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PSP Launch May Be Hurt By Lack Of Games?

Posted by simoniker on from the depending-when-it-launches dept.

Thanks to Bloomberg for its article discussing a seeming lack of development kits for Sony's forthcoming PSP handheld, and the logical possibility the system "may be hampered by a lack of new games" when the handheld "goes on sale in Japan before yearend." According to the news article: "Sony has yet to send the final development kits for PlayStation Portable to any of its outside game publishers, said Yoshiko Furusawa, a spokeswoman with Sony Computer Entertainment in Tokyo. Sony had already sent the final kits to publishers for its best-selling PlayStation 2 home video-game console at a similar stage before its debut in March 2000, Furusawa said." Hirofumi Otsuki of Sega added: "We don't know if we'll meet Sony's schedule... PlayStation Portable details still seem to be in development."

5 of 38 comments (clear)

  1. Eh? Where are the facts coming from? by Thedalek · · Score: 4, Interesting

    "Konami Corp... said they won't offer new games for the device."

    "Konami... has said it will release three repackaged games for the PlayStation Portable."

    How is it that Metal Gear Acid is not new? What is it a repackaging of? What is the Game Trailer showing, if not footage from a development build?

    I've played the previous Metal Gear games, and the footage from MGA is clearly a new game.

    --
    Happiness is relative, Based upon the way we live.
  2. Re:Same as it ever was... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Since when has the press not been sensationalistic? :)

    I already want to buy a PSP for the portable version of Gran Turismo 4. My favorite console game series in handy portable format. And it's going to look very close to the PS2 version. How cool is that? Plus it looks ultra-swank - finally a game machine that I don't mind being seen playing in public! It doesn't matter to me if I only have one title for a couple of months - I still play Gran Turismo 3 from time to time.. and that was the reason I bought my Playstation 2 in the first place.

    Anyway, they only need two or three titles at the initial launch - provided that they're utterly fantastic. Also, don't forget that the US release will probably tail the Japanese release by a couple of months - maybe giving the developers time to catch up for the US launch.

  3. Old PS1 games by cL0h · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Of course they are probably just slow in putting the SDK together and my paranoid ideas are totally wrong but if sony did put out old playstation one games for sale (ported to new handheld of course) then they stand to gain if there are fewer new games by independent developers!

    --
    cL0h
  4. Re:Same as it ever was... by DarkZero · · Score: 4, Interesting

    However, the difference between those systems and the PSP's situation, is that the PSP looks to ship before ANY 3rd party developers get development hardware. At least Halo was in production... That really great must-have PSP game that is going to come out someday hasn't even been started yet. In two years when it is ready to ship, will the PSP even still be there?

    Wait a second, here. We're talking about "FINAL dev kits", not "dev kits". Lots of games are definitely in production for the PSP, such as Metal Gear Acid, Gran Turismo Mobile, and Death Jr. They're just not producing games that are ready for release right now. This isn't like trying to make a movie without a camera. It's like not having any equipment to edit its final cut on once you have all dailies shot.

  5. That's Alright by superpulpsicle · · Score: 2, Interesting

    As long as the PSP is mpeg compatible somehow with MP3 playback, this thing will have a thousand uses without any games.