Did you know that you can buy a 16GB Memory Stick Pro Duo for only US$74? We didn't know this until the high price of the PSP Go caused us to start looking for cheaper prices. And what we found was surprising. Basically, with the exception of Bluetooth functionality, anybody can have the equivalent of a PSP Go right now for less money than what the device is expected to cost when it arrives in October!

The PSP Go ditches the clunky UMD optical drive in favour of a smaller form factor and 16 GB of onboard flash memory. Games will be distributed exclusively over the PSN download service, something that current PSP owners can access as well. Everyone believed that the reason for the high price (US$250) of the device was due to the presence of all this extra storage. However, the truth is that prices for memory - even removable media - have dropped immensely. There is simply no way to explain, or justify the high price of the PSP Go.

A brand new PSP-2000 (the one with extra ram and a lighter form factor) currently costs US$169.99, although it is possible to find new units on sale for less. Added to the price of a 16GB memory stick, and the total comes to US$245, several bucks cheaper (and four months sooner) than the PSP Go. And by the way, that memory stick is not a cheap knockoff, either. It is Sony's own high-speed brand!

Our advice? Skip the wait for new hardware and grab a bigger memory stick if you are in need of extra space for all your media downloads. The US$74 deal mentioned above can be found at Amazon.com.

Sony's new 16 GB Memory Stick Pro Duo has made the PSP Go meaningless.

Sony Memory Stick Pro Duo

Did you know?

1. There are eight different versions of the PSP on the market.

2. This is PSP Sony's first attempt at a handheld.

3. It only cost $2,875 to modify your PSP to play backups.

O'Neil Walker

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