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

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.

Comments

Re:immediate profit

[incubusnb]

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

Third time isn't the charm...

[MMaestro]

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 We all know from history that Nintendo screwed up with the N64 by going their old fashioned, outdated way with the old carts.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 outside in the cold nude. The PS2 was/is inferior hardware wise, came out a year after the Dreamcast, had AWFUL games for over 6 months (not counting PS1 games), had problems of systems breaking down, and who can forget the 'shortage' problem at launch day. The DVD sized discs were nice but most games barely use half of it, DVD playback was big but didn't make it a 'buy off eBay for $1000' item, and the design was slick but you didn't buy a video game system to look at it. Thanks to Sony's marketing, Sega was run out of the hardware industry and the PS2 is now an aging piece of equipment horribly outdated and unpowered yet still considered to the 'best.'

This time Sony's going for their third time with the PSP. Connectivity? I heard the same thing from Nintendo, yet all I hear is bitching from gamers about having to buy multiple systems to play a game. Ten year life-cycle? Last time I checked the SNES, NES, and Genesis aren't being supported any more despite being considered to be the best systems ever made. Watch movies on a handheld? Guess what, there have been portable DVD players on the market for nearly 5 years now yet theres little demand for them.

Sony may have the console market by its balls right now but this is Nintendo's turf, Nokia is preparing a second attack with their remade N-Gage, and Sony is trying to play a Microsoft-like card by going all out tech in this game. Nothing short of pulling a Microsoft and throwing money into a hole where you can't see the bottom, Sony can't win this.

Comparisons to Walkman

[CosmicDreams]

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.