Sony says it released the PSPgo as an experiment to gauge the reception for a digital-only handheld console.

Speaking with MCV, SCEE president Andrew House was asked if Sony considers the PSPgo a sales success, to which he replied: "It was introduced in a mature lifecycle to learn more about what the consumer wanted and we've definitely learnt a lot.

"Is that measured by success in sales? I don't think it is," he added.

"One of the reasons we launched PSPgo was to understand where that consumer behaviour was going. We were getting signals from consumers that this was the kind of device that they wanted. But we need to recognise that consumers like their packaged media library," said House.

We don't think PSPgo has served as a fair test of the demand for a download-only console, because it being download-only isn't what makes it an unattractive purchase for most. It's that PSP has been around for years and people have amassed huge UMD collections which they can play (or re-download for free) on the Go.

And the digital versions of new PSP releases are far too often days behind the physical UMD disc release - that is if there's a digital release at all. For all its disadvantages, PSPgo costs just £50 short of a PS3, and considerably more than previous PSP models, which contain all the same features including the ability to play digitally downloaded and UMD games. That's why people aren't buying it.

So digital downloads have been given a bad wrap. But it's probably safe to say that PSP 2, possibly set for an E3 unveiling, won't be a download-only console.