Sony planned UMD-less PSP all along

In a show of forward thinking stifled by corporate lethargy, it seems that Sony had a PSP Go planned since 2004 but didn’t think the infrastructure was ready for it. Well, Sony, you missed the boat on that one. As usual, you took the low-risk, low-reward path and as usual I’m going to mock you for it. Because you know what else wasn’t ready when it came out? The Wii.

Yes, the MotionPlus accessory for the Wii confirmed to everyone that Nintendo launched the Wii half-baked but still revolutionary enough. Sony, what if you released two PSPs at the beginning, one with a card slot and one with a UMD slot? The infrastructure would have grown (as you must have known it would) to embrace the cartridge-less version, and then there wouldn’t be this ridiculous and awkward changeover time.

At the PSP’s conception, there were ideas of a “NETTOWAKUSENTORIKKUMODERU,” which I believe is a Japanese way of saying “Network-centric model.” And why not?

Sony, don’t talk about the infrastructure not being ready. You are the infrastructure. You could have pulled strings and pushed standards and all that, but no, you hamstrung yourself by sticking with your crappy format and were satisfied with just enough sales to not look like a total chump. Well, Sony, if you’re okay with that, I guess I’m okay with that. Mainly because I’m not one of the loyal customers you could have done better by.

Okay, I’m giving them a bit too hard of a time over this, but seriously, they could have had a revolutionary product (which, if I’m honest, we would have laughed at when it launched), but instead they stuck us with good ol’ UMD. Nobody wins!