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Sony Describes DS As Gimmick

Posted by Zonk on from the sore-loser dept.

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?

9 of 453 comments (clear)

  1. Yeah, it's a gimmick! by Zangief · · Score: 5, Funny

    That is why the PSP, the superior product, is outselling the DS worldwide...

    Wait a minute...

    1. Re:Yeah, it's a gimmick! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      But... the PS2 will be able to do Final Fantasy movie level graphics! The PS3 is equal to 8 supercomputers! Killzone is a Halo killer! The E3 graphics aren't pre-rendered, they'll look just like that in the game! ATRAC sounds better than CDs! Memory Stick is the best memory format! Betamax is superior to VHS! Sony wouldn't lie to me!

    2. Re:Yeah, it's a gimmick! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      What's the superior but less sucessful product in the doll-house space?

  2. Totally misleading... by 0x461FAB0BD7D2 · · Score: 5, Informative

    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.

  3. Sour grapes by Daetrin · · Score: 5, Informative
    And their "gimick" is not only outselling the "real" PSP in japan, for the past several weeks it's been outselling every other piece of gaming hardware combined. How irrelevant of it.

    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.

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    This Space Intentionally Left Blank
  4. I will now talk out of my ass. by hotgirlgamer · · Score: 5, Funny

    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........

  5. Desperation? by satellite17 · · Score: 5, Interesting

    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?

  6. Corpses in the wake of the big N by Neuticle · · Score: 5, Insightful

    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".

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    "Cheeze it!" - Bender
  7. Another attempt for Slashdot to be more by chrysrobyn · · Score: 5, Insightful

    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.