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PSP Devs Should Pony Up 99

Posted by Zonk from the put-up-or-shut-up dept.
President of development house 'Ready at Dawn' Didier Malenfant has given a short interview to GamesIndustry.biz. In the piece, he lays out his feeling that developers are to blame for the lackluster title library of Sony's handheld console. From the article: "'Everything is compromised, and it bugs the hell out of me when you hear a lot of developers saying, Well, we can't do this that way because it's a handheld game, or We can't do this because it doesn't have a second analog stick.' 'Those are all excuses,' Malenfant continued - observing that the original PSone controller didn't have any analog sticks, 'And there were great games on that.'"
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PSP Devs Should Pony Up More

PSP Devs Should Pony Up

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  • I know that the chicken & egg argument could be applied here but it seems that the market for the PSP is a LOT smaller than the market for the foriginal Playstation.

    Plus gamers are used to completely different games and gaming experiences, I'd suspect that most people who have a PSP expect the gameplay to be similar to what they have today on the PS2.
    • I'd suspect that most people who have a PSP expect the gameplay to be similar to what they have today on the PS2.

      Maybe if you're an idiot. Do you expect the same gameplay on the Gamecube that you do from the Gameboy Advance or the DS?
      • Price is also a factor, the GBA costs less than the GameCube, the DS costs a little bit more though.

        The PSP is $100 more than the PS2, and twice the price of the DS. People who pay that kind of mony expect a hell of a lot more from the system.
      • Except Sony actually WAS promoting it for a while in that vein. Yeah, they kept saying "as powerful as a PS1" rather than PS2, but with a smaller screen to render for as well, which most gamers understand means less work for the GPU. The implication was, "this is a console shrunk down to hand-size, not another top-down tile-based zelda platform". The DS never promised THAT much more than you'd come to expect from the gameboy line.
    • I don't know about that. Despite the fact that the PS1 sold for the better part of a decade, video games are now a much bigger industry than they were in 1991, or whenever PS1 was released (it was earlier than you think, but it cost something like $1,000). After seeing that WWF game take 10 minutes to load, I can definitely agree that games for the PSP are a problem. Perhaps Sony needs to poach some of Nintendo DS's developers.

  • I agree with 80% of him (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Dark Paladin ( 116525 ) * <jhummel.johnhummel@net> on Friday March 10, 2006 @06:32PM (#14894685) Homepage
    Looking at some games that have released in Europe (and not in the US) such as "Tales of Eternia" (which is a PSX port of "Tales of Destiny II" US) and "Breath of Fire III", there is the ability to bring games to the PSP without the long loading times - even ports of PSX games.

    Contrast this with games like "Ys'" and the Japanese release on the PSP of Valkyrie Profile [gamebrink.com], both of which suffer from frequent load times. The latter also appears to have bad text and graphics, where the developer didn't take the time to remake the graphics and font for the smaller system, but just stretched out the graphics and added fuzziness to hide the edges.

    Yuck.

    In the latter case, it appears to just be laziness - they didn't take the time to make the game well, and now they and gamers will suffer for it.

    On the other hand, I believe there are also some inherent design flaws with the PSP, mainly in the UMD system. Games that require data swap outs (like RPGs as you move from one area to the next) will suffer from load times. On a PSX system, that's fine - the CD is always spinning, because you're plugged into the wall.

    On a PSP, though a constantly spinning UMD means your battery is going to vanish faster than a bottle of Bawls at a LAN party. So the game has to load, spin down, spin up, load, spin down over and over again, which gives you bad load times.

    There are ways around this - better caching or compression, using a piece of the memory card (basically, you make the "save game" space at the beginning then use that to cache some data. Granted, it's not optimal, but it's an idea).

    So a wagging finger of shame to developers too lazy to update the graphics in their ports, a wagging finger of shame to the developers who haven't even bothered to give us really good original games (save for maybe "Exit" - and no, I'm not including "Lumines" - it's Dr. Mario all over again), and a wagging finger to Sony for not promising on the possibility of the PSP.
    • Yeah, load times are ridiculous in some games, there was a video of the PSP version of Smackdown vs. Raw where it took almost 7 minutes to load. It got removed, but there's another video [youtube.com] where someone has time to play another game while waiting for it to load.
      • Yeah, load times are ridiculous in some games, there was a video of the PSP version of Smackdown vs. Raw where it took almost 7 minutes to load. It got removed, but there's another video where someone has time to play another game while waiting for it to load.

        The game loading for 7 minutes or me watching a video of a game load for seven minutes.

    • the Japanese release on the PSP of Valkyrie Profile



      If I were SquareEnix, I'd just start selling copies of the old PSOne version of this game again. Right now it costs well over $100 for used copies on eBay, and the few available new copies sell for ~$225! I've wanted to play this game for a while, but not at these prices. And, I'm certainly not going to go out and buy a PSP just to play it.

      • I've never understood that either.

        Development costs: 0 (already done).
        Costs to Sony: minimal (just printing PSX CD's and cases)

        Sell it for $20, everybody who wants it will buy it (a la "Final Fantasy Tactics"), and the company gets the game dollars and not eBay'ers.

        I mean - it's like printing money. Makes no sense why they don't.
    • Better graphics and optimised loading times mean more developers working for more time on the game. If publishers feel the game will sell X more units at retail because of the extra polish, they'll pay for it but usually it doesn't make a difference - especially now when PSP titles are thin on the ground. The system itself doesn't help this because, paradoxically, it's powerful enough that you need a larger, more expensive team to make a competitive game on PSP. Look at Wipeout Pure - 10 programmers and 13
    • I'd go buy a PSP right now if PS1 games were playable on it. Or if there was a descent Gran Turismo with online play. Hell, I'd buy some high buck, high capacity Duo's if I could throw PS1 games on it. Granted, like in the article, it doesn't have two analogs, but who cares. Lots of games didn't need both or either.

  • Huh. (Score:5, Insightful)

    by RyoShin ( 610051 ) <<tukaro> <at> <gmail.com>> on Friday March 10, 2006 @06:38PM (#14894722) Homepage Journal
    'Everything is compromised, and it bugs the hell out of me when you hear a lot of developers saying, Well, we can't do this that way because it's a handheld game, or We can't do this because it doesn't have a second analog stick.' 'Those are all excuses,' Malenfant continued - observing that the original PSone controller didn't have any analog sticks, 'And there were great games on that.

    This guy understands what's going on.

    The Gameboy Advance (SP) has one directional pad, two regular buttons, and two shoulder buttons. Yet, we get brilliant software for it, and it's only sold, what, a few dozen million systems?

    The DS, ignoring the touch screen, only boasts an extra two buttons. Though I guess the industry has proven that you really can't do anything with those things, huh, guys?

    I think it's more that the developers that are trying to utilize the power that the PSP possesses are too used to having all sorts of controls and control combos associated with it. It would be as if Amazon decided to boot its store and just make a book review site. Sure, they could do it, but they couldn't make just a book review site- eventually they'd turn it right back into the Amazon store, because they don't have any constraints, and are used to the bigger feel.

    But you don't need a large amount of controls to have a good game. I've been playing Wario Ware, Inc. for a few weeks now, and at any time it is using one of the regular buttons and the d-pad at most during gameplay. And it's quite a fun game.

    Another part of the problem is that too many developers may be trying to continue the "PSP is just a system to port to" thought process that seems to abound (I've seen few original games that aren't ports or rehashes). When going from a Splinter Cell game on the PS2 to the PSP, of course you're going to lose something because of the new layout. So, make a new stealth game. One that isn't Splinter Cell (yes, I know that's hard, bear with me a minute) and fashion it such that it works with the controls.

    • Re:Huh. (Score:3, Interesting)

      by Guppy06 ( 410832 )
      The original Game Boy was plagued by similar issues and they persist to this day, as developers continue to publish "Console Game X: The Portable Version." Even Nintendo themselves were guilty of it (ever play Super Mario Land?).

      What pulled the Game Boy and perhaps the entire portable games industry is that Nintendo took the initiative and started to make real games for the Game Boy. Kirby stood on his own two feet (or... you know what I mean) to the extent that he even made the leap from portable to con

  • I'm a little biased, however ... (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Frag-A-Muffin ( 5490 ) on Friday March 10, 2006 @06:41PM (#14894744)
    I am a Nintendo fanboi .. so I thought I'd get that out of the way. That doesn't, however, preclude me from making observations.

    I was at Futureshop the other day, just checking out the GCN and DS titles and stuff, and walked by what I tought was a HUGE rack of PSP games. I thought, wow, WTF? I didn't know they had that many games. Then I looked a little closer ... "Oh ... stupid UMD movies"

    I don't think I ever saw any PSP games actually (not that I was looking for them or anything).

    So here's the thing, if you don't blame the devs, who else can you blame for the poor showing of PSP games? Sony? Maybe. Perhaps if they weren't pre-occupied with trying to re-sell movies they've already sold to people in a more usuable form (aka DVDs) then they might perhaps be a little more focused on something that might actually sell the system. GAMES! From what I've obvserved, there are 3 kinds of people that have purchased the PSP. 1) The pissed off kind that thought they'd get some games. 2) The people who bought this solely for home brew purposes. 3) The pissed off people who conceded defeat and now only use it for home brew stuff.

    There are a lot of nice things about the PSP (admittedly). The device itself is a quite sexy. The screen is pretty nice. My complaints would be that it's a little large, UMDs suck, Memory Sticks suck, analog stick isn't in a good position for long term play, battery life (it's not as bad as some people claim, but I expect a little more from a portable gaming machine. Just look at the past machines that sold well. Hmmm .. all Nintendo machines, all with very good battery life.)

    Again, yes, I am a Nintendo whore, but these were just my observations/opinions.
    • From what I've obvserved, there are 3 kinds of people that have purchased the PSP.

      Four kinds. Believe it or not, there are people who are actually *happy* with the PSP. I have about twenty games for it right now. The PSP has its fair share of crap games (Ghost in the Shell, or Generation of Chaos, which is perhaps the most terrible game ever made) but it also has plenty of titles which are a lot of fun, like SSX, Legend of Heroes, Ys, Rengoku, Tokobot, and a few others.

      That said, my wife has a DS, a
      • I'm pretty happy with my PSP as well. I've got about half a dozen games for it, but I only play it leisurely.. like when I travel. Going to be sitting around at the airport? Grab my PSP with Tiger Woods or Need for Speed Underground and I'm set. I was an avid PC gamer up until the age of the DMCA, and I drifted away until the Xbox. Microsoft really brought me back to gaming, with that homebrew hardware setup :D

        What I'm looking forward to is the PSP's integration with the PS3 to rejuvinate developer intere

  • Open Development for PSP (Score:5, Insightful)

    by zariok ( 470553 ) on Friday March 10, 2006 @06:53PM (#14894849)
    Sony needs to open up the development on the PSP.

    1. Make development kits available.
    2. Allow PSP's to run homebrew. Now I don't mean stolen ISOs or the like.
    3. Start a community site so players can upload games.
        3a. Offer the ability for a homebrew(r) to charge for their game ($1 here, $1 there).
        3b. Sony can get a cut, profit for everyone!
    • Sony needs to open up the development on the PSP.

      Sorry, but I think you mispelled a word. Here, let me fix it for you.

      The cheap RIAA-member b*stards who won't give up a peny and hired some goons to make a rootkit need to open up the development on the PSP.

      There! :)

      Wait, something's not right... o.O

    • The only thing about GPH's GP2X handheld system that doesn't fit your description is that it isn't available at brick-and-mortar retail chains in North America.

    • Nice post, but it can be summarized like this:

      "Let me run emulators on my PSP so I can play SNES ROMS (that I downloaded from the internet for free) instead of your new $50 titles."

      Sony realizes this and has no intention of supporting unofficial apps. Ever.
    • They should really open it up. As an independent game developer, I'd love to port some of our games to the PSP, but the barriers to entry and publish don't justify the risk. If dev kits were cheap and you were allowed to sell your games directly (shareware as we do or anything else), there would be a HUGE library of games - some of them good, some of them bad, but customers are used to that risk (which the shareware model greatly reduces anyway). As a result, more PSPs would be sold and people wouldn't comp
    • 1. Make development kits available.

      Potentially this would piss off the commercial game makers greatly. But I can think of an obvious way that they could do this and keep the commercial / homebrew crowds happy. Sell Linux on a UMD and provide some cross-compiler tools that enable people to hack it, running code that they download to a memory stick. The PS2 had Linux so it must be possible. Unlike PS2 where a harddrive was required, the PSP has enough memory on a stick that it could work just as well.

      This

    • That is exactly what I though when I read the title. If you want rapid innovation, you can't run a closed system. This isn't just Sony though, the consol market as a whole is a closed shop. I guess they look to all the damage open development caused the pc gamaing market... I mean, all those free games out there, how can anyone make a profit on pc gaming?
  • That means `pay for` doesn't it? What should they be paying for? The article doesn't make this clear.

  • Symptom of too many ports (Score:5, Interesting)

    by LordZardoz ( 155141 ) on Friday March 10, 2006 @06:54PM (#14894866)
    When you port any game to a system that cannot give you the exact same sort of input as the originating system, you will run into problems. If a game used 2 analog sticks originally, you cannot make the exact same game on a system with only one analog stick.

    You can make a game that has a close resemblance, but thats about it.

    Now, I think that one of the big reasons that the PSP may be suffering is that too many developers and publishers are porting games to that system rather then writing entirely new games. specifically for it.

    The Nintendo DS does not suffer as much from this problem for two reasons. One is that most direct port type games from earlier systems have already shown up on the Gameboy Advance. The other reason is that the new interface pretty much demands new types of games.

    END COMMUNICATION

  • The main problem with PSP... (Score:5, Informative)

    by tlhIngan ( 30335 ) <slashdot.worf@net> on Friday March 10, 2006 @06:57PM (#14894890)
    are the AWFUL UMD load times! There is nothing more infuriating than the bloody load times in practically all the PSP games I have.

    One of the reasons why I keep my PSP at 1.5 is to use UMD Emulator and Fastloader. Guess what? The PSP is MUCH MORE ENJOYABLE because loading off memory stick (or the hard drive accessory) is way faster. (Off memory stick, it's really quick. Hard drive is perhaps 2-4x slower, but UMD is probably 10x slower than the hard drive). Sony could make a killing if they made it possible to cache UMDs on memory sticks and have games load from there rather than the UMD itself.

    Also, I do believe all the excuses are just that - excuses. Lack of buttons? Lack of analog sticks? Well, it means that one has to be a lot more intelligent in writing their games! Take Nintendo's Mario and Luigi: Partners in Time - you have 4 characters you have to control, each mapped to 1 button. That only leaves the shoulder buttons to do stuff with. It works, and is plenty fun for an RPG, and the trick to playing it is to realize that it's not what the buttons do, but combinations of characters and button pushing.

  • The lack of gaming innovation is down to the PSP. (Score:5, Interesting)

    by ciw42 ( 820892 ) on Friday March 10, 2006 @07:07PM (#14894961)
    Lack of innovation is always going to be much more obvious on a handheld system which effectively offers nothing new beyond improved graphics capabilities and a shiny, and it must be said, rather lovely casing.

    Yeah, it's got a nice screen, and whilst it's bigger than that of the Gameboy SP, and a more conventional format that that of the DS, it's too small to allow full console titles to be ported to it, so from a developers point of view, it's as much of a burden as an advantage. People are expecting better graphics and use of the screen real estate, but in the industry it's seen just another platform on which to release your games, and moving away from a conventional screen size is a real pain in the arse.

    As I had been expecting from well before the PSP and DS were released, we're seeing some pretty innovative ideas using the dual screens, touch screen and microphone inputs on the Nintendo DS. These are all features which can be used to enhance gameplay, and bring a whole new experience to gamers, and they're even being used to enhancing more established genres. Developers love that kind of thing. New toys, bells and whistles to play with are always going to get the creative juices flowing, especially if using them is optional. You don't hear developers crying out with joy that they've come up with a groundbreaking game idea that uses the extra half inch of screen space available on the PSP.

    The PSP just isn't groundbreaking at all. It certainly does what it does well enough, and as a piece of consumer electronics, it looks stunning, but underneath it all, it's just, well, a rather uninspiring, fairly boring handheld gaming machine.

    I can easily see the same thing happening once all three next-gen consoles are on sale. Sony and Microsoft will be fighting each other purely on hardware performance and the odd exclusive title, but it'll all just be first person shooters, sports and driving games. There'll have to be some pretty sever price drops to ensure that they shift the number of units they have planned. The games will probably all look stunning, but will offer very little new.

    Meanwhile, Nintendo will be happily shifting the Revolution, selling plenty of downloaded legacy titles, and showing the world truly innovative games. Having a full developer's kit priced at only $2K is going to bring many more developers to the party as well. I can't wait.

  • It's the gameplay stupid! (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Belgand ( 14099 ) <belgand@planetfo ... m ['s.c' in gap]> on Friday March 10, 2006 @08:07PM (#14895430) Homepage
    The DS has been selling pretty damn well compared to the PSP. Now, part of this is due to the fact that Nintendo has a very strong fanbase and I'm certain that a large part of it is also because the DS is much cheaper, but the main reason it's been selling so many units is because it has some great games. I know that's the reason I bought one. Last year during E3 I kept hearing about the new games on the way for the DS and I realized that I seriously needed to own one. Sure, none of the games out at the time were really that good, but the first wave of greatness was just about to drop.

    That said, let's look at some of the top games for the DS and see why the PSP couldn't have done them as well (ignoring such things as licenses, we're concentrating on gameplay).

    First up is Mario Kart DS... lots of people are pointing to this as one of the killer apps for the system and considering it introduced the wi-fi connection it was perfectly positioned. At it's core it's a racing game with an online component. The PSP would have no problems producing an excellent racing game along the same lines and also have the same wi-fi access built in. Yes, it sold largely due to the strength of the franchise, but every franchise has to start somewhere once people start innovating. No excuse here.

    Next up is Advance Wars: Dual Strike. Turn-based strategy game that's the direct sequel to the same franchise on the GBA and which started earlier, but was only released in Japan. Considering it ran on the GBA there's no reason the PSP can't have something like this. It uses simple graphics, but that's part of the charm. The deep and involving gameplay is the reason people have become hooked on the series. If it was a PSP title it probably would have had online multiplayer as well, but Nintendo launched it before the WFC. Again, no excuses.

    Next up is Nintendogs. Ok, it's not one I personally own (unlike the previous two titles) and it doesn't really appeal to me, but it does appeal to a lot of people out there. Admittedly it relies pretty heavily on the unique features (touch input, microphone) of the DS so it's not really an option on the PSP. I'm also willing to bet that they wouldn't want to try it even if it was possible because it would make the PSP look less "hardcore". Still... they have a valid excuse for not making a game of this type.

    Our next title is Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time. Again, sequel to a GBA game, but with features that take specific advantage of the DS (4 buttons, two screens). The fact that it's a sequel of a GBA game means it's still possible on the PSP, it would just be a tad different. As it is it's a unique twist on the traditional Japanese-style CRPG. Again, no reason why the PSP can't do it.

    Moving right along and we have Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow. Ignoring the nicety of having a second screen for status and map info the only thing that makes it DS-specific is the seal system. Most people agreed that the game would have been better without it. Would the pretty graphics of the PSP have been cool if we had the same gameplay though? Certainly.

    Kirby: Canvas Curse is our next game and one that makes specific use of the touch screen. It's a creative and interesting way to use the technology and that means that the PSP couldn't have done it. Sometimes that's just how things are and you can't blame PSP devs for not trying it.

    Meteos. Well, it's a puzzle game by the same guy who did Lumines. Sure it uses the touch-screen in a pretty important way (the game is too fast to really play with the gamepad), but the point is that the PSP can and has made a puzzle game of a reasonably similar nature. Even more it's one of the top titles for the PSP. Way to go.

    Moving into upcoming games we have the hotly-anticipated Metroid Prime: Hunters. From the First Hunt demo it's pretty apparent how useful the touch screen is to replicate using a mouse, but first-person shooters have come out for the PSP so it's entirely possible to do it. I have to say I'd think there woul
    • People like to say that "Mario kart sells because of its franchise" and it's partly true. But not because we're attached to driving around as mario. It's because nintendo actually cares about its franchises. Not the chracters, they get passed around. But the games don't. There's been no lousy mario kart game, ever. Same for official mario bros games. Same for zelda, and Metroid. They're always excellent quality. Polished, top shelf games. You don't have to read reviews or have a test drive when theres a new
      • I agree with you 100%. That's part of the reason, I feel, that Nintendo does franchises so well. When I play a Legend of Zelda game I know that I'm going to be dealing with a fantasy setting and that it will be an adventure of some type, but that's about all that you can reliably say (thanks to Zelda II).

        When I play Mario Kart I know that I'm going to be playing an excellent kart racer, not just some second-rate racing game with Mario slapped into it. As much as I prefer Super Metroid and the other 2D games

  • A Bit Off-Topic (Score:4, Interesting)

    by rsmith-mac ( 639075 ) on Friday March 10, 2006 @09:35PM (#14895871)
    Something I've always wondered about the PSP is why Grand Theft Auto, the game you'd assume would be the killer app of the console(ala MKDS on the DS) hasn't been very successful itself or moved very many PSPs. The series as a whole is simply a blockbuster, especially with San Andreas 2 years ago, but I've never seen even a fraction of the buzz for the PSP game as for any of the console games. I would have assumed that everyone would be jumping at the chance to play a portable GTA game, but obviously this hasn't been happening.

    So, why is it that GTA has done so poorly on/for the PSP?

    • Probably because of how poor the psp did. Maybe not enough psp's are out there in use for a blockbuster psp game. The game itself is good. Although it is abit of a let down that it is:

      the art assets of GTA3 put into the vice city engine(without flying) with some new missions and item placement. It's really just a updated GTA3.

    • Re:A Bit Off-Topic (Score:2, Insightful)

      by KDR_11k ( 778916 )
      Perhaps it's because people think "I love GTA and I'd love to play that game but I'm not dropping 250$ on a handheld just to play it, I'll rather stay with my console GTAs". A killer app isn't really a killer app if an acceptable substitute is available on another platform many people own already. Of course all market predictions assume that what has worked as a killer app in the past will work as a killer app in the future but I have my doubts. It may work for Zelda but that's only because there's been qui
      • Perhaps it's because people think "I love GTA and I'd love to play that game but I'm not dropping 250$ on a handheld just to play it, I'll rather stay with my console GTAs"

        And then, to the few fanatics who did get it, Sony's "We're releaing it on the PS2 too" a few months later couldn't have helped. The guys who didn't get one but wanted one now have no need to get one, and the ones who did now probably feel burned.

    • I can tell you the reasons I didn't buy it, after looking forward to it a lot:

      * I already know Liberty City. The excitement of discovering a new city is half the point.
      * Reviews agreed that the missions were bland. Yuck.
      * The graphics are not appealing, even considering the limitations of the PSP.

      Sub-standard warmed-over original GTA3? No thank you, I've got nicer things to do.

      Luckily, Take Two are trying a second time. Here's to hoping!
      • GTA: LCS was a very good game. A few missions were pretty boring, but personally I think its a symptom of the moulding GTA engine than the platform. GTA is getting long in the tooth and the novelty wears off a bit if you've played GTA before.

        Even so, I thought that the game had excellent graphics (indistinguishable from the PS2), the missions were generally quite involving, there was a hell of lot of content, it was extremely well produced and the game was well suited to the handheld. The only gripe I had

    • I'd say that GTA has shifted a lot of PSPs but one thing I noticed when I bought mine was the retailers tried to fuck the consumer with a 10 euro price hike for GTA over other games. Perhaps they had to for some reason, but it could hardly have helped sales. Fortunately (gawd bless 'em) the Argos catalogue had GTA selling for 40 euros at the time (already 5 euros cheaper than most places sell PSP titles) so I snapped up a copy.

      Anyway GTA on the PSP demonstrates that the UMD can produce games that play, lo

      • "virtually the same as their PS2 cousins." personally, I think that's where it dies. To me the PS2 really doesn't look all that great anyway, I mean sure pre-rendered cutscenes look nice but then you get into the game and the visuals are balls. Don't get me wrong though, I love some games for the PS2. Just not the graphics.
        • The cutscenes aren't pre-rendered (they're rendered with the game engine) but neither are they in-game as some modern game engines deliver. Anyway as mentioned elsewhere on another part of this topic, I think the GTA engine is getting very tired and it desperately needs a revamp. GTA's ability to render an entire city is stunning, the physics are great, but the AI is brain dead, peds & vehicles materialise out of thin air and there is precious few interiors or interaction with the environement. Even a d
  • One of the main problems with the PSP is that compared to the DS, it really isn't that appealing. Graphics aren't something you look for from your handheld. The only serious thing the PSP has over the DS is the analog stick - and I believe that the DS truly needs one. There is the screen, but it's too easy to loose the thumb thingie. From a consumeristic point of view, the PSP isn't attractive to anyone but the kind of people that stand next to the "beautiful people" on the beach for a few minutes playing

    • The only serious thing the PSP has over the DS is the analog stick - and I believe that the DS truly needs one. There is the screen, but it's too easy to loose the thumb thingie.

      Not if it's attached to the DS through the strap bar in the back of the system.

  • I blame the developers for a different reason. (Score:4, Interesting)

    by justchris ( 802302 ) on Saturday March 11, 2006 @12:58AM (#14896614) Homepage
    The problem with the PSP is who is developing the games for it. All the PSP games are being developed by teams that worked on the PS2, when they should be developed by teams who worked on the GBA (I'm looking directly at you Konami, and you, too, Capcom).

    The simple fact of the matter is that gameplay on a handheld is inherently different from gameplay on a home console. This is a known fact, has been known for years, as the gameboy has outlasted every other handheld that has entered the market. The main reason being, the other handhelds were structured just as portable home consoles, and therefore they ignored several important issues involving battery life, short learning curve and gameplay that's easy to get into and out of quickly.

    People are calling PSP the King of Ports because that's all that's being made, console ports you can carry with you. And, unfortunately, that just doesn't sell a portable system, because while the system is portable, the game is not. Most of these companies have development groups within them that have worked on GBC & GBA and produced hits, some have even produced hits on the DS. If those same teams were working on the PSP, instead of teams who've only really worked with the PS2, and maybe the Xbox or GCN, you'd see better, more interesting PSP games.

    But with things being the way they are, it's very unlikely. It seems as if the PSP is going to suffer the same fate the GCN suffered. It's not selling well compared to it's competition, and so it will lose developer support, meaning even fewer people will purchase it.

    • I think the biggest hurdle is that the GBA teams don't have the tools and experience for making 3d games and they're mostly busy with DS or GBA games already. So you'd have to mix a home console team and a portable team together to make it work. That'd mean having two half teams surplus, quite a cost for such a risky proposition. Doesn't help that the DS and GBA have a bigger userbase (especially a bigger game-buying userbase, noone deciding not to buy new games because that would break his emulators or som
  • Here is the contrast of design 2 choices made for the DS and PSP:

    1.Controller
    PSP:Slim down what people are now used to(i.e. no analog stick)
    DS:Innovate by adding a touchscreen
    2.Media
    PSP:Spinning UMD discs, cause high loading time
    DS:Solid state cartridges, fast loading and highly durable

    Basically Sony did not think things through and did not used sensible moderation.
    • While I can agree with your second point your first one is not quite accurate. While its not a stick, there is an analog control device on my PSP; its more like an analog pad. Its on the left side directly below the d-pad.
  • There are two conflicting issues:

    1. PSP games are generally expected to sell at lower prices than PS2 games.
    2. The PSP is more or less a PS2, so it's not substantially cheaper to develop a 3D PSP game as opposed to a 3D PS2 game.

    On Game Boy, for example, developers can get away with games that are less tech heavy, games that don't require teams of modellers and texturers and animators. Not so on the PSP. A PSP game is essentially a PS2 game from the developer's point of view, shovelware puzzle games excep
  • If consumers didn't have to fork out £30-£40 for a new title. That is a ridiculous price considering most are just repackages PSOne games...Please lower the cost, more people will buy and developers will much prefer being able to sell 500,000 copies that 100,000 because of price. Sony, I am sure, are charging huge amounts for the UMD format.

    Karem

  • I think alot of patents are alowing hte release of alot of great software an dhardware and it hurts our economy and the overall societies pschie.

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