I still wonder why people thinks that a price cut'll help the PSP in America? It isn't the only aspect that people consider for the handheld.

It's been at $170 to $200 for 3 years now.

The Go launched at $250.

Nothing significant has been released on it since Chains of Olympus in 2008. (Gran Turismo PSP was botched)

Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker is still a month away but doesn't seem to be getting any advertising in America.

Well no PSP adverts at all recently (as in several months).

When the OP is pointing out modnation racers as a reason why crowds should logically be flocking to buy the console, then you know that must be the problem. 

The price of the PSP is high in Japan, the PSP has lots of games that Japanese gamers like, thus it has good sales

It is pointless when america is pirate land.

1. Price needs dropping on both psp versions
2. battery life isn't too great.
3. game selection is limited
4. absolutely no advertising (psp was my first system this gen and i've seen less than a dozen games advertised on tv for them. Hannah montana psp was the last commercial I've seen.).
5. no real flagship titles. Nintendo has plenty of pokemon, link, and mario games for the DS. psp does not have multiple god of wars/ gran turismos/ 1st party titles

is really dated, modern media devices make it look clunky feature less and hard to use, all that make consumers think is not worth what sony is asking for it so most want a price cut but thats not the root of the problem.

Who would get a $170 PSP when you can get a $190 iTouch 8GB which has a good size screen, tons of apps/software for cheap, links in with iTunes, far better battery life and is pocketable?

There are three main reasons why PSP sales aren't that great in North America

1) The PSP is pretty much seen as a PS3 lite. Peacewalker is perceived to be a watered down version of the MGS franchise. The PSP God of War games are perceived to be watered down GoW. Modnation Racers PSP is perceived as watered down Modnation Racers.. Gran Turismo PSP is seen as watered down Gran Turismo (compared to what's coming with GT5). Little Big Planet PSP is seen as watered down LBP. The PSP doesn't have it's own identity. It hides in the shadow of big brother PS3. The PSP's target demographic, "core gamers", see the PSP versions of these games as inferior to the PS3 versions.

2) The PSP is very much lacking in new western-oriented software (with the exception of the western Sony games I mentioned in number 1). The PSP had a strong lineup of Japanese RPGs and other niche Japanese games in 2009 and 2010 is no different. But these games don't appeal to the western mainstream gamer. They appeal to that niche of western gamers that like these kind of Japanese games.

3) The price of the PSP Go is a joke and the PSP-3000 price is a tad expensive.


I have personally considered getting a PSP-3000 but I'm not so sure that it would be a good idea. My fear is that I would buy it, be enthousiastic about it for the first few months playing the great releases coming out in 2010 and catching up on old releases. And then losing interest after the third-parties pull the plug on software support in a year. I mean let's face it. Even if you still play "obsolete hardware" (and I still do. It's nice going back to play the classics), it takes a big back seat to your new toys right? The PS2 for eg. is great but I spend a lot more time on my two current gen consoles and the DS than the PS2 right now.

Well i don't think its the price at all. What if you knew a psp2 is coming would you still buy a psp? I know I wouldnt. With all these rumors of a psp2 in the works and word has it thats its coming the end of this year or early 2011 maybe people are holding out for it. Sony is hard at work trying to build a psp2. They have to. There is no way a psp can compete with a Nintendo 3DS which is suppose to release late this year. The problem is we don't know when a psp2 is coming out.

The point of this thread is to discuss why Americas hardware sales are worse than others and Japan.

Others is pirate land, not America.

And price cutting isn't going to stop piracy (infact, price cuts are more significant for pirates. If a non pirate is going to buy the console for $200 and $500 worth of games, then a $50 price cut is 1/14th the total cost. For the pirate the same price cut is a quarter of the total cost.