Hopping off the proprietary game console train, revisited

Ars Technica reports on Sony’s new release of the PSP Go, and once again I’m glad I quit doing proprietary game consoles.

This one is particularly disheartening, as I felt like Sony was the one decent console manufacturer remaining. Sony’s apparent plan, with the release of the PSP Go, becomes more obvious: take yet another option away from the customer.

The move comes as a consequence of moving to a digital delivery model. Instead of buying a disc (UMD) with the game on it, Sony will soon be making titles available only as a download, DRM-locked to the individual console. In other words, something you can’t just sell back to GameStop when you’re done playing with it.

The article, as written, states that right now, titles will continue to be made available as both physical media and downloads. Put another way, Sony knows how fast to turn up the heat to boil the frog. Don’t be surprised when the option to buy some new titles as UMD simply does not exist.