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PSP Pricing Announced

Posted by Zonk on from the xtc-vs.-adam-ant dept.

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.

8 of 101 comments (clear)

  1. Whoa by SansTinfoilHat · · Score: 3, Interesting

    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?

    1. Re:Whoa by SansTinfoilHat · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Metal Gear Acid is a turn based card game. You may enjoy it a lot if you are into yugioh and such things.

      Not to say it is gonna be a bad game. It is just not the Metal Gear you expect.

      Actually, it is the Metal Gear I'd expect. Contrary to normal /. procedure, I did research and know what I am talking about.

      Being a big fan of Culdcept, it has piqued my interest. I just wish I could afford to play it.

  2. unheard of? by groovy_daemon · · Score: 2, Interesting

    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.

  3. Arg... by rpdillon · · Score: 2, Interesting

    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. =)

    1. Re:Arg... by Jim+Hall · · Score: 4, Interesting

      I've posted on this same topic before (sorry for the dupe), but I wish Sony had gone with a PS1-based system for its first portable PlayStation. I know the technology is a bit dated, but they could have cranked out a PS1-based PSP for tons less than $150 (and they could have done it sooner) and come out with a PS2-based PSP a year later.

      There's already a huge library of PS1 games. I loved playing them. Developers know how to write for them. Wouldn't it have been a great idea to create a portable game system that played PS1 games? You could have changed a few minor things to help battery life, and to keep it simple: the controller doesn't support vibration, there is no P2, the memory card is (possibly) internal, and the 640MB CD is replaced by smaller-radius media (Sony is moving to UMD for the PSP.) Use a screen only slightly larger than the GBA's, and now the low-res graphics of the PS1 look pretty good.

      All that technology is readily-available (except for the UMD) so I'm sure the price per unit would have been way less than $150.

      I'm sure Sony could have made lots of sales on this one. Developers basically get to re-release (almost immediately!) a lot of cool PlayStation games for the portable PS1. I would have gladly shelled out $30 for a PSP re-release of many of the PS1 games I already own (Tomb Raider 1 & 2, Spyro the Dragon, Mort the Chicken, Crash Bandicoot Racing, ...)

      But of course, I'm no systems designer (and it probably shows.) Though, it seems a design like this might have made serious inroads against the GBA or DS. Even if the PS1 technology is dated.

  4. They're not targetted at the same audience by Lightwarrior · · Score: 1, Interesting

    > 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

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  5. Target Market by DigitalDemon617 · · Score: 2, Interesting

    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.

  6. IAWTP by MORTAR_COMBAT! · · Score: 2, Interesting

    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.

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