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EA Pushes Sony on PSP, Price Cuts Possible 123

Posted by Zonk from the psproblems dept.
GameDaily reports that EA has been pushing Sony to be more proactive with the PSP. The software giant feels that Sony is 'letting the DS win' by failing to adopt an aggressive strategy for the handheld console. The article mentions a piece run on CNN's Game Over column, where Chris Morris talks about the possibility of a price cut by the end of the year. From the EA article: "'There is a price cut coming in the second half of the year,' said P.J.McNealy of American Technology Research. '[The PSP] has lost momentum. Nintendo has had a great run since it launched the DS Lite and Sony needs to regain some ground.' In the meantime, though, EA has been thoroughly encouraged by the DS and DS Lite and conversely discouraged by the PSP, to the point where the publisher is apparently reconsidering its strategy in the portable market."
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EA Pushes Sony on PSP, Price Cuts Possible More

EA Pushes Sony on PSP, Price Cuts Possible

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  • Where are the games? (Score:5, Interesting)

    by MBCook ( 132727 ) <foobarsoft@foobarsoft.com> on Monday August 14, 2006 @03:30PM (#15905101) Homepage

    I basically regret my PSP purchase. I've played a handful of games. The last game I played that I really enjoyed was Hot Shots Golf: Open Tee which was released a little over a year ago. Me and My Katamari was kind of fun, as were a few of the early games, but by and large I don't feel like I've gotten much in the way of games. What's coming up? Not much. The only two games I am looking forward to are MGS: Portable Ops and Gitaroo Man Lives! (which is supposed to be part re-release/port).

    Compare that to my DS. Two or three Castlevania games. Mario Kart. Mario and Luigi: Partners in Time. Kirby. Yoshi's Touch and Go. Wario Ware. Phoenix Wright and Trauma Center. That's what I can think of off the top of my head. Then there is the upcoming Yoshi's Island sequel, the next Phoenix Wright, Mario vs. Donkey Kong, Elite Beat Agents, Kirby Squak Squad, another Castlevania, Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass, and I'm sure more.

    I feel my DS has been a great purchase and I've gotten tons of play time out of it. I've barely touched my PSP in the last year and I regret it's purchase.

    Sony has delivered tons of games on their last two platforms. The PSP is just sitting there. Not many games so far. Not many coming. The seeming killer feature that is to come is old PS1 games.

    • My guess: The reason they have no games? They've got their entire staff concentrating on getting PS3 out before the end of the next millenium.

    • Re:Where are the games? (Score:5, Interesting)

      by Wind_Walker ( 83965 ) on Monday August 14, 2006 @04:03PM (#15905365) Homepage Journal
      Sony is making the same mistake on the PS3 as they are on the PSP. Too much focus on the "extras" and too little focus on the games. On the PSP it was UMD movies (which are about to go the way of Betamax) while the PS3 has it's Blu-Ray. PS3 launch games are sorely lacking, while we just had a Slashdot article detailing the 25+ launch games for the Wii.

      It's interesting to note the similarities between Nintendo and Sony with respects to their consoles. NES was good and had lots of good games. SNES was king of consoles, with thousands of AAA titles and lots of third party support. Then Nintendo rode their hubris and put out the N64, and drove away their supporters to the sleeker PS1 and Dreamcast. Nintendo has been playing catch-up ever since - though the Wii has the potential to revolutionize the industry, much in the same way the NES did so many years ago.

      For Sony, PS1 was good with a lot of exclusives, and PS2 was king for a lot of the same reasons as the SNES. But Sony has displayed so much hubris in the buildup to the PS3 launch that sometimes I wonder if I've slipped into a Greek morality play. "The PS3 is actually pretty cheap", "We'd sell 6 million consoles even without games", "$599 US dollars", "Giant enemy crabs"... Sony is ripe for a fall.
      • So does that make Nintendo the Deus Ex Machina?

        All kidding aside, as much as I hate Sony, I want them to stay in the game. So long as they lose the market share, just enough to make them rethink their strategy. Competition will keep Nintendo on their feet, and a shift of the market will show Sony that people don't care about power. Sony will have to start doing new things, so that they don't go the way of Sega.

      • But Sony has displayed so much hubris in the buildup to the PS3 launch that sometimes I wonder if I've slipped into a Greek morality play. "The PS3 is actually pretty cheap", "We'd sell 6 million consoles even without games", "$599 US dollars", "Giant enemy crabs"... Sony is ripe for a fall.

        Yeah no kidding. I think there was exactly one rationalization for the PS3's price, and it was:
        Surely people will pay as much for a PS3 as they will for an iPod.

        I think that's all Sony thought.

        (Although now tha

        • (Although now that I think of it, the iPod was (and is) nearly universally derided for being too expensive. But I don't think the situation is comparable. Nintendo is the innovator here. They should be charging $600 for those things, heh.)

          It's really not comparable at all. For one, the idea that the iPod is universally derided as being too expensive is laughable - if it were really that outrageously priced, why in the world would it continue to maintain >50% market share, especially when it continues to

          • It's really not comparable at all. For one, the idea that the iPod is universally derided as being too expensive is laughable - if it were really that outrageously priced, why in the world would it continue to maintain >50% market share, especially when it continues to have a number of strong competitors? Consumers aren't that clueless - more likely you're overlooking something in the iPod that others are seeing and then assuming that the rest of the world is also looking at the product through your eyes

            • Re:Where are the games? (Score:3, Interesting)

              by Bastian ( 66383 )

              And yes, consumers are clueless. By any self-respecting nerd measure, almost utterly so. That's not meant to be elitism; its just that most consumers don't know what a rootkit is, for example. Heck, most of the people I talk to with iPods don't even know there's DRM built into the things.

              No offense, but most Slashdot members are clueless, too. For example, most of them seem to conveniently forget that it's not just the iPod that is DRM-encumbered. Nearly every major MP3 player on the market supports a DRM

              • My understanding is that the PS3 won't be playing games on Blu-Ray, it'll just be there for movies. Games will still come on DVDs.

                This doesn't conform to the reports I've read. Not only have developers reported that Sony is encouraging developers to make games big enough to require a BR disc, but I've read at least one report (very unconfirmed, and thus not one that I take at face value) that all PS3 games will come on BR discs. The latter seems implausible to me, if only because manufacturing of BR disc

                • Not to sound pedantic, but many/most people seem to be refering to Blu-ray discs as "BR" or "BR discs". According to the official naming convention [blu-ray.com] the correct abbriviation should be "BD". Again, this is not meant to sound pedantic. It's just annoying to see people (and especially tech savvy people like on Slashdot who really ought to know better) use the wrong abbreviation. Reminds me of the whole "CD disc" thing of the ninetees before people started using CD as a proper noun.

            • Yes, but my context was the iPod launch, not the subsequent long line of successor products.

              According to Wikipedia, the iPod sold about 800,000 units in the first two years of it's release. The iPod line could grow from there, since it was a new market and they had no major competition (and you didn't have to lock in developers to make content for the iPod.)

              But if the PS3 sells that slowly over the first two years, they're dead. It's a mature market, and they have stiff competition.

              http://en.wikipedia.org [wikipedia.org]

          • Well Sony COULD offer a Blu-Ray less PS3 but there is one slight problem with that...The games are only going to come on Blu-Ray.

            So if Apple was willing to launch the next iPod for $600 and offer no support for either Macs, Windows, Linux, MP3's, MP4's, AAC and all the other formats (basically unable to play anything you bought it for) at a dramatically reduced price then I could see where the similaritys are.

            Sure they could decide to drop another bombshell right now on developers by saying they are
      • sometimes I wonder if I've slipped into a Greek morality play. "The PS3 is actually pretty cheap", "We'd sell 6 million consoles even without games", "$599 US dollars", "Giant enemy crabs"... Sony is ripe for a fall.



        Don't forget their intentionally installing malware on customer's machines, and continuous pushing of proprietary technology over open standards. I'm amazed that anyone still buys anything from Sony.

        • Don't forget their intentionally installing malware on customer's machines, and continuous pushing of proprietary technology over open standards. I'm amazed that anyone still buys anything from Sony.

          That description sounds like MicroSoft, and yet people still buy their products also.

          Sony made a mistake with the root kits. They also push technology that they view as an advantage to themselves ... just like every other company (MS, Apple, RedHat). Get over it.

          • That description sounds like MicroSoft, and yet people still buy their products also.

            There are reasons for that. There are too many clueless people on earth that don't know there are alternatives to MS, and of the "clueless" that do know, they don't care because everyone *else* they interact with doesn't use the alternatives anyway.

            There is also the problem that people perceive (rightly or not) the alternatives as being less feature filled, less supported, more bug-ridden (is that possible?!), slower, etc.
            • Okay, you start off by saying MS is different, because no one feels they have (or decides) to go with the alternatives. Then you say the electronics market is different, because all the products interact. And you finish off with,

              The game console market cannot say the same as the parts are not compatible with the competition.

              Which I think means that this is NOT your typical Electronics Industry Product and brings them right back to a comparison with an OS maker. The games are programs, and you can't run on

            • Ah. I reread your comments, and realized we were talking about buying "anything" from Sony, and you are right, this part of their product line IS much different than MS, and has to deal with being in a very different market, however:

              Sony has a history of 'sleak' product design on par with Apple.

              When Palm's handhelds looked clunky, Sony was the first to unveil a palm based handheld with a camera, integrated keyboard, and an on-screen writing area.

              The Viao laptops were, for a long time, the smallest, lightes

        • Don't forget their intentionally installing malware on customer's machines, and continuous pushing of proprietary technology over open standards.

          I didn't mention those things because, well, it has nothing to do with gaming. I'm a gamer - that's what I care about. If a console had a controller that had to be rectally installed each time you turned it on (no pun intended) and would periodically slap you in the face, I'd still buy and use it if the games were good enough. Admittedly, the games would have

    • I got a v1.5 unit sortly after launch and for the most part I regret the purchase. Too big, too fragile, UMDs are a joke, memorystick pro duos are too expensive, and the battery life limits my primary use video playback from ripped video. On the other hand I love my DS and just bought a DS lite and use it in conjunction with the GBA micro all the time (using a play yan for MP3 and video playback).
      As for cutting the price, is Ken "The PS3 isn't expensive enough" Kuratagi going to go along with this? Nore lik
    • Good games out now:
      Breath of Fire 3
      Darkstalkers Chronicle
      Daxter
      Exit
      Field Commander
      Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories
      Hot Shots Golf: Open Tee
      Kingdom of Paradise
      Lumines
      Me and My Katamari
      Mega Man Maverick Hunter X
      Mega Man Powered Up
      Metal Gear Acid
      Metal Gear Acid 2
      Monster Hunter Freedom
      Ridge Racer
      Street Fighter Alpha 3 MAX
      Syphon Filter: The Dark Mirror
      Tales of Eternia
      Tekken: Dark Resurrection
      Twisted Metal: Head On
      Valkyrie Profile: Lenneth
      Wipeout Pure

      Potentially good games coming ou
  • I don't know if there are any football games out for the DS already, but I've always thought that the touch screen would be a great way to do sports like football.

    On the top screen you would see a normal 3D set-up of the football field with the two teams ready for the hike. The game would pause, and you'd have X seconds (or maybe unlimited time) to use the touch pad to draw out a game plan (as if you were drawing on a chalk board planning plays). You would have defaults and could save custom plays for quick recall, as well.

    Once the ball is snapped, you would have the option of "getting dirty" and assuming the role of one of the players while the other players act out your strategy, or you could just let the AI handle it all.

  • strategy? (Score:4, Interesting)

    by MrSquirrel ( 976630 ) on Monday August 14, 2006 @03:33PM (#15905144)
    "by failing to adopt an aggressive strategy" Sony has let Nintendo win the portable market? Or maybe it's the fact that the DS is an exciting new concept that is geared towards fun, while the PSP is just a rehash of the PS2 in portable form. Aggressive?! Sony HAS been aggressive -- PSP commercials and ads everywhere! I don't think I've seen any DS commercials on television, and the ads I've seen have all been online ones at gaming sites.

    Any business major can tell them that success is dependent on the 5 P's -- product, price, place, promotion, people. PSP is same-old-same-old as any other handheld, Nintendo's product is innovative and has 2 screens, one of which is stylus-oriented. Talk about fun! Price -- the DS is quite a bit cheaper than the PSP. Promotion -- PSP beats the DS here from what I've seen. Place -- they're both pretty available... except newegg has been sold out of the DS since it came out! People -- the Nintendo people seem a little slow to jump on the latest graphics and such, instead orienting around fun... sometimes a little too kiddie-fun... but the DS is an example of fun triumphing over "omg megahertz!!!". The Sony people are bastards who put rootkits on music CD's and tout that people will buy their products even if there are no games for them.
    • The article is entirely wrong, because Sony has a highly aggressive strategy!

      What could be more aggressive than implying that all your customers are morons?

    • People -- the Nintendo people seem a little slow to jump on the latest graphics and such, instead orienting around fun... sometimes a little too kiddie-fun... but the DS is an example of fun triumphing over "omg megahertz!!!".

      is that really such a bad thing though?

      Gaming is supposed to releave stress, give you enjoyment and maybe even make you happy. What better way to do that then making you feel like a kid again?

      it's like what one developer said about the genesis collection

      "Violent games are get

    • Sony HAS been aggressive -- PSP commercials and ads everywhere!
      Oh yeah, the PSP ads... They look like they're made with a company that has a marketing budget of 100$/year, for crying out loud!

      I mean, seriously, has Sony completely lost it? Weird "dust balls" talking "gangsta street"-style? Finger puppets theater in a cardboard box?

      What's next, Sony?

  • PSP has some nice games... (Score:3, Interesting)

    by CaseM ( 746707 ) on Monday August 14, 2006 @03:40PM (#15905189)
    But lunch-hour Mario Kart racing on our DS's have us hooked here in my office. People look at us like we're nuts when they walk in while we're saying stuff like "You nuked me you damn jerk...eat my red shells..." but we still have fun. The DS's never fail to draw attention, especially when they make three grown adults behave like we're 12 again.
  • One can reasonably ask: 'why would EA (or any other developer) care whether the DS or PSP 'wins' the portable market?' The only answer I can think of is that they've sunk the majority of their development in this vein into the PSP, and as such have an interest in seeing it gain marketshare.
    That said, I have a pretty short list of titles which are tempting me to consider buying a PSP:
    • Ace Combat X;
    • Pursuit Force;
    • Killzone: Liberation;
    • Metal Gear Ac!d (and MGA2)

    If the PSP comes down to $150 or thereabout

    • One can reasonably ask: 'why would EA (or any other developer) care whether the DS or PSP 'wins' the portable market?'

      I think you're on the right track to some extent by mentioning the money EA has plunked down on PSP development. The corollary to that, though, is that most of the time EA is about the graphical "bling" with the gameplay itself playing a subsidiary role. Considering that, the PSP is far more appealing to a company like EA than the DS because they can stay in their comfort zone.

      Taking th

      • Dunno about Castlevania (I see it in stores all the time), but Trauma Center and (I think) Phoenix Wright you can blame on Atlus. They tend to release more niche titles in small quantities. They did the same with Disgaea. Its not a production issue.
        • Phoenix Wright is a Capcom title which continues to get small re-release production runs to cover demand. The second in the series is due for release in "Q1 2007".
        • Well, I've been looking for Castlevania Dawn of Sorrow every time I hit a shop (for example, three different shops this past weekend) and it just isn't around. It's also unavailable ("coming soon/preorder") on Amazon and EBGames/Gamestop.com. I'm quite certain that there are stores that have copies but it seems clear that the overall supply is very limited.

          As for the other two, as has already been mentioned, Phoenix Wright is a Capcom game, not Atlus. It's possible that Capcom is simply being conserva
    • The PSP is, in many ways, a portable PS2. Porting a big mass of games over to it would be cheap and easy, and would provide decent revenue for very little cost. EA (and many other publishers) has a large library of PS2 games sitting around.

      The DS has, in general, found success with new and different games, owing to it's dual screens/touch screen. Porting is still possible, but you're pulling from the N64 at best, and competing with a lot of innovative stuff.

      I don't know if EA really cares who wins, but just

  • Sony Dropped the Ball (Score:5, Insightful)

    by J. T. MacLeod ( 111094 ) on Monday August 14, 2006 @03:46PM (#15905246)
    The PSP, while expensive, was absolutely an incredible system. Too bad Sony didn't care to use it.

    Games? Most games suffer from the "portable" curse of generally being very bad products, but that's the developers' fault. A poor analog "nub" aside, this can partly be blamed on third parties, but Sony certainly didn't take any initiative here.

    Video? UMD movies failed, of course. But for our own videos we have to deal with low-resolution files that can't be produced by a standard encoder because it uses non-standard headers, and then there's the weird naming scheme that's required. And there's no purpose behind these aggravations except to prevent consumers from using the system's abilities to its fullest extent. Aggravating your customers and preventing them from using your product doesn't win you any fans.

    Music? It sounds very nice, but the interface is no better than the cheapest of MP3 players. It doesn't manage your music, but it doesn't allow directories deeper than one level, so you can't organize your music, either. A decent music player interface is *not hard*. They just didn't care.

    Network features? How long did it take for a decent web browser? RSS feeds? RSS feeds *that allow you to save anything*? Having these is GREAT, but the fact that it took so long to get them shows us the issues Sony has. But how many games actually have decent online play? 90% of games that only support local play should be able to be played online.

    Sony made some great hardware crippled by idiotic management. I feel insulted as a customer. Some where in Sony, there is some one with a lot of vision whose great leaps are constantly struck down by some moron. Find the moron and fire him, and Sony will be OK.

    The same thing happened with the PS2. Great hardware crippled by a few moronic decisions (the almost-but-not-quite enough video memory and the absolute failure to make use of network or multimedia features spring to mind). Why should I believe the PS3 will be any different?
    • How much you want to bet all of those factors to limit how you manage the media comes from the head of Sony-BMG and Sony-Colombia/Sony Pictures?

      Get rid of those two "divisions" and then, and only then, you've gotten rid of the idiots that limit the full potential of great hardware.
    • The same thing happened with the PS2. Great hardware crippled by a few moronic decisions...

      While I agree with your take on the PSP, it can't be ignored that despite the PSP suffering the PS2 itself was incredibly successful, despite a few feature shortcomings like you mentioned - I actually don't think lack of online focus was much of a probelm with the PS2, it was too early for that.

      So you have a console with good hardware that died in the market (PSP), hardware that was OK that did great in the market (PS
      • The PS2 was certainly a success--no denying that. But it really failed to live up to its potential.

        If the PS2 had included just a BIT more video memory and had good network support out of the box (including a good service behind it, like Live), I dare say the XBox might not have been a success.
      • So you have a console with good hardware that died in the market (PSP), hardware that was OK that did great in the market (PS2).

        And the difference? The PS2 was price competative with a decent game library, assisted by a large back catalog of previous-generation titles. The fact that it was the first of that generation to market probably helped, too.

        Funny, that sounds familiar...
        • And the difference? The PS2 was price competative with a decent game library, assisted by a large back catalog of previous-generation titles. The fact that it was the first of that generation to market probably helped, too.

          Funny, that sounds familiar...

          Yes, it sounds like the PS3 with one new variable - a higher price. What you and I do not know and cannot know is what price point is "price competitive".

          Since thce 360 is only $100 less than an equivilent PS3 but includes a new HD video player, it's questio
          • What you and I do not know and cannot know is what price point is "price competitive".

            I think it's simple. Do you cost more than your competitors without providing a comparative advantage? No? Then you're not price competative.

            So, what do they offer that justifies the $100 price gap? Well, I'm sorry to say it, but HD is not, IMHO, a feature your average consumer cares about. HD uptake has been dismal, and your average middle-income family does not have an HD capable set, and won't for years (not until
            • So, what do they offer that justifies the $100 price gap? Well, I'm sorry to say it, but HD is not, IMHO, a feature your average consumer cares about. HD uptake has been dismal, and your average middle-income family does not have an HD capable set, and won't for years (not until HD sets are in the $500-$600 range, if you ask me). And HD on a non-HD set is basically pointless.

              That's not so; millions of people have HD ready sets. What most of them do not have is HDMI - thus the $500 PS3 model and the studios

  • Ouch. (Score:4, Funny)

    by D14BL0 ( 880565 ) <drug.against.warNO@SPAMgmail.com> on Monday August 14, 2006 @03:55PM (#15905313) Homepage
    That's bad when even EA says you suck at what you're doing.

  • Open It Up! (Score:3, Insightful)

    by blueZhift ( 652272 ) on Monday August 14, 2006 @04:00PM (#15905349) Homepage Journal
    Sony needs to take a page from what Microsoft did today and open the PSP up to the indie and homebrew community with some good development tools at no cost or low cost. Years ago, Sony did something similar with the Yaroze program, though that was fairly limited. But right now the PSP is really hurting for games and attention in general. They have little to lose by embracing homebrewers rather than continuing the arms race to prevent homebrew software on the console. The PSP's been left for dead by the DS, so they really don't have anything to lose. If they can smoke out a few killer titles from out of nowhere plus the goodwill and publicity, it will be more than worth the trouble of some people playing pirated games on the PSP, which would happen anyway.

    A price cut is always nice for the consumer, but the PSP really needs some great games. And a super easy and free direct from Sony way of getting TV shows and movies on the PSP would be great too. The iPod is kicking their butt in that department right now.
    • Sony needs to take a page from what Microsoft did today and open the PSP up to the indie and homebrew community with some good development tools at no cost or low cost.

      ROFL, I love comments like this... I mean, you actually believe that there's a significant percentage of the video game consumer market that is savvy enough to even consider writing their own games, so much so that you think this will boost sales.

      Well, here's a hint: the closest your average gamer has come to programming is probably "coding

  • Fun (Score:1)

    by Threni ( 635302 )
    > "There's no doubt that EA has historically bet more on PSP. I think we were excited by the
    > technology, but the consumers have proven that actually what they want is fun.

    Lowering the price won't make the console more fun though. It will, however, mean that cheapskates like me who can't justify £150 ($283.139 in the US, including tax though)(for the unit with no games etc) might splash out.
  • I'll be purchasing a DS:Lite for my wife this Christmas. Partially because it has several games that I'd like to play, but mostly because she keeps bugging me about buying one. Ever since she saw a friend playing Brain Age and Mario Kart, she keeps requesting one. To put this in perspective, she doesn't game. Period. According to her, the console controllers are to complex and she absolutely HATES games like 'The Sims'. She sees games that are traditionally geared toward casual gamers as pointless. I've
    • Don't forget Multiplayer with only 1 copy of the game. MANY games use this feature, and use it well. I know several 'couples' who got their own DS so they could play the games they want, and play multiplayer against each other.

      If you don't already have a DS or DS-L I suspect after your wife gets one, it's only a matter of time until you do.

      • I was about to post this same thing. The ability to play multiplayer without having to re-purchase the game is great. I bought a DS Lite because I wanted to play New Super Mario Brothers. A week after I had purchased mine (and Mario Kart to go with it) I had to go out and buy the fiancee her own DS so that we could play against each other (as well as each play separate games at the same time. there were some arguments over who got to play when). If we would have also had to re-purchase any games we alr

  • And Don't forget BrainAge etc... (Score:3, Interesting)

    by nweaver ( 113078 ) on Monday August 14, 2006 @04:04PM (#15905375) Homepage
    When the parents take the console away from the kid to play games of their own, thats a success...

  • Not completely correct (Score:3, Informative)

    by Brianech ( 791070 ) on Monday August 14, 2006 @04:15PM (#15905458)
    This original version of this story is about a week old, and the article fails to mention that Sony just publicly denied that a price cut would occur in the near future (URL:http://www.gamesindustry.biz/content_page.php ?aid=18944). While I think a price cut would help out a lot, its almost as if Sony could care less about recovering their market share, and almost seem to be just moving on to the PS3. While I bash the PSP as much as anyone else, I do have one, and it is nice for media. Also the recent DevHook with 2.71 firmware emulation is pretty cool (keeping homebrew capabilities while gaining access to the web browser, RSS, and all that fun stuff).
    • Haven't we gone over this on every PS3/Wii article with regards to MS and the 360? No company is going to come out and say that there's going to be a pricecut soon. If they did that, everyone would sit around and wait for the pricedrop and no one would be buying PSPs. I'm not saying that there's going to be a price cut, but the fact that Sony denies it means nothing.

  • The DS has to come up, doesn't it? (Score:4, Interesting)

    by CharAznable ( 702598 ) on Monday August 14, 2006 @04:19PM (#15905486)
    Seems like every discussion about the PSP has to turn into a "I love my DS" thread. And rightly so, so I'll say it: I love my DS. It has me spending on games like they're ale and whores, and I just can't get enough of it. I brought it to work one day and the next day 3 coworkers got one each. The thing is just fun and contagious, which is exactly what a console is supposed to be. The price is there, the games are there, the people to play with are there... Nintendo have a bona fide hit on their hands, while Sony pays the price for their arrogance. The fact that any thread about Sony ends up being about how awesome Nintendo is just drives the point home.
    • I think it's funny how 'Viral' [wikipedia.org] DS adoption is. I've seen it grow just like that. I showed mine to a buddy at work. After he played the DS for a while, he decided to get one. Then his girlfriended wanted one (he got it for her as a gift). The Girlfriend took it to work, and some co-workers wanted/got one. Then it spreads to their spouse, then a kid, then kid brings it to school...

      I just think it's crazy how contageous it is. Eventually I'll be able to get to Kevin Bacon's DS [wikipedia.org] in 6 Friend Codes or less

      • The exact same thing happened in my office. My boss picked up a DS. Then I did. After the lite launch, two of my co-workers picked one up, as did one of their buddies.

        And in the end, I suspect the price point has a lot to do with that. People are going to think twice about dropping a couple hundred bucks on a device before they've even started buying games. The DS and it's library, on the other hand, are perfectly positioned for folks who are willing to engage in the occasional impulse buy.
  • - Ditch the UMD drive. It is an expensive failure.
    - Make all games and software memorystick-based; sell games on memorystick (for same cost or less than current)
    - Uncripple video playback restrictions (which are frankly not that annoying, but its a principle thing)
    - Add integrated videocamera and microphone. Add standard video chat software. Everyone wants a global WiFi videophone Sony, get on it.
    - Add full Flash support
    - Open up XNA-like development capabilities

  • My GameBoy SP still function just fine, why would I throw $200 on another portable system and have to buy new game sin different format? True DS Lite is atleast copatible with GameBoy games, but my GameBoy still works! I'm not going to retire a gadget that functions properly for a novelty of 2 screens and a stylist. Worse yet Nintendo, nor any other console/gadget manufacturer, does not have any recycling program. If they want their consumers to upgrade hardware every 2-3 years, they should atleast be envio
    • That's great for you, but you're missing out on some great games.

      Do you use a cellphone from the early 90's? It would probably still work. I don't mean to pick on you but seriously, play Mario Kart, Trauma Center and Pheonix Wright on the DS and then decide whether you care about playing new and innovative games. The DS has greatly improved graphics over the GBA, its wireless features make multiplayer gaming a breeze and the really good games on the horizon are almost all on the DS, rather than the GBA.
    • Ok, If you have and love your GBA SP, you likely played at least one of the 4 Castlevania games on it. Play Dawn of Sorrow, for the DS and despite some annoying use of the touch screen for the demon seals, you will see what a solid 2D GBA game can become with the extra power.

      The added bonus of course is you can still play all your old GBA games on the go, and I was surprised that the DS-L isn't much bigger than an SP (larger than 1, but smaller than 2 side by side).

  • Cyberball 2072.

    Part of the super midway games compilation. I played that game like a million damn times in the arcades. I love playing against the computer, and I've been considering getting a second PSP just so I can play other people. Yes, I know there are alternative ways to play (MAME + kailera), but for simple ease-of-use, the PSP + Cyberball is great. Of course, the little analog nubbin sucks balls. But I've gotten used to it... but no so used to it that I don't scour eBay looking for arcade uni

  • Oh for the love of (Score:2, Interesting)

    by TommyBear ( 317561 )
    Let's get a couple of things straight:

    - If the PSP is no fun at the moment, how about EA actually making some fun games?
    - There are 122 games released for the DS
    - There are 147 games released for the PSP
    - For the DS: 18 are bad, 69 are okay to good, 33 are great (backed up by media reviews and users)
    - For the PSP: 7 ar bad, 87 are okay to good, 52 are great (backed up by media reviews and users)

    Look it up:
    http://www.metacritic.com/games/psp/scores/ [metacritic.com]
    http://www.metacritic.com/games/ds/scores/ [metacritic.com]

    - The PSP has ship

    • Re:Oh for the love of (Score:3, Insightful)

      by trdrstv ( 986999 )
      "The DS has sold (not shipped) 21 million units worldwide."

      Also you state the PSP has more games, but that doesn't paint the whole picture. The PSP currently has only 3 titles that sold over 1 million copies worldwide [vgcharts.org] and the DS has 13. One of which (English Training) [siliconera.com] isn't even a game, so it wouldn't show up on Metacritic.

      The PSP had UMD movies that were lower resolution copies of Movies that were not playable on anything else; cost more then a DVD of the same movie, and usually had fewer extras

      • "The PSP had UMD movies that were lower resolution copies of Movies that were not playable on anything else; cost more then a DVD of the same movie, and usually had fewer extras due to lower disk capacity. The DS has a wider variety of games, and other Software that appeal to broader demographics."

        What does this have to do with fun games?

        "Also you state the PSP has more games, but that doesn't paint the whole picture. The PSP currently has only 3 titles that sold over 1 million copies worldwide and the DS
        • What does this have to do with fun games?

          I'd imagine people would buy fun games. Unless they're PSP owners apparently.
        • What does this have to do with fun games?

          What that has to do with fun games, is that Sony spend a lot of marketing and licensing dollars trying to create a market that didn't want to be created - money that could have been better spent on.. Oh, say.. games? Game development?

          If Sony really wanted to break ahead from the DS, what they should have done was embrace the homebrew community - or at the very least give some kind of advantage to indy game developers to make their own games for cheap, similar to w

    • Re:Oh for the love of (Score:1, Insightful)

      by Anonymous Coward
      Originality plays a part in the fun factor as well.

      Think about how many PSP games have a counterpart on the PS2 with no appreciable difference.
      Now look at the DS games, almost every game on the DS makes use of wireless or the touch screen.
      This makes them very different games than their analogue on the Gamecube or other consoles.

      The PSP is the portable PS2.
      The DS is unique. The DS lived up to the hype!
      • Sony's being caught by the hypocrisy of gamers, for years we've said

        "We don't like our portable games cut down, with worse graphics, fewer levels and crappy sound, we want a handheld that can come close to our home machines.

        So, Sony makes such a handheld, then gamers say,

        "We don't want to play the same games we play at home, we want to play 2D sidescrollers. and puzzle games"
        • That's why you don't always ask consumers what they want, because they oftentimes don't know. Also, the hidden tag on the end of "we want a handheld that can come close to our home machines" is ", but doesn't cost as much as our home machines."
        • "We don't like our portable games cut down, with worse graphics, fewer levels and crappy sound, we want a handheld that can come close to our home machines.

          Worse graphics? Thats because developers have been trying to jam 3D graphics down the throats of gamers ever since the PS1. Even the recent New Super Mario Bros game for the DS has 'jaggy' polygons. Fewer levels = cheap attempt by developer to cut costs. (They bitch about lack of space, get the UMD as a storage media and cut back on levels? Wtf? They're

        • ""We don't like our portable games cut down, with worse graphics, fewer levels and crappy sound, we want a handheld that can come close to our home machines."

          I'd say gamers have mostly been saying "I love my Game Boy." However...

          "We don't want to play the same games we play at home, we want to play 2D sidescrollers. and puzzle games"

          How exactly do these two statements conflict? Isn't it possible that the PSP has many games that are "the same games we play at home" only "with worse graphics, fewer levels a

    • Re:Oh for the love of (Score:2, Informative)

      by decadre ( 980513 )
      Actually, the DS has sold 20 million units: http://games.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=06/07/24/ 126203 [slashdot.org]

      PSP had shipped 17 million last time I looked (from this years E3 Sony keynote) Keep in mind that here in Australia you just cant get your hands on a Lite without placing an order, and seems to be the same in Japan (My GF just moved there and is trying to get one), I have heard it is much the same in other parts of the world, the PSP seems to have plenty on the shelf tho.

      Not bashing the PSP, just kudos t

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