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PSP Pricing Announced
Grey Ninja writes "GC Advanced has reported from the Tokyo Game Show that the PSP will retail for $349.99. Coupled with the previously announced price of the Nintendo DS at $149.99, it's going to be interesting to see if Sony will be able to convince developers and consumers alike that the price point is a good one. It's looking more and more all the time like Nintendo's going to take this one." Update: 09/28 17:24 GMT by Z: The story seems to have devolved into rumour under examination. Take this one with a grain of salt.
Anybody who didn't see this comming a mile away is blind, dumb, or both.
Call that a handheld?
Tedious Bloggy Stuff - hooray?
Between the Gameboy Advance SP at only $79 and the DS at $149, Sony's PSP is going to collect a lot of dust on the shelves. Especially due to the reduced incomes/increased debt of the American population...
I'm the kind of guy that buys pricey gadgets like there is no tomorrow...
But even I can't justify that much for another portable game system, no matter how cool Metal Gear Solid Acid looks.
Is there anyone out there whose willingness to pay is above $200?
This price seems really amazing, I bet x-box 2's won't cost that much. I think the price of the N-Gage is lower if I am not mistaken? For this price, I would hope it comes with 4 free games. The amount of money these companies are expecting to rip from out pockets is really amazing.
For $350, I better get some SERIOUSLY advanced SideTalkin' functionality!
Maybe I should've seen this, as first post said, but wow. I've been quite excited about this for some time, fully intending to buy one, but at $350, I simply cannot justify it. I mean, that's $350 PLUS $40-$50 for each game. Hell, I could buy a decent PDA for that. I could buy TWO of the new, small PS2's for that as well.
Oh, and how good is the battery life again? I pass.
I guess its time to go buy a GP32. =)
> It's looking more and more all the time like Nintendo's going to take this one.
...uh, right. If I understand correctly, the DS is going to be a cartridge based system that has backwards capability for GB/A games, as well as all the bells and whistles of two screens, the stylus, and wireless capabilities. Which is nice for current GBA owners, as they can pick this up and not "lose" anything, and play whatever new stuff comes along.
But it's still just a game system.
The PSP, on the other hand, is more. It's supposed to play DVDs, music cds, mp3s, etc, etc. It's more of a multi-purpose thing that also plays games, and is priced as such.
-lw
Mods: Disagreeing with me != my post Offtopic / Flamebait.
World without hate or war, invaded. Tragic?
Sony needs to get that price down, and fast. While it is an impressive piece of hardware, they would be charging more than twice the current generation hardware costs for a portable, and probably more than the next generation hardware is going to run. That's insane for a handheld. "Cheap" has always been required for the success of a handheld, as they are generally stand-in between times with a full-fledged gaming system. No matter how ludicrously powerful the thing is (it's nuts), it is still going to be second string to a full-fledged system.
Selling at 350 is suicide. If their launch strategy is to start at 350, then when manufacturing ramps up the following month drop that to 250, they might be passably OK, but they'll never get the penetration of the Game Boy.
Why is it things like this are so hard to see for execs and the dev team?
The ______ Agenda
console prices have reached a near-uniform $299 at launch. PSP could probably launch successfully at $299 - there's no way I'll buy one before they're $199 at my current budget but when I was working for real money I would have spent $299 and probably not even have felt bad about it. If it had a hard drive in it and you could load any media you liked they could probably get $399 but I think sony's kidding themselves if they think americans are going to pay more than three hundred bucks for this thing. I know handhelds are different from consoles, and people are willing only to pay less for them than for consoles (hence the abysmal failure of the TurboExpress handheld) but I think that this unit was featureful enough to get the same price as a console - just not more.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
If you read the article now, it says that the price of $350 is not offical from Sony. I feel that Sony could release it for 250-300 but any more and you can forget it. If Sony is to beleive the PSP is the "iPod" of portable gaming and can charge a premium they can forget it. Sony has yet to lose money on a piece of hardware and this might reflect in the overall price and $350 would make sense to Sony. Only time will really tell.
After thinking about this for a little while, I realized that Sony isn't targeting the handheld gaming market with that price. They can't compete with the GBA or the DS with this price. They can, however, compete with the Ipod. That is the PSP's market. Whether it takes off or not is another thing. The UMD's will not help them here. It seems that the PSP was hijacked during creation and went from strictly games to all-in-one media device.
Amir0x
Sep 24 2004, 09:37 PM
$349.99
To launch with approximately 12 games in Japan; hopefully more in USA.
QUOTE(Gamespot)
Today during an early-morning press conference, Sony finally revealed the price point and release date for its first portable gaming device, the PSP. The PSP will launch for a suggested retail value of 38,624 Yen, or 349.99 dollars in the USA.
Talk of a "competitive price point" quickly dissolved with news of this shocking price point. In its statement, Sony commented that the PSP is "not meant to compete directly with the market targeted by the Nintendo DS" and that it is "appropriately priced for its expectations and target demographic." Sony noted, however, that they hope to "bring new consumers into the world of portable gaming" noting that the PSP is "the most advanced handheld device for gaming ever conceived."
Also of importance during the press conference was the target release dates for Japan and USA.
Sony announced that it plans to launch in Japan on December 21st with "at least 12 games" and in the USA during the month of March, although it's interesting to note that they did not set a specific day for this event. The PSP is expected to launch with at least 8 games in the USA, but Sony says "it expects even more than twelve", including the new Need For Speed Underground.
Well.. Well.
Discuss.
Hahaha, anyway, I'm bored so what's up with you guys?
http://torchthebridge.com/forum/index.php?showtopi c=1905
Amir0x
Sep 24 2004, 11:53 PM
ANYWAY...
As any NON idiot already knew (no offense fellas), this story is...
A 100% COMPLETE HOAX
It was...
a.) An experiment to see how QUICKLY people would jump on a story like this about Sony, despite NO evidence at all and a dead link and even a FUCKING MESSAGE IN THE ORIGINAL POST THAT THE STORY WAS FAKE (albeit in small text)
and...
b.) Because I was bored, and wanted to see how many people fell for it!
At Penny-Arcade, even more people fell for it and were quick to judge!
So, all's well.
Tobliz was in on it.
Riot was in on it.
Crandle was in on it.
Leto knew.
That is all. CONTINUE YOUR DISCUSSION.
It appears, however, that the PSP will probably be 299, which depending on your viewpoint is still quite bad. Although, that's exactly the price I expected it to launch at. I was hoping for 250 or less. I still won't buy it at 299.
This post has been edited by Amir0x: Sep 24 2004, 11:54 PM
http://torchthebridge.com/forum/index.php?showtopi c=1905&st=150
Amir0x
Posted: Sat Sep 25, 2004 5:01 am
Re: And the PSP price is....
Anyway, guys...
the 350 dollar story is a hoax.
Originally I posted it at TTB to see how many people fell for it, but if you read the actual first post in contained an actual note (at TTB) which all but came out and said it was a hoax. It was just a joke for TTB, but Atog posted it before I could tell him and then well it was funny seeing responses here.
It turned out pretty funny.
However, the PSP might now be 299, so that's still not to pocket book friendly. Let's discuss that.
http://www.penny-arcade.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t =77166&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start= 150
Amir0x
Posted: Sat Sep 25, 2004 5:07 am
Re: And the PSP price is....
---
Dioretsa wrote:
w...
t f.
You lied to us?
---
I was prankin' TTB. But then Atog posted it here and was like "Hey TTB guyz, I posted it at PA and they're having a laugh."
Then I was like "oh shit."
Then I went to PA, registered, and I had a laugh. But then I said enough is enough. All insane ramblings and exuberance to believe in any bad piece
Sony needs to go back to school and brush up on their Video Game History. In the late 80's and early 90's, which handheld game system was the most technically advanced? NOT the GameBoy. The Atari Lynx and Turbo Grafix portables were in full color, while the GameBoy had a green "pea soup" LCD screen capable of 4 greys. Wow. Which system survived? Game Boy.
Next came Sega Game Gear. It had a nice color screen so good that you could even buy a TV adapter and watch TV on it. But man it sucked down batteries like I suck down ho-hos. At the time, GameBoy STILL was only in lousy greyscale. Which system survived? GAME BOY.
Then came the Neo Geo pocket, Bandai's handheld, Tomy's GameCon, etc, etc, etc...
Every time, Game Boy has been the DOG of the bunch in terms of technology, but always the best priced system. So guess who will win this round? The $149 system or the $359 system??
When you go to pspadvanced.com site it says "pspadvanced.com coming September 31st", so it's not even a live site yet (that, and the fact that there is no such date as September 31st, there's a 30th and a October 1st...). And when you click that link it brings you back to the gcadvanced.com forums which are currently closed because they're bieng moved...
Judging by the name of the domains, there's probably a good chance they're both the same company, but why the hell would they quote a site of there's that's not even open yet as their source?
Oh, and this price was apparently "un-officailly" set by Sony...
This is a real cherry of an article.
Left 4 Dead Gaming Group - http://www.l4dgg.com
Wow! That just eliminated the possibility of me picking one up for myself. Besides the price, I think Sony is failing on several levels.
While I think Sony was smart to purse the 18-25 demographic, I think they've missed an opportunity to capture the large demographic of women gamers. Over at the official japanese DS site, Nintendo is featuring a young woman laughing and writing on the DS. I believe they're implying she is chatting with someone using pictochat. The DS comes with pictochat built in. Pictochat + touchscreen + wireless is a huge boon for Nintendo to capture the women demographic, as the DS is now by default, a communications device.
As for kids... Many parents won't fork over $350 for a handheld. But let's say you have two kids, it makes more sense to get each kid their own DS rather than pay an extra $50 to get a single PSP.
It also won't help Sony that Nintendo will start selling the DS earlier, releasing the product in time for the busiest American shopping day of the year, the day after Thanksgiving. The PSP, reportedly, won't ship until after xmas.
As for the PSP having video play back functionality, I don't think it'll make one difference. One would have to buy or re-buy movies. Buying movies will also cut into consumers funds to buy video games. Plus, you can't casually watch a movie like you can casually listen to music.
the cosmos in 20 words or less: thumbuki.com
Well, I guess I'll be an anonymous coward for today ;) but seriously, for that price I could buy a DS for me AND a friend, and another GBA for that price.
I'll buy it. Call me stupid if you like, but there's a certain appeal of being able to play PS games 'on the go' and not be tied to the confines of my house...they're likely to have the games I would want to play, anyway.
"How like you to drag your keyboard to a gun fight." - Aaron Bedard (BANE)
I've seen the bits saying it's probably a hoax, and I agree, the source is very dodgy (I won't believe it until I hear it from the horse's mouth, and find it very suspicious as well)
;-) ) Two hundred Pounds isn't that bad for a console (PS2 launched at 300, so did Xbox but it's price dropped like a stone after launch), but we'll get the obligatory price hike.
If you're wondering, USD350 is about GBP £200, or EUR 290. (All hail the weak dollar! Long may it continue!
If I had enough money for the Japanese launch I'd get it perhaps, because it seems cooler than a DS (I'm not that much of an Nintendo fan). But I don't really have any money to show off with, so I might just stick to my GBA and NGPC, barring winning the lottery. Although the battery thing does sound dodgy, although it might be partly the Nintendo fanboys trying to whip up bad publicity before launch (same with the "it's going to cost a bomb" thing as well really).
I do think early adopters are going to get gouged massively by the PSP however, especially if you use an importer to get one early (IIRC it's coming out in Japan first by quite a while).
10 PRINT "LOOK AROUND YOU ";
20 GOTO 10
It is a lot of money. Maybe Sony will lower it a bit in the upcoming weeks, or before the release.
The high pricepoint distinctly reminds me of the Neo Geo AES home console. The system and specs were nice compared to the competition, but the system had an incredibly high price point (though also for carts too, but hopefully the PSP shouldn't). Needless to say the Neo Geo AES never sold well, though it did have quite a nice cult following. $350 for a portable is way to much for anyone other than some die hard Sony fans. I'd guess that the price would have to be around or below $200 for it to sell like hotcakes (and be out before Christmas like the DS will).
I wouldn't pay $350 for it. I wouldn't pay $250 for it. 175 or 200 maybe. I'd want to see what kind of a lineup they have as far as games coming out too and what they can do with it. $350? I'd rather buy something else for that kind of money.
While it doesn't flat out say it, that site reports this as an UN-confirmed and UN-official rumor. There is hardly any thing in that article that gives the rumor any creditability. All they have to back that up is the rumored above or at $300 price of the PSP that other people have been guessing.
I have seen another site(which I can't find the link) that was claiming the story on the price was on the gamespot site but was removed by gamespot. Just like the link in the write up, that site also appeared to be Nintendo centered site. Most of the comments were the typical fanboy "Sony suxxors!!!," delighting at the though of how much those "pathetic" Sony fanboys will pay, and people complaining about the rumored price as if it was the official. I really can't trust a site that favors Nintendo/Sony/Microsoft/etc not doing something like this to make the competition look bad or use it as fuel for the fanboys.
Even if this was announced on a PSP centered site I wouldn't trust it, I would still treat it as an unconfirmed rumor. Unless it gets picked up and confirmed among the more trustworthy sites, I wouldn't put much stock in it.
It is funny to see people ragging on the PSP's assumed price when the exact same thing was going on with the DS. There was lots of speculation as to what the price for the DS was going to be, and later Nintendo announces a price of $149.99 which was much lower then what was expected. So it is possible that a similar thing could happen with the PSP.
Until Sony officially announces it at the TGS and it goes through the more trustworthy news channels, I am not going to believe it.
The Advanced Media Network is currently in a state of flux. I'm one of the GameCube staffers at AMN and we're expanding to cover PSP, Xbox, movies, anime - all kinds of stuff. Everything should fall into place this week and right now some aspects of the site(s) are a little wonky, so until then please pardon our dust.
I'm LMAO as I know from this thread that how many people want PSP in their hearts despite of their bad mouth of the faked price. I bet PSP will sell greatly if it's a bit cheaper than this faked price.
Somehow, with it being so expensive, I'm reminded of the 3DO
"Dammit monster! Get off my lawn! I ain't giving you no tree fiddy!!!"
$400 on launch?
Completely agree: Metroid Prime, Mario Sunshine, and Zelda: The Wind Waker (and Ocarina for Gamecube was fantastic as well) have been some of the best games this console generation. Although I really liked Eternal Darkness, and I can't wait for Resident Evil 4, either, and those last two games have a bit of gore going on.
MORTAR COMBAT!
This silly hoax shouldn't have even been posted here. You call this News?
Look, the PSP will cost Sony about $100 bucks to manufacture, or most likely less, since a lot of the tech is borrowed from PS3 developments. The most expensive "development" on the entire PSP would be the UMD drive. I doubt Sony will offer the PSP for $149, as the Japanese pride issue comes into play; they know that the PSP is better, why should they have to price it as the same as the DS? $250 would be the max price for this system at launch and that would be reasonable. If Sony was smart, they would launch at $199. If Sony would launch the PSP with a $300 price range, they will doom the system to just "status symbol" status, that it will never recover. The PSP is a conundrum; it is essentially a portable PS2 without the PS2's games. Also, if Sony launches at a rediculous price point, then developers will drop like flies.
"Jeremy, you need to get to an internet cafe and cut and paste some appropriate sentiments about me from the world wide
Spell cheek you've failed me four the last thyme!
I realize this price info is probably fake. It isn't nearly as off-puting as Sony's official announcement that there would probably never be a way to write to a UMD!
i d= 4535
http://www.gamesindustry.biz/content_page.php?a
I'l be damned if I would ever buy a movie in that format. They also seem to remain erily silent about battery life concerns. If it doesn't play movies, and has poor batery life, then it's JUST a game console and doesn't warrent nearly as much, whatever the price will be. If they can get to a $200 level, the MIGHT have a chance.
GCAdvanced has issued an updated report this morning clarifying the issue. http://www.gcadvanced.com/article.php?artid=3316 has the story.
Gamespot did report this story, I saw it. But they were supposed to be under a non-disclosure agreement which they BROKE by posting the story. Nintendojo picked it up BEFORE Gamespot deleted it. OF course you can choose to be skeptical, but that's what happened. Take it as you will. The PSP will be $349.99, and I will not be buying one until the price drops years later.
Analysts are saying that 225 is the magic price point but that it's likely to be 299. I can justify that expense to have GT4 with me every where I go. But at 350 they're obviously not planning to make this a loss leader for the games, and I doubt we will see a game bundled with it.
I love it hoaxers rock
wanna kick my ass?
oliax
http://ut.filefront.com
bring it on