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Sony Delays PSP To 2005
An anonymous reader writes "CNN Money's Game Over column is reporting that Sony has delayed the launch of the PSP handheld gaming system in the U.S. until it has a 'reasonable amount' of titles to launch with the system. This will push the PSP to 2005 in the States, giving Nintendo free reign in the holiday season - as well as a possible headstart for the Nintendo DS." Some earlier reports had indicated the PSP was due to launch worldwide in November 2004.
Let's just hope this doesn't fortell a delay in the PS3 then :-(
Simon
Physicists get Hadrons!
...I doubt we'll see a 2004 release date for Nintendo's DS, either. Nintendo is infamous for delaying it's release dates (remember when they repeatedly clamed, even towards late 2000, that the Gamecube would see a simultaneous worldwide launch by the holidays? It was released late 2001.) And, I don't think Nintendo ever said that the DS would see a 2004 launch (though I could be wrong) to begin with...
You're right! What we need are games with full FMV at every plot twist turn and a focus on graphics rather than gameplay and actually having fun!
Some of the simplest games, i.e. Tetris, are some of the most enjoyable. Tetris sold the original black and white GB back in the day.
Nintendo's most inventive games, Pikmin, Animal Crossing, have more to do with being innovative and groundbreaking than graphical wizardy.
There's more to life than pretty pictures.
Nah. Call it a PlayMotion
Nintendo clearly was launching the DS when they were to take the attention away from the PSP... even if the DS doesn't succeed, the PSP would not have gotten all of the news (or attention). It was simply a marketing strategy designed to steal the PSP's initial thunder.
I think that the reason they are delaying is that by the new release date, the DS will be out for a couple of months... therefore, the DS will quiet down enough for Sony to get the media coverage they desire again.
I wouldn't be surprised if Nintendo delays the DS launch as a result.
Certainly every man at his best state is but vapor
Has to be better than releasing it and having to listen to hordes of fans say, "yea, its aight, but aint' got no games". We have all seen lack of games or even lack of good games hurt gaming systems in the past. Want a nice protable gaming system, wait a few years when the price of palm-tops drop. I'll be playing Drug Wars in color baby! heh
There are two ways of looking at this:
A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
...but they've already made a PocketStation...
The problem with holding out to release the PSP months after the DS is that they risk losing big time. Consider the current console situation. PS2 makes it to market months before the other 2 systems and completely solidifies itself as the #1. microsoft and nintendo don't even come close.
This situation is kinda the flipside. Nintendo dominates the handheld market. When they release the DS they will have a huge number of developers lined up to release titles, because they already have a huge number of developers working on the GBA. DS comes out first, people jump all over it (as this is nintendo's #1 specialty), and who's going to want to buy a PSP a few months down the line after you've already invested in several games for your DS? granted, there's always be the cutting edge geeks who have money to burn, but parent's aren't going to want to shell out money for another system when little johnny just got a DS just 3 months ago.
Wow...what great analysis. Mods? Where are you? Mod this guy +1 Insightful! The PS1 is an old system that no longer has games made for it, dude. That's also a poor analogy, since the N-Gage has better graphics than the GBA yet the latter is far more popular. Maybe games and name brands are important too?
The PSP uses new special discs (I believe they are the same size as GCN discs and mini-cd's) that can only be read on the PSP.
What does this mean?
PSP is not just a video game system, it's an opportunity to sell music and movies on yet another physical media format. Way to go, Sony.
And the battery life will be teh short.
The delay to 2005 doesn't faze me at all, as I probably won't own one of these bad boys until 2006 at the earliest, unless Sony is planning on a much, much lower price point than I am expecting.
Much Love,
Arek
Personally, I think the Nintendo DS will out perform the PSP even if the two were released at the same date (or even if the PSP was released a few months before). Nonetheless, the Nintendo DS won't have to get delayed because of a lack of games, because Nintendo is all about it's gaming lineup.
While Sony is wondering "Damn. How the hell are we going to get GTA3 on this handheld...??" Nintendo is off laughing at them while far in the lead.
The reason main Nintendo is doing as good as they are is because of the games -- not the system specs of their consoles. Catch them if you can Sony, Nintendo can only release more games, downshift, and take off. They have been doing this for years and will continue to do it.
"Instant gratification takes too long." - Carrie Fisher
Right now, the Gameboy Advance system has a huge advantage: library of titles. From turn based strategy games to action, role playing and "quirky" like "WarioWare Megagames Inc", the GBA has just about any toe to toe battle locked up. It's cheap (under $100), batteries last a long time, and a huge library.
Sony has to realize this after seeing the #1 reason why the PS2 kicked the pants off the Xbox: library. Is the later a more powerful system? For the most part, sure - it's hard to argue otherwise. But when you're a gamer looking at 200+ titles including all the PSOne games and built in DVD play as opposed to less titles (and a lower number of prime choice - I'd say 5-10 on the Xbox I'd want to have opposed to 20-40 on the PS2), you've won the battle.
So for Sony to delay the PSP in the US is a good idea. Let the Japanese market "beta test" it, shake out the issues, then go the big market with guns ablazing. By then enough Japanese developers can make their games and have the additional 6 months to pick and choose the good ones to port to the North American market.
Otherwise, they'll just be another N-Gage - an expensive toy that doesn't justify the high cost.
52 Weeks, 52 Religions with John Hummel
Sorry, I missed 15 Japanese-only games that 90% of past, present, or future US PS1/PS2 owners probably don't even know exist.
And since this story deals with the US market...Unless you're a rabid importer of Japanese titles, that does absolutely nothing to invalidate the points raised in my original post. Nice job nit-picking, though, I guess i'm not perfect after all.
If the PSP was supposed to be able to run (with slight modification) the original Playstation games, why do they need to wait for more titles. Why can't the just bring it to market with a several dozens or so of the best PS games and a handful of new ones? It worked for the GBA.
I think the delay is due to it's cost. Sony still has to find a way to cut down the price. The delay won't help the numbskull customers at the local game store who have been insisting that the PSP is out in Japan though. This just gives Sony more mindless hype time.
I cannot wait until Nintendo get some real competition. Gameboy has had too long a monopoly on the handheld gaming industry.
It took them god knows how many years before they released the GB advanced. With a push from Sony PSP, consumers can leapfrog straight to PS1 quality games and force Nintendo to be the "low end" of the market.
The DS is a companion product to the GameCube and Gameboy lines and isn't the "next generation" gameboy. Nintendo will probably wait out the GBA a bit longer before releasing a new system. The thing a lot of people here seem to be forgetting about how Nintendo became so domainant to begin with in handhelds is that the Gameboy has backward compatibility. The GameBoy Advance SP can play games I bought 15 years ago for the original Gameboy in most cases without a hitch (yes, a few games have bugs when running on GBAs).
Here's what I think Nintendo is trying to do and it's all based on backward compatability. Losing GBA backward compatability would be foolish, but to compete with the PSP chances of achieving that compatability are slim. What I believe Nintendo is doing is making the DS cartridge based and backward compatible with GBA games. They will market this point, along with it's innovation and at a significantly lower price than the PSP. Although pitting the GBA games against PSP seems foolish, the kicker is this. Nintendo will, if I'm right, announce that their GBA2 will be backward compatible with GameCube games. Undoubtedly the GBA2 will be released sometime after the PSP, but they have the DS, with it's backward compatibility and hopefully some interesting gameplay to bridge the gap between the two releases. I never bought a gamecube, but I know there are alot of great, exclusive games that were released that I can probably get pretty cheaply. And with such a large library of games from the start GBA2 even released after PSP would be my choice for portable 3D console.
The thing a lot of people here seem to be forgetting about how Nintendo became so domainant to begin with in handhelds is that the Gameboy has backward compatibility.
... well, forever in the gaming industry. 9 years spans 2 or 3 generations of consoles.
Nintendo had cemented their ownership of the handheld market many, many years before "backwards compatibility" was even thought up. By the time the Gameboy Color came out (let alone the GBA), Nintendo had been the only serious player for
Backwards compatibility may have helped GBA sales somewhat, but don't kid yourself. Nintendo would still own the handheld market even if you couldn't play your 15 year old games on it.
Endless arguments over trivial contradictions in books written by ignorant savages to explain thunder in the dark.
it's usually more a case of physics. they simply can't manufacture enough units to launch worldwide simultaneously. often there are lack of stocks on a japan only launch, so they wait until that market is at least somewhat saturated/manufacturing has gone up to speed before releasing in the rest of the world. it would be pretty damn useless to release it everywhere if you dont have anything to actually sell.
...and the mark-up. Japanese consumers generally tolerate much higher markups (it's for the good of the country, after all) than Americans and Europeans. One particularly relevant example from the many I've seen in Japan is the Sony PS2 -- it debuted in Japan for Yen49,500, about US$500 at the time. It wouldn't fly well in the US at that price point, and for those that money is no obstacle for, they can import one themselves. If you can get one -- they were out of stock everywhere even at $500 when I considered getting one in Akihabara.
everything in moderation
I'd like to point out that people's main complaints about the Lynx and Game Gear was not a lack of good games (GG Sonic was a great ride), but about the quickly eaten battery life. After just 2 hours of play, your 5 dollar pack of AA batteries was gone, and you had little recourse but to buy more. A Game Boy could go for 10 hours on those same batteries... And would ensure that you spent more money on games than on Duracells. The second largest complaint was the cost of the systems. The Nomad was an awesome machine with the Genesis' entire library as a weapon, but at a hair over 200 dollars it was too much for the schoolchildren market to support.
Really, Nintendo's portables are in the place they are because Nintendo understands the market. They know that portable systems are sold to people who don't drive, don't work, and don't pay attention in class. They know that they need to keep costs down as much as possible, while still providing a comparatively passable gaming experience. Ruggedness beats elegance, satisfaction must be instant.
If it really was "all about" Nintendo's gaming lineup, the '64 and the 'Cube would have a much larger marketshare. Nintendo follows fundamentally the same strategy with all of their consoles. But their positioning of the GB, GBP, GBC, and the GBA in the market is truly exceptional, and a lesson that no other system manufacturer has yet to learn.
Sony is truly venturing into unmarked territory here with a $200 system for the 20+ crowd. GTA3 on that thing would be a AAA seller, and don't delude yourself into thinking Pokemon Chartreuse will stop that. Obviously it won't be competing to get under the desks of kids saving up their lunch money for a gaming fix, but not because Nintendo has better games.
The ______ Agenda
It's yet another last-ditch, desperate attempt for Sony to try to make the MiniDisc technology and patent pool relevant.
Irritable, left-wing and possibly humorous bumper stickers and t-shirts