Slashdot Mirror
Sony PSP Sales Way Up
WeAz writes "According to an article via Yahoo's news service, Sony is reporting that they have sold 800,000 PSP units since the system's release last month. Demand for the system is so strong that there's already a shortage arising. To combat this, Sony 'would increase monthly PSP production by 100,000 units to one million in April, as it prepared to launch the product in the United States and Europe.' Ken Kutaragi, Sony Computer Entertainment's CEO said that monthly production of the PSP will eventually rise to 3 million units."
From the article:
"I must admit (sales) are not big enough yet," Sony Computer Entertainment president and chief executive Ken Kutaragi told a news conference.
You're right. It's outright said in the linked article by a Sony exec that sales haven't ramped up yet! Who's editing these stories?
Considering that the whole PSP vs. DS fracas is one of the more strident arguments going on on Slashdot at the moment, I'm really scratching my head at how this one slipped by.
I would actually argue that the Playstation 2 appeals less to the true 'hardcore' gamer than any other system. Nintendo caters to the old-school (note that I didn't say 'skool') nostalgic gamer due to it's franchises, and after the death of the Dreamcast, most of the hardcore console gamers went with the Xbox (yes there are other good games besides Halo 2), at least from what I've seen of that former crowd, of which I was one. Mostly because of the fact that Sony pretty much killed the Dreamcast due to initial marketing hype and developer pinching (EA and Squaresoft to start with), to which they are, of course, entitled, but nonetheless, it left a sour Sony taste in many gamer's mouths. No doubt about it, the PS2 succeeded as well as it did because the PS1 was 'cool'. And 'cool' is not what brings the true gamers, as you put it. Games are. And I'm talking about quality, not quantity (which the PS2 obviously has).
I don't own a PS2 because there's not a single game I want for it that I can't get on another console (at least in the long run), its graphic capabilities retained much of that 'PS1 look', and it doesn't have a good online system in my opinion, and the majority of it's top selling games (like the GTA series that you can get on an Xbox as well) don't really interest me. Pretty much all my gaming is done online now, and normally exclusively with people I've known to play games or argued with on message boards for years. I still have no interest in the PSP either, besides the fact it's a cool looking little gadget, simply because I have no interest whatsoever in any of its games. Wipeout? Metal Gear card-battle? Yet another good-yet-overrated Spider-man game? No thanks for now.
PlayStation2 is THE gaming system for the true gamer
I've been playing video games since pacman. I resent statements like these.
the cosmos in 20 words or less: thumbuki.com
Yes, the lack of good DS games is extremely frustrating. I was an early adopter of the DS, and I know Nintendo does wonderfully innovative things. The DS is a great product, but it seems it might have been rushed just a teeny bit to combat the PSP. It seems like the PSP is also suffering from the same problem at the moment. Maybe if everybody just slowed down until everything was ready we would all be better off. One can dream.
I still think there is room in the portable market for two consoles. This wasn't true when the previous game boy competitors came to market. There is a lot of people gaming now a days though, and I think their tastes are different. Enough so to create *at least* two portable console markets.
-- I have fans? Wow.