screen Go model – but potentially unwilling to splash the cash for a system incapable of playing UMDs – Sony is looking to buff the Go’s appeal and make the hardware transition easier in the process.

Specifically, Sony’s head of hardware marketing, John Koller, has revealed that the Japanese consumer electronics giant is preparing to launch a “good will” program that will enable new PSP Go owners to own digitally converted versions of all their UMD titles.

“We’re in the midst of putting together a good will program,” explained Koller to tech blog Gizmodo. “We’ll be unveiling that soon [because] we actually think there’s a significant group [of consumers] that will be upgrading from the [PSP] 1000.”

According to Koller, Sony expects to see a 20-25 percent trade-up factor as users switch to the new Go and, in order to take advantage of that hardware trade-up factor, the company wants to implement a good will program “that would continue for years afterward.”

While Koller chose not to divulge any concrete details regarding the program, it’s highly likely that PSP Go owners already armed with UMD games will be eligible for a service similar to Portable Copy, which rips Blu-ray discs from the PlayStation 3 for free and transfers them into PSP-friendly portable versions.

Either that, or UMD owners handing in their games at retailers could also be presented with redeemable codes enabling a same-title software download through the online PlayStation Store.

Both smaller and lighter than its predecessors, the PlayStation Portable Go console will download and store all of its content on 16GBs of internal flash memory (external storage expansion is also supported), and is due to hit retail outlets from October 01 for $249.99 USD.

The Tech Herald: E3 feigns surprise as Sony unveils the PlayStation Portable Go

The Tech Herald: Sony elbows in with Motion Controller for PS3

The Tech Herald: Microsoft opens E3 with a definite bang

 

Want regular updates from The Tech Herald? Follow us on Twitter.

Interested in a more interactive TTH? Join our Facebook Group.

Around the Web