When the PSPgo was first revealed, one of the first complaints people had was the lack of a second analog nub. The single nub had been a bugbear for many PSP gamers over the years, and some had hopes that a complete reinvention would lead to a superior control scheme. Sony had actually considered this, but decided it didn’t want to introduce new controls so late in the system’s lifecycle.
“We also felt — like many users — that we wish we had a second analogue on the PSP,” explains Sony’s Shuhei Yoshida. “But we are talking about the mid-life cycle of this platform, and the PSPgo is designed to be perfectly compatible with the PSP-3000 and all the games that released before that. So we had a very serious discussion about this particular subject, but we decided not to add a second analogue, and some of the developers are doing quite a nice job translating the second analogue functionality to different buttons. We didn’t want to divert their efforts either.”
I think it’s funny how Sony has a problem introducing better controls so late in the console’s life, yet has no issue at all with scrapping an entire media platform and moving entirely into digital distribution, which has confused existing PSP owners and made them wonder if they can upgrade without wasting their entire physical library. I would have thought that was a bigger deal, but that’s just me.
