Sony dealers conference tomorrow ... PSP price maybe?

[McFly]

Sony plant 'PlayStation Dealers Conference' / PSP-Preisbekanntgabe?

04.10.04 - Sony hat in Japan Einladungen für eine 'PlayStation Dealers Conference' an den Fachhandel verschickt. Die Veranstaltung findet drei Mal statt: Am 05.10.04 in Tokio, am 06.10.04 in Nagoya und am 07.10.04 in Osaka.

Geplant ist, Händlern das kommende Lineup für PlayStation2 und PSP vorzustellen. Möglicherweise wird Sony dem Fachhandel auch den Preis von PSP bekanntgeben.

Source: www.gamefront.de

Guess we will know the price of the PSP by tomorrow.

Fredi

 

[passerby]

I'll have my browser pointed at the usual places.

 

[V3]

So anyone attended the conference ?

From what I heard PSP will have open pricing in Japan.

 

[Guden Oden]

If there is any kind of shortage the first batch of PSPs could likely sell for $900 in Japan and still disappear off the shelves within hours, bought up by people who've been queuing for a day or more to get one... They're nuts, those Japanese.

 

[McFly]

lol, I see it now, they will sell 1000 PSP's at ebay and people will pay >$1000 per piece. Two weeks later they release it officialy for $149.

Fredi

 

[ChryZ]

I am sure, there will be a suggested price and even if that price is blured at retailers, we'll see it unaltered at Sony's official online store.

 

[McFly]

No price announced: syoboonline

I went to Sony's December retailer meeting... Tales (Rebirth), MGS3, Ratchet3, GT4, Kagerou2, FF&DQ Itadaki St., Gundam vs Z-Gundam, Kessen 3, Bleach (Jump Manga), DMC3, Capcom Fighting Jam, Simple 2000 Series... that just about covers it. There was no announcement of PSP price or release date.

Fredi

 

[hey69]

what was the launchdate actually? (japan)

 

[PC-Engine]

Industry watchers PJ McNealy as well as Piper Jaffray & Co. find PSP launch plans at "high risk" for delay as late as November 2005.
Sony's PSP is at "high risk" of a substantial delay--into next year for Japan, and perhaps all the way back to November 2005 for the US market. That's the word from two separate memos sent on consecutive business days from noted industry analysts.

On Friday, PJ McNealy of American Technology Research published a report that questioned whether the PSP software shown at the Tokyo Game Show--many of which were explicitly stated as only being 50 to 60 percent complete--would be ready for the Japanese launch of the system, currently slated for this December. "The launch of the PSP in Japan this holiday season continues to be at risk," wrote McNealy. "If [Sony] misses the PSP Japan launch schedule, it could affect the announced March quarter North American launch and would be considered a negative to the video game publishers."

McNealy went on to describe two "likely" scenarios for the Japanese launch of the system. The first was a December launch with a "disappointing" launch lineup of "approximately five or fewer titles." This would seemingly contradict Electronic Arts' announcement that Tiger Woods and Need For Speed would launch alongside the PSP in Japan and the US, although McNealy did note in his report that "not all targeted launch titles were likely shown at TGS."

The second scenario posed by McNealy was a delay into January or later. If said delay, McNealy notes, was entirely software-related, it might not affect the March launch in the US. But if there are indeed "hardware issues such as battery management," McNealy sees the US launch window slipping into June.

Meanwhile, Piper Jaffray & Co. paints an even gloomier picture for the PSP's launch ambitions. In a report released today, the securities firm expects the handheld "to launch later than the current March 2005 expectation. First, Sony is usually late with most product introductionsÂ… and we are hearing that the platform has other issues such as thermal problems (transistors are running very hot) and a very short battery life (90 minutes) that will almost certainly delay the launch." All this points to a November 2005 launch in the US (possibly alongside the next Xbox system), the report concludes.

With the targeted launch window of the PSP in Japan fast approaching, Sony is expected to reveal pricing and launch date information in the near future.

By Chris Kohler -- GameSpot POSTED: 10/04/04 11:32 AM PST

 

[rabidrabbit]

Industry watchers... This forum is full of such "Industry Watchers"

 

[V3]

These industry watchers are as clueless as we are

 

[jvd]

could waiting to drop the price mean they are going to be selling it very high ?

I mean the two things that would stop alot of people from buying it are the 2 things we have no clue about and both seem to be pointing to the negative direction.

 

[rabidrabbit]

How can they point to negative direction, as virtually no info has been given on either.
Well, they've said the batteries would last 2-10 hours, which imo isn't too bad if the 2 hours isn't the average playing time.

The only info I've seen on the price was those PSP packages that were rumoured on these forums, and were supposedly from OPSM.
Although there's no confirmation if they were real or fake, at least those prices were very very competitive.

 

[hey69]

FAKE as a flying pig in saudi arabia

 

[McFly]

Well, they've said the batteries would last 2-10 hours, which imo isn't too bad if the 2 hours isn't the average playing time.

They've said: "... comparable to the 2 hours of a DVD player or comparable to the ten hours of a MP3 player or ..."

So actually they told nothing at all, just that it would be comparable to similar devices.

Fredi

 

[jvd]

How can they point to negative direction, as virtually no info has been given on either.

Well we know the psp wont be cheap to make , so why keep hiding the price. All we are going to asume is its a higher price.

We know the ds is going to come out for 175$ . The psp is also supposed to launch in japan at the same time as the ds is launching here. Why no price ? The only reason I can come up with is its not as attractive next to the ds price, which means at least double the price.

As for battery life. 2-10 . well we already know the best case senario is going to be mp3 playback with a certian compresion ratio , the screen off as often as possible .

We know the worse case senario is going to be either playing movies or playing games

The silence on this is really damning. Sony with thier new mp3 walkman was touting its 30 hour battery life for months before release .

 

[Teasy]

We know the ds is going to come out for 175$

You mean $149.99 Or do you mean after buying a game as well?

 

[jvd]

We know the ds is going to come out for 175$

You mean $149.99 Or do you mean after buying a game as well?

actually , i dunno hehe , i'm getting mine for free so haha

 

[zurich]

We know the ds is going to come out for 175$

You mean $149.99 Or do you mean after buying a game as well?

Fricking $49.99 USD per game too - forget that.

 

[Teasy]

Zurich

Not sure if the price of DS games has actually been officially announced has it? Anyway I hope your not expecting PSP games to be cheaper..