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Portables (Games) Sony

What's Up With The PSP? 208

Posted by Zonk from the little-things dept.
1up.com has an article up examining the current state of PSP sales and interest. Frustrations are mounting regarding the lackluster monetary outlook and poor game selection. From the article: "The PSP has traveled the spectrum of being hailed as the greatest piece of hardware since the introduction of the original PlayStation to being treated like a Goodwill store where developers drop off bare-bones ports and shoddy, old games. Since the release of the PSP on March 24, 2005, to the time of this writing, there have been approximately 30 games released, 17 of which were released during the launch window. Around 10 or so of the games available could be considered ports of PlayStation 2 games, which is about one-third of the entire PSP library. And if you work out the math with the number of games released since the launch period, it comes out to less than one PSP game release per week--.76 games to be exact."
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What's Up With The PSP? More

What's Up With The PSP?

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  • Maybe it is because.. (Score:5, Interesting)

    by SocialEngineer ( 673690 ) <invertedpanda@gm[ ].com ['ail' in gap]> on Monday August 15, 2005 @01:39PM (#13323273) Homepage

    ..People like modding it/installing 3rd party software on it more :)

    Seriously. I want one just for all the cool hacks that keep coming out for it. I could care less about games :P

  • PSP's is hacker entertainment... (Score:5, Funny)

    by tktk ( 540564 ) on Monday August 15, 2005 @01:42PM (#13323292)
    The only news about the PSP I ever hear is how to run emulators, or how to use a PSP to control a PC, iTunes, Tivo, etc. Except for the whole firmware issue, it's basically a hackers dream machine.

    Still waiting to see the article of someone playing a game on PSP.

    • It's a hacker's dream machine, if your version isn't a recent update. I'd consider getting it if I could get homebrew code running on it -- dude, there's a PSP version of Nethack!!

  • Movies? (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Jonny_eh ( 765306 ) on Monday August 15, 2005 @01:43PM (#13323312)
    I think its' strength may yet lie in support for UMD movies.

    There may not be many games released, but there seems to be no shortage of movies.

    • I disagree (Score:4, Interesting)

      by BlackCobra43 ( 596714 ) on Monday August 15, 2005 @01:45PM (#13323329)
      Interest in the UMD is virtually nil, and rightfully so IMHO; why would you want a lower-quality movie format you can only watch on your PSP when you could buy a DVD instead (for the same price I believe?)?

      • Re:I disagree (Score:4, Insightful)

        by PhotoBoy ( 684898 ) on Monday August 15, 2005 @01:51PM (#13323375)
        Exactly, a portable DVD player is a better purchase if you want movies on the go. You don't have to buy the movie twice, the batteries last longer and you can buy region free players (unlike the PSP).

        I was quite disappointed to see that Harry Knowles of Ain't it Cool News was shilling the PSP proclaiming how wonderful it is and how he's quite happy to buy everything twice so he can play films on the PSP...
      • Actually, DVDs are generally cheaper than the UMD version.
      • Yep. If the movies were DVD quality and the PSP had some RCA jacks so I could plug it into my TV, I'd be there. But they're not, it doesn't, so it's stupid.
    • I can't figure out what the purpose of UMD movies is, there's one PSP game I wouldn't mind playing (do I even have to state which it is?), but I wouldn't pick up even the best movie for the system.

      But at least so far, it doesn't seem to be *hurting* PSP sales. I just don't think it's helping.
    • Certainly the movies are coming out at a much faster rate than the games. On this page [psp411.com] there are nearly 200 movies listed that will be available by the end of October.

      Movies are probably the easiest (and cheapest) to put out, especially if they are Sony's property to begin with, and therefore will have a higher profit margin.
    • "I think its' strength may yet lie in support for UMD movies."

      If Apple releases the rumored iPod Video and a digital movie download service, UMD will be obsolete faster than the MiniDisc.
      • I know people with Treo650s that are already using it to watch movies and TV. I just have to wonder how long before someone ports VLC to the Palm or installs it on a WindowsCE :( SmartPhone. Set up a MythTV box at home and some network and script magic and you have a portable TV /Tivo viewer that you can take anywhere.
    • As long as I can buy a portable DVD player, that happens to come with a larger and better quality screen, for around the same as a PSP, UMD doesn't mean crap.

      I can play those DVDs on my computers or PS2. I can't do anything with the UMDs if my PSP is dead.

  • Old news sadly (Score:5, Interesting)

    by PhotoBoy ( 684898 ) on Monday August 15, 2005 @01:47PM (#13323341)
    I've been stuck playing SNES, NES and Neo Geo emulators on my PSP for months now. Aside from GTA:LCS and Burnout Revenge there's nothing in the pipeline for the PSP that looks especially interesting. Sony are great at telling us how amazingly world changing their hardware is going to be but the actual games after launch are often a let down.

    Luckily I've had Pac-Pix, Elextroplankton, Meteos, Another Code and Kirby's Cursed Canvas to keep me occupied during the drought. And with Mario Kart DS, New Super Mario Bros, Nintendogs, Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney, Animal Crossing DS, Mario & Luigi 2, Metroid Prime Hunters, Sonic Rush, Trauma Center and Viewtiful Joe: Double Trouble there should be plenty on the DS to keep me occupied!

    • Re:Old news sadly (Score:5, Insightful)

      by CokoBWare ( 584686 ) on Monday August 15, 2005 @02:47PM (#13324025)
      I'm not disputing any claims that the games library for the PSP is "lacking", but the big picture that Sony is selling us is real. The PSP is revolutionary in that it does all the functions it does well considering its size and cost.

      I have watched a TON of TV on my PSP that I would have never had the opportunity to watch. I've seen Season 1 of Battlestar Galactica twice, Into The West, Full Metal Achemist, Charlie Jade, and 25 movies of mine that I would have never had time or opportunity to watch at home. I own 5 PSP games, and frankly, I think they are the best out of the library for a number of reasons, but I won't buy anymore until something worthwhile comes out.

      It's funny how quickly we forget that the PSP does personal video really well! Make use of it! We can homebrew yes, but if you like TV or movies, the PSP video playback takes the bite out of the lacking game library. Every day can be a new experience if you want it to be!
      • Must agree, my friends who have a PSP say that if you're just interested in games, it's not worth it. The only satisfied friend is one who uses it mostly to watch video while excercising. The quality of video you can see on the PSP is actually quite impressive, that things has the best screen I've seen on a portable device. Considering that it's only a bit higher in price than most personal video players, I would recommend it for video for anyone.

        Also, if you like games, check out 'Bleach' if it cdomes out

        • Re:Old news sadly (Score:5, Insightful)

          by SetupWeasel ( 54062 ) on Monday August 15, 2005 @07:15PM (#13326541) Homepage
          What are you talking about? A quick jog to my local Sam's Club finds a portable DVD player with a much bigger screen for $150. You don't have to buy an expensive memory card, and it plays the DVDs you already have. I have never understood the lure of PSP video. Even less the lure of the UMD format.
      • Video on PSP could be a killer application for the hardware for techies, but it could fall flat for the masses, who'd wonder why they have to get the show onto their computer, run it through a conversion program, then save it on the card in order to watch it on their PSP.

        It's more complicated than just shoving a tape in the VCR and hitting 'Record,' and there are portable DVD players now (I'm reasonably sure) that'll play videos recorded to DVD-R, which is at only a slightly higher technical level to encodi
    • Trauma Center is, by far, the greatest game I've played for the DS.

      I also just picked up Jump Superstars last week, but I haven't had the time to play it since getting Trauma Center. Man that game rules.

      on my PSP, I've been stuck playing NES games and Lumines for months. I'm actually getting sick of it. Although it is good for watching tv shows on the train. I've been downloading various shows and encoding them for the PSP.
      • I'm really looking forward to Trauma Center myself, hopefully the US release isn't too far off now. Is there much of a language barrier to the Japanese version?
        • well, aside from "New Game" "Load Game" "Operation" on the main menu, and "Operation Success" and "Operation Failure," there is virtually no english in it.

          You can kinda get by without knowing any japanese (I can read katakana, so I can read "Retry? Yes, No?"), but I'm sure the doctors are telling you what to do and there must be some interesting dialog (because there's a LOT of it). They walk you through the first couple of operations and select the tool you'll need so you get a feel for it, but later on, y

    • Seriously. (Score:3, Insightful)

      by LiberalApplication ( 570878 )

      I've been stuck playing SNES, NES and Neo Geo emulators on my PSP for months now.

      I find myself in the same situation. There just aren't any really good games in the PSP's library yet. Part of the problem, I believe, is that the titles available just aren't tailored to a "portable experience". A portable system really should be something you could whip out and play a for a few minutes while waiting in line at the bank, or for a bus to arrive.

      But somehow, we wind up with titles like Wipeout Pure, w

  • The United States doesn't have anything like Japan's Media Create, which has a free source of hardware and software sales figures for game consoles. Seems the closest we have is NPD numbers, which you must pay to use, and which have strict controls over how they may be used without being charged.

    But from what I've heard from people with access to the numbers (which is not me), at the moment, that PSP sales are a bit better than DS sales. This may change, however, when the increasingly impressive DS library currently out in Japan begins to be seen on U.S. shores.

    Only time will tell if that actually happens.
  • With all the hype about what you can do with a PSP, maybe I'll just wait for some souped up PDA that's meant to do all the things you have to hack a PSP to accomplish </toungeincheek> ;)

  • No Games (Score:5, Interesting)

    by MBCook ( 132727 ) <foobarsoft@foobarsoft.com> on Monday August 15, 2005 @02:00PM (#13323454) Homepage
    I'm sorry to say there are no real games. I've been playing Hot Shots Golf a lot. I also liked Lumines. I've played one or two others. Hots Shots has kept me going for a long time. But there aren't that many great games yet.

    They hyped the system, but didn't have the great games for it. They still don't. Things should improve later this year (Burnout, GTA, and more). THAT is when the PSP will become bigger. But they've been low on games. Compare that list (one game that I played for more than a week) to my DS. I've played Feel the Magic, Kirby, Yoshi's Touch and Go, and Mr. Driller tons. And with Advanced Wars, Nintendogs, and many other things comming out in the next few months (including a new Castlevania) I am VERY excited.

    Nintendo didn't have the hype, but they've had the games.

    • Keep in mind that Nintendo didnt have a great start either. The first few months were about as dry as this. I remember walking into Best Buy several times and found nothing new on the shelf during this period. Now it seems the devs are catching up, and will only continue to gain momentum. I expect the same for the PSP later this year. We already know we have some good games to look forward to such as Burnout, Advent Children (ok not really a game, but a PSP only release), and GTA. Oh, and Madden 2005
      • That's true, but Nintendo only had a 3 or 4 month head start. And yet they have many more games out and upcomming that I find exciting. I think Sony just forgot about the games (or more likely, no one could deliver what they promised and all the games got pushed way back).
      • It was dry like this in the US, but for the DS Japan hasn't had the same problem. Nintendo kept their promise of a 2004 release here, but most of their dev teams are Japanese. Their localization teams could not keep up with their production people.

        Regardless, I think they have done pretty well.
    • There is a new advance wars scheduled? Do you have a link or something?

      I bought a GBA for AW2, and its really the only game I've liked for the durn thing... : (
      • I think it's called "Dual Strike". Check Gamespot (or even Nintendo's site). I believe it comes out August 22nd in the US (next Monday), the same day as Nintendogs.

        I absolutely loved Advanced Wars on the GBA, and I liked Advanced Wars 2. I'm hoping this one is great also.

  • Own a PSP (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Winterblink ( 575267 ) on Monday August 15, 2005 @02:02PM (#13323471) Homepage
    I own a PSP, and a friend of mine who's "on the fence" between PSP and DS sent me this article the other day. I really don't mind the current lineup with the PSP. I've owned a GBA, and played a friend's DS, and to be honest I tire of games on those platforms far too quickly.

    By contract, I find I'm still playing my PSP games, and I'm not finding the novelty coming off. Wipeout Pure has had what, five updates by the developer downloadable with the PSP's wireless connectivity, one of many positive details the article doesn't focus on at all. I'm still playing Lumines like it's laced with crack, Midnight Club 3 is a blast (even with the load times) and has a ton of content in it.

    Now the 2.00 firmware's out there (Japanese version at least) and I've been messing around with developing websites for it, right now only one public one with some backgrounds (winterblink.com/psp). Games, UMD movies, encoded movies, music, pictures... I'm definitely not getting bored of the device. I just find the 1up article focuses far too much on the negative, something you could easily do for the DS as well.

  • I'm sorry to bring this up, but... (Score:3, Insightful)

    by ZakuSage ( 874456 ) on Monday August 15, 2005 @03:41PM (#13324706)
    The same was true for the first 5ish months of DS' life too, with only the odd crap being released. Only a few months ago did this start to change, with some actually alight games finally coming out for it, but it didn't last long.

    This time for PSP also falls in a good game dry spell. Honestly, they've been few and far between for all systems systems, just look at the consoles.

    Finally, PSP just had such a huge launch line up that there wasn't enough to stretch over the next months. Poor planing, and dissapointing, but looking at September and Octobers releases, it's looking a lot better.

  • Yeah (Score:2, Informative)

    by gullevek ( 174152 )
    Except Lumines there isn't a single unique PSP title that kicks Ass. And the only game I am waiting for right now is Burnout: Legends.

  • Here's what's up (Score:3, Insightful)

    by metamatic ( 202216 ) on Monday August 15, 2005 @05:10PM (#13325627) Homepage Journal
    I still haven't seen a PSP. Until I see one, I'm not likely to want it, am I?

    Come on, Sony, get that clue you so desperately need. Start having PSPs on display in stores. I know this will sound strange, but people tend not to buy $300 gadgets sight unseen. Maybe they did in the .com 90s, but not any more.
  • Only 30 games for the PSP? Where are you shopping? There's more like 50, 60, even 70 out there. If the extent of your shopping experience if Best Buy and Target, then it's your own fault you don't have any games.

    Go somewhere that has the games. I get mine in Japan where they have dozens and dozens of them. Your inability to read Japanese is not my problem. Take it as an opportunity to explore a new culture. Most of the games don't need Japanese language skills anyway.

    Don't stick your head in the sand

  • I have had both since launch (Score:5, Insightful)

    by fwitness ( 195565 ) on Monday August 15, 2005 @11:22PM (#13327827)
    I'm a gamer. No, not the play 149 hours a day gamer and use l33t speak gamer. The kind of gamer that loves the art. The play every game which "redefines" gaming or even simply "defines" a genre type of gamer. Here's how it breaks down for a real guy with a real job who loves games.

    DS
    1) Great first month, just for the novelty
    2) Now great for those unique games. Kirby:Canvas Curse has brought back "what is a fun game?" where we had lost sight of that.
    3) Dual screens are mostly useless. Great in those rare situations, but 99% of the time it is simply fluff on screen 2.
    4) Game lineup is adequete for a console of it's age. The few quality titles (4 maybe?) are rare, the others are simple time wasters
    5) Future looks very promising (Advance Wars, Nintendogs, Animal Crossing)
    6) Wireless is a waste for someone without gamer friends. No internet connection seems unwise at this stage
    7) The games that are good (Kirby, Pac-Pix, Wario Ware) are *very good*.
    8) Touch screen is almost always put to good use in user interface, and usually in the really good games too.
    9) Battery life is a non-issue. My girlfriend managed to kill it playing animal crossing for 4 hours or so after not charging for a couple of days. It was the first time that's been done to it.
    10) Price is great. $150 is not that bad for the hardware you get, and the games rarely go above $35.
    11) My girlfriend loves the DS, and she's had sole possession of it for the last two months. I've got too much PSP emulation to deal with the DS...for now.

    PSP
    1) Very cool, extremely limited games. I own 4 games, 3 of which I play (MGS, Lumines, Wipeout). They are perfect for the device, and "define" their genres, but are not revolutionizing the world.
    2) Other than the 3, there are almost *no* new games coming which interest me. GTA and I'm looking into burnout maybe.
    3) Pricetag is high. Both for the system, *and* the games. We are talking PS2/Xbox/Cube prices for a portable game
    4) Bigger memory stick is necessary. You can't really even fit the extra wipeout bonuses on the 32MB stick and still put anything else on it.
    5) Memory stick almost doubles price (I went for a 1GB)
    6) Memory stick QUADRUPLES value. This *one* device is now my favorite MP3 player, holds a couple of Vids from my mythbox, and a ton of ScummVM games. I haven't even scratched the surface of the other emulation games.
    7) Emulation is mostly painless. Once you get a mem card, you're good to go (on 1.5 firmware). There's no flash-cards or crazy hacks. I run one program to load the game to the card, done.
    8) I only own Spiderman on UMD (included free at launch), and don't think I would ever buy a UMD. Why would I? My mythbox has a lot of great television (galactica/mencia/24) that I can easily transcode and watch on the go if need be.
    9) Battery life is not great, but is not bad either. I've played ScummVM games for well over an hour, and only lost 1/3 bars. I then played some Mp3 podcasts for an hour and still had 2 bars. I don't need the thing to last 8 hours without charge. Some may, I do not.

    The bottom line is the DS has a lot of potential to make some truly revolutionary games. This, for me, is extremely attractive and makes the DS a true portable gaming system. The price for the system and the games is perfect. The games themselves feel like they were meant to be played "on the go". You can stop/start as you like.

    The PSP on the other hand, is a wonderful media device that happens to play some good games. It's like what the ngage promised to be, but never was. It is almost like being able to play PS2 quality games is a bonus. It's the other qualities that make the PSP shine.

    It's the first time I actually believe what the market-droids said when the devices launched. They are *not* competing with each other. If you love unique games, and want to replace your GBA, go with a DS. If you want a portable media hub, that plays some nifty games, go with a PSP.

    As a sibling poster said though, you don't have to have just one. I don't have a lot of disposable income, but I knew the launch dates a year or so in advance, and simply plopped $10 every week or so in jar. Spare change took care of the rest.

    • Emulation on the PSP is mostly painless. Once you get a mem card, you're good to go (on 1.5 firmware).

      "Sorry, but we're all sold out of new PSPs with 1.5 firmware, and we're never going to get any more from Sony."

      There's no flash-cards or crazy hacks.

      Memory Stick Duo is a card with flash memory on it, and the way homebrew is loaded from the Memory Stick is a "crazy hack" in itself.

      I don't have a lot of disposable income, but I knew the launch dates a year or so in advance, and simply plopped $1

  • ...is that the second generation of titles haven't quite been released yet. Of the launch titles, Metal Gear Acid has been addictive, Lumines looks promising, and most of the rest are fairly pedestrian, but GTA and Madden are about to release, along with a huge batch of November titles. Between Metal Gear Acid, GTA, and Final Fantasy VI under emulation, that's enough to keep me going for a while. I haven't played with Bochs yet, but being able to take Nethack and Battle for Wesnoth with me in my pocket i
  • It's too expensive compared to GBA, GBA-SP and even the DS. Seriously, most of the people who would actually own a hand held are children. Most adults would rather sit at a home console than carry that around. Not that I wouldn't mind having one but I'm too busy to carry a portable system. By the time I want to play games, I'm at home where I can play my home console/pc.

    I see the hacking appeal but that's a huge minority right there.

    So making the assumption that kids are the primary users, who buys these

  • Frustrations are mounting regarding the lackluster monetary outlook and poor game selection. From the article:

    "The PS2 has traveled the spectrum of being hailed as the greatest piece of hardware since the introduction of the original PlayStation to being treated like a Goodwill store where developers drop off bare-bones ports and shoddy, old games. Since the release of the PS2 on October 26, 2001, to the time of this writing, there have been approximately 29 games released, most of which were released dur

    • The DS had what at launch?

      Every single GBA game and GBA Video title that runs on a GBA SP. Backward compatibility boosted the Nintendo DS launch the same way it boosted the PS2 launch.

      The PS2 had what at launch?

      Apart from all PS1 games (except for about a dozen obscure titles that had graphical glitches), PS2 had DVD movies, which were new at the time. The Japanese launch saw a lot of people buying the PS2 as a DVD player and getting a game console for no extra charge.

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