PSP Site Launches, Launch Titles Confirmed 193
The Official PSP Website has launched with details on the system and games. GamesIndustry.biz has a list of the PSP Japanese Launch Titles we can expect when the system hits retailers. From the Article: With just over three weeks to go until the PlayStation Portable launches in Japan, Sony has revealed that buyers will have six games to choose from on day one, with around 20 games total due out before the end of December."
Beautiful! (Score:2, Insightful)
not impressed (Score:5, Insightful)
And is it just me, or is this recent trend toward "Sponsored Links" a real pain in the ass? When I see text in an article that is a link I expect it to be relevant, not a redirect to a merchant site.
Re:Uh huh... (Score:4, Insightful)
Raise your hand if you think Playstation can beat Nintendo. It has the games, the shelf-space, and the name recognition. And to top it all off, its a good product.
Never underestimate the consumer. I don't think this generation of PSP will woo over customers, but I think its got a shot after a generation or two...
Metal Gear Acid == Card Battle Game (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:launches in japan.. (Score:5, Insightful)
Specs (Score:5, Insightful)
Certainly the hardware on the PSP is extremely impressive, but I question whether it's impressive enough to warrant the two hour battery life (or less) that I'll have to spend another $45 for a spare battery (BTW, I like that you can buy a spare battery!).
DS might have taken the safer road with the long battery times while still providing a very good graphical experience. I'll probably end up waiting and seeing how much Sony can squeeze from the PSP, and see what games come out for what platform. After all, SOny did say that in "later revisions" of the firmware, they would be able to extend battery life out to 6 hours and beyond for high end games. Sounds ridiculous, but one can always hope.
Re:Competition is good (Score:4, Insightful)
The prize (Score:3, Insightful)
Realize this device for what it is and not what refined old implementations it competes with now. This is a bona fide mobile communications/entertainment platform that also happens to play games. They made the screen giant and saw fit to include just one. Why? Look at the screen in the future and you will see.
I am impressed with this from a company direction standpoint. This direction doesn't and shouldn't ever suit Nintendo. I believe they should focus on games and the marketing thereof. Sony on the other hand has albums to record, movies to shoot and entire mobile media platforms to leverage under one roof. This stuff is off the hook!
May you live in interesting times.
Re:The prize (Score:2, Insightful)
The N-Gage was also meant to be a mobile communication/entertainment platform that happened to play games...
Re:Uh huh... (Score:3, Insightful)
Look at the PS2, it has backwards compatibility with a huge and successful playstation library, and improves on what was good about the first playstation. The hardware doesn't suck. The controllers are decent. There's a good set of games.
Now, turn it around and look at the game boy and the PSP. The PSP hardware looks like it's going to eat batteries in no time flat. Remember the Game Gear? The PSP has no library. It's PS2 vs. Game Cube with the big N on the winning side this time. The PSP is just another Sega Game Gear or Atari Lynx. Nothing special, plain old portable with fancy graphics and no battery life. The DS brings fantastic innovation, like the wireless networking. We'll see about the second screen, but it's at least a move towards something creative.
No, I think Sony's going to stick their hand into the portable market with the PSP and pull back a bloody stump this first go around. They may go back for more, but I think it's going to take a while for them to gain any critical mass. The only hope that Sony has right now of quick entry and dominance is for Nintendo to put out another N64 into the handheld market. I don't think that's going to happen this generation.
Re:Uh huh... (Score:3, Insightful)
Remember that the experience of a product like this is a very complex equation. In no order:
1. Quality of the games
2. Diversity of the games
3. Platform durability (it is a portable system)
4. Ergonomics (I hate the original PS controller's crosspad, and the fact that the GBA only has 2 face buttons, don't even go with the original Xbox controller, remember the headaches of the Virtual Boy and the original GBA screen?)
5. Battery life (Yeah, yeah you can buy extra batteries, but it's an annoyance. Sony will do good in fugure builds, just look at the MD).
Look, I love the fact that Sony is the market (we will benefit), but by now, if you're a veteran gamer, you'll know not to jump into conclusions.
EBGames just makes prices up. (Score:3, Insightful)
Does anyone know, does the Japanese site linked here say anything about game prices?
Re:Competition is good (Score:2, Insightful)
You are remembering the laptop in 1990 as actual battery life and new ones for advertised battery life. I still only get about 2 hours from any laptop.
Re:PSP is toast (Score:5, Insightful)
The reason that the PS2 won wasn't that it had better graphics or was faster. It won because it had a DVD player built in. It was something utterly unrelated to game-playing that put the PS2 ahead - and that is what people are forgetting in the whole PSP vs. GBA discussion.
If Sony turns around and gives people a semi-decent way to play video and music on their PSP, the entire equation gets altered dramatically. That $150-$200 PSP looks a lot better if it has more functionality.
Similarly, Nintendo could also do something paradigm shifting (but I do not consider PictoChat to be any way, shape, or form to be a paradigm shift) to pull away.
And, frankly, it might not even be features that distinguish the two. A single bad production run by either of them could ruin the product's reputation. Calling a winner before the race has started seems foolish to me.
-Erwos
Re:Uh huh... (Score:5, Insightful)
I generally agree with your points - although there are a two great big caveats worth pointing out that might change the game.
Convergence - my pet theory is that the PSP is not designed simply to take on the DS in the game space, but also the iPod/MP3 player market, the nascent portable video market, and some of the wireless gadget market. Of course it is way overpowered to compete with the oh-so-simple GameBoy, but that's a hint right there. The PSP has 802.11, and will play MP3 format. These are big design decisions from Sony's point of view, particularly the MP3 support as up until now they have stuck doggedly with ATRAC.
Furthermore, we have seen some interesting moves from Sony in regards to expanding the PS2 beyond its original game console roots, such as the EyeToy. With the extra hardware in the PSP they can leverage the thing to more powerful pursuits, like ad-hoc WiFi videoconferencing for example. Nintendo could do something like this as well but historically its this space where Sony really shines.
Form factor - the PSP is probably sexier than the DS. The point is up for debate depending on your taste of course but I can easily see the sleek black PSP appealing to the older (read: richer) crowd more than the DS. I have not played with the DS yet but I have concerns about that touchpad deal - we should all applaud Nintendo for pushing the envelope but let us not forget they have pushed it too far in the past (*cough* VirtualBoy *cough*). I don't think its a disaster or anything but it hardly seems like the kind of feature people will instantly get - and want- when they first see it. Perhaps the software innovation department will help out here.
Sony obviously has a problem on its hands with the late launch of the PSP in terms of Xmas sales but I would hardly count them out of the game just yet. Nintendo has the jump on the early market but who knows, we may just see the same phenomenon with the handhelds that we have witnessed over the last 1.5 years with the consoles - that consumers have often chosen not one or the either, but both.
Re:Competition is good (Score:1, Insightful)
Re:Uh huh... (Score:3, Insightful)
I think they've made some new room to work with, and so long as the second screen interface doesn't suck half as bad as the N64 controller I don't see much change in N's domination.
But, it's all rampant speculation. We'll see how the world responds.
because your not the target (Score:3, Insightful)
yes the Japanese games are different but there is a good reason. Firstly the system is not capable of running a full blown title as per PS2. So the designers are really forced to rethink their game style (and do they think) to fit the limitations of the hardware format. Take for instance konami [konamijpn.co.jp] with MG. They release MG but not *solid*, but Acid [ign.com]. Same franchise, different game style (with a card twist [ign.com]).
Konami already make a slew of GBA games [konamijpn.co.jp] so they pretty well unersand their market. Its a different market to PS/XB.
Remember Digimon [ign.com] , small animals, monsters fighting, computers and CARDS ... it's a bit like a digital D&D for those old enough /young enough to remember. All appeal to a very specific market.
After attending a ACMI game time symposium [sumea.com.au] in Melbourne this year I had the chance to hear/see Tetsuya Mizuguchi [mizuguchi.biz] [gamespot interview [gamespot.com]] ). He talked for about an hour about game design and a bit about some upcoming titles for PSP. I now understand a bit more about *Japanese* game style and take my hat off to true innovators. No cheesy ports of your [insert your top 10 title here] PS2, PC games here. All *new* original ideas.
For the first releases the games are squarely aimed at *kids* and certainly those with a sense for Japanse style (manga, pokemon, digimon, cards, et.-al.) and good taste (read the paul graham [paulgraham.com] article, taste [paulgraham.com] to understand what I mean).I already have a 6 year old drooling over my shoulder wondering how to get one of these.
Sony is dead in this market space (Score:2, Insightful)