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PSP Site Launches, Launch Titles Confirmed
The Official PSP Website has launched with details on the system and games. GamesIndustry.biz has a list of the PSP Japanese Launch Titles we can expect when the system hits retailers. From the Article: With just over three weeks to go until the PlayStation Portable launches in Japan, Sony has revealed that buyers will have six games to choose from on day one, with around 20 games total due out before the end of December."
Babelfish Translation:
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I have never let my schooling interfere with my education.
A third of the release day games are mahjong.
I guess those Japanese GOTTA have their mahjong.
The games available at release and soon after do not look very interesting. Granted that the Japanese have different tastes in gaming, but other than Metal Gear it's a pretty bland list. I'm sure that the US launch will look quite different.
And is it just me, or is this recent trend toward "Sponsored Links" a real pain in the ass? When I see text in an article that is a link I expect it to be relevant, not a redirect to a merchant site.
Wow this is really interesting. Take a look at this quote from their website:
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WTF????
Go back a decade.
Raise your hand if you think Playstation can beat Nintendo. It has the games, the shelf-space, and the name recognition. And to top it all off, its a good product.
Never underestimate the consumer. I don't think this generation of PSP will woo over customers, but I think its got a shot after a generation or two...
Good quote, too many chars. Seriously, the slashdot 120 char limit sucks!
I bet Sony is impressed that Slashdot gave them a Gameboy icon. From the 1989 Gameboy no less.
How exactly is this going to drive down pricing? The nintendo has always been priced very affordably. Plus, these PSP games are like $50 bucks while Nintendo DS games are $30, according to EBGames. As for launch numbers, I'm not terribly excited about any of that list for the PSP (albeit I'm not Japanese) whilst the Nintendo has Mario at launch! and tons more next!
My prediction: PSP = GameGear = nGage = flop.
"Real" games? What do you mean by that? If I were to tell you that I'd developed a game where a fat plumber collects mushrooms and jumps on turtles, you'd probably react the same way, yet Mario's one of the most popular series of games that's ever been released. Wait until you actually see the game in action before you pass judgement.
And tomorrow the stock exchange will be the human race
I'm not sure whether to jump at this or the Nintendo DS. To be honest, I love the Playstation 2, but after all the anti-hype about battery life on the PSP, I think its a tough question.
Certainly the hardware on the PSP is extremely impressive, but I question whether it's impressive enough to warrant the two hour battery life (or less) that I'll have to spend another $45 for a spare battery (BTW, I like that you can buy a spare battery!).
DS might have taken the safer road with the long battery times while still providing a very good graphical experience. I'll probably end up waiting and seeing how much Sony can squeeze from the PSP, and see what games come out for what platform. After all, SOny did say that in "later revisions" of the firmware, they would be able to extend battery life out to 6 hours and beyond for high end games. Sounds ridiculous, but one can always hope.
It will be interesting to see how Sony and Nintendo plan to play the strong Yen. Nintendo's first ever loss came largely as a result of the weak dollar, and that was when Nintendo did not have any major hardware rollouts(ssoftware has a very small marginal cost to produce). The Yen has been relatively stable recently(varying from 110-105 to the dollar), but there is very little to suggest that the dollar will grow stronger any time soon. Quite the contrary, because of the huge trade and budget deficits that show no signs of abating, there is a very real chance the dollar could take a plunge, and Sony and Nintendo could wind up losing a lot of money for each American sale...
Monstar L
If PSP isn't launching in Japan fo another 3 weeks, it looks like the system will completely miss the holiday buying season in the US.
Meanwhile, Nintendo is launching the DS in time for Black Friday. Current estimates show pre-orders running in the 5 million unit range in both the US and Japan.
Nintendo will have 5 million systems in the hands of gamers before Sony delivers a single PSP.
The DS has better battery life and it's $50 cheaper.
There will be lots of DS systems sitting under the tree this year. There won't be any DS systems there.
Which system would you develop for if you were EA? The one that will have 5 million units shipped in the US before the end of the year or the system that will have none.
You'd figure the GameGear/Lynx came out what, 15 years ago...they'd have figured out how to get 10-20 hours of out of the damn things by now.
Anyone use a laptop back in 1990?
$3,000. 2MB RAM. 386 processor. 40MB HD. 640x400 CGA screen. 2 inches thick, 10lbs, and you'd be lucky to get anywhere near 2 hours battery life out of the thing.
What are todays laptops like?
Half the cost. half a gig of ram. 1.5ghz processor. 60GB HD. 1200x800 screen. 1 inch thick. 4 lbs. 5 hours battery life. Integrated sound, DVD drives, wireless networking...
You'd figure we'd have some pretty decent handhelds by now. We're better off emulating SNES games on our PocketPCs.
Sony continues to brag about the 333 Mhz processor in the system, but it's a lie. While the processor may technically be *capable* of running that fast, it's in fact been throttled to 222 Mhz. Developers have the option of running it even slower, but there is no way to run it faster.
I generally agree with your points - although there are a two great big caveats worth pointing out that might change the game.
Convergence - my pet theory is that the PSP is not designed simply to take on the DS in the game space, but also the iPod/MP3 player market, the nascent portable video market, and some of the wireless gadget market. Of course it is way overpowered to compete with the oh-so-simple GameBoy, but that's a hint right there. The PSP has 802.11, and will play MP3 format. These are big design decisions from Sony's point of view, particularly the MP3 support as up until now they have stuck doggedly with ATRAC.
Furthermore, we have seen some interesting moves from Sony in regards to expanding the PS2 beyond its original game console roots, such as the EyeToy. With the extra hardware in the PSP they can leverage the thing to more powerful pursuits, like ad-hoc WiFi videoconferencing for example. Nintendo could do something like this as well but historically its this space where Sony really shines.
Form factor - the PSP is probably sexier than the DS. The point is up for debate depending on your taste of course but I can easily see the sleek black PSP appealing to the older (read: richer) crowd more than the DS. I have not played with the DS yet but I have concerns about that touchpad deal - we should all applaud Nintendo for pushing the envelope but let us not forget they have pushed it too far in the past (*cough* VirtualBoy *cough*). I don't think its a disaster or anything but it hardly seems like the kind of feature people will instantly get - and want- when they first see it. Perhaps the software innovation department will help out here.
Sony obviously has a problem on its hands with the late launch of the PSP in terms of Xmas sales but I would hardly count them out of the game just yet. Nintendo has the jump on the early market but who knows, we may just see the same phenomenon with the handhelds that we have witnessed over the last 1.5 years with the consoles - that consumers have often chosen not one or the either, but both.
If Jesus wants me it knows where to find me.