No PSP Reduction for the UK

I've rambled on here before, about how rubbish the PSP gets treated in the UK. Some shops choose not to sell anything to do with the hand-held console, whilst others only sells games and of those their sections are often very small.

When I initially bought my first pink PSP back in late 2006, early 2007, there were very few games that held any interest to me, and I think I only really bought it because it seemed like a cool idea at the time, and both of my older brothers owned one. That PSP remained in my position for a mere few months, before I inevitably sold it on Ebay. Admittedly, a year later when I purchased my Special Edition Crisis Core PSP, the amount of games that appealed were a lot better, and I do have a healthy collection of PSP games these days. However, I still can't help feeling that the PSP isn't taken as seriously over this side of the Pond.

And to make me more dubious of how well it is treated, the PSP has seen very little, in regards to price drops, since it's launch in 2005, despite the console now being six years old.

This week, Bloomsberg announced Sony's intentions to reduce the cost of the PSP from just under 170 Euros to just under 130 Euros. Fantastic, I can just about hear you all screaming, but before you get all excited, the story was eventually updated to include a statement, from which the following excerpt was included:

"Since we in the UK are vulnerable to two exchange rate calculations, pounds into Euros and Euros into Yen, we are not in a position to offer a similar cut in PSP for the UK."

 It's hard not to feel kind of let down, and a little disheartened to be British, because we seem to be getting a really raw deal. We get very few games, for the PSP, compared to other consoles, most shops don't take it seriously, and just like the PS3 (and the PS2 before it) prices don't drop a great deal over time.

What makes little sense, is how extortionately expensive pre-owned games are, with some of them being priced at very little less than the original new price.

It'd be nice to think that things might one day change, but we all know that they won't. And, we also know that Sony can get away with it, because despite my moaning, they are still my number one trusted brand when it comes to technology.