A Doubleheader Kind of News Day
Today is one of those kind of days where two separate news posts end up being rolled into one for the sake of timeliness. So I'll begin with two big news stories in both the world of video games and anime, exactly in that order.
The PSP Go released today and despite some of our reservations about the system we will be keeping an eye on sales. There is little doubt that fans of digital only systems are excited about the Go. Although we've been critical on the handheld there are in fact a few incentives for possible new PSP owners. The Go is smaller and more portable than the PSP-3000. If you love the idea of having all of your games, music, pictures, etc, on the same device without wanting to deal with physical media then the PSP Go should be quite appealing. The Go becomes especially appealing if you prefer a device with controls that slide out, versus the current design of the PSP-3000. Although the $250 dollar price tag is currently steep for the Go, it will no doubt fall in coming months or years. As for current PSP owners who may have extensive UMD libraries there aren't any incentives to upgrade. Still, the advent of the Go brings a few benefits to all PSP owners.
While some digital games currently cost more than their UMD counter-parts there is the is the new Minis service which is promising. If bite-sized games aren't your thing, full PSP games via PSN do occasionally go on sale. The PlayStation Store's list of games has been updated to reflect the multitude of digital games to accommodate the Go, and some of them are temporarily on sale. Most notably a number of NIS America games are on sale for half price, including Disgaea: Afternoon of Darkness, Mana Khemia: Student Alliance, and Prinny: Can I really Be the Hero?, until October 8th. To be fair, Disgaea on sale costs about $14.99, while used UMD copies still go for around $30.
On the anime side of things, digital distribution is in full swing for many larger companies. The move to free simulcasts of subtitled shows is more of a necessity than a luxury. But fans who have been clamoring for years to narrow the gap between an anime series airing in Japan and when it is officially licensed and shown in some form in the U.S. are getting exactly what they want. I've been writing about FUNimation lately, but Viz Media has been doing some exciting simulcasts lately.
The biggest news to come from Viz in recent days was the announcement that Inuyasha: The Final Act will be streamed online for North America on the same day as the Japanese TV broadcast. The new series will be available though Viz's Shonen Sunday website and through Hulu.com. Viz beats out Asia's Animax, which is slated to air each episode a week after the Japanese broadcast. For those curious about the original 167-episode series, it is also available on Hulu-- minus the last three episodes as of this writing. I personally liked the series until I got the the abrupt ending, which hopefully the Final Act will remedy.
The PSP Go released today and despite some of our reservations about the system we will be keeping an eye on sales. There is little doubt that fans of digital only systems are excited about the Go. Although we've been critical on the handheld there are in fact a few incentives for possible new PSP owners. The Go is smaller and more portable than the PSP-3000. If you love the idea of having all of your games, music, pictures, etc, on the same device without wanting to deal with physical media then the PSP Go should be quite appealing. The Go becomes especially appealing if you prefer a device with controls that slide out, versus the current design of the PSP-3000. Although the $250 dollar price tag is currently steep for the Go, it will no doubt fall in coming months or years. As for current PSP owners who may have extensive UMD libraries there aren't any incentives to upgrade. Still, the advent of the Go brings a few benefits to all PSP owners.
While some digital games currently cost more than their UMD counter-parts there is the is the new Minis service which is promising. If bite-sized games aren't your thing, full PSP games via PSN do occasionally go on sale. The PlayStation Store's list of games has been updated to reflect the multitude of digital games to accommodate the Go, and some of them are temporarily on sale. Most notably a number of NIS America games are on sale for half price, including Disgaea: Afternoon of Darkness, Mana Khemia: Student Alliance, and Prinny: Can I really Be the Hero?, until October 8th. To be fair, Disgaea on sale costs about $14.99, while used UMD copies still go for around $30.
On the anime side of things, digital distribution is in full swing for many larger companies. The move to free simulcasts of subtitled shows is more of a necessity than a luxury. But fans who have been clamoring for years to narrow the gap between an anime series airing in Japan and when it is officially licensed and shown in some form in the U.S. are getting exactly what they want. I've been writing about FUNimation lately, but Viz Media has been doing some exciting simulcasts lately.
The biggest news to come from Viz in recent days was the announcement that Inuyasha: The Final Act will be streamed online for North America on the same day as the Japanese TV broadcast. The new series will be available though Viz's Shonen Sunday website and through Hulu.com. Viz beats out Asia's Animax, which is slated to air each episode a week after the Japanese broadcast. For those curious about the original 167-episode series, it is also available on Hulu-- minus the last three episodes as of this writing. I personally liked the series until I got the the abrupt ending, which hopefully the Final Act will remedy.
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One of the answers I've been looking for, but not finding, is if the PSP Go suffers from the same jaggities that plagued the PSP-3000's screen. No news may be good news on this matter, but considering some reviewers are recommending the 3000 over the Go, I have doubts anything changed there.
And while I'm still rocking a first-gen PSP with exactly one working speaker, the temptation to upgrade is somewhat lessened by the notion that $50 less would get me a Wii, and $50 more will get me a PS3.
The PSP-3000 has some pretty nice colors and bundles for $50 less than the Go. Still those interlacing lines could be pretty annoying. If the new features on the 3000 aren't worth it, you could always hunt down a PSP-2000 model. The 2000 is still a noticeable improvement over the 1000 series.