FEATURE: The PSP Comeback?

With Nintendo's DS hogging the handheld spotlight, it's easy to overlook how the PSP is actually becoming more viable in the marketplace.

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I say good for the PSP. It deserved better than developers, including Sony, to take the Playstation brand for granted and thinking they didn't need a bunch of hit games after the launch. Now they have agood lineup, and the games are selling better.

It's too late to become king of the mountain again, but it can still become a hit system. It's ten million units behind the Genesis, the lowest selling system that is still considered a blockbuster system. So if the PSP outsells the Genesis, it's made it. There will be no question it's a hit system (aside from bashers denying it).

The REAL question is that how long will SONY support it till PSP2

is it gonna be constantly evolving or something...

If it's at least 5 more years the PSP could reach around 60 Million - ish..

n that for SONY's 1st handheld aint bad at all

Good for PSP. It's a very successful product indeed. Now all it needs is some improvement in the software area and it's done it's job. Doesn't matter if it comes 1st or 2nd it's still a good multimedia and gaming device.

I'm still baffled as to why the psp is actually doing good as of late. It never really impressed many people.... are there good games for it now?

I'm still baffled as to why the psp is actually doing good as of late. It never really impressed many people.... are there good games for it now?

Well SONY will try to milk the PSP considering the losses of PS3...

anyway lets hope Ps3 will see such a turn in the future....

The real failure of the PSP has always been and will always be software sales. Because Sony has constructed a system that condones, nay, ENCOURAGES people to buy one with few or without any games at all (the horrible attach rate proves this), they have effectively made their hardware unit sales totally irrelevant. Say what you will about the GC's or the N64's disappointing numbers. At least they sold games with their units, not like this convergence Mp3 player/Failed format home/TV tuner/Homebrew station/PS2 port magnet/game player. I've actually seen people on campus here using the PSP solely as a cheap MP3 player. That's an attach ratio of ZERO, the lowest in history. Even the TurboGrafx's and the CD-I's and the damn Jaguar's all bought at least one game with it.

A sizable chunk of the PSP's userbase doesn't even care about games. And I'm not too keen on this "It's ok to be #2 in a two man race" crap. Sorry Ollie, but Sony, you guys spent the last 12 years talking about #1 is it and anything less was in last place and in the rear view mirror and all that. Now all of a sudden it's OK to lose in the marketplace. Nintendo had to take their licks, they faced the music, they endured the editorials, they endured the market stigma without excuse and without Nintendo-friendly media outlets. It's your turn to man up and take it, and learn from it, instead of wriggling and excuse-making like Nintendo did only 4 years ago.

That's not an accurate evaluation of the situation. Comparing a nearly 20 year old console to a handheld today is ridiculous. The gaming market is leaps and bounds beyond what it was in 1993 and the Genesis was a console that launched at $199 in 1989 vs. a $199 launch in 2005 for the PSP.

According to the Consumer Price Index, $199 in 1989 dollars is now $323.

There are a few other factors, too. The PSP sales have never been that disappointing but the software sales are absymal. That is what developers and Sony focus on and that's where the real money is made in this business. The PSP is failing miserably in that category.

Over the long run, I think the PSP will be fine but it will never be considered a blockbuster system.

The PSP has almost reached a good price and sales will start to pick up, before the PSP was released they asked alot of Sony users and the majority said they would pay $150 max, the system is almost at that price so i would expect sales to continue to get higher over the next two years.

PSP launched $250 in America. And it can still reach a "blockbuster level". Don't completely count it out.