2007 the Best Year Yet For PSP & DS

ElFozzie writes "From a handheld perspective, Pocket Gamer has posted a couple of features offering a positive viewpoint on the reasons why both PSP and DS might have a very happy new year. Tellingly, whilst the PSP piece focuses on a range of new potential developments from new peripherals and downloadable video content to price drops and even a new version of the handheld system, the DS article simply highlights 10 top games titles due to hit the streets in the next 12 months. On one level this could be argued as a reflection of the divergent strategies of the two devices and companies, with Sony trying to establish all-singing, all-dancing, all movie-music-and-gaming 'entertainment platforms', whereas Nintendo have focused solidly upon one core area. However a simpler argument would suggest it's merely underlining why Nintendo has raced ahead this year and the lesson Sony are going to have to learn if they are to have any chance of a truly prosperous 2007 — "It's about the games stupid!""

Comments

Prediction

[popo]

The development of MMORPG's for handhelds is going to be simply enormous.

Just wait until the crack addiction can be taken anywhere...

IMHO, the company that gets there first (and does it well) could easily win the battle.

Re:Prediction

[Martin Foster]

That would probably be popular for a certain segment of the population. However, I would imagine that there are still several people out there who want a handheld gaming system to be able to play short quick games in between intermissions in their lives. Something as demanding as a MMORPG game is not something you can turn on, play for five minutes while the kid takes a nap and close up when (s)he cries.

There is an entire market of novelty toys that play games like poker, sodoku and so forth. This shows that people want something small, portable and quick to put down in a matter of seconds. Again a game that requires online play, cannot be really saved in a current position (put down, change diaper and take up again) is not really suited for this type of gameplay.

Besides, to play online you need STABLE hotspots and LOTS of battery power since WiFi will generaly kill your batteries faster (so the PSP may not be a great candidate for this). Hardly what I would call portable with the current connectivity available in a city now.

it's certainly ironic

[macadamia_harold]

On one level this could be argued as a reflection of the divergent strategies of the two devices and companies, with Sony trying to establish all-singing, all-dancing, all movie-music-and-gaming 'entertainment platforms'

If that's their strategy, it's certainly ironic; Sony's content arm (Columbia, Sony Music, etc) has historically hobbled their hardware divisions like SCEA (playstation, psp, digital walkman) to the greatest extent possible. What they don't seem to understand is that the more they tighten their grip on digital media, the more hardware sales will slip through their fingers...

Re:it's certainly ironic

[thatguywhoiam]

If that's their strategy, it's certainly ironic; Sony's content arm (Columbia, Sony Music, etc) has historically hobbled their hardware divisions like SCEA (playstation, psp, digital walkman) to the greatest extent possible. What they don't seem to understand is that the more they tighten their grip on digital media, the more hardware sales will slip through their fingers...

Tarkin references aside, its worth elaborating on this a little, as it is emblematic of a bigger fight.

Sony's various content arms have tried like hell to hamstring their electronics divisions over the last few years, ever since 'the gloves came off' as far as the RIAA/MPAA goes - but with what I would call limited success. Sony BMG were able to roll out their rootkit with no input or interference from Sony Electronics for instance.

But here's the thing - hardware sales dwarf content sales. Absolutely dwarf them, something like 10-to-1. This is not just true of Sony but the entire industry. Hardware simply generates a hell of a lot more money.

This is why the iPod goes like crazy, and Apple does its placating DRM-lite (although any is bad) on their content, so they can get the juicy hit singles that power iTunes while really making the money off the hardware sales. Its also why Microsoft created the Xbox and Zune.

But you end up with a crazy situation. As Lessig points out often, the content people swing way above their weight class legislatively, when you take into account the actual money generated. They get the protectionist laws passed that they like. And the hardware guys mostly sit mum, with Intel putting their hand up every so often, offering to be helpful. The content guys know they are fighting for their lives, and need to fight dirty to keep anything like the level of cash flow they are used to. (I choose that word carefully - they fight dirty - there is no other way to put it really). Hardware guys maybe know that they will be around forever, who knows why this is.

Now, back on topic, as far as Sony Electronics goes, we can see evidence of the backlash in recent products. Keep in mind that 'recent products' is a wide area for a slow-turning behemoth like Sony. But the most recent and prevalent example, the PS3, plays no DRM'd files. Not a one - its all straight down the middle MPEG1/2/4. And it has regular card readers - compact flash, SD etc. Won't play WMA, won't play anything DRM'd at all. And runs foreign code. Contrast that with the PSP which plays open formats but not unsigned code, contrast that with previous Sony products prior to that which have Sony-special hard drives, memory cards, fucking power plugs, everyting. It seems like a trend. Even the phones follow this, they are backing away like crazy even as their co-branded record label and movie studio scream their fool heads off.

Who knows where it will net out but lets hope that Welsh guy they have for a CEO now has given the electronics guys their balls back. Where they belong, not as cat's-toys for SonyBMG. (Also lets hope they medicate Kutaragi. Yeesh.)

Re:it's certainly ironic

[justchris]

That's not really true. If the PS2 did make a loss initially, it was very small, and was only for the first couple of months.

Contrary to popular belief, what Microsoft did, and what Sony is doing now is not standard in the industry. Especially in the case of the original Xbox, which was never profitable on the hardware, which is why Microsoft killed it so quickly and thoroughly. The reason is, unlike every other company, Microsoft purchased the parts wholesale and put them together into the Xbox case. All other consoles (including the 360), the company contracted to fabricate the parts themselves, so basically they pay a license fee to the original developer of the hardware, but they build and combine the hardware in their own fabrication plants. That's why there are usually hardware shortages when a system initially launches, because the company has to either open up, or convert, fabrication plants, and get them up to speed.

Because they're actually building the hardware themselves, instead of just buying it prebuilt, when the cost to build the hardware is reduced, the company saves money. In the case of the original Xbox, when the cost to produce the hardware was reduced, it wasn't Microsoft who was making more money. They were still paying the same amount per chip to Intel & Nvidia, even though the chips became cheaper to make.

Microsoft learned their lesson, and the 360 is both designed and constructed much more like a home console gaming machine than the original Xbox, which was basically a miniature pc sold for about half the price an equivalent pc would cost.

Also, while hardware does produce more revenue than software, software produces more profit. There is a reason that Nintendo is the most profitable of the console makers, and always has been. They concentrate on software, so have the smallest revenue of all, but still end up with the greatest profit.

Re:it's certainly ironic

[SethraLavode]

"Most profitable" means exactly that -- the one who makes the most money, after accounting for expenses. Software is more profitable than hardware because the company keeps a greater percentage of the gross revenues.

Certainly, a larger company like Sony has higher overall revenues and they sold more PS2s than Nintendo sold Gamecubes, but a significantly larger percentage of their revenue comes from hardware. Nintendo is the #1 video game publisher and I'm not sure that Sony's studios are even in the top ten. Sony makes some money from third-party publishers, but not as much as they do on their own games.

You are right in that you have to have a good profit margin to make a lot of money, but you're drawing the wrong conclusions. Sony is the one who has to sell a lot more product because they make less money for each sale. They don't make as much money (if any) on the hardware, and they don't sell as many software titles. Nintendo makes more money per sale, so they don't have to move as many units. Sony has to "shoot for the big pie", because they can't be successful otherwise.

As a final note, regarding your "who will win this round", it's always said that Sony won the last round hands-down. That's true if you're only looking at the raw number of home (non-handheld) consoles sold, but the big picture is that over the lifetime of the PS2, Nintendo has been more profitable than Sony. Roughly converted from yen (at today's rates, which isn't exactly accurate), Nintendo made $4.2bil to Sony's $3.9bil. (Rather than post the raw numbers, I'll link to a previous post.

I picked up a DS for my little one this Christmas.

[(H)elix1]

Gave my 7 year old a DS this year. I am just astounded by the hardware. Great battery life, wifi (sans built in browser), touch screen, a microphone. Nice solid feeling unit. Her cousins had the Nintendo units as well, so all of them were able to play together in a virtual world (Animal Crossing) with the built in networking. As a nice touch, it also had a slot where it could play the older gameboy as well as the newer DS kit.

After playing with the kit and getting past the 'fun' part of playing games, one of the things that has me wondering is what does the SDK look like/cost to get into developing for the DS. Can anyone comment on what it costs to develop for that platform? I've heard that the Wii is ~$2,500. Anyone know what the DS SDK goes for?

It's interesting

[seebs]

I picked up a PS3 (for Linux) and I've been hanging out with PS3 users. It's fascinating. They have no idea about content restrictions. When I posted a comment on my blog about how annoying HDCP is (if I didn't have it, I'd be running my PS3 at 1920x1200... But it's impossible in my setup because of HDCP), I got a bitchy remark from someone who insisted that Linux has full access to the hard drive, and just doesn't read the PS3 filesystem. No, Sony actually virtualizes the machine so you see only the part of the disk that doesn't have any Sony data on it.

The war between Sony's content and hardware people is pretty vivid here.

Re:It's interesting

[seebs]

HDMI->DVI does not bypass HDCP; it's just a question of wires. The cables are $20 or so. It's just a bunch of wires. The signal coming out of the PS3 is still HDCP-encoded.

So what I'm prevented from doing is connecting the PS3, via DVI, to ANY device that isn't HDCP, including my console switch, so I can't put the PS3 on the beautiful 24" HDCP-capable monitor I use for everything else. Since I am not about to buy another monitor just for the PS3, or spend extra money to replace a perfectly functional DVI switch with a DVI switch that also does HDCP, just for one stupid games machine, it means the PS3 gets dumped on a lower res display.

More generally, it means I can't just hook the PS3's DVI output up to a generic PC monitor; it has to have extra features, and the list of warnings about failure modes in my monitor's manual was beautiful. Apparently, if you interrupt the signal for a while, you may have to reboot to recover it, because the negotiation may need to be restarted. All this extra hardware just to try to keep people from copying movies.

1080p vs. 1080i is a pretty big difference. HDMI allows 1080p. It also, under Linux, allows 1920x1200.

FWIW, I have successfully set my component cable to 1080p output, and it was even possible to see the screen, but it looked like crap.

It's not about Games...

[Anonymous Coward]

It's about getting the worst assclown fanboys with false advertising. Make them recognize your video game console as a status symbol and you won't have to care about quality, price or content anymore.

Look at the PS3. It looks like a status symbol. Not like something you have fun with.

Re:It's not about Games...

[7Prime]

No way man, there must be another reason.

PSP has the chance to shine

[DrXym]

The PSP is a great handheld but its been dogged by shoddy PS2 ports and unoptimized content which takes too long to load. Thankfully its had a lot of great titles appear in the last 12 months (LocoRock, Tekken, MGS: Portable Ops etc.) and finally looks like its shaken off these issues. It also makes for a great multimedia device and I often rip movies, music & shows to watch on it. Even so, the justification for the built-in UMD is rather tenuous, especially with near zero-interest in UMD videos, thanks in part to their rip-off prices.

Where I think the future lies for the PSP is in downloadable content and Sony shows signs of thinking that too. Recent versions of the firmware allow the PSP to play downloaded demos from memory stick, and emulated PS1 titles too. I expect that soon enough we'll see a Sony store on the cross bar selling downloadable games, movies and music for the PSP. It wouldn't even surprise me if / when a PSP Mk2 appears that the UMD drive is an optional external add-on and that games can be played from a large chunk of internal memory and managed via firmware, PC / PS3 or downloaded directly from the store to be played.

Re:Wii doesn't win. PSP wins.

[PhoenixFlare]

And meanwhile, for every "dedicated hardcore fan" that buys a PSP to hack to pieces, there's 1+x people from many other groups buying a DS. The homebrew may be infinitely cool, but I think you're being a little delusional if you think that's going to propel it past the DS (which, i've heard, has homebrew options of its own). Last time I saw some (Japanese) sale numbers, the DS was beating the PSP almost 4:1 in sales.

Re:Wii doesn't win. PSP wins.

[cowscows]

Unfortunately for Sony, the homebrew market is not big enough to support a console. In the grand scheme of things, there aren't enough people interested in it, and the very nature of homebrew means that its enthusiasts are going to be buying less PSP games, and games are where the real money is made.

There's nothing wrong with the PC, do-it-yourself mentality, but it's not why most people buy consoles.

An Australian RPG Fan's Viewpoint

[aussie_a]

I haven't bought a new system since my gameboy and then a few years later my playstation (although I do, have access to a Playstation 2 and Gameboy Advance I take advantage of). So looking at the PS3, Wii, DS, PSP and Xbox360, I am considering perhaps its time I upgraded. However none of the 3 big consoles have really sold me yet, while the handhelds are gaining my interest much more.

Now to be honest both the PSP and DS had a pretty terrible year in 2006 for me as an RPG fan living in Australia. The DS only had:
* Lunar: Dragon Song - Doesn't look that good according to most people. The description of it also sounds sub-par. I'll skip this one most likely.
* Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time - I'll pass. I'm a Pokemon fan so I obviously don't have a very high bar, but this game falls below it by the sounds of it.
* Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Blue Rescue Team - Even though I'm a fan of the Pokemon games, even I have my limits. Can't say this idea really grabs me.
* Pokemon Ranger - Sounds like an interesting twist, but the story seems lacking.
* Children of Mana - Eugh. No thanks. I want something more then dungeon crawling.

The PSP only had:
* Breath of Fire III - I've already got this one. Nice try though Sony.
* Kingdom of Paradise - Eh. Gameplay sounds interesting, story not so much.
* Monster Hunter Freedom - I prefer my turn based games.
* PoPoLoCrois - Sounds interesting.
* Tales of Eternia - Definitely want to get this one.
* Untold Legends: Brotherhood of the Blade - Yikes, it sounds like it has a Baldur's Gate combat system. No thanks.
* Ys: The Ark of Napishtim - I have to admit I've never gotten into the Ys series and given this is a Zelda type combat system, I probably won't get into it with this game.

So for 2006 only 2 RPGs came out in Australia that I want, and only one of those is one I'm keen on. But the PSP does have a 2 game lead over the DS going into 2007.

Now for 2007 the DS games I'm looking forward to are:
* Dragon Quest IX - If this comes out in Australia, I'd like to find out more. However current info points to an action type combat system which is one I dislike. So while I do want more info, my hopes aren't too high.
* Final Fantasy III - No, we haven't got it yet. Yes, I do want it :)
* Final Fantasy XII: Revenant Wings - I was quite surprised to see this when looking at 2007's line-up for this post. But I'm definitely interested, if we get it in Australia (which is extremely likely if its released outside of Japan, which again is extremely likely ;)).
* Pokemon Diamond and Pearl - This is the big draw for the DS for me. And given it has online functionality I'll be able to trade. As a 22 year old pokemon fan, I don't know anyone in person who is a fan.
* Vandal Hearts - Vandal Hearts was the first game I ever played on the PSX, so I'm a fan. However there's no indication it will get released in Australia.

So only 3 games for 2007 by the looks of it. Not a very good line-up. Now moving onto the PSP. It will have:
* Crisis Core - I'm a FFVII fan from when it was first released. How could I not be interested? Well easy, it looks like they did away with turn based/ATB/anything not too action oriented battles.

Well shit. That's not a lot. So it looks like 2007 will be the year of the DS, although will it be enough for me to lay out the money for it? I'm thinking I might wait until 2008, but don't quote me on that. It could quite possibly come down to whether or not DQ9 and Vandal Hearts make it to Australia and if they do, what they're gameplay is like. If both come to Australia with a battle system I like a good story, then I can definitely see myself getting a DS. Otherwise, I can see myself waiting until 2008.

Now as for the articles, I found the PSP one to be as telling as the submitter. It only confirms my suspicions that the PSP won't be the console for me in 2007 (however I do have access to my brother's, so it's pretty much as if I already own it as he's already abandoned it. However with only 1 game on it from 2006, not 2007, I'm not exactly going to be calling it the year of the PSP for myself). The DS article was also inferior to my own research, but thats because I have very specific tastes.

What?

[Mongoose]

I don't like articles like this when they ignore product releases, because it's not in their region.

You can play Metal Gear: Portable Ops, SEGA's star gazer title, and use the mapping software in Japan for the GPS unit already. Even the US Firmware has had PSP camera support for a long time now. The thing is with PSP you can use hardware from any region with your PSP. I have had several of add-ons for some time on my PSP. Vaporware? My ass. The more 'region-free' game hardware get the more annoying these articles become. Often it's cheaper to import some add-ons than buy them local anyway if you buy bundles with software.

Re:Wii doesn't win. PSP wins.

[ADRenalyn]

Buying a PSP with your main purpose not being to play games sounds like the dumbest idea ever.

I guess I'm the dumbest person ever.

I have 3 UMD games for my PSP, which I rarely play. My main reason for getting a PSP was to have a portable device that I can watch movies on, listen to music, look at (and share) my babies pictures, scan for wifi spots while traveling (without opening my briefcase and turning on my laptop), and to occasionally play some Lumines, GTA, or any of the free homebrew games that interest me.

Of course, I think the UMD format is a waste for movies, I just convert the ones I already have to MPG (PSP-compatible) and throw them on to one of my 1 or 2GB memory sticks, which are getting cheap these days. One of my sticks holds a collection of Family Guy episodes and other videos. Another has 2GB of music, and my third has a bunch of photos and videos of my baby girl. It's very quick and easy to swap them out.

Games may be all there is for some people, and maybe those people should buy a system that focuses solely on that. Personally, I don't like having a different device for everything, and the PSP is more than adequate for my non-gaming needs. If I want to play a game, I'd rather fire up one of my computers or consoles and immerse myself, instead of holding the system in my hand and moving the screen every time I hit a button.

Just my opinion, I don't think anyone is dumb for thinking otherwise.

After looking at that GPX2, I think it might be more of what I would want, since it has TV-out and can emulate old game systems. Too bad I never heard of it back when I made the decision to get a PSP.

Re:I picked up a DS for my little one this Christm

[reybrujo]

Some friends are trying to port Allegro, an amateur gaming library, to DS. I should be helping them as soon as I get the homebrew tools. You can use libnds (see general instructions for installing here). Unfortunately, Nintendo does not sell their SDK to single users, only to companies with a determined profile. You can learn more at Nintendo Software Development Support Group.

Not WoW, more Puzzle Pirates

[PhoenixOne]

I can't see many people playing WoW on a small little handheld device like the DS or PSP (that's why we have laptops ;)). But I can see Puzzle Pirates being a big hit on the DS. If you reduced the interface a bit, even Spore might make a great handheld MMO.