<!--[if gte mso 9]> Normal 0 MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 <![endif]--><!--[if !mso]> <! st1\:*{behavior:url(#ieooui) } --> <!--[endif]-->

<!--[if gte mso 10]> <! /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0cm; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman";} --> There are some new features not found on the previous models such as a built in microphone for use on Skype and certain games (e.g. Resistance), the 'Sense me' channel where the PSP will play a type of music depending what mood you're in and the most significant and useful the 'Pause Game' feature. This lets you pause games and save its current state - you can resume anything later after listening to music, watching a video and so on without the having to quit, but you can't play another game as this will delete the save state.

Not having a UMD drive has advantages and disadvantages. The good things about it are there are no more carrying loads of UMD's and you can't physically lose the games. The disadvantages are that the UMD's are much cheaper (I will explain this issue later) and people like to have a physical copy if they are collector etc.

The pricing of the games on the UK PSN Store are flipping ridiculous, there are some good deals on the store but let me give you a example, 'Prinny - can I really be the hero?' is £31.99! The USA store has it for $20 (£12) that’s just bad converting. I use the USA store a lot compared to the UK one; I bought Dissidia Final Fantasy for $40 (£23), Dragonball Z Shin Budokai 2 for $20 (£12) etc. If you're happy to do this you can do it by buying PSN cards off EBay. One thing that Europe has over the USA is the rewards scheme where you can get 3 FREE titles out 18 to choose and download, but you must own a previous PSP system to do so. The games available are; Killzone Liberation, Medievil, Wipeout Pure, Buzz Brain Bender, Buzz Master Quiz, SOCOM U.S. Navy SEALs: Fireteam Bravo, Ratchet & Clank: Size Matters, Everybody's Golf, Resistance: Retribution, Syphon Filter Dark Mirror, Lemmings, LocoRoco, Patapon, Syphon Filter: Logan's Shadow,Echochrome, Pursuit Force: Extreme Justice and Daxter.

It's a good scheme and lasts till 31st March 2010 and till the 10th January 2010 you can download Gran Turismo, Assassins Creed or Motor storm for FREE, so you get 4 games - worth up to £75 which is very good. This deal is not available in North America, but they get the console for $250 (£160.)

One problem with downloading games from the store is that you are fixed to the price and you can not re-sell the game if you don't like it, UMD's are much cheaper when pre-owned, but special offers do crop up on the PSN Store quite frequently.

The biggest disappointment is the price of it the conversion just doesn't make sense £225 ($360).  That's more than the original launch price of £200, whereas in the USA it's available for about £160, though you could probably get it much cheaper from sites like ebay.

In conclusion, is the PSP GO worth £225? Hell no but if you can get it for less, it's a very good buy and I would recommend a USA store account to get the best deals. If you own a PSP 3000 (latest slim version) it’s not worth upgrading until it’s cheaper. If you own a PSP 1000 (Fat Model) I would recommend the upgrade but again I would wait for a cheaper price. The design is brilliant, the rewards scheme is clever and the extra features are nice, but but the high pricing on the UK store and having no way to convert UMD's or play them makes it a hard decision to upgrade.

6.5/10