Slashdot Mirror
Sony Describes DS As Gimmick
1up.com has news, via MCVUK, that PSP VP of Studios Phil Harrison has classified Nintendo's entry into the handheld market as 'irrelevant'. From the article: "The idea of a handheld rivalry with Nintendo is an irrelevance...Those formats don't appear in our planning. It's not a fair comparison; not fair on them, I should stress. That sounds arrogant, maybe, but it's the truth." 1up.com's commentary is well seen. From their piece: "Whether or not you fully agree, Nintendo DS can come off as gimmicky, but Sony's commentary is fairly strange." Read on for my own short commentary.
I know that, for the most part, comments like Harrisons are just the marketing version of "my processor is faster than yours" but I'm honestly surprised at the level of arrogance displayed there. Since the PSP's launch, Slashdot Games has posted article after article with titles like PSP Reception Lukewarm in U.S., PSP Not A Sellout Hit, What's Up With The PSP?, and most recently PSP Usage Lower Than Expected. This last article is especially disheartening for Sony execs because those numbers come from Japan, a nation that has traditionally been Sony's bread basket. If it's not doing well here, and it's not doing well there...do they really think that many Europeans are going to buy it when it launches there next week?
Go figure.
That is why the PSP, the superior product, is outselling the DS worldwide...
Wait a minute...
when a country is entertained and will readily buy things such as blood pudding, jellied eels, Spotted Dick, liver and lights, and kidney pie, I am willing to wait and SEE if they will buy it, as opposed to assuming I know what they will do.. they've already suprised me in soo many ways.
I think the psp is great, and I will buy one.. I am just waiting for movies I actually LIKE.. I'm more of an indie / forien flick kinda guy. So x-mas will tell me when or if I should buy.
** "It's not my job to stand between the people talking to me, and the ones listening to me." -- Pego the Jerk
Sorry to point out the obvious but isn't Sony one of Nintendo's competitors in the handheld market? Company A saying bad things to discredit company B? Unheard of!
Erm... the DS is Nintendo's "entry" into the handheld market??? I've got a 15 year old gameboy that says otherwise. (Hell, didn't the old Game & Watches even precede that?)
The only thing I hate more than hypocrites are people who hate hypocrites.
the price tag is not
Have you metaroderated recently?
Harrison merely said that the DS' touch-screen was a gimmick, not that the DS itself was a gimmick.
He also said that the DS was not part of Sony's planning as well as it shouldn't be. He believes they're targetting different markets, so why should it?
Way too much irrelevant Sony hatred. Sony does stupid things, but not everything they do is stupid.
Of course if you want to glorify the "technical race" over gimicky things like novel methods of input (like joysticks and d-pads?) than PCs have the dedicated gaming systems beat hands down.
This Space Intentionally Left Blank
The Nintendo DS is gimmicky. Double screens is helpful in some games, but for most people it's as awkward as the three pronged controller on N64.
And Sony's comments are arrogant. It's the games that ultimately decide which platform is better, and having a bigger screen is no good if you have nothing special to show on it. Of course, I expect nothing less than this sort of statement from Sony. They still seem to think the Walkman glory is with them and continue to display Not-Invented-Here syndrome.
Gimmick or not... ...a new game-console relies almost entirely
on the number of hot titles for the gamers
to enjoy.
Sure...the PSP is a great looking handheld
gaming device, lot's of cool features and
a solid backing by a company that already
rocked our world with the first "worthy"
proprietary 3d chip (Playstation the original)
back some years ago.
When it comes to gaming pleasure, I'd belive
the Nintendo DS would do really well too
because of the touch screen...just look at
that new "pet" game where you have a live "3d"
dog you can "touch" and play with that have
been taking Japan by storm, now that's innovative
but It might be a tad bit late...because
Nintendo took a LONG time to release cool
games for it's new baby. And I think PSP
will stand a lot stronger in that area, better
hardware too. But the point remains....it's
all about the games.
What this world is coming to - is for you and me to decide.
...but the PSP is worse because of the expense, proprietariness, DRM, crappy battery life, and Sony's customer-hostile attitude.
The way I see it, the pinnacle of handheld gaming is the GameBoy Advance SP.
"[Regarding the 'cloud,'] ownership was what made America different than Russia." -- Woz
I was going to type a lengthy retort to all you sony burning nintendo fanboys with my psp's built in browser but..i'm....running ..out ~!#()@$ batteryyy.y........
Sounds like the remarks of a desperate man, If there is one thing that Nintendo know about it's the handheld market, They've dominated it for so long.
I think Sony have missed the point about battery life and original software something which saw the end of the Game Gear and the Atari Lynks(sp?)
Is the PSP technically superior to the DS? Yes, Was the Game Gear technically superior to the Game Boy? Yes. Which console won?
Correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't Nintendo the PIONEER of the handheld market?
I know that the Atari Lynx came out at about the same time as the Gameboy, and there are some serious parallels between Atari Lynx vs. Gameboy (better hardware vs. solid niche) and PSP vs DS (again... better hardware vs. solid niche. Is Sony really so arrogant as to think that the PSP is far and away superior to the DS? Guess so...
BTW: anyone remember BetaMax?
E = m * c^(Hammer)
That is right; the PSP must be a superior product. The DS is a stupid toy gimmick for only blind mutes. We should put them in cereal boxes for those people who ride the short bus. I bet they will like that.
How about we take the DS and put little messages on them and drop them over the starving children in Africa, with gimmicky statements like "cheer up! just try not to think about food!"
I think Sony might be on to something here. On the other hand, the PSP is just a boring old game system. Maybe if they had made it a little more gimmicky they could even outsell the DS: http://news.punchjump.com/article.php?id=1223
the submarine, that is until they outfitted it with torpedos...
kind of makes sinking the psp battleship trivial, doesn't it?
Some choice quotes from the article:
"Nintendo knows its target audience, because it has really narrowed that down; and it's pretty much defined by a boy or girl's ability to admire Pokémon."
HAHAHAHA... You're kidding, right? If we're going to generalise like that, why don't we just say that Sony's target audience is FPS and RPGs.
"Those formats don't appear in our planning. It's not a fair comparison; not fair on them, I should stress. That sounds arrogant, maybe, but it's the truth."
Obviously, Harrison is confusing fact with conjecture.
He also makes references to different target markets... I think it's a bit disingenuous of Sony to say that. The handheld video game market is just that-- the handheld video game market. Last I checked, the DS is outselling the PSP, and the PSP sales are not even close to Sony's projections.
Once again, hubris clouds fact.
Just like driving a car:
(D) to go forward
(R) to go backward
If these companies REALLY want a great game console and want it to sell.. Instead of "mine cost more than yours does, so mine is better" they out to start having a contest that says "I can get mine to run and be better than yours and it is WAY WAY Cheaper so more people can AFFORD it."
I know as time goes by the prices drop and they seem more reasonable.. like the XBox and PS2
So at the end of the run, when the prices drop, is when the sales will stabilize over time. But who wants to dump hundreds of dollars into it up front? If Xbox had originally sold theirs at $200 like it is now.. the sales would have skyrocketed even more in the beginning. Why does it take 2 years for the company to bring it down to a decent price instead of starting out so high that it makes people turn away? As far as I am concerned, the same applies whether it is Nintendo, Sony, or whoever.
I have to agree. The dual screen rarely brings anything to the device that a larger screen or better use of existing screen real-estate doesn't. I hate the second screen in that respect, because it constantly diverts my attention from where it should be: the gameplay. There are a couple interesting uses for it, but I have yet to see any use of the second screen that justifies it.
That being said, the rest of the device is a dream. The games that have come out for it (or are right around the corner) are almost always sure winners: Nintendogs, Kirby, the new Sonic, the new Mario, Castlvania, the upcoming Animal Crossing, Lost in Blue, Meteos, Advance Wars DS... I held off on buying a DS until yesterday (a few run-ins with coworkers playing Nintendogs finally sold me), and I think the library of games and creativity shown in each one really, genuinely offers something new to gamers. This is mostly because of the stylus interface, but they use the wireless and flip-top covers in wierd unique ways as well.
The only thing else I could ask for would be that it played the old GB games, an analogue stick, and maybe a nice emulator (ala PSP). And considering that the PSP has all of those, that brings me to my point: the only reason the DS won me over for Portable Platform Money-Sink 2005(tm) was because the games are awesome.
Since the PSP's launch, Slashdot Games has posted article after article with titles like PSP Reception Lukewarm in U.S., PSP Not A Sellout Hit, What's Up With The PSP?, and most recently PSP Usage Lower Than Expected.
Lemme fix that for you there, Zonker.
"Since the PSP's launch, Zonk has posted article after article with titles like PSP Reception Lukewarm in U.S., PSP Not A Sellout Hit, What's Up With The PSP?, and most recently PSP Usage Lower Than Expected. "
Now don't get me wrong, hardware-wise PSP is very high quality - that company has got amazing engineers. Unfortunately, it also has a management that acts a lot like Microsoft's (bully on the block) when they're obviously not in that position.
The Raven
Let's count the corpses left in the wake of Nintendo's (almost always) "inferior" hardware:
Game Gear
Nomad
Lynx
That portable TurboGrafix16 (Name anybody?)
Wonderswan, Wonderswan crystal / color
GP32
NeoGeo pocket, NeoGeo Pocket color
Tapwave Zodiac
Ngage
That's just a short list off the top of my head, I'm sure that there are others that a more thorough search would reveal.
The PSP is simply not in the right price/battery life/durability range for most people to be attracted to it. It will do well with the money-to-burn crowd and with the hard-core gamers who buy everything, price be damned. As for the casual gamer that is the bread and butter of the industry, I forsee it remaining sort of "meh".
"Cheeze it!" - Bender
It was a toy or something!
Disconnect and self-destruct, one bullet at a time.
what, a new, incompatable movie playing format on a portable gaming system isn't a gimic then?
Ce n'est pas une signature automatique.
IMO, the double screen was the best idea Nintendo could ever have. No more having to swap action and map screens...
And I'm not buying a PSP if my favorite game only comes for the DS...
From the link:
"The touch screen comes into play with a new ability where players can "shatter" weak bricks with their finger or stylus, or draw magical symbols to defeat enemy creatures."
Rune magic, anyone?
-----
A request for Nintendo to open up the GB DS
(BTW, is any of this even possible?)
(Please note that while there is some comparisons between the Nintendo DS (DS) and the Sony Personal PlayStation (PSP) my comments should not be construed as a judgment on which unit has better games or is better for gaming. My comments and ideas are limited to the DS' ability to be expanded past it's current usage, which could possibly expand it's total customer base, and not about corporately generated games. While I mention Python as the interpreter of choice, Ruby should also be strongly considered. BTW, I know the name sucks but I'm sure someone will come up with something better.)
The "App-Yan"
I propose that Nintendo makes or allow someone else to make a device that fits into the DS game slot on the DS which allows users to run Python applications. Applications would be stored and loaded from a removable SD card.
The "App-Yan" parts:
Hardware:
External housing design and dimensions: the dimensions would very similar to the "Play-Yan", Nintendo's mp3/mpeg4 player that fits into the GBA slot on the DS.
SD or SDIO slot: Python scripts and/or related data files would be stored here. No propriety software should be required to copy files to and from the SD card. Open data standards should be used whenever possible. Also somewhat similar to the "Play-Yan".
>256M non removable internal flash memory: This would be used for the storage of the Python interpreter et al and, at the user's choice, Python scripts or related data.
A/D converter on the "professional" model: It's about expanding the DS and a "professional" version with multiple A/D converters would expand the DS' use, for example, for automated data collection.
Software:
Python interpreter: the Python interpreter, a signed Nintendo application, would be stored on the App-Yan's internal flash memory. It could be updated by Nintendo to address security flaws and bugs. Scripts could be run allowing for a text output or with a full GUI. GUI objects could be accessed from either the DS' internal GUI widgets or from standardized custom widgets accompanied with the interpreter.
Signed script validator: Some groups have the need to ensure their scripts arrive at the user's DS unmodified. A built in public key signature system could be used to insure scripts arrive as they were intended.
Why the DS?
The DS, like previous versions of the GB, is well designed and a nearly indestructible device. They have been successfully used in environments that normally would kill off similar electronic devices. The closest example of a device that can stand up to similar abuse would possible be a "hardened" PDA (either Palm of PocketPC OS based in a custom enclosure) costing at least four times the cost of the DS/AY (DS with an "App-Yan" device). The DS' low cost, durability and touch screens make it an ideal candidate for this project over other portable devices. The use of a GB for nongaming use is hardly new. The Singer Izek sewing machine (now out of production) used a GB as a stitch and pattern controller.
What's the benefit to Nintendo?
This project would expand the current customer base and places used. Many would say the "holy grail" of a portable gaming system is to allow for its use in a public school setting. This might be possible using the "dynamically generated exams" example sited below. While the DS performs well as a portable gaming system added uses would generate additional console sales which would generate added games sales. While Nintendo is still the king of the overall handheld gaming market, the Sony PSP has presented itself as extremely strong competition. With Sony's le
"I hate to advocate drugs, alcohol, violence or insanity but they've always worked for me" - HST
Quite frankly, I think I'd prefer the new GPX2 over either of them. It's the successor to the superb GP32, and plays Xvid, Divx Ogg (and others), out of the box, has 128Mb and an SD slot, USB2, 8 hours of battery time for video playback (2xAA batteries), runs Linux, and actually has emulators (MAME etc.) on the feature list!
They highly encourage homebrew software.
I'm sure the VCR was just another gimmick, too.
in the last three months there have been six games released for the PSP, thats two a month!
I own a PSP and am very disappointed that the only good games were the launch titles, and many of those games were ports (Tony Hawks Underground 2, Darkstalkers). And I didnt buy a Nintendo DS because I thought nobody was releasing games for it. The sad part is that a bunch of interesting games are out right now in Japan, Some RPGS, which the PSP in America has none of, Astonishia Story, Breath of Fire III, although america is getting one in november, that is a while to wait. Also Japan has just seen some other games released such as Star Soldier, Megaman Dash, Taiko No Tatsujin, Sengoku Ace III-Sengoku Cannon, Heaven Key Earth Gate, Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Popolocrois ponogatari, Shin Mimi Bukuro, Higanjima. Thats not a complete list, those are just the ones that looked interesting to me!
If sony actually cared about this system, why only release six games in the three months after releasing it? What kind of half-baked strategy is that? Even the prospect of using it for webbrowsing or emulators doesnt seem all that tempting compared to the increasing amount of quality software that seems to be comming out for the nintendo DS, if only the Nintendo DS wasnt the size of a brick I might buy one.
Was there any legitimate excuse for DS not having FULL wi-fi capability at launch?
The Nintendo DS does have full Wi-Fi. It's just that none of the current games use IP over Wi-Fi.
I don't even mean being able to hack it and use a web browser like PSP, I mean playing online games with people all over world using free wi-fi at Starbucks.
One problem is that you'd have to use a web browser in order to connect to some hotspots in restaurants and elsewhere, as they will route your packets to the Internet only if you can connect to an SSL web page and read and accept the TOS. Some even need you to enter a code printed on the receipt. That's part of why Nintendo wanted to roll out its own hotspot network before launching IP capable games.
I smell fear.
Cwm, fjord-bank glyphs vext quiz
The dual screen rarely brings anything to the device that a larger screen or better use of existing screen real-estate doesn't.
Yield is an issue with bigger screens. It's a lot cheaper to manufacture two 192x256 pixel screens with fewer than n defects than to manufacture one 384x256 pixel screen. That's part of why the PSP, with its 480x272 pixel screen, had to be delayed in Europe, because Sony couldn't get enough yield out of its LCD supplier and had to divert units from the originally planned European launch to its existing markets in Japan and North America.
The only thing else I could ask for would be that it played the old GB games, an analogue stick, and maybe a nice emulator (ala PSP). And considering that the PSP has all of those
You can tell what firmware version a North American PSP has by the letter directly under the voltage on the barcode label. No letter or an 'A' refers to a version that will run homebrew programs such as emulators; a 'B' or later in the alphabet means you have a 1.51 or later firmware revision, which has not been cracked and is not likely to be cracked within the next few months. The problem here is that the retail stores are already sold out of no-letter and 'A' models.
I dont really like the system myself (where's the global competition?) but... based on the arguement put forth here... what does that make the PSP??? blah blah blah BROWSER blah blah blah UMD!!!
Live according to the Categorical Imperative. If the Categorical Imperative tells you not to live by it... ignore it
I'm more likely to get another GP32 or a GPX2-F100.. most of the games i'd play are legacy genesis/snes/sms/nes/tg16 games anyways.
GBA+flash cart plays three out of the five platforms you mentioned: NES, Sega Master System, and PC Engine. Nintendo DS+flash cart+PassMe also plays Super NES games. And Nintendo doesn't change its firmware nearly as often as Sony does.
Even Nintendo regards the DS as just a gimmicky, experimental product and pushes it as a separate architecture from their flagship Game Boy line. So, what's really gimmicky here is the GBA backwards-compatibility in the DS, just to provide it with a temporary library of games to start up with.
Just play Pac-Pix or Kirby Canvas Curse and you'll see the DS has a future, albeit in its own niche. Furthermore, the touchscreen and the microphone make the DS better suited for Internet gaming than the PSP, however sexy the latter might be. I know the PSP can use external USB devices, but we all know how the market responds to add-ons.
Sony is just jealous that Nintendo's gimmick product is outselling theirs worldwide, and is actually making a profit. Now imagine when Nintendo announces the next-gen Game Boy.
The big N's next-gen handheld could use an architecture similar to the Gamecube (as has been rumored) so that the development environment can be shared between the GCN, the Revolution and the GBA2. Things are not going to get any easier for Sony. Hell, I wouldn't be surprised if the PSP2 comes with an embedded mic and a touchscreen.
Now don't take me wrong, I have both devices and love them, but Sony trying to make a stupid comparison at this point can only backfire.
- Otaku no naka no otaku, otaking da!!!
Wireless online play (granted, coming soon) on top of a solid line of first and third party game developers is a gimmick? Wow, so the online games and quality from Nintendo I've been enjoying for years are just gimmicks... ^^
Logan Smith
Even though he said it was "well seen" he didn't bother showing it to us? Even though the ONLY THING SLASHDOT DOES IS LINK TO OTHER SITES IT STILL FAILS AT IT?!?!?
Go figure.
You can do WiFi in a peer-to-peer manner, you know.
A lot of existing Nintendo DS games do use the ad hoc mode of 802.11b.
If a device can speak 802.11b, it can act as an access point.
I thought that in order to act as an access point to a given network, a device had to be able to speak both 802.11b and the layer 2 used by the network (one of Ethernet, DOCSIS, and DSL).
Isn't it the time to create a PSP icon instead of the Gameboy icon currently displayed everytime we have handheld news in /.?
"Those formats don't appear in our planning. It's not a fair comparison; not fair on them, I should stress. That sounds arrogant, maybe, but it's the truth."
Translation: "They sold how many copies of that %&^%*^&* electronic dog game??!!"
If you look back at handheld gaming history, I don't think *any* "widescreen" format (system oriented horizontally instead of vertically) has ever been a big hit.
Does anyone know of one? Atari Lynx...no. Sega Game Gear...no. Tiger DoubleX-Crapola (or whatever)...no. N-Gage...no. Sony PSP...not looking good.
The DS does have a better slate of games right now but I really think that the PSP is just too big.
Basically, everyone's holding up their games for Christmas, because why release in August if you can sell three times as much in November?
This has really wiped out the PSP as a platform for the time being, though. Lumines is great but it's not $300 great, and there's nothing else I want, even a little.
They really should have done the mass-portage, best of PS1/PS2, and dribbled the stuff out until Christmas.
So, NDS is a DRM free, non-proprietary machine.
GBA SP is small, sturdy (I dropped mine many times and it just reset). Screen is protected from damage, it has great battery life, LOADS of great games (FFTA!), homebrew community.
I bought the PSP. The hardware is undeniably cool. There is total two of decent games - Metal Gear Acid and Untold Legends. Movies are overpriced and I saw almost all of them before. So the thing is gathering dust. I installed bunch of emulators, quake and doom - great games. But Sony is so hostile towards homebrew, which probably is what sells the hardware because official games suck.
I looked at DS, but DS is FUGLY!
Now, Gameboy Micro may be interesting.
It doesn't have 3D acceleration.
I remeber reading about how the Atari Lynx designers actually totally mocked the Game Boy when it came out. I wonder if History will repeat itself again.
mnewberg.com
They had the Gameboy, Gameboy Advance, Gameboy Advance SP, now the Nintendo DS, and soon to come, the Gameboy Micro. Then again, there must be enough people to support the slightly different variations on the same theme.
I wonder if that's why Sony was so slow to come out with their handheld... because they knew most people with disposable income for a gaming handheld probably already spent their money on one (or more) of Nintendo's myriad other options?
VOTE!
I wonder if this is the Japanese equivalent of "Developers! Developers! Developers! Developers! Developers! Developers!"
Love your country always, but respect your government only when it deserves it. -- Mark Twain
Whoops!
That second line should read:
Betacam SP is very high quality...
Should have previewed that.
I just got back from Best Buy, where there was a rack full of PSP shovelware--crappy movies re-released on UMD, in the laughable hope that someone will want to pay $25 again to watch a movie on a 4" screen.
GCHQ Quantum Insert installed. If only our tongues were made of glass, how much more careful we would be when we speak
The DS is far from a gimmick. What's really going on is Sony is shocked that their "superior" handheld device isn't selling so well at all (latest numbers for last week show the DS selling more than all other game systems combined in Japan, where Sony *should* be doing better).
It's kinda like why the iPod sells so well over the competing MP3 players. The iPod plays music. It does it well. No need for all these other "features". In the same way, the DS lets you play really fun games. That is all. It doesn't try to be everything to everyone like the PSP. And we see the results...
I don't *want* to watch movies on the go. I don't want to run Linux or whatever on the go. I want my handheld gaming device to just play games.
And now the DS is only $129. What a bargain, IMHO. Oh, and Nintendogs is just plain *fun*. Just wait until WiFi networked Mario Kart and Metroid Hunters. Oh man, what a time ahead for us DS owners...
--- witty signature
No film at 11, you've all seen it before a hundred times...
Seriously, is this really newsworthy?
It's official. Most of you are morons.
Spotted dick has a funny name, but the ingredients are actually pretty innocuous, and it's pretty tasty.
"Liver and lights", on the other hand...yeek. Can't say as I've ever had it, but I'd try it. Once.
The psp and ds are aimed at diffent markets, its pretty clear that the ds is aimed at a younger audience while the psp is marketed as a fashion accesory.
The dual screen....its pretty much useless, while the touch is innovative its not big step up from the gba. THe DS is also very thick.
The psp is more innovative, it has a very large bright screen however it does have problems. The buttons and placement are not as great as they can be. The psp also feels pretty delicate.
As for the games, it depends on what your into. The psp has great games coming out (LC stories), the ds has the classics (some of which are getting tiresome).
The major problem is that the DS is 130 usd and the psp 250. If your a mom which one are you going to buy for your kid, the cutesy cheap one or the delicate expensive one?
Sure its a little gimmicky...so is the PSP. They added all of these features and look what happens...people use it other than to play their games. Also, this shrunken down PS2 is seems to be a dump for ports,rehash after rehash.I already own a PS2 and dont need another one. Meanwhile...back at headquarters, Nintendo said lets make a game with dogs that you can talk to and touch with our new gimmicky 2nd screen and bang its a hit. What about that new surgery game thats coming out, use the stylus to operate...gimmicky but again its a hit. Sony needs original titles that are fun, period.
It took the rest of the industry 10 years to catch up to the turbografx handheld.
I count only five years between the PC Engine GT (1990; released in North America in 1991 as TurboExpress) and the Sega Nomad (1995).
I debated for a good while about which handheld to buy: PSP or DS? That's a tough one.
But then Sony started playing hardball with the hackers out there, with every firmware upgrade trying to lock hackers out of their precious, perfect PSP. (I apologize for alliteration, it was assuredly accidental)
Fine, Sony. I won't hack your hardware to do crazy things like install linux or watch movies. I'll buy a DS instead (go DSLinux!)
It's a very effective strategy, guys!
Love your country always, but respect your government only when it deserves it. -- Mark Twain
Hi,
I purchased a PSP on opening day and several game titles as well. But I haven't touched it in over six weeks now! There just aren't enough new game titles for it that interest me.
I would recommend that Europeans take a good look at the titles they might be interested in and then decide whether or not to purchase the unit.
Personally... I can't recommend the PSP at present. You've waited this long, waiting a few more months to see if any new games come out for the winter holidays shouldn't kill ya.
I mainly use it, now, with PSP Video 9; but as I mentioned I haven't done that either for some six weeks. Plus, I ain't paying for a video twice! Sony should be bundling the UMD movie discs with their DVD titles!
Also, wait and see if the GBmicro comes with the SD A/V Cartridge... if it does I'm selling my PSP - unless... Linux is ported to the PSP.
--
KFF
There's something really sad about people throwing away 250$ on a trashy PSP in a world where thousands of people starve to death each day.
You make me sick.
I just bought a DS the other day. It doesn't seem like much of a gimmick to me. The games are solid, and the touch screen is innovative. It's also $100 cheaper (in Canada at least). So far, the game selection looks better. Other than the GTA game, there's no advantage the PSP has in terms of upcoming games. Also, I think Sony has a lot of balls calling anything a gimmick when part of their strategy involves people buying special copies of movies, and watching them on a small screen.
Oh, but the "PSP sucks" and "PSP doomed" articles are just part of Zonk's output. The rest is ads for the Nintendo DS, such as today's ads for Metroid Prime: Hunters and Nintendogs.
The guy's clearly a raving Nintendo fanboy, and all semblance of balance has long gone.
(Speaking as someone who owns a GameCube and a Game Boy Advance.)
GCHQ Quantum Insert installed. If only our tongues were made of glass, how much more careful we would be when we speak
I know that, for the most part, comments like Harrisons are just the marketing version of "my processor is faster than yours" but I'm honestly surprised at the level of arrogance displayed there. Since the PSP's launch, Slashdot Games has posted article after article with titles like PSP Reception Lukewarm in U.S., PSP Not A Sellout Hit, What's Up With The PSP?, and most recently PSP Usage Lower Than Expected. This last article is especially disheartening for Sony execs because those numbers come from Japan, a nation that has traditionally been Sony's bread basket. If it's not doing well here, and it's not doing well there...do they really think that many Europeans are going to buy it when it launches there next week?
I wonder, and I'm being very sincere here - when the last time Zonk ever partook in sexual intercourse.
The guy's clearly a raving Nintendo fanboy, and all semblance of balance has long gone.
Is my buyer's guide more or less biased than Zonk's articles?
(This starts off slightly off topic, but just bear with me a little bit)
I'm really no expert here, but I know that these days everyone is complaining that someone is stealing their music, or movies, or something... Even their games, I bet. Let's face it, tech solutions like some new encryption won't last long, they havent historicly, and I see no reason for that to change. The same holds true to gameboy games. Untill now you could find some emulator and play any gameboy rom you could download, or even make from your gameboy games. I liked to say I was "demoing" the game, but the reality was that I wasn't about to run out, spend 200$ on the latest hand held system, and then pay 30$ for each game.
So where does the DS fit in? Well, I'd like to see you emulate it. With past game boys, you needed like 10ish buttons. Now, you need two screens, one of which needs to be touch screen, etc. Now like I said before, I am no expert, but emulating all of that would bea a huge pain in the butt and it still woudlnt work as well as owning the system.
Maybe Nintendo saw that games were next on the list of things people would pirate and decided to stop it before it started. Now let's see the music or movie industry come up with some new innovation that makes me want to own their product, and NO, I do NOT mean 500 hours of crap interviews, special features, or whatever you call it.
Just my two cents.
Scott Swezey
Sony must have hired the former Iraqi Minister for Information for their PR.
"The DS is no threat to our superior PSP! Our valiant PSP will outsell it at every turn!"
I think the dual screens really add to some games, and make some possible that simply weren't ever before. Games like the upcoming Animal Crossing DS are actually much more suited for dual-screen than single screen (like the GC version). The touchscreen is also wonderful, but I see you agree with me there :)
All this does is stir up attention and it doesn't provide any benefit to anyone. What is the deal?
I don't see any posters at this time who have recognized Zonk's post for what it is -- an attempt for Slashdot to be more than just a blog. The last major push for that backfired, nobody liked what Jon Katz had to say. Since day 1, Slashdot has been an approval system for links that we the readership submit. The editors have made some attempts to editorialize and have occasionally been flamed for it, but the editorials have been very light and Slashdot's readership has been flat for over a year.
Slashdot can continue to mature and grow readership by doing a little research. Dig up some links from the past and make a comment. Zonk could have taken a small step in either direction by posting how well (or not) the DS has done to continue to refute Sony's stance (or show that the issue is still unresolved).
Thanks, Zonk, for taking a small step in the right direction. We don't want a Slashdot newspaper, over-editorializing everything, but some light commentary would entice readers to get our feet wet in new subjects and make Slashdot an easier read for new visitors.
http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=14588 3
The DS is outselling the PSP by 4 times in Japan and has a 1.2 million unit lead worldwide. "Irrelevant" my foot.
How can you not forget his raving review of Kirby Canvas Curse that was posted on the front page of Slashdot.
I don't go to read Slashdot game reviews and most gamers already know the majority of gamer's love that game.
Sony is right. DS's games are glorified tech demos
For an encore Sony goes on to prove that black is white, and is run over at the next zebra crossing.
How many original games for the PSP can you name?
Sure, a few here and there. But most of the PSP games are remakes and PS2 adaptations.
Personally, I like to see new things, not re-buy old ones..
DS can be pretty nice if it means dick sucking. I'll take that gimmick anyday.
Didn't Sony say, back during the PSP launch, that their target market wasn't the same as the DS so they weren't concerned about the DS because it wasn't a "competitor"?
Now, of course, we all knew that was a marketing lie. Sony was just covering their butts for the most likely scenario of the PSP getting some market share but Nintendo still dominating. Which, by the way, is exactly what has happened.
Still, it really is funny to see marketing angles and approaches contradict each other so sharply in the time span of less than a year. It really shows how Sony needs to get their act together as these days they tend to knee jerk react instead of putting together a comprehensive long term plan and stick with it. They hurt themselves more than their competitors ever could alone.
You are who you are, let no one tell you different. But, never close your mind to a new point of view.
Sony: I CAN'T HEAR YOU!
Analogies don't equal equalities, they are merely somewhat analogous.
I know some of you will crap in your nintendo undies when you read this, but hear me out...
DS is old technology. It's a portable N64 going for $150. WTF?
For $100 more, you can have a portable PS2. THINK ABOUT IT for just a minute. When you compare dollar by dollar to the technology you're paying for, you are paying too much for the DS.
Which is the better deal... hmmm...
DS has the stylus, and while many might think otherwise for a second, it IS a gimmick. Oh, it's not, you say?
PLEASE tell me how it's not. I will admittedly shut my mouth and admit fault if you can tell me how the stylus and dual screens alone are "innovative" as opposed to the "wow" gimmick factor. I challenge you.
Nintendo in recent years has been notorious for gimmicks. An immediate one off the top of my head was... Metroid Prime. Anyone, anyone? Oooh, plug your GBA in with Metroid Fusion and play with SPECIAL SAMUS!!! *cream* Hah.
What about the Final Fantasy chronicles? Plug your GBA in, get special stuff that other people cannot. Oooh.
What about paying for Mario all over again just because it's portable? or $20 for the "classics" series - The Legend of Zelda. Hah. That shit should come on ONE disc with 20 other games for $20.
C'mon.. where are the supposed hit games? Mario 64? Yeah, I played that 9 years ago. Give me something new.
Nintendo needs to get their shit together.
We have secretly replaced these Slashdot mods' sense of humor with a rusty nail. Let's see if they notice!!
is this the way Sony view the game industry? anything different, and innovative is a gimmick? no wonder i dont buy Sony consoles anymore...
My hand touched her hand. Her hand touched her boob. By the transitive property, I got some boob! Algebra is awesome!
Gimmick; "A trick or device intended to attract attention, publicity, or business"
.. state the obvious much? pretty much ALL consumer electronics toys are gimmicks, yo. goes for the PSP, goes for the DS, hell .. it even goes for my crappy JVC camcorder.
ummm
electronic toys have been in the land of the 'gimme' gimmick for years. Sony themselves are masters at it...
Nice fluff piece though.
; -- the corruption of government starts with its secrets. a truly free people keep no secrets. --
You are actually arguing pure technology against technology as your standpoint here? "It's a portable PS2 versus a portable N64" and that's your entire argument?
Wow. While we're being nonsensical, let's call Metroid Prime a gimmick by dismissing the ENTIRE GAME and focusing on something THAT IS A BONUS, but refuse to call the PSP's movie playing gimmick - which is ALL it is and SADLY the biggest selling point.
Please come back when you can attempt to make a coherent point. Don't make a bunch of assumptions and wild tangents when none of them hold water.
I'm not scared of anonymous cowards.
Well, I've posted before about the PSP not being on display anywhere. I haven't seen a reason to get a PSP yet; I'd probably like WipeOut Pure, but I'm not going to drop $300 on an unseen system to play it.
I'd be much more likely to get the PSP if it was opened up to 3rd party developers, though.
GCHQ Quantum Insert installed. If only our tongues were made of glass, how much more careful we would be when we speak
Of course it is. Video games have always had that element of Da Gimmick. Donkey Kong Jungle Beat is gimmicky. EyeToy looks pretty gimmicky to me. Portable gaming would look gimmicky if we weren't used to it.
But the fact is, a good gimmick can make a game. Everything new looks like a gimmick. It is, in fact, but that doesn't mean it can't also be cool.
Not all gimmicky things are cool, of course. When "gimmick" is used as a deogratory term, the implication is that there's nothing else there. Which may have been true at first, but now... well, Kirby proved a lot of things. It may sell less than Advance Wars DS and Nintendogs, but it was the game that proved that, with solid design, the DS really does have new things to show the world of gaming. It's the most important DS release so far.
The coolest things have always looked gimmicky at first. If you're going to deride something solely because of its newness then you have a sad outlook on the world.
Hardware wise sure it's superior, but so is other Sony inovations like Betamax and the MiniDisc, and those are all still kicking around today, Am I right!
I believe the reference was to the weird little GameBoy Micro they just released; and I'm inclined to agree with the Sony guy actually, it is a gimmick. However you are totally correct in saying Sony really has no history to stand on and make such comments.
If Jesus wants me it knows where to find me.
Actually nevermind - he was talking about the touch screen. I take it back.
If Jesus wants me it knows where to find me.
I just purchased two Nintendo DS systems with Nintendogs for myself and my wife.
Bravo Nintendo! Fie on Sony!
We've spent more time playing our DS machines in two days than we ever spent playing games on the PSP. Aside from the technological advantange, the PSP is boring and lacks decent games. Or is it just a glorified movie player with a small screen?
Nintendo have been doing hand-helds for a damn long time... even before the Gameboy. Give them a little credit.
I enjoy my PSP, a lot, but...disclaimers follow:
I owned a PSone with screen and battery packs for it. My favorite game to play on it when in wating roms and the like was the PSone port of Diablo, due to the save at any time feature of that game.
Let me tell you that thing got attention. The large bright screen, the same games you can play at home. People would ask where they could get a screen and packs for their PSones. I told them, and also told them the price, which caused people to wince.
And now there's the PSP. People marvel at that screen and the games and what it can do, but when you tell them the price they wince. To me it's a steal, $250 for what it does. But non-geeks, they don't realize that, and SCEA's marketing hasn't helped much.
1. The games cost too much in many people's eyes. Thanks to Nintendo, people think portable games should cost $29.99 or less. And Sony thinks that by telling people that the PSP's games are almost PS2 quality that customers will pay more. But... people are resisting that.
2. To get the most out of your PSP you need a PC and a wireless connection. A lot of people don't have that.
3. The PSP "looks" fragile and delicate and some people worry about it. (It's really not that delicate)
4. Sony hasn't done a good job of explaining what the PSP can do. (Even the PSP manual is lacking in this respect) Making the best use of a PSP requires computing literacy and frankly a lot of people seem to be lacking in that department I was very much surprised that the PSP did not ship with SonicStage and ImageConverter on disc for ones PC. Heck I'm surprised that Sony isn't offering a SonicStage for HD equipped PS2's.
5. UMD movies cost too much. I'm willing to buy them, but not at the current prices.
6. I"m not complaining about the lack of games because I'm old and don't have lots of time. I also own the Diablo-like Untold Legends which keeps me happy hacking and slashing. But...if I was one of those teenagers or college kids with lots of summer free time I'd have burned right through my games and would be wanting more. Right now there are only two other games in the PSP's in store lineups that I'd like to own, those being Lumines and the Hot Shots Golf game. But as stated above the 39.95 price is somewhat discouraging.
7. Downloadable games. Even if Sony wants to discourage emulation of a competitors older hardware, they could approach the people who port things like Nethack http://virtuamunstaz.de/nh/ or that VNC client and say hey, we'll "sign" your binaries so they'll run on any PSP and host them on our site
There are some encouraging signs though, they've got that new portal that you can get to from a preset bookmark in the 2.0 browser. http://psp.us.playstation.com/ (go to psp.connect.com/ with a PSP too)
Personally I think judging the PSP a "failure" is a bit premature.
Now they're selling shoddy games that have full web browsers included. Tell me that is not a gimmick. We are gamers, not friggin PDA users.
Thing is that a lot of hotspots in public places require authentication using a web page before they'll route your machine's packets. That's why you need either a web browser on all your games or a network of hotspots that don't use web authentication. The Wipeout developers chose the former route; Nintendo is going the latter.
DS? Nintendogs... Mario 64... and other ports of recent games
Meteos. Kirby Canvas Curse. Yoshi Touch and Go. Could those have been done well on the PSP? And guess what: almost all the announced handheld ports of PC RTS games are coming to the DS because the DS touch screen emulates a mouse better than the PSP analog nub.
that look horribly N64ish
Do looks count more than battery life and price? If so, then the Game Gear would have beaten the Game Boy in the market. And in a typical portable use case, you don't have time to wait for 60 seconds of NOW LOADING *cough* Midnight Club *cough* NFSU *cough*.
well i guess then the mice on PCs are also gimmicks, since they essentially do the same things.
this is what you get with the PSP for $250
- a game player that has a lackluster library of ports
- a picture viewer that holds 15 pictures
- a music player that holds 6 songs (unless you already have 15 pictures)
- a betamax 2.0 (UMD) player
- living with the fact that you're essentially playing a gameboy, excetpt that gameboys are $79 and play a huge library of 500+ games plus the 500+ classic GB games
The answer was easy - UMD? Forget it. Use a miniature version of DVD's, and sell blanks in six-packs - then provide software to le you transcode movies onto these discs for taking the portable.
This would have given people a reason to buy the system in the dry spell before good games came out... as it stands now I don't know if the dry spell will end soon enough for Sony.
On the other hand I think they are banking on PSP integration with the PS3 so they are probably too comitted at this point to back away from the system.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
I haven't seen even ONE Gameboy DS in the subway for many months i have been there. On the other hand, I can see at least a couple of people carrying around their PSP to watch movies or play around with one of the fine games on the PSP. Ok maybe not as many people as those owning an iPod mini. The target market of Sony are not the kids, this is the market with dispoable income able to watch not-DVD-quality video on UMD at a price that is just too high to be true... And they manage well as they are keeping on par with the DS which is much cheaper. If the DS was so good... at that price it should outsell the PSP by at least a factor of 2 seeing the price...
Dude played Nintendo at his bachelor party. (follow the trail of links from his profile.)
What. The. Fuck!
As a DS owner, as well as a human being, I have to say that your "buyer's guide" is an annoyingly biased and pointless piece of poop.
Sorry.
Whore that link, though! Whore it!
People don't always buy the superior product
No kidding.
Sony's managed to out-hype and out-market 2 of its game platform competitors now, with a somewhat (or majorly) inferior product.
Depending on how you look at it, the PS1 demolished both the N64 and Dreamcast - and really, it wasn't superior to either. Whether it was load times or sheer graphic capabilities, the PS1 was a pretty dreadful platform except for the fact that everyone had one, and it had thousands of mediocre games released.
The PS2 was the final nail in the Dreamcast coffin, and at the time most DC games looked and played far better than PS2 fare. The PS2 is still leading the Xbox and Gamecube in sales.
Maybe Sony's just finally getting a taste of their own medicine.
Endless arguments over trivial contradictions in books written by ignorant savages to explain thunder in the dark.
I believe the reference was to the weird little GameBoy Micro they just released; and I'm inclined to agree with the Sony guy actually, it is a gimmick.
I disagree. I think it's a well-placed shot at the low-end and cell phone game playing crowd. It's cheap, it's small, it looks pretty slick, and it's got a HUGE library of games. Let's face it: for most people the PSP and the DS are big and expensive. And if you just want something to fill that 10 minute gap before the subway comes, neither system's games don't have enough pick up and play value. The GBA fits the bill perfectly.
The 3 prong controller is impossible to access all buttons readily. The trigger can be touched with your right index finger, but then you can no longer reach the 4 keypad with anything but unreliable fingers (if that). The N64 had a few good games and that's what made it successful as a console, basically everything else says it was junk (no cd's etc..)
"And we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Savior of the World"
1 John 4:14
The technology/quality of the DS is way behind of the PSP. Just hold one in each hand.
"It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it."
Zonk posts an article that he disagrees with so that he can give his rebuttal opinion by listing a handful of previous dissenting stores that were posted by... Zonk.
Well great. We know where Zonk stands. Now why can't we mod him down for redundancy?
I'm tired of seeing these kind of complaints. Already saw a couple in this thread about the PSP. It hasn't been a year yet and people are moaning that the system they bought on launch doesn't have a big selection of games. Do you expect developers to pull games out of some magic honeypot? Give it some time before things get into full swing. If I were to guess the success of the playstation 1 & 2 based only on the games that came out in their first years, I would've assumed them to be colossal failures too.
Dang! Why can't I have mod points when I see a funny comment like this. I always get them on dull days.
Sony are in denial here, a little like their still tepid response to the iPod. I see young people from 6 to 30 playing with their DS's everywhere, on the bus, the tube, even at work. It is more innovative and physically practical than the DS. The games have that addictive nature that Nintendo know so well. Although Nintendo come last in the console wars, they do actually understand human centric design better than Sony. The Gamecube controller is an example. The PSP is too large and flawed to ever reach mass market. No touch screen, no mass storage, so what's the point of the big screen? DS is a far more complete product. (Don't get me wrong, the screen on the PSP is excellent, but if people are not using a DS, they will use their phones for play games. The large screen is really only suited to viewing photos, but with no hard drive, what the point?
O'WONDERWe're working on it.
I for one won't be buying one because of the UMD disks, the fact that they'll come with version 2 firmware installed and my recently acquired hostile attitude to all things Sony due to the Fiona Apple affair. Heh, I may just buy a DS on 1st Sptember so I can abuse anyone buying a PSP.
Sig pending!
How do you figure that? You can run any GBA-title on the DS. Besides that I think most the the DS games I have fit that game perfectly. Feel the Magic XX/XY (aka Project Rub), Yoshi Touch & Go, Meteos, Another Code: Two Memories. Besides that if I have 5 minutes or more I can always grab a quick race in Ridge Racer DS or Need for Speed Underground 2. If you don't manage to finish a game you just close the DS and it goes into sleep mode and lets you continue when you open it again. I'd say it's damn close to perfect in that regard. I just wish the homebrew stuff was easier to use on the road (at the moment I can only have one title on my MovieAdvance at a time even though I have a big CF card in it).
Against the grain
Pot. meet kettle.
....AND LOOK! IT CAN PLAY SMALL DVD'S AND MP3'S!"
Seriously, the DS is announced, suddenly sony goes "HAY GUYZ! LOOK! WE MADE A HANDHELD TOO!
Yeah, the PSP is totally non gimmicky.
That was exactly Nintendos intention. You can have hold it analog-button (for, say, Jump-N-Runs), digital-button (for example for puzzlers) or analog-digital (such as for FPS). That way, developers are forced not to use too many buttons. You may like this or not, but for most non-hardcore gamers, it's a great idea.
Frankly, I feel pretty bad for you. Will will never experience the sheer joy of playing Mario Kart against your best buddies, hollering insults at each other as you just barely overtake them before the finishing line. You will never play Bomberman DS against your pals, yelling "boom" into their consoles so as to make them get killed by their own bombs. You will never find out how awesome a game Kirby: Canvas Curse really is, and you won't spend hours and hours painting cute little clouds on which Yoshi can walk, trying to beat your girlfriend's record.
For this, you are a poorer person, and I pity you.
However, this is not Nintendo's problem. Nintendo is successfull precisely because they don't follow every fad. They never made Mario: Zombie killer - well, if you ignore Luigi's Mansion :-) - or Grand Theft Yoshi. They always made well-done games with a focus on gameplay. They always made games which can be enjoyed by all ages. And it worked out quite well for them.
If you require blood in order to enjoy a game, by all means, get a PSP. Or wait until Resident Evil DS is released :-)
I'd consider that a pro, not a con. Maybe that's where 2D games will continue to live once the GBA dies.
I believe the reference was to the weird little GameBoy Micro they just released; and I'm inclined to agree with the Sony guy actually, it is a gimmick.
No, if you RTFA, you'll see that he was specifically talking about the touch screen on the DS.
As for the GBA Micro, it is not a gimmick, but it is nothing special--merely another edition of the GBA that offers a more convenient size--small enough for people to carry around routinely, like they do a cell phone. As such, it will compete with the cell phone gaming market, which Nintendo may see as more significant competition for the GBA than the Sony PSP. The Micro also differentiates the GBA from the DS, and demonstrates to developers Nintendo's continuing support of the GBA platform.
I couldn't agree more - I bought my PSP (JP) from Hong Kong several months ago with several titles. Wipeout, was one of them of course. The only reason I bought it was for the Wifi, I foresaw the homebrew scene would create enough software for me to use it as a handheld. While I have several laptops they're often too large to drag around. And I don't really use my Palm any longer since I purchased the SonyEricsson P900. Nice as the P900 is - it lacks Wifi. Even with the free GPRS my subscription provides - I would still like the ability to browse the web on the WLANs around my University. For the time being I have no use for the PSP - it's quitely gathering dust. I'm not upgrading to the 2.0 firmware - that's for sure.
I think, actually, this is 90% of the reason why Nintendo is wiping the floor with Sony on this score is that they've realised that the majority of their customers want something small, and cheap, that lets them play games. Sony's produced a relatively large device that's costlier that's attempting to do a whole bunch of things that, really, it shouldn't be trying to do. Sony talks about the DS having gimmicks? It just hasn't realised that UMD drives are going to see far less use than the DS's touchscreen (the latter of which, to me, is a good idea.)
I'd be surprised if anything resembling the PSP is still selling in a year, at least at the current price. If Sony finds a way of selling the unit for $100, then they might stand a chance. More likely, I can see Sony incorporating something else that, essentially, makes it a different product.
You are not alone. This is not normal. None of this is normal.
Also, the movie thing is nothing but a gimmick. I used to play movies on my PDA, but it was more of a novelty than anything. After the first few, I never did it again, because there's just no point in watching a movie on a small screen.
The DS is gimmicky? Huh. That's awful big talk coming from a company whose portable game console has been advertised a lot more (both by the media and Slashdot) for its MP3 capabilities, wireless internet, web browser, movie abilities, and all sorts of other... er... gimmicks.
-- From the Musical 'Gypsy' (about the life of famous stripper, Gypsy Rose Lee)
Yes, Sony, the DS screen is a gimmick. Yes, that is part of what sets it apart from previous handhelds and the PSP. Yes, that gimmick is part of what we like about it.
Took away one analog controller and didn't replace it with a touch screen? Shame on you Sony. Shame on you for failing to innovate. Shame on you for failing to come up with a compelling gimmick yourself.
When the most exciting thing about your game platform is that people can run a web browser on it (or run home-brew apps instead), you have failed. Better luck next time. Lets hope the gimmicks of the PS3 live up to our expectations...
"Get yourself a gimmick and you can be a star too."
To the designer of SUVs, what happens is the economy car market is, to a large extent, irrelevant.
I think the comment about relevancy was more to point out the difference in the markets than to say the DS isn't an important consumer product. Clearly the DS is being bought, but the PSP isn't going after the same sort of person who's interested in Nintendogs. It's going for the Grand Theft Auto crowd.
When the PS1 hit the market it basically ignored NES, SNES buyers and went to a demograhic that was quite a bit older. All of their initial advertising reflected this (remember the dominatrix chick?). They basically built that market and it turned out that 15-30 market was quite lucritive.
Now they're attempting the same thing with the PSP. They don't have half naked chicks trying to sell it, but they do have a game lineup that's decidedly _not_ cute. Even the UMD movies are largely PG-13 and above. They're building this portable gaming and media market from scratch and despite sales numbers less than the DS, I think they're largely succeeding.
Clearly under these circumstances, the DS is quite "irrelevant."
TW
that line should have been: "They're building this adult portable gaming and media market from scratch and despite sales numbers less than the DS, I think they're largely succeeding.
And one more observation. I've never seen anyone under 15 with a PSP, but I was at the doctor's office the other day and both me and another 30-something were playing away on our PSPs. The adult portable gamer is real, it just remains to be seen how many of us there are.
TW
your UID is over 800000, stop shouting, go outside and learn how to ride a skateboard...troll
If Sony says that the DS isn't really its competition, then that leaves only the Game Boy for it to compete against. And they're doing far worse against the Game Boy than they are against the DS.
Sony saying this pretty much means that Sony is failing more miserably than previously thought. They had a handicap in their favor by going against a new, experimental product rather than the only entrenched name brand in the industry.
Congratulations, you have won the award for worst Slashdot grammar of the week! I truly have no idea what you are trying to say with these tortured sentences.
Bonus point for using both "gamers" and "gamer's" in the same sentence, ensuring that at least ONE of them will be wrong!
n/t
At Otakon 2005 last weekend, there were at least 15 Nintendo DS units for every 1 PSP. And PictoChat rocked the house. Absolutely true.
Here is how it went in Japan. Nintendo and Sony both sold about all the units they released in 2004 (DS: 1.5 mil, PSP: 0.5 mil). In January, the DS was ahead for the first couple weeks, then Sony pulled ahead on the weekly numbers. All the early adopters were able to get thier hands on a DS, but the PSP had suffered from low production, so it wasn't a surprise that the DS sales dipped more quickly.
By Feb, the weekly sales settled into a routiene. The PSP would sell ~30-40K and the the DS would sell ~15-25K depending on releases.
Catch! Touch! Yoshi!, Touch! Kirby, and Another Code were released in this time for the DS without significantly increasing sales.
Then Nintendogs hit shelves in April. Since its release the DS has not dipped below the PSP once in weekly sales.
After the Nintendogs spike, the DS sold ~30K/week and the PSP ~20K. Brain Training for Adults spiked DS sales when it was released and increased weekly DS sales afterward to ~35-40K. The sales spike you see in the past 2 weeks is due to the release of Jump Superstars.
The PSP has maintained its 20K/week level through all this.
Most video playback devices use discs or some other moving media. Spinning a CD or reel actually adds quite a lot to power consumption. I'm not sure how much power is required for reading flash-based memory, but it's supposed to be a lot less.
Ok...correct me if I'm wrong, but wtf is up with them saying Nintendo's entry into the handheld market? I mean for the longest time, the game boy series was basically the ONLY handheld to have...I mean yeah sure, Nintendo's fallen behind all the others, but this guy sounds like hes saying Nintendo has ALWAYS been behind.
"Potpourii doesn't taste as good as it smells." - Dark_Link2135
A majority of people I saw playing gameboys back in the late 80's early 90's were adults. The adult portable gamer as you call them has existed for well over a decade in large numbers and continues to play what they enjoy, be it GBA, DS, Game Gear, PSP, or Turbo Express.
Did you think no adults played portable games until NGauge?
Well I've wrestled with reality for thirty five years doctor, and I'm happy to say I finally won out over it.