Author Topic: Reanimating the PSP (Read 345 times)

MIC · « **on:** October 03, 2006, 03:54:21 PM »

After TGS more and more people (and devs among them) are saying PSP is quickly going the Gamecube route (sadly, I have to agree with them):

http://www.neowin.net/index.php?act=view&id=35318

so some people are working on "innovations" to help PSP stay viable:

http://pspupdates.qj.net/MY-QJ-PSPTouchME-concept-images/pg/49/aid/67918

It's hard to say why PSP is failing, Sony clearly doesn't understand the handheld market and what kind of games sell handheld consoles. You could think devs should know that, but they keep on making games that belong to the stationary consoles rather than handhelds, so I'm thinking - maybe it's Sony's fault, maybe Sony's persuading devs to make that kind of games. Whatever their plan is, it's failing.

Nutty · « **Reply #1 on:** October 03, 2006, 05:49:48 PM »

Hate to admit it, but yeah,

.

Trauma-san · « **Reply #2 on:** October 03, 2006, 06:35:16 PM »

Actually, the PSP is doing far worse than the Gamecube. The PSP has yet to be profitable; the gamecube was profitable all through it's existance, (and still is). Sony spends more money on each psp than they make from the sale of the machine; Nintendo on the other hand sells the gamecube at a profit. Nintendo also makes 1st party games for the Gamecube, and makes a profit on those exclusive titles. Sony has no 1st party games.

All in all, it's insulting and ignorant to say the psp is becoming the next gamecube, the gamecube is a far more successful system than the psp.

MIC · « **Reply #3 on:** October 04, 2006, 03:03:18 AM »

Quote from: Bow Down To The King Of Kings on October 03, 2006, 06:35:16 PM

All in all, it's insulting and ignorant to say the psp is becoming the next gamecube, the gamecube is a far more successful system than the psp.

I don't think you understoand what they mean

They're talking about the amount of games available, and how 3rd party developers stopped making games for gamecube after 2-3 years, even EA did that, concentrating on PS2 and Xbox, even though before they used to release most of their titles on all three consoles. And the same thing is happening with PSP.
And you're wrong - Sony owns more than a dozen studios, closer to twenty probably. I wouldn't even be able to list them all, I just remember they have bought Zipper (SOCOM) and Guerilla (Killzone) lately. But there's many more - I think the first developer they bought was Psygnosis, long time ago, before PSX was released.

Trauma-san · « **Reply #4 on:** October 04, 2006, 04:15:20 AM »

Sony stock slides 2.75 percent on PS3 concerns
Analysts downgrade electronic giant's stock following reports of PS3 malfunctions at TGS and "disappointing" PSP sales.
By Tor Thorsen, GameSpot
Posted Oct 3, 2006 5:03 pm PT
The PlayStation 3 launch is now just over six weeks away, and Sony Corp. stockholders are apparently getting nervous. Today, the Japanese electronic giant's share price slid 130 yen ($1.11) to 4,600 yen ($38.98) on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, a decline of 2.75 percent.

According to several news-service reports, the stock drop came after two major analysts downgraded Sony's stock on concerns about its gaming division, Sony Computer Entertainment. "We have adopted a cautious view of the impact of the [Sony] game business on the electronics business this term,'' Goldman Sachs analyst Yuji Fujimori told Bloomberg. Fujimori downgraded Sony's rating from "buy" to "neutral" citing "confusion over the release of PlayStation 3 and concerns [about] disappointing sales of [the] PlayStation Portable," according to the Associated Press.

Another Tokyo-based analyst, Macquarie Equities' David Gibson, went one step further. He issued a report expressing concern that many of the 200-plus PS3s on the floor of the Tokyo Game Show "operated erratically and had to be repeatedly reset," according to the AP.

"While the reason for this is unknown, we suspect it may be due to overheating as a result of enclosing the units and the high temperatures at the venue," Gibson said. "We are concerned that such a problem has occurred so close to full production and is clearly negative news for the company."

In its defense, Sony said the PS3 failures were caused by unusually high temperatures created by having many of the next-gen consoles operating in close proximity to each other. "It's not a problem with the PlayStation 3 unit itself," Sony spokeswoman Nanako Kato told the AP. "For a normal player at home, there shouldn't be any problem."

The downgrades come at a bad time for Sony, which is already coping with a massive recall of laptop batteries it manufactured. On Friday, Dell announced that it was increasing the recall of Sony batteries used in its systems from 4.1 million units to 4.2 million units.

On the game front, the company recently had to delay the PS3's European launch to March 2007 and cut day-one inventory of the console to 100,000 units in Japan and 400,000 units in North America. The company says it will still ship 2 million to 2.4 million PS3s by the end of the year.

http://www.gamespot.com/news/6159254.html?tag=latestnews;title;1

Trauma-san · « **Reply #5 on:** October 04, 2006, 05:27:46 AM »

I forgot to address what you said about me being wrong.

Not only am I not wrong, you in fact are wrong; making you even wrong about saying i'm wrong. You're accusing someone of something you yourself are doing twice; that's inexcusable.

I said "1st party", you said "Sony bought companies"... therein lies the rub.

Nintendo has also bought companies, that's not "1st party" gaming, that's "2nd party" gaming. Sony has no 1st party games.

Finally, to anhilate your entire argument in that direction, when was the last time Sony released through one of their 2nd party companies, a game that could stand to one of Nintendo's excellent 1st party games? Where's Sony's mario? Zelda? Shit, where's Sony's Starfox? Nintendogs? Pokemon? Donkey Kong? Surely Sony has a Donkey Kong caliber game.

Oh, that's right. Sony bought all their shit while Nintendo created it from scratch. Yeah, Sony's the next gamecube. Never.

Nutty · « **Reply #6 on:** October 04, 2006, 06:01:15 AM »

What a nerd

On The Edge of Insanity · « **Reply #7 on:** October 04, 2006, 09:57:55 AM »

They have kinda proved they didn't understand the handheld market, I certainly didn't buy one just expecting to get a load of ports of old PS2 games, which is what the majority of its has been. Compared to the DS, which has a great range of games made specifically for that console that actually work with the control scheme, the amount of sports and racing games that have made their way to the PSP without a decent analogue stick or a particulary precise D-pad to play them on is ridiculous. Some of them are still very playable (Virtua Tennis and Hot Shots Golf), but others are just not fun to play with the PSP control scheme (Pro Evolution Soccer). I believe by failing to realise that detailed and fast paced games don't work as well on a handheld as they do the PS2, Sony has pretty much scuppered any chance of success for the PSP, as and we are now seeing, are alienating game developers at the same time.