Nintendo utterly screwed. Sony PSP = $185 for JPN Launch

Games
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Yeah, it comes down to a matter of taste… but I’d much rather get a Nintendo system with just a few titles than a Sony system with just a few titles, because the ratio of good titles is likely to be better.

But is there anything that makes you want to get a DS? If you want to access the GBA library, why not buy an SP for $80?

Nintendo really needs to show me some cool uses of the dual screens in DS games to sell me. I’m not heartened by their latest PR photo of the DS that shows it being used as a message pad to send and receive short, scribbled messages. I’d get a Palm Pilot if I wanted that. It also bugs me that one of the DS launch titles is a warmed-over Mario 64. That’s what? Seven years old now? Sure, I can play it four-player – if I find three other players with a DS and a copy of the game and we all get within WIFI proximity.

What I like about the PSP – not that I’ll be getting one – is the bigger screen. That is really a strong selling point for me. The GBA screen is too tiny for my tastes. The movie thing is kind of cool too, though I don’t know if I’d use that much. Maybe if Blockbuster rents PSP format movies I might be tempted to rent some for trips.

Regardless, Nintendo will probably remain the market leader in handhelds for the near future, but Sony is likely to take a bite of their marketshare. I think it’s only a matter of time until Microsoft jumps in with a handheld too.

22

“Nintendo utterly DOMED!”

23

Backwards compatability matters Mark.

  1. If it didn’t, the PS2 wouldn’t have outsold the DC so easily from the starting gate. In consumer surveys PS1 compatibility mattered to PS2 buyers. Because it wasn’t that launch fireworks game that moved the PS2 off the shelves (okay, maybe it was the DVD player, but not completely).

  2. Also, people won’t want to carry around a GBA AND a PSP or DS. Why do that when you can carry the DS and still play all your GBA games on one device?

  3. Nintendo owns the handheld market. Consumers know Nintendo will deliver, so they’ll probably stick with Nintendo here. The “kiddie” curse doesn’t matter as much when it comes to handhelds. Yet, anyway. GameGear and Lynch blew GameBoy out of the water back in the early nineties. So, brand loyalty is a factor too. We’ll see if Sony’s brand loyalty translates because it isn’t helping Sony against iPod yet.

  4. What was said above about system selling games.

  5. Nintendo has Nintendogs.

The GBA SP should hurt Nintendo DS and SonyPSP equally because, for the mainstream market, the GBA is all they really need. But I think more will go with DS, if only to justify their GBA library… people won’t want to carry around two handhelds.

24

I still believe, however, that more people will carry a GBA SP than they will a DS, mostly due to the psychology of the toy vs gadget pricepoint.

25

What a nice surprise, looks like I’ll be able to get a PSP way earlier than I thought and BY GOLLY this winter is going to be huge. Are they out of their mind? Preferably a handheld should probably go on sale when it can suck more attention from a not-so active console releases. But both the DS and PSP launch mere weeks after Dragon Quest VIII hits which is so not smart. Add on top of that, Zelda, Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories, Fire Emblem: Trail of Blue Flames, Tales of Rebirth, Super Robot Wars, Kessen III, Gran Turismo 4, Itadaki Street Special, Metal Gear Solid 3, Mario Party 6 and so on. Previous effects of such clumping has shown that this does effect everyone negatively as one big title sucks attention from another, regardless of demographic and interest, bizarrely enough.

Anyway, I’m not looking forward to the fanboy wars over this, it was really, really nice the last 10 years or so where you could just play portable games and talk about it without having to deal with all that stupid shit. Ah well, every good thing has to end sometime.

I’m still worried about the PSP’s battery life concerning that quote that the battery life for where wireless is not used, the volume is by half and the brightness is at a certain level and the weird developer kit that asks developers about battery life in the technical assets of their game. Unless there’s a real easy to play the MP3s I have on my computer on it, I doubt I’ll use it for anything but games, with the possible exception of Advent Children if that turns to be a kicky cool action movie.

Though the games don’t look as new and shiny in concept as the DS (well, other than Metal Gear Acid, which is really unique), I’d probably pick up Minna no Golf, Ridge Racer, Vampire Chronicles and the Tower of Purgatory along with MGA if I were to buy it at launch. I can’t possibly entertain thoughts of never picking up, as it might not have a DQ in development, but now it does have a Final Fantasy, so its mine eventually. I want Kingdom Hearts the most on a PSP though, of all Square Enix’s properties.

I can’t afford either of these before the end of the year, as all my love is going to DQVIII. :) I’ll probably pick up the DS sometime next early spring or winter and the PSP next holiday season, depending on how much its software costs and how much the used softs go for and how awkward or easy it is to fit 3D games concepts on a small portable screen. (Though DS suffers from this too, at least I’ll have a grip of 2D-only games to play on it at least at first.)

I still hope, however, that the GBA can outlast both and live on for several more years. Graphics are nice and lovely and all that, but if you haven’t noticed that the GBA can utterly slaughter some of its peers in the same genre with invention, creativity, elegant depth and beautifully unconfusing design, then you must have been playing a different portable! ;)

2D forever in my dreams!

-Kitsune

26

heh, both cheaper than an n-gage!

27

Were they bought by Nintendo? I only recalled that it was a different company name.

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I still believe, however, that more people will carry a GBA SP than they will a DS, mostly due to the psychology of the toy vs gadget pricepoint.[/quote]

No argument here. More people owned PS1s than PS2s for how long into the PS2s lifespan? Couple years at least?

29

Phantom Brave/Disgaea fanboys should note that the next Nippon Ichi title, Makai Wars, is PSP exclusive.

That, plus Minna no Golf and Darkstalkers, makes the PSP VASTLY more appealing than the DS, which has, uh, Advance Wars DS somewhere down the road and little else that appeals to me (especially given the uglyass 3D on the system).

30

Were they bought by Nintendo? I only recalled that it was a different company name.[/quote]

Haven’t they always been a part of Nintendo? I was under the impression they were one of the “teams” under the Nintendo umbrella.

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Were they bought by Nintendo? I only recalled that it was a different company name.[/quote]

Intelligent Systems is a separate group within Nintendo, like the Sonic Team was once in Sega. I believe the group started during the early NES days and was originally headed by Gunpei Yoki, the late designer of the original Game Boy among other Nintendo gadgets.

EAD is another big group within Nintendo. It is the one Shigeru Miyamoto is the most associated with and it produces all the major Mario and Zelda games. Pikmin as well, and I believe Animal Crossing.

-Scott-

32

It would have to be a pretty huge handheld to fit an entire CD-ROM into it. The PSP is a much smaller device than that.

Having said that, the architecture is quite similar to the PS2. Not close enough for binary compatibility, but close enough that all the acumulated knowledge and tools over the years that have made PS2 games better are going to be applicable. PS2 to PSP ports shouldn’t be too hard.

Culdcept - I doubt it would get ported. :(

33

According to an interview I read (http://www.techjapan.com/print.php?sid=605):

  • yes, you can play with it plugged into AC. And it’ll charge the battery at that time, too.

  • obviously running the WiFi lowers battery life, so expect 3-4 hours with the WiFi going (my estimate, not from the interview)

  • When you hook the USB up to your PC, and have a memory stick in the PSP, it just shows up as a Mass Storage Device. Which rocks.

34

NINTENDO IS DOOOOOOMED!!!

Thought I’d throw that in there to be the first one on this page!

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How does that rock? All that means is that the PSP is capable of acting like a $10 card reader. Anyone who wants a card reader, probably already has one.

36

If true that alleviates most of my concerns with battery life.

37

Looks like Sony is doing a MS and are willing to eat money on the hardware to try and have it compete better with Nintendo.

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  1. Also, people won’t want to carry around a GBA AND a PSP or DS. Why do that when you can carry the DS and still play all your GBA games on one device?

Yes, but why buy a DS when you have a GBA? That’s my question. There’s nothing about it that really jumps out as compelling. The two-screen thing is really still a mystery. We need to see some games that take advantage of it. Until then, it’s a gimmick.

The DS is competing with the SP, and the SP is half its price. We don’t have an SP yet – just the old GBA. If I were to get a handheld for my kids for Xmas, I’d probably get two SPs rather than one DS since the cost is about the same.

And yes, I’d say Nintendo has a lock on the handheld market, but there may be a handheld market that hasn’t been tapped yet – older teens and 20 somethings. My impression is that the Gameboy audience is very much a 14 and under crowd, even though I know a lot of older hardcore gamers have one. Sony’s done a good job of tapping into the 14 and older market with the PS line, and they may do the same with the PSP.

39

Feel the Magic XX/YY is more compelling than the entire announced PSP lineup, for my money.

40

Sure, I can play it four-player – if I find three other players with a DS and a copy of the game and we all get within WIFI proximity.

Actually you can play multiplayer with only one copy of the game. That’s one of the new selling points of the DS, only one person needs a copy of a game to play it together WIFI (providing the game developers take advantage of the media streaming capabilities, which Mario 64 DS and the other Nintendo games all do).