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PSP Pricing Announced

Posted by Zonk on Tue Sep 28, 2004 11:00 AM
from the xtc-vs.-adam-ant dept.
PlayStation (Games) Portables (Games)
Grey Ninja writes "GC Advanced has reported from the Tokyo Game Show that the PSP will retail for $349.99. Coupled with the previously announced price of the Nintendo DS at $149.99, it's going to be interesting to see if Sony will be able to convince developers and consumers alike that the price point is a good one. It's looking more and more all the time like Nintendo's going to take this one." Update: 09/28 17:24 GMT by Z: The story seems to have devolved into rumour under examination. Take this one with a grain of salt.
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  • In other news... (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Ayaress (662020) on Tuesday September 28 2004, @11:02AM (#10374415) Journal
    Anybody who didn't see this comming a mile away is blind, dumb, or both.
    • well i (not particularly into games atm and only half following this) expected it to be $300 tops. didn't expect Sony to go *more* than double the Nintendo price. although i expect the street price *will* be around £300 - do i have any takers at $299.95? maybe if i throw in a spare battery? ;)

  • Oooer... (Score:5, Funny)

    by Ford Prefect (8777) on Tuesday September 28 2004, @11:03AM (#10374427) Homepage
    Call that a handheld? [eurogamer.net]

  • Yep. (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday September 28 2004, @11:03AM (#10374430)
    Between the Gameboy Advance SP at only $79 and the DS at $149, Sony's PSP is going to collect a lot of dust on the shelves. Especially due to the reduced incomes/increased debt of the American population...

    • Re:Yep. (Score:3, Insightful)

      by Ayaress (662020)
      I wouldn't say that's a forgone conclusion. The Playstation consoles have major brand-name recognition and a considerable following, consisting heavily of the 18-25 gamers who criticize Nintendo for having mostly kids' games. Rather than being the next N-Gage, I think we have the next Game Gear here: It'll do moderately good, but it's too far undersold by a competitor that was already wildly successful when they came along.

      • Re:Yep. (Score:3, Insightful)

        by Troed (102527)
        Make that gamers of ages 13 to 18. Anyone older than that appreciates what Nintendo does - GOOD games that doesn't need excessive violence, blood and nudity. Or something.

        I'm 30. I have lots more Gamecube games than I have games for my Xbox and PS2 together.

        • Completely agree: Metroid Prime, Mario Sunshine, and Zelda: The Wind Waker (and Ocarina for Gamecube was fantastic as well) have been some of the best games this console generation. Although I really liked Eternal Darkness, and I can't wait for Resident Evil 4, either, and those last two games have a bit of gore going on.
      • "I wouldn't say that's a forgone conclusion. The Playstation consoles have major brand-name recognition and a considerable following, consisting heavily of the 18-25 gamers who criticize Nintendo for having mostly kids' games. Rather than being the next N-Gage, I think we have the next Game Gear here: It'll do moderately good, but it's too far undersold by a competitor that was already wildly successful when they came along."good games. Would a game company put all that effort into a game they will make si

  • Whoa (Score:3, Interesting)

    by SansTinfoilHat (759207) on Tuesday September 28 2004, @11:03AM (#10374433)
    I'm the kind of guy that buys pricey gadgets like there is no tomorrow...

    But even I can't justify that much for another portable game system, no matter how cool Metal Gear Solid Acid looks.

    Is there anyone out there whose willingness to pay is above $200?
    • $200 I'd pay, if it lives up to the current hype. For $250, I'd watch for it on sale. $350 would be a stretch, even if the DS ends up sucking.
    • I wouldn't even pay $350 for a home console, let alone a portable. Although considering what the battery life on a device like the PSP is going to be like, it practically is a home console.
      • Yep Sega learned that lesson with the $399 Saturn. It only lasted from May until September when the Playstation came out and both retailed for $299.

    • Re:Whoa (Score:3, Informative)

      by Zangief (461457)
      Metal Gear Acid is a turn based card game. You may enjoy it a lot if you are into yugioh and such things.

      Not to say it is gonna be a bad game. It is just not the Metal Gear you expect.
      • Metal Gear Acid is a turn based card game. You may enjoy it a lot if you are into yugioh and such things.

        Not to say it is gonna be a bad game. It is just not the Metal Gear you expect.

        Actually, it is the Metal Gear I'd expect. Contrary to normal /. procedure, I did research and know what I am talking about.

        Being a big fan of Culdcept [metacritic.com], it has piqued my interest. I just wish I could afford to play it.
  • This price seems really amazing, I bet x-box 2's won't cost that much. I think the price of the N-Gage is lower if I am not mistaken? For this price, I would hope it comes with 4 free games. The amount of money these companies are expecting to rip from out pockets is really amazing.

  • Sidetalkin? (Score:5, Funny)

    by thegrue76 (211065) on Tuesday September 28 2004, @11:17AM (#10374629) Homepage
    For $350, I better get some SERIOUSLY advanced SideTalkin' functionality!

  • Arg... (Score:3, Interesting)

    by rpdillon (715137) on Tuesday September 28 2004, @11:17AM (#10374632) Homepage
    Maybe I should've seen this, as first post said, but wow. I've been quite excited about this for some time, fully intending to buy one, but at $350, I simply cannot justify it. I mean, that's $350 PLUS $40-$50 for each game. Hell, I could buy a decent PDA for that. I could buy TWO of the new, small PS2's for that as well.

    Oh, and how good is the battery life again? I pass.

    I guess its time to go buy a GP32. =)

    • Re:Arg... (Score:5, Interesting)

      by Jim Hall (2985) on Tuesday September 28 2004, @12:04PM (#10375103) Homepage

      I've posted on this same topic before (sorry for the dupe), but I wish Sony had gone with a PS1-based system for its first portable PlayStation. I know the technology is a bit dated, but they could have cranked out a PS1-based PSP for tons less than $150 (and they could have done it sooner) and come out with a PS2-based PSP a year later.

      There's already a huge library of PS1 games. I loved playing them. Developers know how to write for them. Wouldn't it have been a great idea to create a portable game system that played PS1 games? You could have changed a few minor things to help battery life, and to keep it simple: the controller doesn't support vibration, there is no P2, the memory card is (possibly) internal, and the 640MB CD is replaced by smaller-radius media (Sony is moving to UMD for the PSP.) Use a screen only slightly larger than the GBA's, and now the low-res graphics of the PS1 look pretty good.

      All that technology is readily-available (except for the UMD) so I'm sure the price per unit would have been way less than $150.

      I'm sure Sony could have made lots of sales on this one. Developers basically get to re-release (almost immediately!) a lot of cool PlayStation games for the portable PS1. I would have gladly shelled out $30 for a PSP re-release of many of the PS1 games I already own (Tomb Raider 1 & 2, Spyro the Dragon, Mort the Chicken, Crash Bandicoot Racing, ...)

      But of course, I'm no systems designer (and it probably shows.) Though, it seems a design like this might have made serious inroads against the GBA or DS. Even if the PS1 technology is dated.

  • > It's looking more and more all the time like Nintendo's going to take this one.

    ...uh, right. If I understand correctly, the DS is going to be a cartridge based system that has backwards capability for GB/A games, as well as all the bells and whistles of two screens, the stylus, and wireless capabilities. Which is nice for current GBA owners, as they can pick this up and not "lose" anything, and play whatever new stuff comes along.

    But it's still just a game system.

    The PSP, on the other hand, is mo
    • ah that's why the N-gage was such a sucess. oh no, it wasn't. i'd (if i want to be really geeky ;) rather have an iPod in my left pocket and a DS in my right. or maybe a DS in my right pocket and my MP3 CD player in the left.. or.. well you get the idea - not one fat $350 battery eating games machine.

    • Re:They're not targetted at the same audience (Score:5, Insightful)

      by Servo5678 (468237) on Tuesday September 28 2004, @11:29AM (#10374742)
      The PSP, on the other hand, is more. It's supposed to play DVDs, music cds, mp3s, etc, etc. It's more of a multi-purpose thing that also plays games, and is priced as such.
      So we're looking at a machine that does a lot of things but does none of them very well?

      The fact that the DS is "just a game system" is a major selling point for me. I don't want a portable system that plays DVDs, MP3s, makes breakfast, etc.

    • Re:They're not targetted at the same audience (Score:5, Informative)

      by mushroom blue (8836) on Tuesday September 28 2004, @11:37AM (#10374825) Homepage
      you're on crack.

      PSP plays UMD Discs. that's it. no music CD's, no DVD's. it's a proprietary format. they are gonna have some movies for it, but I don't envision them taking off. limited choice of movies for a limited media. sorry.

      perhaps you should do some research before posting.

      oh. wait. slashdot. nevermind.
    • Sorry, the PSP only plays UMD which are 60mm across. If it's going to play movies the user will have to buy a PSP-only copy that will not work in DVD drives. MP3 support will be through memory sticks which are currently more expensive than smart media. So anyone wanting two hours of music on a 128MB stick will have to pay another $40.

    • Re:They're not targetted at the same audience (Score:5, Informative)

      by rpdillon (715137) on Tuesday September 28 2004, @12:47PM (#10375587) Homepage
      Ah yes, well it *would* be something if it played DVDs and CDs, but it doesn't - it plays UMDs. Which means if I want to use it for those things, I have to purchase (AGAIN! Gah, I hate format changes) all the music and videos on UMD. And pay more for protable unit that can only play one movie at a go anyway. And it costs more than a mini-PS2, which DOES play CDs, DVDs, PS1 and PS2 games. Oh, and it costs half as much.

      No, they screwed up on this one. $350 is a lot of money. Hell, desktops retail for about $500 at the low end...

      Does this make the PSP the most expensive portable game unit ever? I don't recall the prices on Lynx, Neo Geo Pocket (or whatever it was called), Game Gear, etc.
    • The law of convergance is that any such product will:
      1. Do anything it claims to at about a quarter to a half as well as a similarly priced stand alone product.
      2. Achieve about 90% of the functionality in most areas but cost more than if you purchased each stand alone product individually.

      Also, with your typically converged product, when one component fails, you're fucked. Like a combination DVD/Reciever. Reciever component fails and the whole thing is useless(no sound).

      Oh, and as to Music CDs/DVDs.
    • So Sony's target audience for this is rich people without much common sense? ;)

  • doomed (Score:4, Insightful)

    by cgenman (325138) on Tuesday September 28 2004, @11:23AM (#10374682) Homepage
    Sony needs to get that price down, and fast. While it is an impressive piece of hardware, they would be charging more than twice the current generation hardware costs for a portable, and probably more than the next generation hardware is going to run. That's insane for a handheld. "Cheap" has always been required for the success of a handheld, as they are generally stand-in between times with a full-fledged gaming system. No matter how ludicrously powerful the thing is (it's nuts), it is still going to be second string to a full-fledged system.

    Selling at 350 is suicide. If their launch strategy is to start at 350, then when manufacturing ramps up the following month drop that to 250, they might be passably OK, but they'll never get the penetration of the Game Boy.

    Why is it things like this are so hard to see for execs and the dev team?

    • As a follow up to the above post, I'd recommend cutting and slashing like nobody's business. If anything, such as MP3/ATRAC/MPEG playback, requires an independent chipset, kill it. Audio chipset? Nerf it. Proprietary disk standard too costly? Slap a DVD mini in there and call it a day. Memory stick port? Nobody will use that anyway.
  • console prices have reached a near-uniform $299 at launch. PSP could probably launch successfully at $299 - there's no way I'll buy one before they're $199 at my current budget but when I was working for real money I would have spent $299 and probably not even have felt bad about it. If it had a hard drive in it and you could load any media you liked they could probably get $399 but I think sony's kidding themselves if they think americans are going to pay more than three hundred bucks for this thing. I kno

  • Price Not Offical (Score:3, Insightful)

    by EastCoaster (583032) on Tuesday September 28 2004, @11:27AM (#10374725) Homepage
    If you read the article now, it says that the price of $350 is not offical from Sony. I feel that Sony could release it for 250-300 but any more and you can forget it. If Sony is to beleive the PSP is the "iPod" of portable gaming and can charge a premium they can forget it. Sony has yet to lose money on a piece of hardware and this might reflect in the overall price and $350 would make sense to Sony. Only time will really tell.
  • After thinking about this for a little while, I realized that Sony isn't targeting the handheld gaming market with that price. They can't compete with the GBA or the DS with this price. They can, however, compete with the Ipod. That is the PSP's market. Whether it takes off or not is another thing. The UMD's will not help them here. It seems that the PSP was hijacked during creation and went from strictly games to all-in-one media device.

  • A 100% COMPLETE HOAX (Score:5, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday September 28 2004, @11:31AM (#10374756)
    Amir0x
    Sep 24 2004, 09:37 PM
    $349.99
    To launch with approximately 12 games in Japan; hopefully more in USA.

    QUOTE(Gamespot)
    Today during an early-morning press conference, Sony finally revealed the price point and release date for its first portable gaming device, the PSP. The PSP will launch for a suggested retail value of 38,624 Yen, or 349.99 dollars in the USA.
    Talk of a "competitive price point" quickly dissolved with news of this shocking price point. In its statement, Sony commented that the PSP is "not meant to compete directly with the market targeted by the Nintendo DS" and that it is "appropriately priced for its expectations and target demographic." Sony noted, however, that they hope to "bring new consumers into the world of portable gaming" noting that the PSP is "the most advanced handheld device for gaming ever conceived."
    Also of importance during the press conference was the target release dates for Japan and USA.
    Sony announced that it plans to launch in Japan on December 21st with "at least 12 games" and in the USA during the month of March, although it's interesting to note that they did not set a specific day for this event. The PSP is expected to launch with at least 8 games in the USA, but Sony says "it expects even more than twelve", including the new Need For Speed Underground.

    Well.. Well.
    Discuss.

    Hahaha, anyway, I'm bored so what's up with you guys?
    http://torchthebridge.com/forum/index.php?showtopi c=1905 [torchthebridge.com]

    Amir0x
    Sep 24 2004, 11:53 PM

    ANYWAY...
    As any NON idiot already knew (no offense fellas), this story is...
    A 100% COMPLETE HOAX
    It was...
    a.) An experiment to see how QUICKLY people would jump on a story like this about Sony, despite NO evidence at all and a dead link and even a FUCKING MESSAGE IN THE ORIGINAL POST THAT THE STORY WAS FAKE (albeit in small text)
    and...
    b.) Because I was bored, and wanted to see how many people fell for it!
    At Penny-Arcade, even more people fell for it and were quick to judge!
    So, all's well.
    Tobliz was in on it.
    Riot was in on it.
    Crandle was in on it.
    Leto knew.
    That is all. CONTINUE YOUR DISCUSSION.
    It appears, however, that the PSP will probably be 299, which depending on your viewpoint is still quite bad. Although, that's exactly the price I expected it to launch at. I was hoping for 250 or less. I still won't buy it at 299.

    This post has been edited by Amir0x: Sep 24 2004, 11:54 PM
    http://torchthebridge.com/forum/index.php?showtopi c=1905&st=150 [torchthebridge.com]

    Amir0x
    Posted: Sat Sep 25, 2004 5:01 am
    Re: And the PSP price is....

    Anyway, guys...
    the 350 dollar story is a hoax.
    Originally I posted it at TTB to see how many people fell for it, but if you read the actual first post in contained an actual note (at TTB) which all but came out and said it was a hoax. It was just a joke for TTB, but Atog posted it before I could tell him and then well it was funny seeing responses here.
    It turned out pretty funny.
    However, the PSP might now be 299, so that's still not to pocket book friendly. Let's discuss that.
    http://www.penny-arcade.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t =77166&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start= 150 [penny-arcade.com]

    Amir0x

    Posted: Sat Sep 25, 2004 5:07 am
    Re: And the PSP price is....

    ---
    Dioretsa wrote:
    w...
    t f.
    You lied to us?
    ---

    I was prankin' TTB. But then Atog posted it here and was like "Hey TTB guyz, I posted it at PA and they're having a laugh."
    Then I was like "oh shit."
    Then I went to PA, registered, and I had a laugh. But then I said enough is enough. All insane ramblings and exuberance to believe in any bad piece

  • WTH is going on (Score:5, Insightful)

    by netfool (623800) on Tuesday September 28 2004, @11:36AM (#10374811) Homepage
    The source they're linking to is gcanvanced.com, which quotes their source as pspadvanced.com.

    When you go to pspadvanced.com site it says "pspadvanced.com coming September 31st", so it's not even a live site yet (that, and the fact that there is no such date as September 31st, there's a 30th and a October 1st...). And when you click that link it brings you back to the gcadvanced.com forums which are currently closed because they're bieng moved...

    Judging by the name of the domains, there's probably a good chance they're both the same company, but why the hell would they quote a site of there's that's not even open yet as their source?

    Oh, and this price was apparently "un-officailly" set by Sony...

    This is a real cherry of an article.

    • The Advanced Media Network is currently in a state of flux. I'm one of the GameCube staffers at AMN and we're expanding [gcadvanced.com] to cover PSP, Xbox, movies, anime - all kinds of stuff. Everything should fall into place this week and right now some aspects of the site(s) are a little wonky, so until then please pardon our dust.

  • Nintendo breaths a sigh of relief (Score:3, Insightful)

    by clu76 (620823) on Tuesday September 28 2004, @11:44AM (#10374890) Homepage
    Wow! That just eliminated the possibility of me picking one up for myself. Besides the price, I think Sony is failing on several levels.

    While I think Sony was smart to purse the 18-25 demographic, I think they've missed an opportunity to capture the large demographic of women gamers. Over at the official japanese DS site, Nintendo is featuring a young woman laughing and writing on the DS. I believe they're implying she is chatting with someone using pictochat. The DS comes with pictochat built in. Pictochat + touchscreen + wireless is a huge boon for Nintendo to capture the women demographic, as the DS is now by default, a communications device.

    As for kids... Many parents won't fork over $350 for a handheld. But let's say you have two kids, it makes more sense to get each kid their own DS rather than pay an extra $50 to get a single PSP.

    It also won't help Sony that Nintendo will start selling the DS earlier, releasing the product in time for the busiest American shopping day of the year, the day after Thanksgiving. The PSP, reportedly, won't ship until after xmas.

    As for the PSP having video play back functionality, I don't think it'll make one difference. One would have to buy or re-buy movies. Buying movies will also cut into consumers funds to buy video games. Plus, you can't casually watch a movie like you can casually listen to music.
  • I've seen the bits saying it's probably a hoax, and I agree, the source is very dodgy (I won't believe it until I hear it from the horse's mouth, and find it very suspicious as well)

    If you're wondering, USD350 is about GBP £200, or EUR 290. (All hail the weak dollar! Long may it continue! ;-) ) Two hundred Pounds isn't that bad for a console (PS2 launched at 300, so did Xbox but it's price dropped like a stone after launch), but we'll get the obligatory price hike.

    If I had enough money for the Japan
  • It is a lot of money. Maybe Sony will lower it a bit in the upcoming weeks, or before the release.

  • The high pricepoint distinctly reminds me of the Neo Geo AES home console. The system and specs were nice compared to the competition, but the system had an incredibly high price point (though also for carts too, but hopefully the PSP shouldn't). Needless to say the Neo Geo AES never sold well, though it did have quite a nice cult following. $350 for a portable is way to much for anyone other than some die hard Sony fans. I'd guess that the price would have to be around or below $200 for it to sell like hot
  • I'm LMAO as I know from this thread that how many people want PSP in their hearts despite of their bad mouth of the faked price. I bet PSP will sell greatly if it's a bit cheaper than this faked price.

  • No way San Jose! (Score:3, Insightful)

    by mrshowtime (562809) on Tuesday September 28 2004, @04:49PM (#10378189)
    Look, the PSP will cost Sony about $100 bucks to manufacture, or most likely less, since a lot of the tech is borrowed from PS3 developments. The most expensive "development" on the entire PSP would be the UMD drive. I doubt Sony will offer the PSP for $149, as the Japanese pride issue comes into play; they know that the PSP is better, why should they have to price it as the same as the DS? $250 would be the max price for this system at launch and that would be reasonable. If Sony was smart, they would launch at $199. If Sony would launch the PSP with a $300 price range, they will doom the system to just "status symbol" status, that it will never recover. The PSP is a conundrum; it is essentially a portable PS2 without the PS2's games. Also, if Sony launches at a rediculous price point, then developers will drop like flies.
    • The feeling will be reinforced once the PSP crashes and burns, just like the 3DO did. $350 is just too pricey.
      • The 3DO's, which were actually published by multiple consumer electronics giants, usually went for about $700 at launch. It was pretty ludicrous. I bought one for about $150 when the pricewars began, and it was actually a wonderful system. Many games, many exclusives.

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