While reading reviews over this bizarre half-step upgrade of a handheld, I kept trying to figure what exactly the PSP Go is about. I also had to figure out what the PSP was, and why it failed in ways the Go will succeed. Later on, it hit me what Sony is thinking, and why nobody else has really mentioned it. The PSP Go is an iPod.

Handheld gaming has been odd as of late because it’s not entirely about gaming. Back in the day, a Game Boy played games, a Game Gear played games, and a Neo Geo Pocket played….. Neos? But during this decade, the MP3 market was born with the fetus that was Apple’s iPod. As the iPod grew and become the teenager known as the iTouch followed by the sophisticated gentleman called the iPhone; Sony, the maker of the extinct Walkman, started to see handheld gaming and MP3 players merging.

It could have been this idea that spawned the PSP. Nintendo, the competitor, had the game-only DS to rival the PSP’s multi-tasking wonder. The consumer base also wasn’t sure about the PSP as a gaming platform either, as the Console sells well, but software never seems to leave the shelves.

With the release of the iTouch and iPhone’s App. store, the internet has been abuzz about if Apple has a gaming machine on their hands. I think Sony realizes this with the PSP Go. As far as I can tell, the way the PSP Go should be thought of is the same way we think about the iPod. It’s odd to think of a PlayStation not being mostly about play, but it at least makes the $250 price tag more reasonable.

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