News
PSP Coming to an End?
I sure as hell hope not.
This Article was Taken From:
http://videogames.yahoo.com/feature/goodbye-sony-psp/1276225
Whatever happened to the PSP? The device that Sony once touted as "the Walkman for the 21st century" is fast disappearing from popular consciousness, and if you believe the rumors circulating just three-and-a-half years after its launch, it’s up for a major rethink in 2009.
Over the crucial month of November, the Nintendo DS shifted a jaw-dropping 1.5 million units in the US alone (up 20% from last year) while the PSP languished, managing just 421,000 sales -- actually down 27%, in what was in general a tremendously strong month for video games.
Even the software support is eroding. Despite the PSP’s healthy install base of around 13 million consumers, only six 2008 PSP releases scored better than 80% on review aggregating site gamerankings.com, compared with 16 on the DS. There’s a good reason for that: nobody’s making PSP games, because outside of one or two hits like this year’s Final Fantasy VII: Crisis Core, nobody’s buying them. That’s only going to worsen when the superheavyweight Grand Theft Auto series (previously exclusive to the PSP on handhelds) releases its first DS title early next year.
In a lot of ways, it’s a shame. The PSP is a far more capable hardware platform than the DS. It’s a phone, a portable music player, a pocket-sized movie device, a mobile web browser, and when paired with a Playstation 3, a remarkably capable remote control for the system, capable of streaming music and movies from a PS3 over the Internet to wherever you happen to be.
Next to it, the DS looks like a product of another age. It’s barely capable of 3D, let alone delivering a suite of mobile applications of the PSP’s caliber. Not, in fact, unlike the contrast between the Playstation 3 (modern, immensely powerful, and pricey) and the Wii (underpowered, basic, and cheap.) Oh, and phenomenally successful. The parallels you can draw between Sony and Nintendo’s offerings go deep.
But then, set the PSP next to the iPhone or iPod Touch, the year’s other big winner in portable gaming, and the PSP’s hardware design suddenly looks old hat. Where’s the touchscreen? What are all these buttons for? What on earth is the point of this useless analog nub of a joystick? And why, in an age when flash memory is so cheap it practically comes in Cheerios boxes, are we still stuck with a huge, bulky, slow, and noisy optical drive? If you’re going to compete by offering a powerful hardware platform, you actually need to outperform the competition. As the iPhone steps into the portable gaming ring, it’s already got the PSP on the ropes.
Guess what, Sony: Apple already made the Walkman of the 21st century, and you missed the boat.
-End of Article-
-David
Comments
pnwed...
"managing just 421,000 sales"
Wow. That's still pretty impressive for 1 month, wouldn't you say?
I find that telling of the times. I recently read about a game (can't recall which though) that was considered a "failure" since it only sold something like 200,000 copies in the FIRST 2 or 3 MONTHS it was out. I remember a time when anything over 100,000 over a lifetime of a title was considered a bona fide hit!
But I guess the ridiculous costs of producing games these days requires most titles to sell at least a million to probably break even!
"Next to it, the DS looks like a product of another age. Its barely capable of 3D, let alone delivering a suite of mobile applications of the PSPs caliber."
That reminds me of the Game Gear - full color graphics, backlight, more powerful CPU than the Gameboy but plagued by similar problems the PSP faced earlier on like poor battery life and higher price. But even with better battery power the fact was that Nintendo already had that market in its hands.
In my opinion I think it's just that for better or worse Nintendo has become synonymous with "hand held" gaming and if it wasn't for the UMD gimmick of the PSP it probably wouldn't have done as well as it has - at least not during the first year or so.
I don't enjoy playing games on my PSP too much, but would love to see a PSP2. Keep the same graphics, but design it better, and make games easier to control.
I'm still going to stand by my PSP on this one. I, too, feel that the device needs an upgrade in hardware and more of a variety of titles. The only thing is that I've spent so much time enjoying my PSP, much like when I had a Sega Game Gear, that I don't want to see it go away. I enjoy both my PSP and my DS.
I just wish that developers weren't so scared to make games for the PSP. That's [partially] what it comes down to in the end. You need software to make your hardware great. Where would a Mac or a PC be without MacOS or Windows?
"In a lot of ways, its a shame. The PSP is a far more capable hardware platform than the DS. Its a phone, a portable music player, a pocket-sized movie device, a mobile web browser, and when paired with a Playstation 3, a remarkably capable remote control for the system, capable of streaming music and movies from a PS3 over the Internet to wherever you happen to be."
That's not necessarily a good thing.
The DS is a game system. That's it, and it does it really well. You know what I use my PSP for? Playing games. That's it. All the rest of that stuff is just extraneous, and if they focused less on that and more on just making games, it would be better.
I'm with Stickman: The PSP may be a Jack of all trades, but it is master at none. That's its real problem IMO.
Not to mention if they'd just have kept it a games system it would have been less expensive when it was released.
Similar to the PS3. They should have left backward compatibility in, removed the Blu Ray capability and lowered the price substantially. $249.99 - $299.99 to compete with the Wii & low tier 360 would have been wise.
Just to point, Yahoo games isn't exactly the most reliable source...
@Relayer71 They can't remove Blu ray compatibility from the PS3, it is the cornerstone of the system.
I have both a PSP and a DS and I enjoy them both. The PSP is a great system that has so many better features than the DS but it makes it to costly and takes away from what it's main use is for "gaming". Now the DS is a gaming system, that's it and it appeal to a large group of "casual" gamers, but Nintendo is known for putting out tons and tons of crappy games.
I say if Sony could either remove some of the features or keep the features and lower the price, the PSP will see better days.