Expert: Octane - 9/10/2009

Question
Hi,
I live in the US and would like to buy a PSP 3000 for my niece who lives in South Africa. Do I need a Pal version so she can use it with her TV, since they have the Pal format and if so where in the US can I purchase a Pal system? I would also like to know which is a better system, the PSP 3 or the PSP Go.
Thanks for your help,
Veronica

Answer
Gday Veronica,

The PSP is kind on a universal system.  The games are universal so they will work no matter where in the world you buy them and they will play on any PSP system.  The UMD movies on the other hand follow the DVD region coding and will only work in the region you brought them in (USA region 1, South Africa region 2) so they will not work.  So a US system sent to South Africa will work fine with games they can get there but not with movies.  You will be hard pressed to purchase a PSP system in the USA that will play region 2 movies.

While the PSP Go seems to be the better system on paper (Although having not been released yet).  It's got better battery life, better screen and controls.  The concern I have with it is it will be entirely a downloadable system.  All games will be downloaded to it meaning you will have to purchase them thru the Sony online store or via codes from a game store.  (no second hand games, no price reduction)  This also brings up the question of how long till people figure ways around this and be able to get games off Torrents etc completely cutting off the revenue stream from Sony (Which in effect kill the system because they usually take a loss on the system over money made on games.)

Hope this helps

Octane