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Portables (Games) Entertainment Games

E3 - PSP Loss-Making, Odama Pinballed, Humans All Destroyed 45

Posted by simoniker from the finally-over dept.
Thanks to Forbes/Reuters for its article mentioning Sony expects to lose money on its PlayStation Portable hardware, with Sony's Kaz Hirai saying: "So if you're saying 'Day one, are you going to be profitable on the hardware?' then probably not... Hopefully, this will have a 10-year lifecycle, at which point I'll look back and say 'Yes, definitely profitable'." Elsewhere, on the final day of the E3 show, 1UP has a preview of Nintendo's unique-looking Odama, described as "the fast action of pinball mixed with the ancient art of Japanese warfare", GameSpot has more information on Pandemic/THQ's Destroy All Humans!, where you'll "get to probe farmers, slaughter cows, and do all the awesome little things that aliens do", and other sites go hands-on with Star Fox 2, confirm a Disgaea pseudo-sequel for PSP, give some more information on Devil May Cry 3, and show impressions of Treasure's take on the Gradius series.
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E3 - PSP Loss-Making, Odama Pinballed, Humans All Destroyed More

E3 - PSP Loss-Making, Odama Pinballed, Humans All Destroyed

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  • Whoaaa, ten year lifecycle? Maybe that yearly update to the N-Gage might let it catch up.

  • Non-mainstream games (Score:4, Informative)

    by Troed ( 102527 ) on Saturday May 15, 2004 @04:51AM (#9160189) Homepage Journal
    Unity [ign.com] and Odama [ign.com], two games I'll definitely buy. I like companies who try to do something different, instead of just rehashing what's been done hundreds of times before.

    Time to go play some PGR2 on XboxLive. God I love that game ...

  • So, Sega... (Score:2, Interesting)

    by Goldberg's Pants ( 139800 )
    Amidst all this E3 coverage, prior to the show Sega said they had something Earth shattering to announce at E3...

    Did I miss it or something? I don't recall seeing one thing about Sega.

    • Re:So, Sega... (Score:2, Interesting)

      by incubusnb ( 621572 )
      that woulda been the Matrix Online deal [gamespot.com], which, as the Article pust it, was quite anticlimactic

      i for one was hoping to hear something about a new Console, i'd like to see Sega get back in the race

    • Re:So, Sega... (Score:4, Informative)

      by gedanken ( 24390 ) on Saturday May 15, 2004 @06:36AM (#9160350)
      I don't recall them saying they would announce something "earth shattering" just something no one would ever expect. They ended up announcing that they are publishing The Matrix Online, which imo is doomed to failure. Sega would have had better luck announcing another console or that they had gotten back into the handheld market.
    • I like that they're doing something more with Phantasy Star, hopefully something that connects with the original games instead of the PSO stuff. That could be really cool.
      • This pretty much confirms that no, there was nothing Earth shattering.

        If I recall, it was pimped on this very site a couple of weeks back that Sega had a huge announcement that would shock the industry or some such hyperbole.

        The rumours then were that the new XBox would be Sega branded. I guess not.
        • Perhaps. Though old-time RPG fanatics might be excited about the PS annoucement, Phantasy Stars I-IV have perhaps the best of all the 8/16-bit console RPG stories (*seriously* epic), and I'd even rank them above recent Final Fantasy games.

          But yeah, it's probably not all that earth-shattering to most people.

  • immediate profit (Score:3, Interesting)

    by incubusnb ( 621572 ) on Saturday May 15, 2004 @05:34AM (#9160263) Homepage Journal
    actually, i'd be more worried if Sony claimed to expect an Immediate Profit form the PSP, no Console Profits at Launch, most Consoles take between 6-8 Months before they even make a cent(note, i said most, i know some consoles managed to start profiting within 2-3 months of launch)

    on a side note, i'm really hoping to see some quality titles that link with PS2 games, and i'm crossing my fingers on GT4 Mobile being able to transfer cars, Photos, Replays and more with the PS2 Version of GT4

    • Re:immediate profit (Score:2, Interesting)

      by Aelfy ( 727873 )
      I thought that most consoles never make a profit? That the hardware parts cost more than what the complete unit it sold for - the profit coming from the sale of games. Is this an urban legend? or by profitable do they include games, or do they mean turnover exceeds marketing spending?

      • Re:immediate profit (Score:3, Insightful)

        by incubusnb ( 621572 )
        all of the main three consoles are making a Profit right now, the PS2 had just started churning a Profit when the X-Box and GC where released

        the thing about consoles is that the specs never change, but the price of the materials go down so eventually your only paying a percentage of your original manufacturing costs, add in several other key elements and making a profit becomes quite easy after a while

        what does a 333MHZ chip go for nowadays anyway? probably less than the price of a new Game

    • Re:immediate profit (Score:4, Informative)

      by Rallion ( 711805 ) on Saturday May 15, 2004 @10:29AM (#9160854) Journal
      Gamecube has never sold at a loss.

      And anyway, a few weeks ago Sony said they were going to make money on console sales right from the start. The lies begin already!

  • sorry, i have to do this (Score:2, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward
    1: create gaming handheld 2: announce you don't expect to make a Profit 3: ?? 4: Profit
  • I was a big fan of the original series. I tried to like Star Fox Adventures, but it was hard playing a Zelda-like game when you were expecting, oh, I don't know, Star Fox. Anyway, I'm still looking forward to SF2, even though 1up's review says that the land missions are not good. I never played Rebel Strike, and sadly I never actually had the chance to unlock the "walk around" parts of SF64's deathmatch, so maybe the out-of-vehicle missions will be to my liking. If anything, I just hope this game uses a

  • I wonder how long until they sue anyone airing Futurama, since Bender says that exact phrase in numerous episodes.

    After all, it is the 200x decade's business-model: Patent/Copyright/Trademark something that's long been in use and sue everyone who still does.

    .

    (for the humor impaired/moderators: it's a joke)

  • Wow, Treasure does Gradius (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Psykechan ( 255694 ) on Saturday May 15, 2004 @11:16AM (#9161230)
    Considering that Treasure is made up of ex-Konami employees responsible for Castlevania and Contra it wouldn't surprise me that they'd feel right at home making a Gradius game. It wouldn't surprise me if some of them helped create the Gradius franchise.

  • MS Playing Catchup (Score:3, Interesting)

    by superultra ( 670002 ) on Saturday May 15, 2004 @11:51AM (#9161439) Homepage
    Slightly OT, but I wonder if Microsoft is making the same mistake in portables that they made in console: entering the game late. I think they're watching to see how the PSP does, but it seems that if it does well they'll be playing catchup all over again in 3-4 years as they are trying to do with the Xbox. Would it have been wiser to pull out an Xbox-Teeny (ha) at the same time as the PSP?
    • I dont know if you can really compare portables to to consoles, but it looks a lot like the end of the 16-bit generation. Nintendo is dominant, and saying that "Carts are the medium of the future!" yet again, and Sony is using a format, while not as ubiquitous as CD, almost as useful as the CD format in the PSX. Of course, you've had your 3DOs, and other failed consoles with your Ngage and things like that, and it seems to be just a battle between Sony and Nintendo.

      While I'd like to see the PSP to be a s
      • Umm SEGA and Nintendo were neck and neck at the end of the 16-bit generation. 30-45 million units apiece if I remember right.

        A better example would be Nintendo saying "Our customers are happy with our 8-bit system" a year(IIRC) before the Genesis hit the streets.

        18%? It's higher than that. Try 1/3rd, mostly kids too.

        Here's the worldwide breakdown as of January of this year:
        PlayStation 2 - 70 million
        Xbox - 13.7 million
        GameCube - 13.94 million
        Game Boy Advance - 49.42 million

        Hmm, I thought the GBA had so
    • I dont know what's most dissapointing: your comment getting modded up just for bashing the xbox or nobody answering, so Im here to at least fix the later.

      Its probably news to you, but the xbox is rising as the number 1 most sold console in america Is also the most powerful (technologically speaking) with the best online support and the easier to code with (for American publishers at least) so I have no idea what do you mean by "mistake" or "trying to do" their mistake is not being liked by Nintendo fans,
  • when the first two times were flukes. We all know from history that Nintendo screwed up with the N64 by going their old fashioned, outdated way with the old carts. Between the Playstation's huge memory capacity (FFVII on 3 650 MBs discs?) and the use of FMVs (again thanks to the memory capacity), Playstation was the only LOGICAL choice anyway you looked at it. Yeah, there was the Saturn but that was too late, too little.

    The second time Sony shoulda gotten their asses handed to them, spanked, and then left

    • I'm hardly convinced of the PSP's likelihood of succeeding in the marketplace (looks too expensive, and optical drives in a handheld? meh), but your argument is full of holes, yo.

      You haven't explained how the PS1 was a fluke. When other manufacturers were releasing overpriced systems that were slow and too difficult to program for, Sony released a system with a swift 3D processor that was easy to write games for. Plus, Sony offered more reasonable license fees than their competitors. It's not luck that mad
      • You could argue that the dominance of the Gameboy was due to one simple factor: every competitor screwed up by making systems that were over twice as large as the GB.

        Um, yeah they were. The most notable of all, the Game Gear by (gasp) Sega, was roughly 1.5 times the size of the Gameboy and had less than half the battery life time, but blew away the Gameboy in terms of tech (color screen AND a larger memory cart!). Oh and 'just bumped with a larger palette'? Yeah, thanks for mentioning that it cut the numb

  • My thoughts on Odama (I was at E3) (Score:3, Informative)

    by LordZardoz ( 155141 ) on Saturday May 15, 2004 @01:21PM (#9161980)
    Odama looked like a great deal of fun. I did not get around to actually playing it (I did not want to wait quite that lng for it). But I passed through Nintendo's floor venue several times, and that machine was busy every time I walked by it.

    Basically, your slamming a huge pinball into the soldiers of an opposing army, and you have your own soldiers in on the field moving towards an opponent. You need to keep the enemy soldiers from killing you, and you need to somehow kill the opposing general.

    It looked like a great deal of fun, and is on my 'buy' list when it comes out.

    END COMMUNICATION

  • Losses on the PSP (or is it GameGear2?) (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Neuticle ( 255200 ) on Saturday May 15, 2004 @08:50PM (#9164170) Homepage
    The way things are looking, they very well might subsidize the price to make expensive hardware more palatable to consumers (especially in light of the cheap and fun offering from Nintendo), then sell the handheld on awesome graphics, a few killer games, and video capability.

    Problem is, the way the specs read, this thing is still going to be expensive, 100s of dollars expensive, and it's going to suck juice like an electronic hooker. 2-10 hours, WTF? 10h on "standby" or "idle" mode maybe, but they wouldn't have included 2h unless it's easy to drain it that fast, be it video or games.

    <Flashback to the early 90s>
    Sega GameGear is RADICAL! The graphics are way better than Nintendo's 'Lameboy'. Plus it plays TV!! I don't care that it eats batteries like popcorn.
    </Flashback>

    We all remember what happend before right? I fully expect the PSP to be a tech wet-dream, but with (I'm guessing) average play time close to 3-4h, a huge price tag, and gimicky "movie" features, I can't see the PSP gaining more than a devoted nich market, like the GG did. Granted, it will have considerably more resources behind it, but it really doesn't seem poised to become a market-saturating force like the GBA

  • Comparisons to Walkman (Score:3, Insightful)

    by CosmicDreams ( 23020 ) on Monday May 17, 2004 @01:27AM (#9170945) Journal
    I have read from press statements that Sony intends the new PSP to be the "Walkman" for a new generation. Yet, from its specs it only stats to be able to play Sony atrac format. IMO not a good market strategy. The Walkman was succesful due to its ease of use and portability. Not being able to play music because of some obsure data incompatability will be hurtful for the PSP's music capabilities.

    If Sony does not achieve its design goals for long battery life, music, movies, and lastly (and in their minds maybe least) game functionality. They might be able to tweak the components over time to extend the life of the system. The key will be whether it will be as easy to use and portable as the classic Walkman.

    Based on the current specs (ie. no MP3), I don't see that happening.

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