The "Sony Games" forum, which includes Retro Game Reviews, has been archived and is now read-only. You cannot post here or create a new thread or review on this forum.
The PSP is coming up for its second anniversary. This should be cause for celebration, but Sony are a little worried about sales.
Originally it looked good for the PSP, it might have even broken Nintendo’s top spot (and sometimes ONLY spot) as No.1 Handheld manufacturer, and the games at launch were spot on, even though over half were rehashes of current Playstation and PS2 franchises. But with Everybody’s Golf, Ridge Racer and the amazing Burnout, to name but a few, this was never going to be a bad thing. The problem is, it seems like somehow the top billing release list fizzled out and new must-have titles became more sporadic, just as the DS showed signs of getting in to its stride.
The PSP had other tricks up its sleeve, though and those who’ve used it for watching movies will testify that the screen is a very well designed and beautiful thing (dead pixels aside, which tend to be a problem in any screen like this). Battery life could be a pain, true, but once you’ve mastered the art of copying films and shows to memory stick, it’s a great little tool for your media. MP3 playback is, admittedly, basic and Sony really should have sorted some sort of decent media player built into the firmware update by now, but at least it plays them out of the box.
But even the media capabilities can’t seem to save the PSP sales and the reason is that Sony need to do more with the machine AND sell these features to the people, as well as come up with some good quality must-have games.
Their promises of PSX emulation, being able to download PSX games from their server and play them straight away on a PSP would have been great, but only PS3 owners can currently do this and the catalogue is small to say the least. Why not release ALL the PSX games online and let everyone download them (for the compulsory fee, of course)? This would really add another string to the PSP bow. Sony’s shoddy attempts at a media download site have so far failed to impress. Short animations and some strangely plucked music videos will not send the right message to owners or potential owners.
Of course, many people have found downgrading is the answer, changing their firmware (the software which controls what the PSP does) so that they can run games made by home enthusiasts and emulators for other machines such as the SNES and Megadrive. Sony have tried to capitalise on this with the PSX emulation, but haven’t come through with it. Meanwhile they hold an on-going battle with the homebrew teams to strengthen the PSP security and prevent the one thing that would potentially sell many more PSPs.
There are plans afoot for the PSP, a redesign to make it smaller and possibly an increase to the memory and battery life are all welcome. They’ve obviously taken a leaf out of Nintendo’s book in providing a new version of their handheld.
So what do they still need to do? Full movies from Sony’s back-catalogue, music videos from artists we actually care about and TV shows are the way to go. Again, they have something right in what they’ve planned for the PS3, but it’s all too little too late for most. Add the ability to download a huge back-catalogue of PSX games, more demos of new games and increase the number of good games themselves. Maybe they could even follow up and extend their own version of the Virtual Console and Xbox Live Arcade on the PS3 to the PSP, allowing you to play old arcade hits by downloading them from the net without having to fiddle about downgrading your machine.
Then Sony can play on the strengths of the machine with a renewed advertising campaign. This could be an iPod beater given better battery-life and better MP3 support, as well as a very good games machine. It’s a good machine with a lot of potential. Perhaps the PSP will get what it wants for its birthday. I hope so.
Originally it looked good for the PSP, it might have even broken Nintendo’s top spot (and sometimes ONLY spot) as No.1 Handheld manufacturer, and the games at launch were spot on, even though over half were rehashes of current Playstation and PS2 franchises. But with Everybody’s Golf, Ridge Racer and the amazing Burnout, to name but a few, this was never going to be a bad thing. The problem is, it seems like somehow the top billing release list fizzled out and new must-have titles became more sporadic, just as the DS showed signs of getting in to its stride.
The PSP had other tricks up its sleeve, though and those who’ve used it for watching movies will testify that the screen is a very well designed and beautiful thing (dead pixels aside, which tend to be a problem in any screen like this). Battery life could be a pain, true, but once you’ve mastered the art of copying films and shows to memory stick, it’s a great little tool for your media. MP3 playback is, admittedly, basic and Sony really should have sorted some sort of decent media player built into the firmware update by now, but at least it plays them out of the box.
But even the media capabilities can’t seem to save the PSP sales and the reason is that Sony need to do more with the machine AND sell these features to the people, as well as come up with some good quality must-have games.
Their promises of PSX emulation, being able to download PSX games from their server and play them straight away on a PSP would have been great, but only PS3 owners can currently do this and the catalogue is small to say the least. Why not release ALL the PSX games online and let everyone download them (for the compulsory fee, of course)? This would really add another string to the PSP bow. Sony’s shoddy attempts at a media download site have so far failed to impress. Short animations and some strangely plucked music videos will not send the right message to owners or potential owners.
Of course, many people have found downgrading is the answer, changing their firmware (the software which controls what the PSP does) so that they can run games made by home enthusiasts and emulators for other machines such as the SNES and Megadrive. Sony have tried to capitalise on this with the PSX emulation, but haven’t come through with it. Meanwhile they hold an on-going battle with the homebrew teams to strengthen the PSP security and prevent the one thing that would potentially sell many more PSPs.
There are plans afoot for the PSP, a redesign to make it smaller and possibly an increase to the memory and battery life are all welcome. They’ve obviously taken a leaf out of Nintendo’s book in providing a new version of their handheld.
So what do they still need to do? Full movies from Sony’s back-catalogue, music videos from artists we actually care about and TV shows are the way to go. Again, they have something right in what they’ve planned for the PS3, but it’s all too little too late for most. Add the ability to download a huge back-catalogue of PSX games, more demos of new games and increase the number of good games themselves. Maybe they could even follow up and extend their own version of the Virtual Console and Xbox Live Arcade on the PS3 to the PSP, allowing you to play old arcade hits by downloading them from the net without having to fiddle about downgrading your machine.
Then Sony can play on the strengths of the machine with a renewed advertising campaign. This could be an iPod beater given better battery-life and better MP3 support, as well as a very good games machine. It’s a good machine with a lot of potential. Perhaps the PSP will get what it wants for its birthday. I hope so.
Garin wrote:
> I dont buy into this PSP is failing or has failed rubbish. Its
> sold 25 million units, in what world is that a failure? Yep,
> its approx 15 million behind the DS (although their sale figures
> are misleading when talking about userbase I think) but this isnt a race
It's Sony that seem to be disappointed, more than anyone, and this is the point. They want to sell more, they hope to have sold more but they don't seem to be going the right way about changing things (in my opinion, of course).
> I dont buy into this PSP is failing or has failed rubbish. Its
> sold 25 million units, in what world is that a failure? Yep,
> its approx 15 million behind the DS (although their sale figures
> are misleading when talking about userbase I think) but this isnt a race
It's Sony that seem to be disappointed, more than anyone, and this is the point. They want to sell more, they hope to have sold more but they don't seem to be going the right way about changing things (in my opinion, of course).
I dont buy into this PSP is failing or has failed rubbish. Its sold 25 million units, in what world is that a failure? Yep, its approx 15 million behind the DS (although their sale figures are misleading when talking about userbase I think) but this isnt a race and the market is big enough to accomodate them both.
For me, one of the biggest things that hinders it is that its too close to a PS2. This leads to easy/lazy conversions. Rachet and Clank is coming out on the PSP, yet the developer admits that it'll be almost identical to the PS2 version. God Of War is coming out too, I've no doubt that'll be a straight conversion too. Wheres the motivation for me to buy these products then if they're just copies of titles I may have already played. I've just been playing Pirates on the PSP, its great yet I know that if I'd spent more than a few hours playing the PC version I'd of had no interest in it at all.
For me, one of the biggest things that hinders it is that its too close to a PS2. This leads to easy/lazy conversions. Rachet and Clank is coming out on the PSP, yet the developer admits that it'll be almost identical to the PS2 version. God Of War is coming out too, I've no doubt that'll be a straight conversion too. Wheres the motivation for me to buy these products then if they're just copies of titles I may have already played. I've just been playing Pirates on the PSP, its great yet I know that if I'd spent more than a few hours playing the PC version I'd of had no interest in it at all.
...it sounded good when I started writing this, now I'm not so sure...sorry if it's a bit boring!
The PSP is coming up for its second anniversary. This should be cause for celebration, but Sony are a little worried about sales.
Originally it looked good for the PSP, it might have even broken Nintendo’s top spot (and sometimes ONLY spot) as No.1 Handheld manufacturer, and the games at launch were spot on, even though over half were rehashes of current Playstation and PS2 franchises. But with Everybody’s Golf, Ridge Racer and the amazing Burnout, to name but a few, this was never going to be a bad thing. The problem is, it seems like somehow the top billing release list fizzled out and new must-have titles became more sporadic, just as the DS showed signs of getting in to its stride.
The PSP had other tricks up its sleeve, though and those who’ve used it for watching movies will testify that the screen is a very well designed and beautiful thing (dead pixels aside, which tend to be a problem in any screen like this). Battery life could be a pain, true, but once you’ve mastered the art of copying films and shows to memory stick, it’s a great little tool for your media. MP3 playback is, admittedly, basic and Sony really should have sorted some sort of decent media player built into the firmware update by now, but at least it plays them out of the box.
But even the media capabilities can’t seem to save the PSP sales and the reason is that Sony need to do more with the machine AND sell these features to the people, as well as come up with some good quality must-have games.
Their promises of PSX emulation, being able to download PSX games from their server and play them straight away on a PSP would have been great, but only PS3 owners can currently do this and the catalogue is small to say the least. Why not release ALL the PSX games online and let everyone download them (for the compulsory fee, of course)? This would really add another string to the PSP bow. Sony’s shoddy attempts at a media download site have so far failed to impress. Short animations and some strangely plucked music videos will not send the right message to owners or potential owners.
Of course, many people have found downgrading is the answer, changing their firmware (the software which controls what the PSP does) so that they can run games made by home enthusiasts and emulators for other machines such as the SNES and Megadrive. Sony have tried to capitalise on this with the PSX emulation, but haven’t come through with it. Meanwhile they hold an on-going battle with the homebrew teams to strengthen the PSP security and prevent the one thing that would potentially sell many more PSPs.
There are plans afoot for the PSP, a redesign to make it smaller and possibly an increase to the memory and battery life are all welcome. They’ve obviously taken a leaf out of Nintendo’s book in providing a new version of their handheld.
So what do they still need to do? Full movies from Sony’s back-catalogue, music videos from artists we actually care about and TV shows are the way to go. Again, they have something right in what they’ve planned for the PS3, but it’s all too little too late for most. Add the ability to download a huge back-catalogue of PSX games, more demos of new games and increase the number of good games themselves. Maybe they could even follow up and extend their own version of the Virtual Console and Xbox Live Arcade on the PS3 to the PSP, allowing you to play old arcade hits by downloading them from the net without having to fiddle about downgrading your machine.
Then Sony can play on the strengths of the machine with a renewed advertising campaign. This could be an iPod beater given better battery-life and better MP3 support, as well as a very good games machine. It’s a good machine with a lot of potential. Perhaps the PSP will get what it wants for its birthday. I hope so.
Originally it looked good for the PSP, it might have even broken Nintendo’s top spot (and sometimes ONLY spot) as No.1 Handheld manufacturer, and the games at launch were spot on, even though over half were rehashes of current Playstation and PS2 franchises. But with Everybody’s Golf, Ridge Racer and the amazing Burnout, to name but a few, this was never going to be a bad thing. The problem is, it seems like somehow the top billing release list fizzled out and new must-have titles became more sporadic, just as the DS showed signs of getting in to its stride.
The PSP had other tricks up its sleeve, though and those who’ve used it for watching movies will testify that the screen is a very well designed and beautiful thing (dead pixels aside, which tend to be a problem in any screen like this). Battery life could be a pain, true, but once you’ve mastered the art of copying films and shows to memory stick, it’s a great little tool for your media. MP3 playback is, admittedly, basic and Sony really should have sorted some sort of decent media player built into the firmware update by now, but at least it plays them out of the box.
But even the media capabilities can’t seem to save the PSP sales and the reason is that Sony need to do more with the machine AND sell these features to the people, as well as come up with some good quality must-have games.
Their promises of PSX emulation, being able to download PSX games from their server and play them straight away on a PSP would have been great, but only PS3 owners can currently do this and the catalogue is small to say the least. Why not release ALL the PSX games online and let everyone download them (for the compulsory fee, of course)? This would really add another string to the PSP bow. Sony’s shoddy attempts at a media download site have so far failed to impress. Short animations and some strangely plucked music videos will not send the right message to owners or potential owners.
Of course, many people have found downgrading is the answer, changing their firmware (the software which controls what the PSP does) so that they can run games made by home enthusiasts and emulators for other machines such as the SNES and Megadrive. Sony have tried to capitalise on this with the PSX emulation, but haven’t come through with it. Meanwhile they hold an on-going battle with the homebrew teams to strengthen the PSP security and prevent the one thing that would potentially sell many more PSPs.
There are plans afoot for the PSP, a redesign to make it smaller and possibly an increase to the memory and battery life are all welcome. They’ve obviously taken a leaf out of Nintendo’s book in providing a new version of their handheld.
So what do they still need to do? Full movies from Sony’s back-catalogue, music videos from artists we actually care about and TV shows are the way to go. Again, they have something right in what they’ve planned for the PS3, but it’s all too little too late for most. Add the ability to download a huge back-catalogue of PSX games, more demos of new games and increase the number of good games themselves. Maybe they could even follow up and extend their own version of the Virtual Console and Xbox Live Arcade on the PS3 to the PSP, allowing you to play old arcade hits by downloading them from the net without having to fiddle about downgrading your machine.
Then Sony can play on the strengths of the machine with a renewed advertising campaign. This could be an iPod beater given better battery-life and better MP3 support, as well as a very good games machine. It’s a good machine with a lot of potential. Perhaps the PSP will get what it wants for its birthday. I hope so.