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PSP Price Drop Official
GamesIndustry.biz reports that Sony has officially dropped the PSP price here in the US. Other markets will have to wait and see about a reduction in cost, but stores are already selling the portable console for $169.99, down from $199.99. "When asked if Sony has any plans to cut the price in Europe the spokesperson replied, 'We have no announcements to make about the PSP in the European market at this time.' The PSP competes in the handheld market with the Nintendo DS Lite, which has a lower price point of USD 129.99 / GBP 99.99. Last month Nintendo announced that more than 3 million DS units have now been sold in the UK, securing Nintendo a 68 per cent share of the market. "
So have they added a touchscreen or games that aren't just ports?
Metal Gear Ac!ds and LocoRoco are cool, but aren't system sellers. I am amazed how much of a life WipeOut has in the UK, though...
$40 isn't nearly enough to make that enticing.
The Core pack includes a PSP, battery and adaptor, and retails for GBP 150 in the UK.
150.00 GBP = 296.374 USD
Jesus Christ, you must all be walking permanently bowlegged over there from such a pounding.
If the versions currently being sold run a BIOS version that's been dumped and hacked. If not, it will probably only take a few weeks. I don't care how great the DS is (I have one, it's pretty great) because a big shiny 16:9 handheld that plays PlayStation games is _sweet_. You don't have to be interested in any of the other stuff it can do (which is a lot) if you ever liked the PSX.. Pull out your old PSX discs and spend $50 on a big MSPD and you'll be the most badass kid on the bus.
Really have a dramatic effect on the PSP sales? Sure, it will spike for a while but, will it have a long term effect? Personally I see not enough good software to make it worth my money. Even if it is $40 less.
For those of you wondering what the RRP in the UK is, for a black base unit PSP it's £149.99 (including 17.5% sales tax)
In dollar terms that's $296.40 at the moment.
Lucky us!
Plucker and adobe reader. If I could take the floorplan of my house in acrobat format, carry it in to the local hardware store, and zoom in to get the measurements of various areas, good enough for me.
Metal Gear Portable Ops is a likely candidate for a system seller. It's one of the good games on the PSP that isn't a port.
If they gave us a Suikoden 1 and 2 remake like they did in Japan, I'm sure it'll sell a few systems here and there (and hopefully reduce the ps1 price of Suikoden 2 on ebay).
Every geek has some sort of website, programming or computer project. Here's mine: www.youtasteit.com . What's yours?
Because of a mislabeling in advertisement. The console itself was 250€, but according to the advertisement it came with three free games that were still sold 50€ a pop. By now those games are cheaper... Of course, that advertisement was gone next time I passed by that store ;-)
Ahhh...the great dumpster continuum. Many a free computer will be found there. -- sowth (748135)
I'm not buying one until I get can both the PSP and Locoroco for 100$CAD. It may take another 2 or 3 years, but so far that seems to be the only original game not available on another platform.
I have a PSP. I've used it one time when I got it in another state, and used it during the flight.
And that was when I wasn't using my IPOD. I have movies which I've watched already, and a few games that suck.
What am I supposed to do with this thing? I don't really care to learn the ins and outs of firmware, but playing old PS games would be awesome. I might actually use it then, so how do I go about figuring that out?
It just sits there. I have money to buy games, but nothing looks remotely good.
http://use.perl.org
Or get a GP2X and have a handheld that's designed to be hacked, uses SD cards (SDHC support is being worked on...) and runs Linux!
And a PSX emulator is being worked on right now. (See PSX4GP2X
Here's to the crazy ones
A lot of people have stayed away from Sony apparently because their products are so expensive. Now you're getting a $170 game player, web browser, music and movie player all in one. Combine that with upcoming Home (Sony said it would port it to PSP in some form) and the fact that 2GB memory sticks are getting really cheap (about $75 or so) and you have a $240 price point that really competes with a video iPod pretty well. If Sony really does go ahead and launch the music/movie store that's rumored (integration of BMG, Sony Pictures, and SOE is inevitable), then I think this will work out for them.
Price drop doesn't change that it's a Sony. DRM Sony, RIAA Sony, crap on the customer Sony. Yeah, that Sony.
Seriously, enough of this. Microsoft is represented as a borg on this site for a reason, so don't argue that they're holier than thou. That leaves you with Nintendo. I go home and copy my Nintendo cartridges to my Sony portable all the time. And then I play them on my legally obtained SNES emulator which runs on my iPod. Of course, I then copy the Gamecube discs and put them on my blank Wii Optical discs I got at Gamespot so they run well in my brand spanking new Wii.
Give me a break. Each console maker does their own copy protection. You don't like that? Play solitaire.
No good for me as im in the UK and they wont ship there but Play Asia are selling PSPs for 159.99 dollars at the moment http://www.play-asia.com/SOap-23-83-2pz-71-9e-49-e n-84-j-70-1p3t.html
Heh...that was nice!
Remember when the PS2 was an IBM computer, and not a Sony entertainment system?
Sony wants to clear out inventory of the old PSP before they release the revamped PSP2 this summer/fall. The new PSP2 will be on a more-battery-efficient 65nm process and will include the new features Sony had been planning for a while.
Syphon Filter
Daxter (both of which had price drops to $20 this week as well)
Pursuit Force
Chili Con Carnage
Ratchet & Clank
Killzone
The whole "the PSP has no games" meme may have been true at one time, but it just doesn't hold anymore. At this point I think it has nearly as strong of a library as the DS (the DS has more good games, but those games tend to have less lasting power). It might have a lot of ports as well, but I personally don't mind that - being a commuter, I like having the option of buying the portable version of a game.
Pardon my enthusiasm for this title, but Puzzle Quest is everything it was hyped to be and then some. It's currently my favorite game on the PSP, and I don't see it getting dethroned any time soon.
Give it a try for some seriously fun and addictive hand-held gaming goodness. There's even a PC demo if you want to try before you buy.
Let's look at some of the DS mega-properties - their top 20 by score on metacritic
Mario Kart DS- Sequel, no major new functionality
Advance Wars: Dual Strike- Sequel, no major new functionality
Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow- Sequel, no major new functionality
New Super Mario Bros-Sequel, no major new functionality
Meteos- I'll see your Meteos and raise you a Lumines. I owned both, and traded in Meteos, but that's personal preference
Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan- New property, apparently pretty fun, Okay, that's one
Elite Beat Agents- See above, still only one
Kirby: Canvas Curse- Okay, two
Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time- Mario RPG, how absolutely shockingly new
Animal Crossing: Wild World- Sequel, the touch screen is used for inventory and that's it
Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin- ooh, a side-scroller, how novel
Metroid Prime: Hunters- Sequel, and an ever-so-original FPS
Super Mario 64 DS- Port
Daigasso! Band Brothers (Jam With The Band)- okay, reasonable, make it three
Tetris DS- My mind is blown by the originality of tetris
Tony Hawk's American Sk8land- port
Dragon Quest Heroes: Rocket Slime- standard RPG, virtually no use of the touch screen
Nintendogs: Chihuahua & Friends- Tamagotchi, but for argument's sake say four
Nintendogs: Lab & Friends- above with a graphics patch
Clubhouse Games - Woah, board and card games, I'm blown away by the originality.
So I'll give you four of the top 20 as having actual novel functionality that actually makes specific use of the DS hardware. Congratulations on 5% originality.
I own both portables and like both, but innovative? Give me a break.
>So I'll give you four of the top 20 as having
>actual novel functionality that actually makes
>specific use of the DS hardware.
>Congratulations on 5% originality.
Don't worry, I'm sure you will learn how to divide by graduation.
No child left behind and all that.
Mario Kart DS- Sequel, no major new functionality
After all the bitching people do about Nintendo's lack of online gaming, one game they do add it to you say has no major new functionality?
Mind boggling, but I guess thats why I keep coming back.
-- toolie
PS2 never was an IBM computer.
The price of the basic PSP package dropped to C$200 ($170 US) at least two weeks ago. I guess the price reductions will hit other markets in due time.
C$200 should be the sweet spot. C$300 was far too expensive and C$150 is just not realistic until the end of the product cycle. With new versions of the Prince of Persia and God of War coming for the system I am thinking very seriously of picking one up this summer. The Gameboy Advance was priced at C$150 for quite while before it dropped to C$129 and then C$99, and the DS remains at C$150 (although I expect this will drop to C$129 by Christmas). $50 more isn't all that much.
Sony are effectively killing the PSP in the UK themselves and this price drop that we won't even see over here is just making it worse.
It's true that there are few few killer titles on the PSP and i think a lot of this is because Sony is putting most of their resources into the PS3 and is largely ignoring the PSP. The PSX emulator has been in the PSP firmware since 3.0 and yet it is still not possible to actually buy these games without a PS3 which to me confirms that Sony are trying to force PSP owners to buy a PS3 (there is a perfectly functional PSP online shop). There was no PAL support in the PSX emulator until the PS3 was released here, i wonder why? I think this is one of the main reasons why the firmware was hacked open to allow people to use their existing PSX games on their PSPs. God love Dark_AleX and his 'open edition' firmwares such as the 3.10 OE-A' firmware i currently have on my PSP. All i really play on my PSP are my original PSX games (which i own the originals) and Wipeout pure (also original), there really isn't much else that interests me at the moment and there is little on the horizon i'm excited about either.
The UK is one of the most expensive places in the world to buy a PS3 and it's now the same for the PSP. Thank you Sony.
Comment removed based on user account deletion
Since when does 'more functionality' mean the same thing as 'innovative'?
-- toolie
What a great opportunity to lose the little life I have and buy a PSP AND Puzzle Quest !!
JOY !!!
You can spend the same amount of money and get a DS Lite, a slot 1 dev card (R4, M3, SC DS One, etc), and a gig micro SD card for the same price.
IBM PS/2
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM_Personal_System/2