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

Non-mainstream games

[Troed]

Unity and Odama, 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 ...

immediate profit

[incubusnb]

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

[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

Re:immediate profit

[Rallion]

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!

Re:So, Sega...

[gedanken]

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.

Losses on the PSP (or is it GameGear2?)

[Neuticle]

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