As much as I like the design of the new PSPGo, there’s one thing holding me back from actually purchasing Sony’s handheld console, and it’s the same thing that stopped me from buying the PSP; the lack of a second analog control stick.  With every modern home console adopting the control scheme, I’ve grown too used to the twin sticks to mess around with an archaic design that’s been in play since the Atari 2600. But Sony was this close to actually getting my money.

In an interview with Game Informer, Sony Worldwide Studios President Shuhei Yoshida stated that Sony considered adding a second nub, but decided against it.

We also felt — like many users — that we wish we had a second analog on the PSP. 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 analog, and some of the developers are doing quite a nice job translating the second analog functionality to different buttons. We didn't want to divert their efforts either.

I get it; future PSPgo games that would have utilized the second stick wouldn’t have been compatible with PSP1000-3000s, so they decided to wait until the next full-on new handheld console release.  I get it, but I’m not happy about it.