The Pointless Crank Episode

[fishbang]

Insert the pointless crank into the useless receptacle at the following link (http://ingamechat.net/audio/IGC20091009.mp3).

We've done more work than usual in preparing for this show, and more work as well inside the studio itself. We're short by two this week (Dennis was immune to the schedule change, and Jeremy is pacing the floor in a smoke-filled waiting room somewhere, handing out blue-banded cigars and getting back-slaps from other befuddled fathers-to-be), which means a lot more effort out of each of us, and none of our simple, gossipy handoffs for when we get tired. We expected the result to be short, but the two-and-a-half-hour standard remains in place.

What we've played is our greatest concern, since we're taking to heart all recent suggestions that we should move a little outside our comfort zone. It's not easy, or natural, but we'd rather not ignore the gap in coverage, so bear with the pace of change if you can. We've also provided supportive remarks on what may prove to be unsupportable causes. The PSP Go! and Randy Pitchford were clearly the devils most in need of advocates this week, and we've spent loads of time on the losing side of arguments, so we figured ourselves to be a natural fit.

[Spigot]

Congrats to Jeremy!

[kyrieee]

Heh, I'm surprised to see a new episode
It's a disconnect when you put them out just as you're going to record :-P

[Psykoboy2]

Well, we recorded this episode on Friday and we have moved our recording days to Thursdays now since everything we want to play releases on Tuesdays for the next 6 weeks or so.

[Iron Past]

Well, we recorded this episode on Friday and we have moved our recording days to Thursdays now since everything we want to play releases on Tuesdays for the next 6 weeks or so.

Wow, good turnaround time. I won't be able to pretend I'm in the future as much if you keep this up. :)

[Chris_D]

Not showing up in my iTunes feed just yet. Don't worry, not planning to commit homicide over it :D.

[tacitus]

Not showing up in my iTunes feed just yet. Don't worry, not planning to commit homicide over it :D.
Its also not showing up on the normal RSS feed.

[Dostoyevsky]

Sweet! Even though my iTunes feed hadn't updated I thought to check here before leaving work. Glad I did.

EDIT: Wait I think there is something funky going on. It cuts off at the 1.5 hour mark abruptly...

I want my money back!

[kyrieee]

I haven't had a chance to listen to the whole thing yet, but I do have a few comments regarding the 'branching out' thing

One of the things that makes your podcast good is that you guys tend to be passionate about what you talk about. There are a lot of gaming podcasts whose members play a bunch of different games just for the purpose of talking about them and it's pointless because they spend less time on the games that they really like and can't provide any meaningful comments on a bunch of different games they only played for a short amount of time. When you play games for a podcast and not for yourself it only makes the podcast worse.

I know you guys weren't really talking about going that far but that was just a word of warning :p. Everyone likes to hear you guys talk about stuff that they played themselves, but I think you guys are really diverse as it is and you're also really good at providing different points of views, which is something that's really great in my opinion. If I don't agree withsomething you guys said you will probably have acknowledged other ways of seeing it. Since a listener can't chime in during conversations that stuff's awesome

Anyway, if you guys are going to go out of your way to have more stuff to talk about I think you should try to play more stuff in unison. It's great when a lot of you have played the same thing so you can talk more at length about it

Also, I like your comments on news :D and they lead to funny tangents. More news! hehe

I'm making an effort to eat outside my comfort zone and it's turned out fairly well. Mushrooms are still too creepy though. They're really odd. I even had a biology teacher who kept saying (semi-jokingly) that they're of extra-terrestrial origin because they're so different from all other forms of life xD

[Iron Past]

EDIT: Wait I think there is something funky going on. It cuts off at the 1.5 hour mark abruptly...

Mine, too. Hmmm.

[Psykoboy2]

Hmm...you may need to download it again. I just downloaded it to check and it's working fine for me.

Also, check the file size. Should be in the range of 59 MB.

As for iTunes and Zune and the RSS feed not picking it up - I have no idea.

EDIT: If you did have the problem of the show just cutting out and downloaded the show again, please come back and let us know if it still happens.

[Psykoboy2]

iTunes has updated with the show now. Zune should follow shortly. Sorry about that.

[Iron Past]

Working for me now. My download stopped at about 31 megs before; sometimes my computer/connection doesn't like me.

[Ravenlock]

iTunes seems to still be listing Fishbang Taco as the most recent episode, at least on my iPhone. Will check again when I get home tonight.

[Kingsgoon]

James, I liked your thoughts about the psp go but you got one part really wrong.
You said repeatedly that the psp go doesn't auto pause when you slide the screen close.

Well, it does. You just have to set it in the system settings (Display Panel Close Options) -
if you set that it to Enter Sleep Mode, the psp go pauses your current game and goes into
sleep mode as soon as you slide the screen close. And when you slide it open you are
right back in the game.

[fishbang]

Well, that's honestly good to know, and I stand corrected. That piece of information stuck in my mind from (I believe) the Ars review, and it seemed like a really tragic oversight.

It may seem like a small design component, but auto-pause – in addition to things like save states and digital delivery – is critical to my picture of what handheld, portable gaming should be.

Thanks much for the reply.

[Psykoboy2]

And welcome to CoG!

[Dostoyevsky]

Working for me now. My download stopped at about 31 megs before; sometimes my computer/connection doesn't like me.

Yeah, originally it was 31 megs for me too, works now though.

But yesterday while I was trying to pause the show, answer my phone, fumble for my commuter card and get on the bus I lost my ipod. Pissed. I don't know whether to blame the wife who was calling or the friend I was meeting for making me take a different bus than usual, but certainly its not my fault.

[Vigil80]

But yesterday while I was trying to pause the show, answer my phone, fumble for my commuter card and get on the bus I lost my ipod. Pissed. I don't know whether to blame the wife who was calling or the friend I was meeting for making me take a different bus than usual, but certainly its not my fault.
Blame it on the fact that you were using public transportation. So last century. How much happier might the story have ended if you had lost your ipod in your car? :p

[Spigot]

It may seem like a small design component, but auto-pause – in addition to things like save states and digital delivery – is critical to my picture of what handheld, portable gaming should be.
And it seems silly that they wouldn't have that enabled out of the gate on the system. It's one of those options that everyone would immediately just turn on once they start using the system, so why not just have it on when you open the box?

[nabokovfan87]

Congrats to Jeremy!

ditto, congrats u2

Well, we recorded this episode on Friday and we have moved our recording days to Thursdays now since everything we want to play releases on Tuesdays for the next 6 weeks or so.

hmm, does that mean show comes out sunday night now? would be good to have on the monday train. just kidding, i know how much of a demand podcasting is... i hope i get to record soon.

im thinking it will be the "dear fishbang" episode just so i can reply to everything. speaking of, any one of you have a hour or so and wanna record? doesnt have to be this week but, yeah...

One of the things that makes your podcast good is that you guys tend to be passionate about what you talk about. There are a lot of gaming podcasts whose members play a bunch of different games just for the purpose of talking about them and it's pointless because they spend less time on the games that they really like and can't provide any meaningful comments on a bunch of different games they only played for a short amount of time. When you play games for a podcast and not for yourself it only makes the podcast worse.

I know you guys weren't really talking about going that far but that was just a word of warning :p. Everyone likes to hear you guys talk about stuff that they played themselves, but I think you guys are really diverse as it is and you're also really good at providing different points of views, which is something that's really great in my opinion. If I don't agree withsomething you guys said you will probably have acknowledged other ways of seeing it. Since a listener can't chime in during conversations that stuff's awesome


I'm going to be quite honest here. Please take this to heart. I heard Scott talk about how he wants to diversify the show and i just thought to myself "huh, does he not listen to other shows?". I listen to hours of podcasts a day, 90% of them being gaming related. It is hard for me to think of a podcast that has a more off the beaten path approach to gaming.

The main thing as kyrieee was saying, most other shows spend an hour or so playing a game, and say "its good" or "its bad" and mention one actual useful nugget of knowledge, or its a podcast with 2 hours of what ya been playing and it drives me nuts. You all don't need to change a thing, as you say all the time, you just talk and hit record and i think that is why the show does so well. It isnt about the dream of making it big, its just about 4 people (or more) who just happened to get together and talk about how such and such is complete crap and give honest opinions and recollections of experiences instead of blanket statements that i hear on 10 other shows. I mean this when i say it, Scott, don't worry about a thing.

[nabokovfan87]

Apologies to Scott, i didnt intend for my essay on sony's return process to be read on the show, it was just everything you guys were asking about and i wanted to let RJ know about the whole process before he tried to fix his ylod... that worked out.

ON the topic of diversifying the gaming, believe it or not, last year it was my new year's resolution. all i used to play was racing games, sports games, and shooters. i ended up playing fallout 3, oblivion, got my first strategy game (and have since purchased several more), the metal gear games, splinter cell games, mass effect, and the list goes on and on. It sounded like Scott was getting overwhelmed at the thought of playing a game out of the norm, but it can be an eye opener. Best way to go about it is to choose a genre you are semi-interested in and have someone pick out an easy game for you to learn on.

James mentioned sports games, well, you dont learn racing games with a supersim right? same thing here. if you like the sport then you have an interest and you know the basics, but if you don't, well... just go to a sport you might be interested in, find a basic coaches guide, something akin to "sport X for dummies" and just learn the basics. I wrote this up to help people who had no idea about hockey, because pretty popular on gamespot for it too.

http://www.giantbomb.com/guides/nabos-hockey-school/433/

-nabokovfan87

p.s. apologies about the double post.

p.p.s. Scott, just imagine james of the west, and then maybe it will answer why things are written in 10 page novel form.

[Iron Past]

I haven't played yet, but at work I was reading the Instruction Booklet for Dead Space: Extraction (old fashioned, I know, but it's the first thing I pull out of the box in a new game, even still) and there's a Timed Reload, which seems akin to the active reload in Gears of War. Is it still slow when you pull that off?

[Spigot]

I don't really expect the guys to 'diversify' the show and water down the concentrated goodness that we all love. My only wish would be for someone on the team to play a few more of the kinds of odd games I like. I'm moving to Alabama so I can talk about JRPGs on the show :)

[Psykoboy2]

Let us come to you, we insist!

[Spigot]

Let us come to you, we insist!I don't know. We actually have, you know, COLD WEATHER.

But you're always welcome to visit my humble abode!

[Uno Ill Nino]

PSYKOBOY check your PMs plz!

[Count Elmdor]

Scott says he doesn't like JRPGs, but then he goes and spit-shines Mario and Luigi for like 10 minutes! You just had to find the right one, my man.

It's unfortunate the Game Crazy has mismanaged themselves into the corner that they're in, but that's business. I'll have to kind of disagree with James and say that I don't see why I should ever pre-order a game, especially not at a retail chain where all they sell is videogames.

I can see if it's a mom & pop store in the middle of Arkansas (where I went to college) and the game in question is like Shin Megami Niche Japanese Persona 7: The Emulsifying.

Short of that, there is no tenable reason I would ever pre-order. It's a faulty business model, and the businesses that (to the exclusion of other models) live by it can also die by it, or adopt standard practices used by retailers of books, music, and what have you. I look at GameStop primarily when I say this, but it's applicable to other places as well. Halo 3: ODST is not a heat shield for a catalytic converter, so why the need to special order it like one?

I do my best not to shop at places that bug you to pre-order, and I wouldn't want to work for one, either. There are tons of places to buy games; a local mom&pop, a big box store, or just the Internet. As for work, I'd recommend a job waiting tables or as a cook over retail any day of the week.

[nabokovfan87]

Aarjay, do ya mind if i call ya RJ? anyways, i finally got my sf4 te stick modified and have been waiting to let you woop my ass in some mvc2, you up for it?

[Spigot]

Hee hee. SMT: P7: The Emulsifying... :)

I do agree with you on a lot of those things, Count Elmdor. I do preorder if a game is a crazy rare Atlus JRPG or if it's something that I'm just absolutely on fire for. I've really ratcheted back my non-crucial pre-orders though. Unless there's some kind of swag-type thing that I only get by preordering (and even there, my local EB is pretty good about just giving that kind of stuff to me), I've managed to hold off on the big publisher release pre-orders.

And yeah, it's especially annoying when I can go into a store that DOESN'T specialize in games and find a copy more readily than I can in a specialty store.

[Chris_D]

About Tekken 6, I really don't think Tekken 6 is aimed at the hardcore fighter market anymore, although maybe it never has been? Like DOA is for boobies fans, Tekken is for folks who want to be able to pull of spectacular special moves with little effort. With as little as 3 button presses your character can be zooming around the screen with bright lights flashing.

Personally, I've liked Tekken since 3. I like not having to do circles on the d-pad to pull of moves, which always has an annoyingly high fail rate for me. The characters are a bit silly but a lot of fun. And, I love that finishing the game with a character unlocks an awesome CG movie. Compared to the single image + text endings of a lot of fighters this is really cool and a good incentive to play through the game with all the different characters.

Even if Aarjay says there's some "horrible exploit X" in Tekken Y, well, I'm not going to care as neither me nor the people I play with are ever even going to realise it's there. Tekken 6 will probably be the only fighter I buy of this generation (other than cheap XBLA titles I guess, I already own SF2HD). No offense at all to either Scott or Aarjay, but with Aarjay being so hardcore into a bunch of different tournament-level fighters, he's really not the guy to ask about how the Tekken series is going :).

Btw, I'm pretty sure it's Tekken 1 -> 3 (all PS1), Tekken Tag (first PS2 Tekken), Tekken 4 -> 5 (also on PS2), and now Tekken 6 (PS3/360). Most Tekken fans also consider 5 to be a big return to form for the series, although this is mainly because it's pretty much Tekken 3 (most fans favourite Tekken) with pretty graphics. Funnily enough, the brief bit I played of Tekken Tag I didn't like for some reason.

[Count Elmdor]

I'm not sure why people don't seem to like Tekken 4, not being a hardcore series devotee. I had a blast with 4 playing with friends, and I really liked the boxer, Steve, I think? The only other one I ever played was Tekken 3, and of course that was great back in the day on PS1. It was also my first game to support rumble on the new dual shock.

[Ravenlock]

Looking forward to hearing what James and Scott think about Muramasa next week. I haven't been able to give it as much time as I would like (too much to play, gah!), but I've really enjoyed the 5 or 6 hours I've put into it, and I'm looking forward to finishing it.

And it's just so. incredibly. gorgeous. I mean damn that game looks good.

[Ravenlock]

Also, James, hearing that you're excited about Torchlight - you know we're doing this thing over here (http://www.colonyofgamers.com/cogforums/showthread.php?t=12884) where we talk to them and give away their game, yes? ;)

[bulletfood]

Just downloaded LucasArts new game Lucidity from Steam. It is fantastic. Very dream like, kind of reminds me of Braid.
Congrats Jeremy!!!

[Ravenlock]

Responding to James's comments about the PSP Go, having thought about it a bit - while it's admirable that they're continuing to support the PSP-2000 / 3000 models after releasing the Go (or at least they claim to be), ironically I don't think most of the vitriol that's being levied at the system would exist if there wasn't such an obvious discrepancy between the price and capabilities of the two systems side by side.

For $250, you can have a PSP Go, or for almost $100 less, you can have the PSP-2000, which aside from Bluetooth can do everything the Go can do, and more.

It's fine to say they're finally taking the bold step to support digital distribution, but the Go isn't doing that in any substantial way beyond what the PSP could already do - all Sony would have had to do to get the same initiative going with the PSP-2000 was start putting more full PSP games up on the store, it's not like people couldn't have purchased them. They just chose not to do that until they had a new piece of hardware to push alongside it. The thing keeping you from your UMD-less vision of the future was their business plan, not a limitation of the original PSP.

If you lay the PSP-2000/3000 and the PSP Go side by side, the only thing the Go has in its favor is its small size. That's it. And to get that, you not only lose some of the things the original PSP design could do (which I understand you may not care about), but you also pay 50% more. It's really hard to see "pay more, get less" as a consumer friendly approach no matter what your opinions on digital distribution are. After all, isn't one of the promises of digital distribution in the long run supposed to be reduced cost?

[lucklesswonder]

On the topic of fair food:

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2671/4017806502_4a43fba144_o.jpg

[Arjay]

Aarjay, do ya mind if i call ya RJ? anyways, i finally got my sf4 te stick modified and have been waiting to let you woop my ass in some mvc2, you up for it?

I've got some errands to take care of Saturday morning, but I can get online later that afternoon (about 3pm CST). Let me know if this is good.

[Spigot]

Great show there, guys. Having Scott talk about Bowser's Inside Story after decrying JRPGs warmed the cockles of my heart.

[Gerbs]

Regarding pre-orders, I've been hassled on several occasions at my EB by who I presume to be the manager. In addition to the regular "YOU SHOULD PRE-ORDER EVERYTHING" spiel she has suggested that as a favour to the store and pre-order collector's editions for games I don't intend to buy and later transfer the five dollars to a game I do want, simply so that the store has extra copies of the collector's editions sent to them. I could understand if I was a friend of the store or some such but I basically walk in slap down five bucks for pre-orders and walk out. I can't stand talking to the staff there as they are generally ill informed.

Another reason to dislike the chain for myself is that up here in Canada we've got WalMart, Best Buy, and Future Shop (our version of Best Buy before Best Buy bought them) selling Borderlands for 40$, while EB holds steady at $70, hoping some people are ignorant of the price drop at other retailers. They're sorta like a festering boil that you want to cut off but you keep it around because once a year it fits with your Halloween costume.

[Spigot]

The EB near me is great and they are across the street from a Walmart so they're pretty much forced to follow the crazy price cuts that Walmart is pulling off lately.

And they are generally pretty informed compared to many other places. That said, I've been getting some stellar service and deals at the Play N Trade nearby, so I'm suspecting that I might start going there for most of my purchases.

[lucklesswonder]

They're sorta like a festering boil that you want to cut off but you keep it around because once a year it fits with your Halloween costume.

I love this metaphor. But I have to ask. What is the retail equivalent of "Halloween costume"?

[Gerbs]

I love this metaphor. But I have to ask. What is the retail equivalent of "Halloween costume"?

Obscure PSP game coming out no one will carry or pre-order bonus no one else has. Or a gift card.

[TrackZero]

The PSP Go! and Randy Pitchford were clearly the devils most in need of advocates this week, and we've spent loads of time on the losing side of arguments, so we figured ourselves to be a natural fit.

Fantastic discussion on both!

[lucklesswonder]

Obscure PSP game coming out no one will carry or pre-order bonus no one else has. Or a gift card.

Ohhh, okay.

[Spigot]

Obscure PSP game coming out no one will carry or pre-order bonus no one else has. Or a gift card.My biggest hope for what the PSPGo does to the PSN is that we won't have to nervously hop from store to store or preorder everything in order to get a 'rare' game. If Atlus and XSEED and NIS get on board for the digital distribution scheme, I'll be happy as a clam.

Sure, Atlus will still probably do the Atlus Swag for UMDs. That's because they're awesome (or evil).

[Gerbs]

My biggest hope for what the PSPGo does to the PSN is that we won't have to nervously hop from store to store or preorder everything in order to get a 'rare' game. If Atlus and XSEED and NIS get on board for the digital distribution scheme, I'll be happy as a clam.

Sure, Atlus will still probably do the Atlus Swag for UMDs. That's because they're awesome (or evil).

Yeah I really need to pickup a new memory card for my PSP, 1 gig is not cutting it.

[Spigot]

Yeah I really need to pickup a new memory card for my PSP, 1 gig is not cutting it.Hell, I have an 8 GB card and it's running out of room. I have no idea how I survived with a 1 GB card for as long as I did.

[Gerbs]

Hell, I have an 8 GB card and it's running out of room. I have no idea how I survived with a 1 GB card for as long as I did.

Let's say I get a new card, is there a way to transfer the data on my current card to the new one?

[Spigot]

Let's say I get a new card, is there a way to transfer the data on my current card to the new one?Yes there is.

Unfortunately, I don't remember for the life of me HOW I did it with my card. I think I might have just hooked the PSP up to the PC via USB and done it that way... It was pretty simple but like I said, I can't recall how I did it.

[bulletfood]

if you download media go from sony's sight, you can back up your psp memory card to your pc hard drive. I'm assuming that after that you can stick in a new memory stick and then transfer it back to the psp.

[Gerbs]

Thanks guys, one of these days I'll make the plunge and upgrade.

[Chris_D]

Just got a new 8GB myself, leaving me with a 1, a 4, and the new 8.

[lucklesswonder]

Let's say I get a new card, is there a way to transfer the data on my current card to the new one?

You can copy everything to your PC via USB, like Spigot said, and from there to your new card. That's how I back up my game saves, as well as any downloaded game I don't have room for on my card.

[fishbang]

Responding to James's comments about the PSP Go, having thought about it a bit - while it's admirable that they're continuing to support the PSP-2000 / 3000 models after releasing the Go (or at least they claim to be), ironically I don't think most of the vitriol that's being levied at the system would exist if there wasn't such an obvious discrepancy between the price and capabilities of the two systems side by side.

For $250, you can have a PSP Go, or for almost $100 less, you can have the PSP-2000, which aside from Bluetooth can do everything the Go can do, and more.

It's fine to say they're finally taking the bold step to support digital distribution, but the Go isn't doing that in any substantial way beyond what the PSP could already do - all Sony would have had to do to get the same initiative going with the PSP-2000 was start putting more full PSP games up on the store, it's not like people couldn't have purchased them. They just chose not to do that until they had a new piece of hardware to push alongside it. The thing keeping you from your UMD-less vision of the future was their business plan, not a limitation of the original PSP.

I'm still so conflicted on this issue that it's hard to reduce my position to a manageable size, which makes me uneasy. A few of my points seem to be at odds with one another, which also makes this kind of argument unwieldy.

Clearly, the price is indefensible. I don't know that it's fair to compare the Go to the 2000, since (as far as I can tell) the 3000 is the only other model Sony supports new at retail. And I don't think you're referencing the secondary market here, but I just want it to be a clean fight between the two new-product options a guy like me would face.

But, no argument, the price is unrealistic and unwarranted and really is the source of the strife. I think $200 would have been an unimpeachable maximum.

If you lay the PSP-2000/3000 and the PSP Go side by side, the only thing the Go has in its favor is its small size. That's it. And to get that, you not only lose some of the things the original PSP design could do (which I understand you may not care about), but you also pay 50% more. It's really hard to see "pay more, get less" as a consumer friendly approach no matter what your opinions on digital distribution are. After all, isn't one of the promises of digital distribution in the long run supposed to be reduced cost?

I can't agree that the size is the only advantage - assuming we consider it an advantage at all (I do). Again, it may seem like nothing, but quick hibernation, the hdd (storage I'd have to pay to replicate on the 3000) and the addition of save-states are things for me; things that make it more like the system I'd want to own and carry for moment-to-moment gameplay. I DON'T think these things justify the price, but I just want to point out that they make a difference collectively, even if no one of them seems significant.

Also, I do believe DD leads to reduced cost, but for software, not hardware. Clearly, it can even be used as an excuse for gouging.

In any case, the system is a tough sell, and I admit the truth of most of your points.

[Ravenlock]

Fair enough. Thanks for coming in and clarifying your points. While the "old" PSP did indeed have a hibernation state (just do a quick-flip on the power switch and it blacks out and goes to "sleep" until you're ready to play again, and I've left it that way quite awhile with no noticeable battery drain), it doesn't have "save states", and that's something I didn't know about the Go, so thanks for pointing it out.

I don't know whether Sony is "supporting it at retail", but PSP-2000's are still quite available new for $170 (http://www.amazon.com/PSP-2000-Console-Piano-Black-Sony/dp/B000UA0LXQ), so that is what I was comparing it to. I'm pretty sure the cost of 2000's and 3000's is the same new, though, so it doesn't make a lot of difference to me which it is.

If asked by anyone who didn't yet own one, I'd still advise them to get a 2000 or 3000 model of the system rather than the Go, but I can understand where you're coming from with some of your points and it's always good to have a discussion going about things. :) I just hope that the hardware price comes into a more reasonable place soon so that the discussion can be moot and people can feel justified buying whichever model best suits their needs, rather than paying what I think is an unreasonable premium for what is ultimately a less capable - if in some respects progressive - system.

[Spigot]

Also, I do believe DD leads to reduced cost, but for software, not hardware. Clearly, it can even be used as an excuse for gouging.
The problem as it stands now is that DD isn't showing any signs of being a better bargain than physical media. I understand that there are a variety of factors at play here, not least of which is Sony's need to keep retailers marginally happy and not totally undercut them, but it's almost criminal to see games that I can walk into any store and buy for $20 or so being sold for over $30 on the PSN.

I'd be fine with digital copies of new games being the same price or MAYBE $5 less on PSN for the first, say, 6 months. After that, they should have some kind of scheduled price drop after that so that the games on the PSN end up being a better bargain long after they've worn out their welcome (or availability) at the brick & mortar stores. Say, $5 off the price every 5-6 months until they reach $10-15, then just set that low price as the default price for older PSP games (with the odd sale here and there).

That's how I'd do it, but what do I know? I'm in social work, not marketing or accounting.