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?
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?
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.
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!!!
So what PSP games are you playing with your friends over the internet?
None, right? Which PSP games support infrastructure wireless co-op or VS play?
Every once in a while I like to masturbate a new word into my vocabulary, even if I don't know what it means.
That said, I also have a DS. For the DS I've been addicted to Mr. Driller (doesn't use the touch screen well, but the extra vertical height does help), Yoshi's Touch and Go for a long time (tons of fun once you get the hang of it. Can get very tough), Kirby Curse Canvas (amazing use of the pen). I played Meteos for a while (just isn't the same without the pen), I'm playing Advanced Wars now (doesn't really need the touch functionality) and Nintendogs.
I can't wait to try that surgery game (can't remember the name right now), the new Castlevania (though the touch screen looks like a gimmick there), Animal Crossing (pen would help A LOT, the GC version had me addicted for months), and many more. Lost in blue looks quite interesting too.
The good DS games can be classified in two ways: Those that use the 2nd screen well (Castlevania for the map, Advanced Wars for the second front/status info, Mr. Driller for the extra height), and those that just wouldn't work the same without the pen (Yoshi, Animal Crossing, Nintendogs, etc.)
The PSP looks better. No question. But so far I've enjoyed my DS FAR more than my PSP. Right now, the DS is the clear winner in my mind.
To be fair, there are many things (Burnout: Legends, GTA: Liberty City Stories, and more) that I think will bring the PSP into being a force. But the fact is that it has been stalled for a few months. I have no doubt it will pick up TONS of steam, but it sure took it a long time to get out of 1st gear (not that the DS was a speed demon there either).
Comment forecast: Bits of genius surrounded by a sea of mediocrity.
The editors were much too busy rejecting interesting, informative, stimulating posts from it's non-paying members and hunting for the Next Big Dupe.
:)
Editors aside, articles like this one are written for one thing and one thing only: to generate hits. Why do you think fuckin' Dvorak is still writing a column this late in the game? Because his flamebait, trolling articles generate hits. I'm sure he gets absolutely pounded by email each time he takes the wrong side of a hard line on issues, and that pays the bills. His expertise in the industry is quickly fading into irrelevance. An old man in an industry moving this quickly has a very hard time making insightful observations, but drive-by criticisms and fanciful, pulled-out-of-his-ass predictions are a no brainer.
To avoid calling the kettle black, I'll state for the record that my post just might be stupid, redundant, and uninformative.