What's Up With The PSP?

1up.com has an article up examining the current state of PSP sales and interest. Frustrations are mounting regarding the lackluster monetary outlook and poor game selection. From the article: "The PSP has traveled the spectrum of being hailed as the greatest piece of hardware since the introduction of the original PlayStation to being treated like a Goodwill store where developers drop off bare-bones ports and shoddy, old games. Since the release of the PSP on March 24, 2005, to the time of this writing, there have been approximately 30 games released, 17 of which were released during the launch window. Around 10 or so of the games available could be considered ports of PlayStation 2 games, which is about one-third of the entire PSP library. And if you work out the math with the number of games released since the launch period, it comes out to less than one PSP game release per week--.76 games to be exact."

Comments

Maybe it is because..

[SocialEngineer]

..People like modding it/installing 3rd party software on it more :)

Seriously. I want one just for all the cool hacks that keep coming out for it. I could care less about games :P

Movies?

[Jonny_eh]

I think its' strength may yet lie in support for UMD movies.

There may not be many games released, but there seems to be no shortage of movies.

I disagree

[BlackCobra43]

Interest in the UMD is virtually nil, and rightfully so IMHO; why would you want a lower-quality movie format you can only watch on your PSP when you could buy a DVD instead (for the same price I believe?)?

Old news sadly

[PhotoBoy]

I've been stuck playing SNES, NES and Neo Geo emulators on my PSP for months now. Aside from GTA:LCS and Burnout Revenge there's nothing in the pipeline for the PSP that looks especially interesting. Sony are great at telling us how amazingly world changing their hardware is going to be but the actual games after launch are often a let down.

Luckily I've had Pac-Pix, Elextroplankton, Meteos, Another Code and Kirby's Cursed Canvas to keep me occupied during the drought. And with Mario Kart DS, New Super Mario Bros, Nintendogs, Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney, Animal Crossing DS, Mario & Luigi 2, Metroid Prime Hunters, Sonic Rush, Trauma Center and Viewtiful Joe: Double Trouble there should be plenty on the DS to keep me occupied!

Re:Old news sadly

[badasscat]

'll stick with my enjoyable PSP, and I'll be watching Carnivale, BSG Season 2, and the rest of Charlie Jade in the months to come!

Does anyone else find it interesting (if that's the right word) that the only things people seem to be using their PSP's for are illegal? (Either civil copyright infringement or DMCA violations.)

Given your earlier statements that you'd "never seen" these shows before, I'm guessing you did not record them yourself (or borrow them from a friend) and then rip them to your PSP. And none of these shows are yet available on DVD. Which leaves downloading as the only way you could have gotten them.

Same for those of you playing old NES ROMs. I'm sure you all took your own old carts and dumped the contents to memory stick yourself... right?

Now, you can debate whether or not it's good business for a console to rely so heavily on illicit activities for its success. But I'm seeing very few people defend the selection of official games for this system. Is this really what Sony wants to happen, that people buy a PSP specifically to pirate TV shows and old Nintendo games? (I suppose there's a certain poetic justice in that, but I doubt it's what Sony had in mind.)

Maybe more to the point, it seems to me that compared to the mainstream (i.e. kids and non-technical adults), the potential audience that's going to have the know-how to even do these things, much less the desire to, is going to be relatively small. So it's no surprise that sales of this system would be flat at this point.

Sony's learning some of the same things Atari, Sega, NEC and others learned in the handheld arena - it doesn't matter if you've got the baddest system in the planet, that's not what handheld gaming is about. It's about playing pick-up-and-play games in short bursts, without any muss or fuss, with near 100% reliability of the machine, a tough form factor, and good battery life. That is literally all that matters and Nintendo knows it.

Sony has spent a huge amount more money on the PSP than Nintendo has spent on the DS and the DS is still outselling the PSP, as are its games. This is the exact same pattern followed by almost every major Nintendo challenger in the handheld arena over the last 15 years.

No Games

[MBCook]

I'm sorry to say there are no real games. I've been playing Hot Shots Golf a lot. I also liked Lumines. I've played one or two others. Hots Shots has kept me going for a long time. But there aren't that many great games yet.

They hyped the system, but didn't have the great games for it. They still don't. Things should improve later this year (Burnout, GTA, and more). THAT is when the PSP will become bigger. But they've been low on games. Compare that list (one game that I played for more than a week) to my DS. I've played Feel the Magic, Kirby, Yoshi's Touch and Go, and Mr. Driller tons. And with Advanced Wars, Nintendogs, and many other things comming out in the next few months (including a new Castlevania) I am VERY excited.

Nintendo didn't have the hype, but they've had the games.

Re:Own a PSP

[mouse_clicker]

Yeah, and everyone *has* been focusing on the negatives of the DS ever since the thing was announced, while this is honestly the first negative article about the PSP I've seen from a major game journalist. I'm glad they're finally starting to balance it out.

Re:just give them time

[wed128]

Meteos: digital crack. I got it yesterday and already it's affecting my thought patterns.

Re:PSP's is hacker entertainment...

[MilenCent]

It's a hacker's dream machine, if your version isn't a recent update. I'd consider getting it if I could get homebrew code running on it -- dude, there's a PSP version of Nethack!!

Re:Old news but potentional for Nintendo

[okayplayer]

Yeah, I'm well aware fo the Classic NES series that you mentioned but I'm talking ALL of the NES games on a nice easy to transfer (back and forth between the revolution) handheld. Not just Metroid, Mario and so on... I want my Duck Tales, Ice Hockey, Punch Out, etc, etc all easily downloadable, transferable and legal.

Don't get me wrong, yeah I CAN do that now with my PSP (except for the legal part which I think is a fairly important part) but I'm saying that I think much of the not as tech savy world would really jump at a product like that... And yes (to the post below) bring on the gameboy next.

Why the PSP sucks and will fail

[thundar2000]

1. Wrong format for the games. Behind the times. Forget about cartridges - get the games via digital distribution ala itunes or any downloadable game site

2. Wrong emphisis on games. Thing should be able to play music and play videos/movies. Easily. Via itunes like software. No stupid $30 carts to play movies.

3. Too big. Damn thing is too big, and too boot, my GBA feels much better to play games on. Me arm hurts holding the thing up.

4. No killer games. Game machine without killer games? What?

5. Wrong game production model. Games are too big and too costly, thus the pain of getting them made which has led to 4.

In the end, the thing missed on both fronts. It is not so great for games and it really sucks as a 'portable entertainment device'

So it sits on my shelf collecting dust while I play my game boy and listen to my ipod.

Re:Coming from someone with a DS

[Toby_Tyke]

a new super mario bros sidescroller with 3D stuff mixed in (watch the movies, it looks very stylish)

It is. I got to play a three level demo of it at a Nintendo show last week. not only does it look superb it plays great too, reminded me a lot of Super Mario World. I will definatly be buying it when it comes out.

I also got to play Mario Kart DS, the new Mario football game (I forget its name) and Twighlight Princess. And yes, they all rock.