PSP Hits 10 Million Units

Gamasutra is reporting that Sony's PSP Handheld has hit 10 Million units shipped. From the article: "Broken down into regions, Asia (including Japan) has shipped 3 million units, North America 4.47 million, and Europe and other PAL regions 2.53 million. However, Sony's use of statistics for shipped units can be a little confusing to some, since these figures do vary significantly to the amount of units thus far sold in stores. Nonetheless, citing shipment numbers for consoles is common practice within the game industry, and is carried out by all three major console manufacturers."

Comments

DS?

[Chonine]

Suprised the article doesnt mention comparable DS sales.

Re:DS?

[Gojira Shipi-Taro]

I would think that would be because the article is not ABOUT the DS. Just a guess though.

Re:DS?

[Anonymous Coward]

When pretending that big round numbers are the same thing as news, wanna-be reporters usually give the competing numbers at the same time.

An article about the latest Red Sox vs. Yankees game would look pretty silly if its only content was "Red Sox Score 5 Runs" without mentioning the Yankee's score.

Re:DS?

[Anonymous Coward]

bump

Re:DS?

[pappy97]

"An article about the latest Red Sox vs. Yankees game would look pretty silly if its only content was "Red Sox Score 5 Runs" without mentioning the Yankee's score."

You are talking apples and orange, you anonymous Nintendo (blindly) loving coward.

Re:DS?

[Anonymous Coward]

http://www.joystiq.com/entry/1234000837063581/

Here's how it's playing out in Japan. Article date is October 16 '05.

But don't expect the world to match this pattern. The UK is full of trendy dandyfucks, and they've been buying PSPs by the truckload desptie the high cost, like they were iPods or something. I wouldn't be surprised if the UK alone has pushed worldwide PSP sales ahead of worldwide DS sales, despite the fact that the DS is reigning in both Japan and the U.S.

I like the comment from the above article about DS outselling PSP even during the week when the white PSP was released. (New system colors generally cause a small bump in system sales.) And even during the weeks in the past few months where PSP sales were closest to to the DS's weekly sales, DS still had at least a 25% lead, normally much larger.

Re:DS?

[Anonymous Coward]

"I wouldn't be surprised if the UK alone has pushed worldwide PSP sales ahead of worldwide DS sales"

Of all outcomes I suspect that is the least likely; I don't dispute that the PSP may be more popular than the DS but with how large of a lead the DS currently has it would be imposible for the UK to change who is in the lead.

When you look at worldwide hardware sales you can effectively split the world into 3 (somewhat) equal chunks, Japan, North America and the rest of the world; when you split software sales Japan is larger than the rest of the world combined (they spend a ton of money on videogames). The DS has outsold the PSP by about 0.5 Million units in Japan this year, and it outsold the PSP by 1.5 Million last year(simply because the PSP hadn't released in Japan yet); I suspect that the DS has at least a Million lead on the PSP in North America. What this means is that in order for the PSP to be outselling the DS worldwide the rest of the world would have to have purchased 3 Million more PSPs than Nintendo DSs; that would effectively mean that the rest of the world would have had to have purchased nearly twice as many PSPs than Japan has and not purchased any Nintendo DSs.

What is known is that Nintendo will probably have sold more Nintendo DSs in Japan than they sold Gamecubes (~4.5 Million) sometime in first quarter of next year, and the Nintendo DS is approaching 10 million units sold worldwide.

Combo pack

[Anonymous Coward]

Anyone who buys a PSP when, for just $10 more they could get a Nintendo DS and a portable DVD player is obviously not a smart consumer. The Nintendo DS has award-winning games like Super Mario 64 and Tamagotchi and the portable DVD player can play all the DVD+Rs that you can burn. It's win-win.

Re:Combo pack

[TechniMyoko]

The problem is, I bought PSP for its games

Re:Combo pack

[KDR_11k]

There is an official Tamagochi game for the DS, the sad part is it actually sells pretty well in Japan.

Re:Combo pack

[Anonymous Coward]

wow. having fun with generic racing game number 397, friend?

Re:Combo pack

[pappy97]

DS troll: Having fun playing games using wireless over IP?

OH WAIT, NO GAMES FOR DS yet take advtange of wi-fi to allow for online multiplayer. PSP was wi-fi online multiplayer ready AT LAUNCH, with launch titles allowing for a large number of players.

Please stop with the Nintendo-love fest. They are a great video game company, but no one, especially them, is the "End all be all" of console/portable gaming.

Re:Combo pack

[joshsisk]

You realize that the DS troll is actually making fun of the DS, right?

Re-read their comment...

Re:Combo pack

[pappy97]

The DS troll is making fun of PSP and "typical" racing games you find on it.

Re-read their comment and the parent.

Re:Combo pack

[Chemical]

Which ones exactly? Lots of sports and racing games, but that's not really my thing. Grand Theft Auto might be interesting, if I hadn't played it three times already on the PS2. Lumines, the game everyone always raves about, doesn't look that interesting, plus there's a free clone available for the GBA which I have played and didn't find that much fun. I have yet to see one PSP game that looks interesting or revolutionary enough to justify spending $300 ($250 for the system + $50 for the game). Granted, I haven't seen anything on the DS that looks very interesting either, but at least its games are breaking some new ground. I think I'll stick with console gaming for now.

Re:Combo pack

[TechniMyoko]

I dont understand that statement, the closest to a racing game Ive bought was Twisted Metal.

Re:Combo pack

[masamax]

I'm sorry, but didn't I already play and beat Mario 64 like 9 years ago?
PSP may be more expensive, but it can do a lot more, and frankly, a DVD player that costs under $150 is going to be crap anyways. Combine a PSP with a $100 1 GB stick, and you get 4-5 hours of video over the 1.5-2 hours on a portable video player. Plus, let's look at the facts. I'd rather have a single unified device for all my main needs when I am on the bus. I commute an hour every day on the bus, and frankly pulling out a bulky portable DVD player isn't really an option.
The DS is nice, but a different beast. If I want to play n64 ports and a few stellar titles, I am on track, but it's main strength is backwards compatability. One just has to look at the number of games (and we are talking good games) in the works for the christmas season for each system to know who wins in that department.

Re:Combo pack

[catprog]

This list only contains games where info about the game is available and are not straight ports. http://www.nintendo.com.au/nintendo/games/index.ph p?action=search&pagenum=2&sortby=title&platform=DS &rating=&title=&releasedate=&genre=&search.x=47&se arch.y=7&search=search
http://www.us.playstation.com/psp/games.aspx?all

DS:November (NOT ALL OF THEM)

• Lost In Blue
• Kingdom of Paradise
• Metroid Prime Pinball
• Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
• GBA: Fire Emblem The Sacred Stones

PSP:November

• Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
• Lord of the Rings: Tactics
• The Legends of heros

DS:December

• No Good Games with details

PSP:December

• No Games with details

DS:January

• No Good Games with details

PSP:January

• No Games

I say the DS wins

Re:Combo pack

[forgotten_my_nick]

Actually the site you listed for the PSP has 67 games available.

Also you are wrong on upcoming games.

PSP
October = 3
November = 22
December = 9

http://www.us.playstation.com/newgames.aspx?id=cal endar&section=psp

Also factor in how many movies are available for the PSP vs DS? How many games can you play Online on the PSP vs the DS?

Good games is questionable. Personally I hate sims with a passion, but it sells well.

Re:Combo pack

[Anonymous Coward]

Mario Kart Online, the only Online game on a portable that even remotely matters and people will actually play.

Re:Combo pack

[Anonymous Coward]

While the DS does have some N64 ports, this is not the best of its games. The reality is that the DS is a new system with a new way of playing games (not just dual screens, but the stylus). IMO the stylus really adds a dimension to gameplay instead of just recompiling the same crappy games with the same controls for a new platform. Try it and you'll see - I was skeptical too.
And speaking or ports....it seems to me that _most_ games for the PSP are available for PS2 so is it not a port of an old console as well? I think any new system must supply games people like and maybe even miss because they are old so that the systems will be sold/played.
You seem to have bought your PSP for video, which is fine, but for true gaming your 'issues' with the DS do not hold any water. Buy a new iPod with video for a truly large amount of video/audio on the go - and for less money than the PSP + 1GB memory stick.

Re:Combo pack

[catprog]

Actualy according to my count (all games not just good)

for psp
1 in October
12 in November
7 in December

Also factor in movies on psp vs dvd

How many game are online on ps2/xbox/pc vs psp

DS
20 November + 13GBA
1 December + 4GBA
1 January + 2GBA
1 Febuary + 1GBA
1 March

Shipped not sold

[Anonymous Coward]

Shipped == sent to retailers Shipped !== units sold @ retail

YAWN

[OSS_ilation]

Sharp eyes will catch the fact that this is "shipped" sales, not PSP's sold. Sony's good at marketing, I'll give them that.

Re:YAWN

[Xarius]

I wasn't aware you needed "sharp eyes" to read over half of the summary.

Sony's use of statistics for shipped units can be a little confusing to some, since these figures do vary significantly to the amount of units thus far sold in stores. Nonetheless, citing shipment numbers for consoles is common practice within the game industry, and is carried out by all three major console manufacturers."

Shipped vs. sold

[Phisbut]

According to recent statements from Sony Computer Entertainment Europe, the PSP has sold "over a million units throughout the PAL territories"

and

As ever, figures for North America remain the most obscure, although recent estimates from The NPD Group put the figure at over 2 million units.

So they haven't sold 50% of what they shipped yet... meaning 10 million shipped, but less than 5 million sold.

Re:Shipped vs. sold

[ForestGrump]

10 million units shipped.
5 million units sold.
Your accountant ran out of red pens?
Priceless!

Re:Shipped vs. sold

[ZakuSage]

See the words "most recent"? They could well be from 6 months ago.

Re:Shipped vs. sold

[KDR_11k]

Except they aren't, the last leak is at most a month old.

Re:Shipped vs. sold

[rcs1000]

It's a nice theory; but if it's true, why was the European release delayed? Surely if they were having trouble selling all the PSPs they were making, they wouldn't have postponed selling to the Brits and the French...

Also: use NPD numbers with care. They (and they admit this) only cover a minority of retail in the US. Their sales numbers do not include Amazon.com, for example. In addition Sony management has been telling investors they are to ramp PSP production to 1.5m units a month: again, not something they would be planning with 5m unsold units

My guess is that Sony's probably sitting on a little more PSP inventory than they would like, but not the 5m units you're claiming.

Re:Shipped vs. sold

[Doomstalk]

That's not just unsold PSP units in the warehouse- he's talking about store inventories as well.

Gaming Library

[superpulpsicle]

I finally see a couple PSP games around the corner in 2006 that might have my interest. Overall this is the most patience I have shown a new system. Usually I want it the day it launches.

In the meantime I don't see any more DS titles besides castlevania that would be even worth it. Maybe DS has maxed out?

Re:Gaming Library

[Anonymous Coward]

I just bought a PSP...and I see nothing interesting for it. So far, I think the PSP has become what I envisioned its worst case scenario to be - a home for console ports, at console prices. It's really sad, since its a beautifully crafted piece of hardware, just nobody takes the time to make a unique game to take advantage of both its massive storage and its portability.

As for your comment about the DS maxing out, they do have three major releases next month, Mario Kart, Animal Crossing, and Mario and Luigi, all of which I played at Digital Life last weekend, and all of which are pretty freakin' sweet. And there's always the fact that a DS Zelda is in the works that will be a massive paradigm shift and DS Mario which has been long awaited. Plus, if you're really dying for a purely 2d platforming-at-its-best experience, there's Super Princess Peach.

But I digress, this is about PSP, not DS ;)

Re:Gaming Library

[DarkYoshi]

You should play Advance Wars, and the DS hasn't maxed out. Even better games like Mario Kart DS are showing up, and the games are just getting better.

Re:Gaming Library

[ReverendHoss]

Depending on the genre you like, there are some good ones on the way.

Coming Soon:

• Mario Kart DS
• Animal Crossing DS
• Metroid Hunters

Rumored but not confirmed:

• Starcraft
• Diablo

Of course, none of these may be your cup of tea. But for those of us who are Card Carrying Nintendo Fanboys, there's quite a bit to look forward to.

Now give me Super Smash Bros. DS, dammit...

Re:Gaming Library

[jclast]

It's not the one game to make me buy one, but Ready At Dawn's game, Daxter, continues to the story of Jak games, is a PSP exclusive, and actually looks better in some respects than its PS2 counterparts.

Re:Gaming Library

[pnice]

I already have Castlevania for the DS but here is my want list. Maybe you will like some of these too:

Trauma Center
Phoenix Wright
Lost In Blue
Zoo Tycoon
Metroid Prime Pinball - 10/24/05
Mario Kart - 11/14/2005
Animal Crossing - 12/05/2005
Mario and Luigi 2 - 11/28/2005
Sonic Rush - 11/15/2005

Re:Gaming Library

[Anonymous Coward]

Do you own either or both systems?

I own a Nintendo DS and I love it. I have had many games in constant rotation recently (Castlevania, Advance Wars DS, Lunar, Trauma Center, Lost in Blue, Nanostray, Kirby, Nintendogs Dachsund, and Puyo Pop Fever are the ones in my camera bag, I have several older games at home that I don't play as much). But if the only game that attracts you to the DS is Castlevania, forget the DS if you don't already have one. The DS is a system that is targeting less traditional styles of games, so a traditional gamer who can't adjust to the different styles of play that DS games now have is going to be disappointed. Nobody should buy a DS expecting merely a portable N64, and I recommend that these people not bother buying a DS until either they get accustomed to playing in new ways or more old-fashioned games come out for it. All things look the same for Revolution, but I'm already sold on the likelihood that I'm going to love playing games on it.

I don't have a PSP. Nothing has convinced me that these first-generation models are worth their current (first-generation) price and hype, particularly due to the current lack of worthwile software (IMO only), the hostile cat and mouse firmware foolishness, the exceptionally poor value of the "value pack," and the fact that none of my friends owns a PSP (well, the gamers at least - one friend has one and uses it for ripped movies). If the good games start coming out, the price of the hardware comes down, and Sony stops pulling their firmware bullshit, I'd consider buying one a bit more seriously.

Honestly, the only current portable I can recommend to old-school gamers that aren't used to the DS's interface and games yet is the GBA. It's the only unquestionably good value in portable gaming right now, of the three current major portables (GBA, DS, PSP).

Re:Gaming Library

[oGMo]

I have thought about this recently and I've determined we're willing to give Sony the benefit of the doubt, simply because they have delivered with their consoles recently. The PSX had a massive library. The PS2 started out very very slowly, but now it has a massive library. The PS3 already has a ton of games lined up.

Contrast this with recent Nintendo; I don't give them the benefit of the doubt. Not because I don't like Nintendo. I love Nintendo. I have a Gamecube, a GBA SP, original GBA, an N64, a SNES, and a NES. But recently, starting with the N64, they simply haven't delivered the killer lineup they should be. So they will have to build it before I buy into it.

However, I haven't bought into the PSP with no games; I've been playing far too much THUG2: Remix, HSG2, and Metal Gear: Acid recently. Maybe these aren't your cup of tea; maybe none of the games are. That's too bad: there are some good ones. But if you don't like them, and you don't want the video/music features, don't buy one.

But while we're listing current and upcoming games, let's try the following, to name a few:

• X-Men Legends 2
• Popolocrois
• Legend of Heroes (probably better known as The Gagharv)
• The Con
• Kingdom of Paradise
• Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories

Four of those are RPGs, the only thing the PSP has been really lacking to this point. There are some interesting things; I'm curious as to what you're after if none of these or any other titles are to your liking.

Re:Gaming Library

[Castar]

I picked up Trauma Center and Phoenix Wright a week ago.

I haven't even played Phoenix Wright yet because Trauma Center is so great! It really feels like you're performing surgery, the level of tension is really well done. You feel like you have to do everything quickly and well, and weird things keep happening to throw you off.

It's very linear, and they tell you every procedure to use, so you don't have to use any actual creativity, but it's still a lot of fun.

The game really shows what the stylus is good for, though - the game wouldn't be the same without it. It really gives me hope for the Revolution games.

Re:Gaming Library

[TheLoneDanger]

I second that notion, Trauma Center is excellent and a truly different kind of game. The sense of desperation you feel when a patient's vitals are dropping and you're balancing multiple injuries at the same time allowed me to react faster than I ordinarily thought I could (or would) for a game. This and Castlevania are all the reason I need to justify the purchase of my DS.

Re:Gaming Library

[buffer-overflowed]

Depends. They still crank out their first party titles, which have always been my motivation for buying a system during the first year. And Nintendo seems to be positioning themselves into a place where no one is really competing with them via interface differentation.

They're also cleaning up on the software/hardware sales in the land of the rising sun, have far lower development costs, and seem to have made a lot of headway in undoing the whole N64 debacle with developers and customers(The GCN is, to me, a fairly ok apology for the N64).

The DS is home to some downright odd(and fairly good) games already:
Pheonix Wright
Trauma Center
Kirby
Warioware Touched
Feel the Magic XX/XY

As well as the non-games Nintendogs, the brain training game, and Animal Crossing. And of course a new Advance Wars that kicks much ass(we've run the charge out on the DS, no mean feat, 6 or 7 times with this game already, just passing it around like a board game).

They're also getting updated N64 ports of the good titles(Mario 64, Mario Kart), the best controlled FPS for a console to date(Metroid Prime - Hunters), newly done classic Nintendo franchises(Zelda, Mario), and updated versions of various games(Probably the best side-scrolling Castlevania came out for the DS recently). Oh and on the RPG front, a new Lunar(disappointing if you weren't a die-hard lunar fan), Mario and Luigi, FF3, Xenosaga 1/2, and supposedly an FF:CC.

Add into all of that, plus that you know there's going to be a holiday bundle of the system with some at least ok game, and you'll be able to pick up a DS + 2 games for about the same amount as 3 PSP games. Not a bad bet at all if there's a few titles in the pipe that are at all interesting to you.

The irony of betting on 3rd party support is that it's largely a self-fufilling prophecy. If you, and others, stick to Sony, then Sony gets the 3rd party support. Neither the DS or the PSP seem to have any dearth of 3rd party support atm, and if anything, it looks like the DS is likely to get more attention from the staple Japanese developers given the situation atm in Japan.

Re:Gaming Library

[catprog]

Also from nintendo australia's DS game list

Age of Empires 2

http://www.nintendo.com.au/nintendo/games/index.ph p?action=search&pagenum=1&sortby=title&platform=DS &rating=&title=&releasedate=&genre=&search.x=47&se arch.y=7&search=search

Re:Gaming Library

[Juanvaldes]

Too bad it has nothing more in common with AOE2 then the name. It appears to be a turn based game, not unlike games from the NES/SNES era.

Still haven't seen one

[metamatic]

They may have shipped millions of PSPs, but I still haven't seen one, and I'm not likely to buy one until I do, am I?

Re:Still haven't seen one

[Babbster]

I haven't seen one in use, in person, either. I did, however, see John Leguizamo playing with one on ER last night, with actual gameplay closeups - Ridge Racer if I'm not mistaken. It didn't, however, inspire me to run out and get one. :)

Re:Still haven't seen one

[sdhankin]

This is a good point. I was able to play with the DS on day one via the kiosks set up in the game stores. I have yet to see or touch a PSP. I've been trying to understand why Sony has done this. By all accounts, the screen is beautiful, and the games look great. Why hide it? I can play the PS2 all I want at these same stores.

It is puzzling.

Re:Still haven't seen one

[jclast]

I played with a PSP in a Sony store. It was disappointing. I have no idea if I'd like to play games on it. There was no UMD in the thing. In the Sony store. Where they sell PSP games and PSP movies.

Good job, Sony. Good job.

Re:Still haven't seen one

[Deliveranc3]

I've seen a few in action but mostly all I've seen is Loading loading and more loading.

Re:Still haven't seen one

[fistfullast33l]

Yeah, go ahead and mark parent Informative. He's just adding to the hype. Until you've actually used the device yourself I doubt you're in a position to comment on its performance.

The reality is that the PSP is not always necesarily to blame. I have about 8 different games and loading times are completely different for each game. Some, such as Virtua Tennis and Ridge Racer actually have pretty decent load times considering the content your getting at once. Virtua Tennis is extremely impressive. It even lets you use the game while it's loading content such as player models in (see your home in World Tour mode)! EA seriously has problems with the UMD. The code they use references the disc so often it's scary. FIFA Soccer and Madden 2006 (not considering that stupid franchise bug which is totally inexcusable) take forever to load. I think 99% of the blame for the long load times with the EA Games are the EA Trax that they play in the background. The games completely drag whenever this music is playing. EA, get rid of your damn music licenses and give me some fast games! Other games also really surprise me, such as Mercury and Ape Escape. These both have really long load times even when doing simple things such as attempting to save or load in Ape Escape or just loading levels in general. I really think this problem is mostly the developers trying to deal with the hardware. Yes, the UMD drive is slow. So don't use it unless necessary! It's not that hard to develop some kind of caching mechanism. I'm really looking forward to Liberty City Stories to see how well Rockstar has worked this issue.

Re:Still haven't seen one

[KillShill]

gee, and people put nintendo down when they decided to use cartridges for the n64/gba/ds.

load times for ps1/saturn/neogeo cd were atrocious back in the 90's.

even the fastest optical drives are no match for solid state memory like flash.

even with carts, they were still priced competitively, even though cd's were nothing but cheap plastic. makes you think.

optical drives without caching sucks, period.

Re:Still haven't seen one

[AvitarX]

Damn Sony is a whole season behind Nintendo on that one.

House (from House M.D.) played with a DS instead of working for a couple weeks last season.

Re:Still haven't seen one

[Deliveranc3]

Here is my story, sitting in class (University I'm Canadian) waiting for a lecture on J-Unit to start, I see a guy sit down 2 seats over and pull out his PSP so I pull out my DS in the hope I can try his PSP, it doesn't really look that sexy to me but it's supposed to have ps2 quality games and I don't have a ps2.

I start Kirby and start playing, he doesn't look over.

I play for about 3-4 minutes, and look over again.

He still hasn't done anything, The lecture starts and I close the lid of my DS (putting it in suspend mode) He sighs and puts in his headphones, I look over, it looks like a driving game, it's ok it's no Project Gotham, or Forza, or even Ridge Racer 4.

He ends up playing during the entire lecture, I end up watching in disbeliefe for most of the lecture.

Here is another funny story about my DS, I lost the adapter! Seriously I lost the cute little adapter, so while I was visiting my family I saw an old friend and he borrowed my DS.

He was able to complete 3/4 of Kirby on the charge still in the machine (about 3/4).

It was a reassuring demonstration of battery life.

Re:Still haven't seen one

[Anonymous Coward]

I haven't seen any polar bears in my neighbourhood. Clearly they don't exist.

Actually about 15 people in work have one (Ireland). For the first week you couldn't buy one for love or money.

Although I haven't tried Homebrew some of the other guys I know have. There are 100's of games this way, including GBA games in the works to be played on it. As well as mame being worked on.

Add to that MP3, Video, Streaming video (I picked up a 2GB memory card for 114 euros), UMD movies (which is handy for long trips, local store rents them) which you can play on TV. Also numerous games for it (granted not the 100's of old stuff the GBA has but give it time).

DS isn't even in the same ballpark. It can't even get a proper wireless connection without extra hardware (which hasn't been released yet).

Oh and I own 2 GBA, 1 GBA SP, 1 DS and the PSP is clearly a winner.

I know where 1 of those PSPs is...

[thundar2000]

...sitting on my shelf gathering dust.

1. Was sucked into the hype vortex.
2. Under a state of hype-nosis, bought into an EB bundle deal.
3. Got 5 games for it.
4. All 5 sucked.
5. Unhappiness breaks me out of hype-nosis.

Never again will I buy into a 'bundle'... (see xbox 360 bundles for even worse deal)

I guess this is a good time to ask, are there any games out yet that will give me a reason to dust off my PSP and hunt around for the certainly now lost power adapter?

Re:I know where 1 of those PSPs is...

[jclast]

What games did you get with it? Would you be willing to part with it? If so, how much?

Re:I know where 1 of those PSPs is...

[KillShill]

hmm, i wonder if you are allowed to use the processor inside the unit you bought for doing other tasks...

Re:I know where 1 of those PSPs is...

[KDR_11k]

Allowed? Yes. Able to? Since he didn't use it I doubt the Firmware is up to date.

Do these things exist?

[PresidentEnder]

Were any of these seventy-three billion PSPs shipped to Montana? Now, granted, the general consensus seems to be that only about half as many have sold as have shipped; but that's still over thirty-six billion, five hundred ninety-six million, six-hundred seventy eight thousand PSPs. I have yet to see one. I'm not sure they even exist. Instead, like the AMD Geode processor, they are an internet myth, designed to make me happy that someone is putting actual pressure on nintendo to make better handhelds. Oh, wait, no they aren't.

Re:Do these things exist?

[pappy97]

"Montana"

You answered your own question. Move to a state where one city has a larger population than the State of Montana, and you might see a PSP. There are many cities/metro's in the US that would fit.

The crap?

[Rod Beauvex]

This is non-information. This is beating a dead horse. The PSP is dead. Gone. No one cares.

Let me know when the price cut hits

[DoctaWatson]

If these things aren't selling too well, I'll be more than happy to pick one up at a highly discounted price- for the homebrew and Grand Theft Auto if nothing else.

Re:Let me know when the price cut hits

[KDR_11k]

Sounds like a bad idea. GTA will most likely update your firmware to a version that won't run homebrew. Sure, there might be another exploit in there but better don't buy before you have confirmed homebrew compatibility. Or is GTA enough to keep you happy?

Re:Let me know when the price cut hits

[DoctaWatson]

From what I understand, there's an utility that spoofs newer firmware to let you run new games AND the old firmware.

What the PSP needs

[TheGuano]

Is some cheap games. I hear prices are starting to go down for some "Greatest Hits" titles, but how about a UMD full of small puzzle games, simple/ported side-scrollers, etc.? I know everyone is going to start yelling "homebrew," but honestly, I think that'd be the fastest and easiest way to make up for the slow flow of new releases.

That, and open up the UMD format with an affordable burner, so people don't have to pay $200 for a 2GB memorystick or tack-on microdrive! I know, I know--dream on, ATRAC, dream on.

Re:What the PSP needs

[KillShill]

open and sony should not be used in the same book, let alone the same sentence.

they make ms look standards-compliant.

Re:What the PSP needs

[TheGuano]

You would think getting their ass handed to them by Samsung over the last 5 years or so would wake them up a bit. Seriously, give us a UMD burner and some cheap media, and the PSP would rock. Heck, Sony could even take out the expensive gaming guts and make a cheaper, smaller "UMD player" with the same screen...imagine the possibilities that will never be realized.

Rich Kids Only

[Buddy_DoQ]

When working at SummerTech (a summer camp of dreams for super nerds 8-16 in New York) one of the kids had one, he was kind enough to let me hold it, but not play it. I made sure to target him latter in the staff vs campers dodgeball game.

Otherwise, I've never seen one back here in Texas. But then again, I've only seen one other DS here too... I do see a lot of the Gameboy SP, however. (I have a black one myself, love that Minish Cap and Advanced Wars 2!)

I may never really want a PSP to play, but I do dream of developing for one sometimes... mmmm...lowpoly...

Pretty Impressive in Europe

[EnglishTim]

2.53 Million units in Europe is pretty impressive, seeing as it's only been out here for less than two months. It'll be interesting to see what the post-Christmas figures are like. In the UK at the moment it's extremely difficult to get hold of a new (non-import) one - everywhere is sold out. I wonder if Sony will be able to meet demand in time for Christmas?

Re:Pretty Impressive in Europe

[KDR_11k]

That's shipped. Sure, it's still impressive that retailers bought that many of 'em but most of them are probably lying around in a warehouse or a shop noone cares about.

Re:Pretty Impressive in Europe

[EnglishTim]

I think it's highly unlikely that there's lots of PSP languishing somewhere in a warehouse. They are really hard to get hold of - almost everywhere has sold out. There won't be many units in "some shop[s] no-one cares about" because those shops wouldn't have had many allocated to them in the first place.

PSP Killer Apps...music videos and Emulators

[marcybots]

I own a PSP and use it quite a bit, but playing PSP games on it is like 10 on the list of things I do with it, the biggest thing I like to do with it is play music videos! I can compress music videos to about two to three times the size of a MP3 (sometimes its smaller than a 320kbps MP3 of the same song!), and make them full screen. That is why the Ipod video will kick so much butt when it comes out...music videos are a great way to kill time in short burts. Also the emulators on the PSP are nothing short of amazing, I can play gameboy color games, Nintendo 8-bit, Turbo-Graphx-16 and Super nintendo games at full speed and its like having an ipod for games....thats pretty darn cool. Unfortunatley its too big to bring everywhere, but now its jacket weather I can put it in my jacket pocket and bring it with me. But the combo of a bunch of music videos, a movie and like 100 roms on one memory stick plus a game on a UMD is quite a potent combo...unfotunately all the commercial games released for the system cant hold a candle to the games I can play on the emulator...the DS has way better games than the PSP right now, hopefully that will change soon.

PSP is a clear disappointment.

[richman555]

I think the PSP is clearly a disappointment based on several factors. The PSP was supposed to dethrone Nintendo in the handheld gaming market. The PSP was supposed to dethrone Apple in the poratable music player market. And the PSP was supposed to dethrone portable dvd players in the portable movie player market. Sony had big expectations with the PSP.