Funny you should mention... I'm currently shopping in Hong Kong and got the Value Pack sans Earphones and Remote, but a Gig Stick and Screen Protectors for 160 Euros... that'd be..... around 205 Dollars. Bad deal?

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Add CompUSA to your list. I was there late Wednesday & picked up "Pac-Man World 3" for $9.98.

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Amazon has the PSP for $170 today too.

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For only today ebgames and gamespot are selling 2 GB memory stick PRO DUO for 39.99...I bought 3!!! and almost bought a fourth.

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The Target near me has is selling a PSP bundle with ATV Off Road Fury, some movie that I forgot the name of, a one gig memory stick, and a free 25 dollar Target gift card alll for $250.

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The walmart employee I spoke to was completely unaware of the psp core deal or GTA:LCS deal. Besides the Core system Amazon also had the SanDisk 2 GB MemoryStick Pro Duo for $29.99
:)

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i have officially joined the psp family. got mine at walmart for $170!!

it feels like it is worth $500.

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Sony Memory Stick PRO Duo 8GB
List Price: $399.99
Amazon.com Price: $308.99 & this item ships for FREE with Super Saver Shipping.
Availability: This item will be released on February 15, 2007. Pre-order now!

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An open letter to SONY on saving the brand name PSP with PSP2

By S. D. Moody

Was not the PSP supposed to be the New "WalkMan" for the 21st Century as SONY touted when it debuted ...
Well it still could be!

First off I own a PSP and I love it! But I must say that if SONY intends the PSP as a name brand product, to

continue to viably compete, survive and excel as a platform against the current portable gaming and multimedia

devices like the DS Light, and all the other major players like the IPOD and similar devices on the market, not to

mention Microsoft's rumored upcoming handheld, the current PSP's technology and business modal must be

revamped and innovatively updated to not only reflect current consumer trends and needs, but continue to be a leader

for the future. As the current PSP
stands now it is old school, what is proposed below if implemented would change that fact. The design form, functions

and features of the PSP must be changed, updated and streamlined.

Enter the New PSP2

Number 1
Abandon the UMD format:
The UMD movie business model has died, movie studios have dropped it like yesterdays news, its time for SONY to

do the same. Proprietary formats while more profitable and easier to control for a company, are by their nature of

exclusivity harder to maintain if not adopted my a wide enough margin of the industry and hence lessens their mass

market penetration. The situation that preceded the downfall of UMD's in regards to movies, was that games were not

being made as fast or as easy as movies could be converted, so people having bought their PSP's found more movies

than games to engage themselves with, SONY and the industry then seeing sales of UMD movies rise, ran with it to

maximize their profits, glutting the formats market with a disproportionate percentile ratio of movies to games, SONY

not realizing that most people simply purchased movies because of the new novelty of having a movie on a new type

of medium, but more importantly because there just were not enough games or A class titles, so after the novelty wore

off they stopped buying movies really wanting more games, and realizing they were then buying movies they already

owned on DVD and could
bypass that cost by just converting a movie to their PSP's, not to mention the fact of the price differentiation between

movies to games, exacerbated that condition even further.
So merchants were left with halting sales and back stock.

UMD's as a small and convenient digital media format, have since been surpassed and outdated, only holding 1.8

gigabytes, many USB Flash Drives and other data cards hold more than two times that number, very soon 8 Gigabyte

Pro Duo Cards will be available to market.Doing away with UMD's altogether, streamlines the chasse of the PSP2,

by removing the UMD Drive, it thereby reduces the thickness of the unit, eliminating the weightier metal and moving

parts (that are also more likely to malfunction) making the

unit lighter, and less costly to manufacture. Replace the reliance of UMD's by adding the inclusion of a with a more

assessable and easier to swap, Memory Stick Pro Duo slot. Restructure all 'new' game and movie distribution

business, by both releasing new games and movies on SONY in house manufactured Memory Stick Pro Duo Cards,

and via internet downloads, with a type of DRM-locked encoding. So a gamer could either download a game or

movie and save it themselves on their own Pro Duo
Card, or they could purchase it preinstalled on a Pro Duo Card made by SONY. The average price of a new 'hot'

game for the PSP is $39.99. At the present time in the USA, a 2 GB Memory Stick Pro Duo Card can be purchased

for around $52.00 or less by now.
----
Amazon -

Sony Memory Stick Pro Duo 2 GB - New from $51.99
http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/B000ELCQ8Y/sr=8-7/qid=1159290715/ref=sr_1_7/104-6300004-402954

4?ie=UTF8&s=electronics

SanDisk 2 GB Memory Stick Pro Duo - New from $51.88
http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/B000AAM1YI/sr=8-5/qid=1159290874/ref=sr_1_5/104-6300004-402954

4?ie=UTF8&s=electronics
----
Ebay - Item number: 190035275556

Sony Memory Stick Pro Duo 2 GB - New with shipping total = $48.99
http://cgi.ebay.com/SONY-2GB-MEMORY-STICK-PRO-DUO-MS-CARD-PSP-2-GB-G2GUS1_W0QQitemZ

190035275556QQihZ009QQcategoryZ122615QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

SONY as one of the major players in the electronics field, not being solely reliant upon the game market for income,

could easily absorb the differentiation of present market prices for Memory Stick Pro Duo cards to accomplish this

new more forward thinking business model.

In addressing the question of playing all the old games and movies already having been released and purchased on

UMD's, SONY could install an option for people to simply cut out and send in by mail the UCP Code on there old

UMD games or movies, and allow a download of said title to then be saved by that customers on their own Pro Duo

Card.

I have read the maximum capacity for a Memory Stick Pro Duo Card is 35 gigabytes! As prices always continue to

fall, larger and larger gig amounts will become available, Switching from UMD's to Pro Duo Card's would allow for

larger a longer games, than the ceiling limitation imposed by the 1.8 gigabytes UMD's offer. Not to mention vastly

improving the speeds of lode times for games, game levels and movies. Additionally not requiring the power usage of

the battery to drive the moving parts to spin a UMD, would theoretically, greatly improve and increase battery life.


Number 2
Internal Memory of at least 4 GB's:
Adding internal memory of at least 4 GB's would at least give users , out of the box,adequate open data space for

immediate usage of the various capabilities of the PSP2


Number 3
Add 2nd joy stick Nub:
The inclusion of an additional 2nd joy stick Nub, directly across from the Nub on the left, placing it underneath the

four buttons on the right, would eliminate the problems encountered by game developers. Especially in the porting of

PS2 games to PSP2.

Number 4
Increase the height to both of the PSP2's joy stick Nubs:
Game publishers should not have be the ones supplying a fix ( as was the case with pre orders for Tekken on the

PSP) to compensate for this inadequacy imposed by such a design flaw, the PSP2 should have this corrected in house

by SONY.


Number 5
Include a keyboard real or simulated via touch screen:
A keyboard is an essential tool for ease of use by owners of a multi media device capable of internet operations such

as email, web searching, or other text based applications
The inclusion of a keyboard that could also function as a cover, that slides out from the bottom, like the one featured

on Sony's Vaio Type U, but that also swings back around via hinges, to cover, close the unit, and protect its front

screen.
Even a touch screen would be an improvement, enabling the usage of not only a virtual keyboard, but also added

benefit for use in touch activated games.


Number 6
Larger megapixel size camera:
Less than the integration at least a 3 megapixel camera into the chasse of the PSP2 would seem diminutive, because

by the time of the PSP2's arrival in say late 2007 or early 2008, most mobile phones will likely have at least 2

megapixel cameras built in, a PSP2 with a 3 megapixel camera, would not only be able to compete but would be an

additional selling point. Also give the PSP2 the ability to record video for more than just a few seconds!


Number 7
More file extension recognition:
Allow for the reading of more document file extension types like .txt .pdf .doc, etc. Many current PSP owners are

adults and business people, a PSP2 with more ability of this type would widen the market appeal to a larger

demographic.


Number 8
Integrate a condenser microphone into the chasse of the PSP2 so people could not only record their own voice

memos, but also voice activated games could be created to utilize this feature, and used in conjunction with its built in

camera, the
PSP2 could have the ability to act as a kind of live feed audio video picture phone, via Ad-Hoc PSP2 to PSP2 or

even live, through the internet with something like what is being done now for the PSP with 'Windows Live PSP

Messenger'. Or using
a type of 'skype' connection. Also an additional ability could be to have 'picture in picture', so while a user is say

surfing the web and gets a video call, he could answer it and still continue to surf, and utilizing 'picture in picture' on

the screen of the
PSP2 could offer a maximum of even four people(splitting the PSP2's screen into four sections, one for each person)

to all see and talk to each other simultaneously either live via Ad-Hoc, or live via the internet.

Number 9
Read and write data from USB Flash Drives:
Adding the ability to read and write data to and from USB Flash Drives via the USB port of the PSP2 would enable

people to easily transfer or just read photos, music, movies, and text on their PSP2 instead of having to use a

computer.

Number 10
Add the ability to transfer data to and from the internal memory of the PSP2 to a Memory Stick Pro Duo card

inserted into the PSP2's more assessable and easier to insert and remove, Memory Stick Pro Duo slot, allowing for

the same benefits as outlined in number 9 of this article.

Number 11
More demos and trailers for download:
More abundant demos of most or all upcoming game titles and trailers of new movies, need to made available for

PSP2 download, so as to garner more buyer interest. If a potential buyer can actually play even just part of a level of

a new title, they might buy, if not given that opportunity, they may not. Pretty obvious stuff.

Number 12
Redesign battery compartment cover:
The current battery compartment of the PSP is one of the most un user friendly compartment cover I have ever

experienced in a consumer electronic device. Many owners have or will buy an extra battery, this issue must also be

addressed and fixed
for the PSP2.

Number 13
At least four colors for PSP2 chasse available
Having at least the optional choice of Black, White, Blue and Red, for potential buyers of the PSP2 allows people to

have a sense of personalization in their purchase, people enjoy that. A simple market strategy to help sell through of

units, and determine consumer preference would be to have most 1st or 2nd quarter units available in Black, then in

the 3rd quarter release a smaller number of units but, in even numbered amounts of
the other colors, see what sold better, check target demographics and go from there.

Number 14
GPS
global positioning system

Number 15
Bluetooth

Number 16
Price point for the PSP and PSP2:
Lower the price of the current PSP to $149.99 to move the old back stock, and if a PSP2 with all the features and

design changes, and abilities I have outlined above were implemented, a launching price point for a core system could

conceivably be affectively marketed by SONY at $299.99


Now if any of the editors I have sent this to would like to see some or all of these changes happen for a PSP2 by

SONY, please do this, post this article on your web site and place a simple reader email based, or whatever you

prefer, type of petition for your readers to sign up and or vote for, then send and release that info to SONY to try to

make a dent in their collective corporate consciousnesses.

Maybe we can make it happen!

Thank you
S.D. Moody

P.S. I will also be sending this document to all the executives at SONY corp. that I can reach by email.

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