Japanese developers voice PSP concerns.

[j^aws]

This is an article from this months Edge issue 139 (UK),

Japanese developers voice PSP concerns.

Hot on the heels of a stellar showing in Los Angeles comes talk from Japanese developers of doubt over Sony's ability to deliver.

It may have stolen the show at E3, but PSP has been met with consternation in Japan, where anticipant game makers have cited final screen quality, development, cost,, and predictably, battery life as areas of concern for the platform.

A source close to Sony has claimed that the display technology on show at E3 currently cost around 70,000 yen (£350) per unit, clearly a prohibitive price for a mass market device. The E3 prototype's screen has also been cited as massive drain on the power source; it said that the finished hardware will therefore make use of a lower quality display system, "similar to today's Clie Palm OS PDA."

Concerns over PSP dev costs stem from the platform's power: some Japanese codeshops see it's PS2-style capabilities as a significant risk, since projects will naturally require PS2-style team sizes and budgets. This is leading to resistance in greenlighting projects, and most Japanese developers working on PSP titles are believed to have just one title in full-scale development.

However, while they have adopted a wait-and-see stance towards Sony's hardware, several developers have said they are looking closely at Nintendo's DS, deeming it "less sexy but much more financially and technically viable, " thanks to it's N64-style capabilities. Others are looking for previous Ps2 titles to revive on the PSP as an obvious way of addressing development cost (conversions could be managed within two months, they suggest), but claim that Sony is discouraging this approach.

And then there's the battery. Developers are said to be plain irritated by Sony's lack of concrete information in this area. In the absence of firm battery-life data, they are concerned about how they should be designing heir PSP games, specially with regard to level length and save points.

Movie studios, meanwhile, are said to be pressuring Soy to ensure that PSP will be capable of playing back a minimum of two hours and 30 minutes on a single battery charge, and it seems likely that they will get their way: the hardware's media-handling capabilities are, after all, being touted as one of it's key strengths.

A number of Japanese developers apparently disagree, however. With 78 per cent of the mobile phone bills in the territory accounted for by email-sending charges, they believe that the comms facility offered by Nintendo's upcoming handheld is a more attractive hardware proposition that the ability to play back movies from UM discs.

Another area of developer favor for Nintendo DS is it's backwards compatibility. PSP, by comparison, will be attempting to romance consumers from a standing start.

Having enjoyed such positive feedback at E3, PSP's current reception in Japan is clearly an issue of importance. It's difficult to see how a Playstation-branded device could garner such cautious regard - until you consider that Japanese developers have just seen Sony's other recent PS hardware, PSX, discontinued in the territory. Only 100.000 units made it to market, and although Sony's overall DVD-recordable share stands at 550,000, it trails market leader Panasonic, which has shifted 1.7m devices in Japan.

Sony Responds

We contacted Sony Europe for its views on the situation among Japanese developers, and this is what Phil Harrison had to say:

"The comments about the screen are entirely without foundation. In fact, the situation's quite the opposite - we've made some enhancements to the viewing angle of the display since it's showing at E3. As for cost, that's entirely speculation. We've never discussed cost of goods in our hardware. In fact. I shouldn't even dignify that particular piece of speculation with a response.

"As for the battery life, that's obviously something that's down to system design and also game design in each instance. We stand by the predictions we've previously made in terms of battery performance. And we're working with developers to make sure they get the most out of the system's power. That's always the case of the with our hardware.

"As for discouraging certain types of game on PSP, we haven't discouraged any type of game for th platform. But I would say that developers are being encouraged to think about the difference between opportunity-based gaming and session gaming."

Well, the euphoria from E3 has died down and this is what's left after the smokes cleared? Interesting to note that Phil Harrison makes comments about enhancemnts to the screen sinced E3 but not to the battery? :?

 

[MfA]

Production costs of LCD screens is pretty much linear with area so I have to kind of doubt that 350 pound mark ... no way it is going to cost that to mass produce.

Since when will the DS have mobile phone capabilities BTW?

 

[j^aws]

Production costs of LCD screens is pretty much linear with area so I have to kind of doubt that 350 pound mark ... no way it is going to cost that to mass produce.

Since when will the DS have mobile phone capabilities BTW?

I agree with the screen costs, you can get some very decent 480*320 res screens on Clies at a decent price. Can anyone comment on the PSP screen seen at E3 compared against a Clies screen quality?

AFAIK, the DS doesn't have mobile phone capabilities...

A number of Japanese developers apparently disagree, however. With 78 per cent of the mobile phone bills in the territory accounted for by email-sending charges, they believe that the comms facility offered by Nintendo's upcoming handheld is a more attractive hardware proposition that the ability to play back movies from UM discs.

I think what the article is stressing is the DS capabilities to use the stylus and write text messages to others via wifi as a viably cheaper alternative to mobile texting and more 'useful' than the ability to play UMD movies. But I think the PSP could do that also but the DS lends itself to that more easily due to it's stylus.

 

[passerby]

Nice observations.

 

[Teasy]

Production costs of LCD screens is pretty much linear with area so I have to kind of doubt that 350 pound mark ... no way it is going to cost that to mass produce.

I think they meant the entire PSP costs £350 ($641) using the current LCD screen and hardware.

Since when will the DS have mobile phone capabilities BTW?

It will have instant messaging capabilities, which is what the article is talking about:

With 78 per cent of the mobile phone bills in the territory accounted for by email-sending charges, they believe that the comms facility offered by Nintendo's upcoming handheld is a more attractive hardware proposition that the ability to play back movies from UM discs.

 

[j^aws]

The Japanese Government is looking to tax this wifi instant messaging 'loophole'!

Japan's Public Management, Home Affairs, Posts and Telecommunications Ministry is considering taxing Wi-Fi devices, sources within the government department have claimed.
Legislation to impose fees for making use of the 2.4GHz spectrum will be put before the Japanese parliament next year, the sources told The Japan Times this week.

It's viewed as impractical to seek payment from existing users, so the Ministry appears to be thinking of adding a the licence fee to the cost of new equipment.
The Ministry believes that since other wireless device manufacturers and, in turn, their users pay for spectrum licences, so should Wi-Fi equipment makers. What, it asks, is so special about the 2.4GHz band?
Well, for a start few if any other bands are subject to interference from microwave ovens, so presumably the Ministry will also take those.
And Japan hasn't exactly gone Wi-Fi crazy in the way that other nations have. Japan's public hotspot infrastructure, for example, is less widespread than in the US or the UK. That's largely because Japanese consumers have been able to access the Internet at high speeds using their mobile phones. Japan has a mobile phone population of almost 82m people, around 16.5m of which provide high-speed Internet access.
That said, both the upcoming Nintendo DS and Sony PlayStation Portable will use Wi-Fi for Internet access, and Japanese consumer electronics companies are pushing WLAN technology as a way of connecting an array of entertainment systems within the home. ®

Source

Idiocy!

 

[marconelly!]

Well, the euphoria from E3 has died down and this is what's left after the smokes cleared?

No, this list below is what we are left with (and it's missing some titles at that)

-Action Girlz Racing (tba/Data Design)
-Activision Anthology (Activision)
-AI Series Mahjong (Marvelous)
-AI Series Igo (Marvelous)
-AI Series Shougo (Marvelous)
-Ape Escape (SCEI)
-Ape Escape: Monkey Games (SCEI)
-Armored Core: Formula Front (From Software)
-ATV Offroad Fury (SCEA/Climax)
-Autobahn Crossroads (tba/Resolution)
-Axel Impact International (SCEI/Axis)
-Azaya: Jungle Bowl Champions (tba/Jungle Peak)
-Battle Blades (tba/Data Design)
-BBG (Seed9)
-Big Choppers (tba/Eutechnyx)
-Big Mutha Truckers 2 (tba/Eutechnyx)
-Board Games Gallery (Phoenix Games)
-Bomberman (Hudson)
-BurnOut (tba/Criterion)
-Bust-A-Move (Taito)
-Card Shark 3 (Phoenix Games)
-Car Jacker (tba/Eutechnyx)
-Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe (Buena Vista)
-Cloud of Verruca (Success)
-Clusterball 2 (tba/Resolution)
-Crazy Racing Kart Rider (Nexon)
-Dance Mat Challenge (tba/Data Design)
-DarkStalkers Chronicle (Capcom)
-Death Jr (SCEA/Backbone)
-Derby (SCEI)
-Detective Shinto Shrine (WorkJam)
-Devil May Cry (Capcom)
-Dokodemo Issyo (SCEI)
-DoraSlot (Dorat)
-Dynasty Warriors (Koei/Omega Force)
-Evil Village (Now Production)
-Far East of Eden (Hudson/Red)
-Fighting Spirits (SCEA)
-Formula One 04 (SCEE/Evolution)
-Free Runing (Eidos)
-Frogger 2005 (Konami/KCES)
-Gaghary (Bandai)
-Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex (SCEI/Cavia)
-Gran Turismo 4: Mobile (SCEI/Polyphony Digital)
-Habitrail Hamster Ball (tba/Data Design)
-Hard Corps (SCEE/Studio London)
-Harvest Moon (Natsume/Marucome)
-Heaven Key Earth Gate (SCEI)
-Hot Shots Golf (SCEI/Clap Hanz)
-Infected (tba/Planet Moon)
-Intelligent License (Now Production)
-Joe (HumanSoft)
-Junior Sports Basketball (tba/Data Design)
-Junior Sports Hockey (tba/Data Design)
-Koron (CyberFront)
-Legend of the River King (Natsume/Marvelous)
-Mahjong Kakutou (Konami)
-Mahjong Taikai (Koei)
-Makkai Wars (Nippon Ichi)
-MediEvil (SCEE/Studio Cambridge)
-Meikyu Tansaku Gata Monster Shooting (Konami/KCES)
-Mercury (tba/Ignition)
-Metal Gear Ac!d (Konami/KCEJ)
-Metal Shell (tba/Tantalus)
-Mobile Suit Gundam (Bandai)
-Myth Makers Karting (tba/Data Design)
-NBA Shootout 2005 (SCEA/989 Sports)
-NBA Street (Electronic Arts)
-Need for Speed Underground (Electronic Arts)
-NFL Street (Electronic Arts)
-NHL Face-Off 2005 (SCEA/989 Sports/Blue 42)
-Ninja Bunny Warriors (tba/Data Design)
-Offroad Xtreme (tba/Data Design)
-Pilot Academy (Marvelous)
-Popolocrois Story (SCEI)
-Powerful Pro Baseball 12 (Konami/KCES)
-Professional Wrestling (Yukes)
-Project S (Sega)
-Puyo Pop Fever (Sega/Sonic Team)
-Ren-Goku: The Tower of Purgatory (Hudson)
-Ridge Racer (Namco)
-Rig Racing (tba/Data Design)
-Romance of the Three Kingdoms (Koei)
-RS Revolution (Spike)
-Shingata (Sunrise)
-Shin Mojibittan (Namco)
-Shin Tenmakai (Idea Factory)
-Sparrow Merit (Success)
-Spider-Man 2 (Activision/Vicarious Visions)
-Sprint Madness (tba/Resolution)
-Sticky Balls (tba/Warthog)
-Super Robot Taisen (Banpresto)
-Super Star Studio (Coong)
-Syphon Filter: Logan's Shadow (SCEA/Sony Bend)
-Tales of Eternia (Namco/Tales Studio)
-Talkman (SCEI)
-Technic Cute (Arika)
-Tiger Woods PGA Tour (Electronic Arts)
-TGM-K (Arika)
-Tokyo Xtreme Racing (Genki)
-Tony Hawk's Underground 2 (Activision/Neversoft)
-Transformers (Atrai/Melbourne House)
-Twisted Metal: World Tour (SCEA/Incog)
-Viewtiful Joe (Capcom/Clover Studio)
-Vegas Casino 2 (Phoenix Games)
-Volcanus Online (Zepetto)
-Wipeout Pure (SCEE/Studio Liverpool)
-World Soccer Winning Eleven 8 (Konami/KCET)
-World Tour Soccer 2005 (SCEE/Studio Soho)
-WRC (SCEE/Evolution)
-Ys: The Ark of Napishtam (Konami/KDE)
-Zero Hour (tba/Argonaut)
-Zooo (Success)

-tba action (Tomy)
-tba adventure (Visual Impact)
-tba project (Ready at Dawn)
-tba project (Sidhe Interactive)
-tba project (Square Enix)
-tba projects (Atari)
-tba projects (Electronic Arts)
-tba projects (Rockstar/Rockstar Leeds)
-tba projects (THQ)
-tba racing (PlayLogic/Engine)
-tba soccer (Dino Dini/DC Studios)


Thanks to Jarrod on GAF for compiling this.

 

[jvd]

whoot 4 games i want and 4 of them are on other systems !!!

 

[PC-Engine]

I think they meant the entire PSP costs £350 ($641) using the current LCD screen and hardware.

That's really expensive.

 

[wazoo]

whoot 4 games i want and 4 of them are on other systems !!!

4 games almost one year before western launch is quite good.

 

[Phil]

I must admit, I am quite concerned about this:

However, while they have adopted a wait-and-see stance towards Sony's hardware, several developers have said they are looking closely at Nintendo's DS, deeming it "less sexy but much more financially and technically viable, " thanks to it's N64-style capabilities. Others are looking for previous Ps2 titles to revive on the PSP as an obvious way of addressing development cost (conversions could be managed within two months, they suggest), but claim that Sony is discouraging this approach.

Lets assume though that PS3 hits of like PS2 did, dominating the market as it is doing now - wouldn't art assets of PS3 find their way to PSP games (toned down of course, but at least developers could be recycling art)

 

[wazoo]

Lets assume though that PS3 hits of like PS2 did, dominating the market as it is doing now - wouldn't art assets of PS3 find their way to PSP games (toned down of course, but at least developers could be recycling art)

They will already have plenty of work with ps1/ps2 ports.

 

[Farid]

Production costs of LCD screens is pretty much linear with area so I have to kind of doubt that 350 pound mark ... no way it is going to cost that to mass produce.

I think they meant the entire PSP costs £350 ($641) using the current LCD screen and hardware.

It seems that they means that the E3 screen alone cost as much as £350 (from theirs "anonymous sources"... So it worth what it worth)

A source close to Sony has claimed that the display technology on show at E3 currently cost around 70,000 yen (£350) per unit, clearly a prohibitive price for a mass market device. The E3 prototype's screen has also been cited as massive drain on the power source

Since it's a prototype, it could be, indeed, the price of the screen... Or not.