Can someone tell me exactly why the PsP is considered a failure?
- Thread starter Ghostz
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Potential buyers, especially those concerned with the longevity of the platform, or considering PSP versus competing platforms, which means Sony themselves ought to be very interested too. Then of course publishers and developers creating games will be very interested in PSP's feature-set and competitiveness against platforms like iPhone, to decide whether they should create games for the platform or not. But I agree, anyone who wants a portable gaming platform without regard for anything else and likes the back-catalogue of PSP games but doesn't care if anything new comes out, such a person can happily buy PSP with confidence.
And it still holds up quite well too. I much prefer the original PSPs screen size over the iPod Touch, for instance, which is still quite a bit smaller. But the brightness of the PSPs screen in bright light conditions doesn't hold up though. But then, my PSP is from 2004! It's shocking how well it holds up against a modern iPod Touch in that respect, and for gaming there are still quite a few games on the PSP that can't be matched by anything currently out there on any mobile platform.
DuckThor Evil
Legend
Has the battery life of the PSP improved over the years, or have they just put in a smaller battery to compensate the lower power draw? I had the first model and thought it was pretty good for watching media, the sound output level was really low though.
The latter, at least in Go! I think in PSP slim's too, because the battery compartment is that much smaller.
Yes, I think so too. Mind you my ancient PSP's battery seems to last long enough, and the trend away from running anything from UMDs is certainly helping the battery life in that respect (I don't use the UMD bay much these days, buying everything from PSN instead because I have two PSPs and it allows me to install almost everything on both at the same time). So these days I still easily get 4 hours out of my battery, which is almost always enough for me (especially since as I have two I can always leave on of them recharging a battery).
However a friend of mine who has a Slim got one of those after-market 1600 or whatever mA batteries. It sticks out a little from the Slim (but comes with a nice cover so it's not exposed or anything!), but his battery life is now something like 8 hours or so.
Iron Tiger
Regular
I'm not talking about when it came out. When it came out, the PSP couldn't even play MP3s! I'm talking about today, when it still can't play DivX or XviD-encoded .AVI's.
Hell, when the PSP came out, I already had a Dell Axim X50v with a 640x480 screen that I could play a tonne of formats on without conversion. Back then, the only thing that interested me in the PSP was the games. Years later, that's still the most appealing feature it has going for it, but they still haven't even figured that part out, either. I had a PSP Phat, sold it, and replaced it with a 2000 a year later. Now that's sitting somewhere collecting dust like countless other peoples' PSPs.
The major diffrence is that the ipod touch or my zune fits in my pocket with tons of room to spare.
The psp however doesn't and if i want to use it for games then i'm either limited to a single game or need alot more pockets.
Even back in the day when the psp first came out , it was easier to just bring a portable dvd player with me. I had a 7 inch one that I got in 2006 that cost me $150 and had a good 6 hours of battery life ad the extended battery bumped that up to 10 hours.
Also the psp came out in march of 2005 I believe , not 2004.
Yeah, but that's because you're probably a tiny wee little guy. I can fit two PSPs in a single pocket. Also, I have at least three pockets at all times that can hold a PSP (or two). Ok, maybe not all of them comfortably, and some women could start asking awkward questions.
And that's good too, because the PSP is the only device I have that I can lock the keys for without also shutting off the screen, which is essential for my little one.
So not only are you tiny, you're also stuck in 2008?
I mean not that you need that many games - most games are pretty deep affairs (probably one of the problems of the PSP at some point is that there weren't enough shallow ones - again, I'm not actually kidding, this is what the Minis are obviously meant to address!PSP came out in 2004.
I got mine 17 December 2004, one of the first batch. You're not completely wrong though - I imported one through playasia, and was one of the very first to have one in Europe probably.
(and definitely in the Netherlands)Hey, I'm not saying it is perfect. I can list a bunch of stuff I don't like about it (stupid power/sleep/lock button!), two analog inputs would have been nice, and in this day and age, it needs to have a touch screen really.
I'm just saying that going into its sixth year, it still has a surprising lot of games that are unmatched by any other portable platform, and it is still one of the best gaming platforms for me personally, only now losing time to the iPhone (I'm one star away from all-starring Angry Birds).
Hasn't Sony been defying normal "longevity" concerns with its big party of developers and the plethora of exclusives though?
The PSP... personally I like the system. Don't have it but the fact that it can deliver a gaming experience that does not feel GBAish is pretty good (DS is halfway there, but pixel density makes me cry). Objectively speaking it is a decent success- FFS the system has been out that long and there's lots of paradigm changes along the way (flash media, piracy, touch, advertising products as Magical and Revolutionary
)I'm not sure but I have this nagging suspicion that Nintendo always gets away easy from whatever failings they've made... Sony and MS have way less margin to screw up, perhaps due to the fact that they've made their business on rather fickle customers.
ps anecdote: It's *extremely* popular in Singapore, where you see more people using PSPs as handhelds/media players on the metro compared to the DS and iPod Touches combined. iPhones not taken into account though.
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Iron Tiger
Regular
They definitely. They haven't got a clue when it comes to online functionality, features, and interfacing. The other platforms aren't without their issues in these regards, but Nintendo is by far the worst. The only good online thing they've got is their outsourced browser.
aaronspink
Veteran
Or maybe the idea of a *****HARD ^^^^HARD^^^^ HARD***** core handheld is a bit stupid really. All handheld platforms are pretty much dominated in game sales by effectively easy in/easy out time wasters. Things you can pick up play for 15 minutes and turn off. The amount of people that want to go hardcore on a handheld are appreciably small enough that they don't matter.
aaronspink
Veteran
is it under $97? If not, 3GS kicks its butt!
The reason PSP hasn't done well it because Sony hasn't combined console and experience that well. Think about, the PSP can't even multitask it's most simple functions, especially multimedia functions and games together.
I can't play my music on all my PSP games, only a few. I can't quickly pause my current game and use any other media option on it.
And there's the hardware upgrades, how significant are they? What features has the upgrades brought to the PSP relevant in the face of it's competition.
They didn't need to do annual hardware updates like Apple, but they did. But they damn sure didn't make upgrades like them.
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Here's what they should've done in the past:
Short battery life= make it longer
Fingerprint= give ita matte finish
Slow UMD (battery draining) drive= make a better UMD drive
Weak volume/speakers= Make it better
Low memory/ CPU capacity= add more for mutlitasking
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There's more core things that needs improvement to the PSP than just twin analog nubs and trashing UMD.
I can't play my music on all my PSP games, only a few. I can't quickly pause my current game and use any other media option on it.
And there's the hardware upgrades, how significant are they? What features has the upgrades brought to the PSP relevant in the face of it's competition.
They didn't need to do annual hardware updates like Apple, but they did. But they damn sure didn't make upgrades like them.
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Here's what they should've done in the past:
Short battery life= make it longer
Fingerprint= give ita matte finish
Slow UMD (battery draining) drive= make a better UMD drive
Weak volume/speakers= Make it better
Low memory/ CPU capacity= add more for mutlitasking
--------------
There's more core things that needs improvement to the PSP than just twin analog nubs and trashing UMD.
Is the two-year service contract free?
I agree with this; hardcore handheld gaming I've never really understood, outside of maybe a schoolchild bus commute or vacation trip context. And those situations don't lend themselves IMO to the demographic that Sony should be targeting with the PSP. The issue at heart is the default Japanese vs Western mindset, where in Japan the market for handheld-hardcore actually exists in a huge way. And even here the DS will get plenty of 'hardcore' RPG's and such, but they are being sold into a massive install base, and it just makes sense to localize them.
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Anyway overall I don't think PSP is a failure - my opinion is and always has been for any software and/or hardware, that if it makes money, then it is a success. People view PSP as a failure the same way they viewed GameCube as a failure (even though it too made money). Ah, but I remember the calls and proclamations that Nintendo would soon be leaving consoles...
PSP has definitely underperformed, and I prefer language like that to 'failure.' Sony should have fleshed out network functionality (for both PSP and PS3 actually) a lot sooner and more aggressively, and worked hard to make the PSP a viable multimedia device that could compete with the likes of the iPod and gang. It definitely could have, and missteps in those early days of digital music/media players in my mind will be amongst the things that cast the longest shadows over at Sony HQ for years to come.
But anyway... certainly its successor can re-launch the platform in my mind, if they do it right and focus less effort on control and more on functionality.
(on the side, PSPGo, however, I do consider an abject failure)
aaronspink
Veteran
Considering phone service is effectively baseline cost, its effectively free. The differential is between the free with contract and the 97 with contract.
Supposing you don't want a different cell phone and don't want to switch services, or pay less for your current service than you would buying that one. Unless you're talking specifically about some pretty specific circumstances, the service fee is an actual cost. The 3GS isn't just $97 bucks, full stop.
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I'm 6'4 like my bro. What are you wearing Gang buster pants with huge pockets ? My normal jeans will never fit a psp. Esp the first gen.
And that's good too, because the PSP is the only device I have that I can lock the keys for without also shutting off the screen, which is essential for my little one.
Thats good for that purpose , would u go out and buy a machine just fr that reason ?
So not only are you tiny, you're also stuck in 2008?
The problem is people make choices and if they passed on a psp and bought something else in 2005, 6 ,7 , 8 , 9 it hardly matters what the platform is like in 2010 because they most likely bought something that suits thier needs.
Your right , december for japan , 2005 every where else.
It needs to be smaller and more power efficent. It should have either been clam shell or a slider with the screen sliding up to reveal the buttons could have saved alot of room. I agree with the touch screen. The psp go would b so nice if it was touch. Of course it help if all the games were on it.
The problem is , the good games apeal to certian demographs and are mostly not good for portable gaming. The ds on the other hand allows me to get a quick game in and play even if i only have 10 minutes. It takes me almost 10 mins to load up a psp game !!!!
When psp 2 comes out , it better have a nice touch screen amoled screen and be a slider with only DD for games. Otherwise there is no reason to own it becase it will gather as much dust as my psp 2000 star wars edition has on it.
I suspect also many of the people who bought one were also thinking that they would enjoy the hardcore console experience on the go. How wrong were they?
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