RIP PSP?

[darthbane2k]

Apart from the obvious fact that the PSP is way too expensive/fragile/complicated to dominate the handheld market - I as a PSP owner believe it is doomed.
Why? Because primarily sony see it as a media device and a gaming device second, and you know what has killed the PSP - not the DS (although it sells more) but the ipod video...

[SOAPboy]

Apart from the obvious fact that the PSP is way too expensive/fragile/complicated to dominate the handheld market - I as a PSP owner believe it is doomed.
Why? Because primarily sony see it as a media device and a gaming device second, and you know what has killed the PSP - not the DS (although it sells more) but the ipod video...

lmfao one of our video rental places here, have MORE psp movies to rent than new release dvds, and almost none for sale..

Its laughable..

WEEE lets watch movies on a tiny screen..

[darthbane2k]

Apart from the obvious fact that the PSP is way too expensive/fragile/complicated to dominate the handheld market - I as a PSP owner believe it is doomed.
Why? Because primarily sony see it as a media device and a gaming device second, and you know what has killed the PSP - not the DS (although it sells more) but the ipod video...

lmfao one of our video rental places here, have MORE psp movies to rent than new release dvds, and almost none for sale..

Its laughable..

WEEE lets watch movies on a tiny screen..

and whats even funnier is that in the UK we will soon have a PSP giga pack, this comes with a 1gb memory stick, psp and... 'PSP Stand' so you can mount your psp upright and enjoy movies on the 'small screen' in your room!

[DYNAGOD]

im betting are all these negative comments are from people who dont own one. 

[Franco]

im betting are all these negative comments are from people who dont own one.

[darthbane2k]

im betting are all these negative comments are from people who dont own one.

[Minwah]

Its not that we dont own PSPS its that we do but are FED UP with the fact that sony seems to see it more as a movie player (Which ipod video does better anyway) than a games machine.
Where are the games eh? yet there are shelves of UMD movies that I have NO desire to buy...

This is the kind of crap people want nowadays.  Useless gadgets - people love spending money on them.

On another note I went into a Virgin megastore yesterday (first time I've been in a shope which sells games for a long time) and was surprised (shocked) at how much PSP stuff was there.  I literally couldn't even find the PS2, Xbox etc. games *anywhere*.

[pointdablame]

darthbane, have you seen a video Ipod in person?  I'm just curious why you're so sure it'll destroy the PSP.  Its got a smaller screen, and a 4:3 ratio which is hardly ideal for video.  I can't see the Video Ipod screen being any better than the PSP with it being the size/ratio it is.  How do they look if you have seen one?

Frankly, I don't see any demise of the PSP coming at all, but that's your opinion.

[Hoagie_one]

with over 10 million PSP's sold, I cant see them becoming extinct anytime soon

[ChadTower]

uh, 10 million where?

If 8 million of that is outside the US, it could easily die here.

[DYNAGOD]

everyone keeps calling it expensive..

but its just barely below the power of a fullsized PS2, but its only a fraction of the size ar 1/2" thick and 6 inches long....small enough to fit in a back pocket...
has a high definition widescreen monitor.
has the capabilites of running homebrew code at 333mhz.
Wifi and Internet ready
Plays movies, music, games pictures,ebooks,MP4's

I mean not for nothing, but i seem to remember paying 300 bucks for an N64 when it came out new. and it didnt have nearly as much power or do a fraction as much/.
i dont see the psp as being exuberant for what it offers.

[ChadTower]

What a foolish comparison.

Let's compare it to the 2600, too.  I mean, the 2600 was nearly $300 and can't do crap compared to the PSP.

How about we make a better comparison and compare it to the retail price points for other handhelds?  The only one I can ever remember even being close to the PSP is the TurboExpress, which was so much better that any other handheld it was still the best quality handheld ever produced until the PSP itself.

[DYNAGOD]

Theres nothing that compares....
its the only of its kind for all that it does in a single package.

[Hoagie_one]

http://www.gamespot.com/news/6136272.html

10 million PSPs served worldwide
Sony's widescreen handheld reaches a new milestone as the fastest shipping PlayStation machine in history.
TOKYO--Sony Computer Entertainment announced today that its PlayStation Portable has shipped 10 million cumulative units worldwide as of this morning. A shipment of 10 million units within just 10 months of launch is the fastest penetration speed for a PlayStation gaming machine in history.

Broken down by territory, Sony has sent 3 million units to Japan and Asia (launch date: December 12, 2004), 4.47 million units to North America (launch date: March 24, 2005), and 2.53 million units to Europe and other PAL regions (launch date: September 1, 2005).

However, the system's software-to-hardware ratio leaves much to be desired, as SCE disclosed that it has shipped 19.6 million PSP games as of September, a tie ratio of less than two games per unit. It seems the machine is being used for watching UMD movies almost as much as playing games, as shipments of video titles on the proprietary format exceeded 15 million units as of September.

A newly announced Giga Pack with a 1GB memory stick could spur sales of the hardware this holiday season, while portable versions of popular console franchises like SSX, X-Men Legends, Virtua Tennis, Prince of Persia, and WWE SmackDown! vs. Raw could improve the ratio of game-to-hardware shipments.

By Staff -- GameSpot

[shmokes]

Bah....exaggerators.  N64 debuted at $249.99

[ChadTower]

But the PSP has more r0xx0r than the Saturn, which debuted at $399.99.

That must mean it is a better deal.

[DYNAGOD]

id take a saturn anyday

[darthbane2k]

darthbane, have you seen a video Ipod in person?

[pointdablame]

UMD video is useless, but you can convert video to your mem card FOR FREE.

Plus, frankly, I don't see how they can even be compared other than being handheld gadgets.  I think the video ipod will sell great, hell I even want one and am trying to get one (see sig), but it's not going to kill the PSP.  It's just not.

You may think that Sony isn't focusing on games, which I tend to agree with... but its STILL A GAME SYSTEM.  You may not like the choices for games on the PSP right now, but what are your game choices for the video Ipod.... oh thats right... nothing.  Unless they put Breakout on it again.

I just don't see the comparison.  I'm not even saying that the PSP won't die... but if it does... it won't be because of the Video Ipod

[shmokes]

Yeah...I don't care whether Sony is pushing the PMP thing or not.  People who buy a PSP are buying it for the games first.  Yes, yes....I know there are exceptions, but that's what they are....exceptions.  I, for example, would like to own a PSP.  I now would also like to upgrade my 3G iPod to the new 5G (though have no intentions of doing something so foolish).  But having one or the other wouldn't diminish my desire for either of them one bit.  They're just not even competitors.  It's like saying that Popular Pocket PC device will eat into the sales of a DVD player because both can play music in MP3 format.

...I think.

[SOAPboy]

Theres nothing that compares....
its the only of its kind for all that it does in a single package.

O RLY?

No Not rly..

Its a POS.. 

[pointdablame]

O RLY?

No Not rly..

Its a POS.. 

wow, great argument....

[Goz]

Pfffffffft!

[N-Ken]

UMD video is useless, but you can convert video to your mem card FOR FREE.

Actually its the other way around, Mem card movies are pretty crappy, + the fact that storage for them is expensive.  UMD movies, OTOH, are gorgeous, and if you bargain hunt can be had for ~13 sometimes.

[versapak]

UMD video is useless, but you can convert video to your mem card FOR FREE.

Actually its the other way around, Mem card movies are pretty crappy, + the fact that storage for them is expensive. UMD movies, OTOH, are gorgeous, and if you bargain hunt can be had for ~13 sometimes.

UMD movies are NEVER a bargain, uunless you manage to score em for $5 or less.

They are a proprietary format, that only plays on the PSP's small (large for handheld, but small compared to TV) screen, and they cost MORE than a DVD of the same movie, that also is loaded with extra features.

Buy the DVD, and if you must have a portable version, then just rip it and use a memstick, the hit in quality can't be bad enough to justify the purchase of the UMD format.

[pointdablame]

UMD video is useless, but you can convert video to your mem card FOR FREE.

Actually its the other way around, Mem card movies are pretty crappy, + the fact that storage for them is expensive.  UMD movies, OTOH, are gorgeous, and if you bargain hunt can be had for ~13 sometimes.

Sorry, but I disagree.

I'd rather buy a DVD that I can watch at home, on my computer, on my laptop, on my portable dvd player, AND rip to a mem card on a PSP.

My roommate puts movies on his PSP, and they look fine to me.  AS sharp as a UMD? maybe not, but I'll take that over a $20 UMD any day of the week.

As far as cheaper... no.... Spend $60 ONCE to get a 1gig card... thats 3, maybe 4 UMD movies.   I have 300 DVDs... what do you think is more cost effective??  Even buying a 2gig Mem card, equivalent to 10 or 15 movies on UMD, is a better deal than buying the UMDs themselves, assuming you have more than 15 dvds and ANYTHING else capable of playing a DVD.

[SOAPboy]

O RLY?

No Not rly..

Its a POS..

[pointdablame]

O RLY?

No Not rly..

Its a POS.. 

wow, great argument....

No argument needed.. PSP is trash..

its a giant gimmick, nothing more than that.. i give it another year tops of life..

again, great argument.  I dont even own one, but it really is quite impressive.

Why is it a gimmick?  what makes you say that it'll be gone in a year, especially considering that the PSP has moved more units than the PSX or PS2 in teh same time frame of their life cycles

But I suppose both of the playstations were gimmicks too, right?

[SOAPboy]

O RLY?

No Not rly..

Its a POS..

[Hoagie_one]

If its such a crappy system, how did they sell 10 million of them.

[DYNAGOD]

being able to play Samurai Showdown and Blazing Star ,full screen, full speed while sitting on my crapper is all the "gimmick" i needed

[Goz]

O RLY?

No Not rly..

Its a POS.. 

wow, great argument....

No argument needed.. PSP is trash..

its a giant gimmick, nothing more than that.. i give it another year tops of life..

again, great argument.  I dont even own one, but it really is quite impressive.

Why is it a gimmick?  what makes you say that it'll be gone in a year, especially considering that the PSP has moved more units than the PSX or PS2 in teh same time frame of their life cycles

But I suppose both of the playstations were gimmicks too, right?

Its an easily scratched, broken, 300$ toy, that does MP3 (poorly) Video (Poorly, its a tiny screen, give me a break) And gaming (also half assed)..

It does lots of great things, but all half assed.. Its easily breakable..

Lets not even start with sony refusing to replace dead pixle units..

It's funny... I thought people only lost credibility and respect in the EE forum.

Time to scratch soapboy off of the list... 

[PacManFan]

Something not mentioned yet is the fact that several manufacturers are releasing PSP hard drives. So now you can have gigabytes of games and emulators in a handheld platform.
I've got a PSP, and I absolutley LOVE it. The screen is a decent size, it's easy to hack and program for.

I've already ported Quake to the PSP, and I'me currently working on a PS1 emulator for the psp. I've got a working version of it that plays slow right now.

I think with the introduction of mass storage for the PSP, new possiblities will emerge.
Can you web browse wirelessly on a ipod video?

-PMF

[tetsujin]

Apart from the obvious fact that the PSP is way too expensive/fragile/complicated to dominate the handheld market - I as a PSP owner believe it is doomed.
Why? Because primarily sony see it as a media device and a gaming device second, and you know what has killed the PSP - not the DS (although it sells more) but the ipod video...

I don't think PSP can dominate the handheld market because it simply isn't small enough.  There's an important niche, for portable gaming systems that are not only portable, but small and convenient enough to be really practical to bring along.  GBA is pretty much the only platform that can do that right now, apart from cell phones.  GBA is a very limited platform, of course, and the limitations show particularly in the poorer third-party titles on the platform.

That said, for those times when that level of convenience is not needed, PSP is a fantastic gaming system - and with the size and quality of the screen it's easy to see why they're pushing it for media, too.  Portable video players are mostly untapped territory, apart from things like portable DVD players (which are much larger than a PSP).  They've just got to get more games for the thing.  That'll happen in time - Sony's put enough into the system that they're not going to let it fail.  The first year of a console's life the titles are always a little sparse...

Personally, for games, I'm more interested in the DS at this point.  The PSP games I might have been interested have all turned out to be something other than what I was hoping for (like AC: Formula Front and Metal Gear Acid).  There are still some impressive titles I'd love to have, like Mercury - but for the most part the DS's unique capabilities are a greater draw for me.  Likewise for homebrew: the idea of storing homebrew on memory sticks is attractive, but I don't want to deal with a homebrew-friendly PSP getting re-flashed when I run a new game...  With the DS that can't happen.  Software can't re-flash the firmware unless a jumper in the unit is shorted.  I don't know of anything already home-brewed for the PSP that I couldn't live without on DS (I'm guessing the arcade emulations for PSP are a lot better, though) and for my own home-brew work, I'm more interested in DS's novel capabilities than PSP's raw power.  But I want to stress that that's just me it doesn't reflect on the vitality of the PSP homebrew scene as a rule.

But I really believe the best for the PSP is yet to come.  It's absurd to declare the platform's life is coming to an end.  It's just starting.

As for the comparison with the new iPod, I think there is no comparison.  It's not even worth making the comparison.  PSP would be good in place of a portable DVD player, for long train trips and odd times at conventions...  iPod is much more convenient to carry and use, but the tradeoff is there with the smaller screen.  It plays video, but it's still a music player at its core.

[Hoagie_one]

only issue with the psp is the mandatory firmware upgrades that are required to play top games.  GTA just came out and it requires the 2.0 update to run.

[darthbane2k]

Can you web browse wirelessly on a ipod video?

Dont even go there - even as  a PSP owner I can admit that the web browser is bloody crap (out of memory problems anyone?  ) and how are you using the browser if you are running home brew? conflict of firmware is that not?

I'll stick to my SUPERIOR ipaq with pocket internet explorer for web browsing thanks...

[darthbane2k]

As for the comparison with the new iPod, I think there is no comparison.

[Samstag]

Dont even go there - even as

[SOAPboy]

As for the comparison with the new iPod, I think there is no comparison.

[darthbane2k]

Dont even go there - even as