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PSP Delayed Into 2005?

Posted by Zonk on from the hype-counter-hype dept.

Thanks to the numerous readers who alerted us to the Gamespot article mentioning that the PSP may be delayed until next year. This analysis comes from games industry analysts and is the result of Sony's game title weakness and battery issues. David Jenkins at Gamasutra has additional analysis as well.

11 of 254 comments (clear)

  1. They can't wait... by FortKnox · · Score: 4, Insightful

    If the next gen gameboy is released first, they are doomed. Whether its technically a better system or not won't really matter. Look at the Sega handhelds. They've always been a much better product than the gameboy, but they still couldn't crack it.

    Not to sound like some terrible MBA, but unless there are SERIOUS defects to the PSP, I'd try to get the jump on Nintendo, especially in the handheld market.

    --
    Good quote, too many chars. Seriously, the slashdot 120 char limit sucks!
    1. Re:They can't wait... by wastingtape · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I think the reason the Gamboy over took Sega as far as the handheld gaming market went was because it came bundled with Tetris. When was the last time you saw a game so accepted by such a wide range of people? Sonic while fun and exicitng, only appealed to a fraction of the age group that Tetris did. I remember being in Elementary school and having to ask for my Gameboy back from my mom (who incidentally liked the "puzzle game" on it).

      I've always held that the key to any game system is the games that run on it; simple, fun, and open ended games. I think Tetris is a really good example of a hit title booming a certain market.

    2. Re:They can't wait... by Achoi77 · · Score: 4, Insightful
      If Sony isn't worrying about it, then they definately have long term goals in mind. Besides, with that price point almost no parent is going to shell that kind of money for their 10 year old, and even the DS is somewhat getting close to the edge at $150. Everybody knows that the magic number is less than 3 digits. Perhaps sony is waiting untill manufacturing costs are low enough (in addition to all the other red tape issues, that is)?

      I think the current targets sony is looking at is mostly the ipod demographic. Nice highend gear that people will not mind having. When the new revision comes out, last years model starts to trickle down to the lower end, affordable types. The trick is, if Sony is able to maintain momentum, then Nintendo is doomed forever.

      Nintendo of course, will have to go with the blitz and take as much of Sony's thunder away from them before it strikes. Plus, Nintendo can also play the new revision model game as well and come out with an even cheaper DS, which will definately dominate. I'm curious how this will play out. I'm a huge nintendo fanboy (on a waitlist for the DS at a local store), but Sony's got as much of a chance as Nintendo, especially with the bankroll to back it up. We'll just have to see as it rolls out.

    3. Re:They can't wait... by stratjakt · · Score: 5, Insightful

      The gameboy hasn't gone up against a better all around handheld. Each of it's competitors failed in an area it had covered.

      Sega Gamegear: Battery life you could measure in minutes. Couldn't even get me through a lunchhour when I was in high school.

      Turbo Xpress: Battery life, and cost. The thing was damn expensive. By the time it came out, TurboGrafx was dead/dying which limited its future.

      Sega Nomad: Batteries, and size. Ever held one? That sucker is huge. It's worth it to a hardcore genesis fan, of course.

      Atari Lynx: Poor game selection, battery life.

      NeoGeo Pocket: Poor game selection, released by a dying company. Never really had a chance with GBA announced.

      Wonderswan/GP32/game.com/etc: Too obscure to really mention (in north american markets, at least).

      My predictions for PSP?: Battery life, load times, and fragility of the game discs will kill it. GBA carts can take a pretty good beating, and don't mind being stuffed in your back pocket all day. For that matter, neither does the SP.

      --
      I don't need no instructions to know how to rock!!!!
    4. Re:They can't wait... by poot_rootbeer · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Look at the Sega handhelds. They've always been a much better product than the gameboy, but they still couldn't crack it.

      Speaking of crack, are you on it? The Game Gear was twice the form factor of the original GameBoy, used 50% more batteries and had less than half the playtime. Not to mention, Nintendo still had the Konamis and Capcoms of the world locked to exclusive contracts, while Sega had low-rent European software houses churning out mediocre ports of Genesis titles.

      I owned both, and although the GameBoy had fewer colors, a lower-resolution screen, and a weaker CPU, it was still by far the more fun of the two. I think this is because the designers didn't try to make a device that was just a battery-powered version of an existing home console, but rather made a device that was specifically suited for portable gaming, even though it had fewer bells and whistles.

      That's why the GameBoy family is on its nth hardware generation right now, while the Lynx, the Game Gear, the Nomad, the TurboXpress, the NeoGeo Pocket, and all the others never made it past two.

  2. Not supprised by lightdarkness · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Not supprising at all that it was delayed. Companies set really early release dates to stir up hype, then push them back a little, because they arn't done; People don't mind either because they are used to delays.

  3. Re:ladies and gentlemen.. by poot_rootbeer · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Mario DS
    Zelda DS
    MarioKart DS
    Super Metroid DS
    Donkey Kong DS

    Sign me up! Those are perhaps the five most consistently enjoyable franchises in home videogaming history and I'll gladly pay to see what new twists Nintendo manages to add to the games this time around.

    Meanwhile, I'm pretty sure Gran Turismo 4 will just be a marginal improvement on Gran Turismo 3. Increasing polygon counts is not innovation.

  4. Re:ladies and gentlemen.. by magicsquid · · Score: 4, Insightful

    The whole point of developing franchises is to exploit them. Nintendo definitely does it, but Sony does it too... Gran Turismo 4, Jak 3, Sly Cooper 2, Socom 2, etc.

    Don't penalize Nintendo for having tons of great franchises to choose from while at the same time applauding Sony for supplying new versions of existing franchises.

    If you want new games say that. If you just don't like Nintendo games, say that too.

    --


    "Chances of RHIC-induced Armageddon are exceedingly rare, but... you never know." - MIT Physicist Bob Jaffe
  5. Nothing to see... by adam31 · · Score: 5, Insightful
    Does anyone realize there is absolutely nothing new here of any substance? Some nitwit at TGS reporting that demo builds (read: months old) aren't done, and that some other launch titles aren't showing?!

    FUD about battery life "problems". Sony has said from day 1 that developers shouldn't stream content. This should be obvious to everybody!

    The real issue here is that Sony just isn't saying anything. See, the media gets nervous when there is no news... since that's their job. So they have to make up the news. Except that Sony has done an excellent job about keeping their secrets, so this is what we get. Rumors and hunches.

    Trust me, you'll know more when Sony marketing deems it exactly the right moment.

    1. Re:Nothing to see... by Naffer · · Score: 4, Insightful

      What fun is a large disk storage medium if you can't stream content. The PSP is supposed to have 32 megabytes of RAM. So lets say that you're writing a game and you're not streaming content from the disk. Ok, we need more data, lets go ahead and spin up the disk, read out 32 megabytes, and then spin it back down.

      The largest advantage a cartridge has is low power consumption and access times. If you're spinning down a disk, you're going to have to spin it back up to get more data. Maybe you're supposed to make entire levels fit in RAM? Perfect, except now you're limitting yourself to a few dozen megabytes per level, completely negating the whole point of a big storage medium. I've got it, we can include 15 minutes of FMV! Oops! We have to stream that too.

  6. Marketing by sbszine · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I think, as you say, that marketing and games were a big part of it. People were just sick of Sega releasing systems with only six games, then retiring them and cranking out another. By the time they came out with the Dreamcast (which IMHO was superior to the first few generations of PS2), gamers were too scared to plonk down money for a system that might not be supported.

    The Saturn did have some good games (Grandia and Radiant Silvergun spring to mind), but instead of pushing those, retailers had a small shelf with a few copies of Croc. When the PS1 came out with slick launch games and better graphics, the Saturn died horribly (and scuttled the Dreamcast en pasant, maybe).

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    Vino, gyno, and techno -Bruce Sterling