I don't think Sony should scrap the PSP2 - but they should hold off another year or two.

As a developer, what are you going to go with? Nintendo has blown everyones mind and the DS has already sold millions. If the PSP2 went head to head with it they would not only get crushed. However, even though the PSP 1 is old It's still most likely cheaper to develop for since It's been on the market so long, so companies will still develop for the PSP1 as long as they can sell their games on it till it dies. Japan right now seems to be the biggest supporter of the PSP, and games like Monster Hunter and Phantasy Star sell a stupid amount (hell even Persona Portable sold really well).

Now, in the next few years Sony should be working on the PSP2 and lowering development cost, as well as making it as powerful as the 3DS. That way when the 3DS is 1-2 years older they can release the PSP2 and it will gather more peoples attention as a new system.

what sony loyalist's for the PSP do you speak of..?

they very fact that Sony sold 50 million plus

PSP's and yet Sony has a hard time selling Software.

it's because the PSP is a great system , but it's mainly about putting the living room console experience in the palm of your hand..the problem is people would rather play the game's like the DS that are quick and more pick up an play than a console experience.

that's the main problem about the PSP that an price. at this point Sony taking the PSP out of the dedicated handheld game space and make it a hybrid smart phone allow's thos hardcore game's and quick pick up an play game not only from them but also in the Android Store.

by making it a smart phone you avoid the whole "dedicated game device" because your cellphone become's one. but most people only want to carry one handheld device at a time.

i think sony is going to run their Ad campaign pick up as much sales with current hardware and bring out a Hybrid /PSP Android smartphone as a new direction for their PSP Handheld moving forward. next year or even later.

Interesting so basically wait 1 or 2 years then distract everyone with PSP2.

The risk with that is 3DS will have an impenetrable marketshare by then, so why would 3rd parties develop for PSP2 which would just be starting out and ignore 3DS and possibly take resources away from wii2/PS4/720 development?

They wouldn't unless SONY paid them to develop for PSP2. 

SONY needs a big franchise for its handheld, 1st party. Like Gran turismo is for its consoles.

If they aren't identical because PSP2 has more "power" then in my opinion this would also be problematic for Sony, as devs would have to consider making a whole new game from the ground up for the PSP2. This would be to an install base of 0 and would undoubtably cost a lot of money. You can see where i am going with this can't you? Nintendo may have, as far as we know, become the "darling of the 3rd parties" overnight, at least in the handheld space.

Sony has some very big and important decisions coming regarding the PSP2.

no I think it's pretty easy.do not make a PSP 2 at all. so what if Nintendo gobbles up the "DEDICATED HANDHELD GAMING SPACE" they are doing that anyway.

Even selling 50 million plus system's did not do much of anything to Nintendo's handheld market share space.

moveing  the PSP over to the smart phone arena would be the only choice they have other than no handheld at all. but with 50 million plus PSP user's already. they can still sell PSP software from online.

sony's does not need to directly compete with Nintendo in this market just like the Iphone does not need too.

at this point keeping only the PSP hardware you have on the market right now is better than making yet another PSP that would not drive software.

the reason being

the PSP mind share is " the game console experience in the palm of your hand"

very many game's do not want that .but a smartphone with game's yes that is what many people use every day ,moreso than a "dedicated gameing handheld" device i would Ithink.

it already did.. just look at the sale's many people wanted the game's but did not want to pay for them

like i stated..going against the 3DS in a dedicated gaming handheld areana would net them very little result's but lot's of negative FUD and less and less support from 3rd party's because Nintendo has such a strong presence to sell software in that part of the market.

which mean's the only thing for the most part that sony could rely on would be 1st party..but with Android..they would have many INDI developer's making game's without having too much trouble getting game's that are pick up and play because those game's already are on the Android store.

than by adding PSN exclusive game's only found on SE phone's it give's and incentive to some gamer's to buy the new PSPSMARTPHONE

CDMA or GSM 2 model's same function's

I'm not sure if Scrap is the right mentality. Saying they should scrap the PSP2 is giving up without trying.

I think we should discuss what's required for the PSP2 to be a success?

Right now the two MAJOR competitors for a portable SONY gaming device are Iphone (smart phones) and 3DS.

Apple believes in creating products which challenges its users but are simple to use while being advanced technogically.

Nintendo believes in making products which are accessible and enjoyable for the mass market.

SONY values high end products for gamers. According to this SONY would intendt to design a PSP to have better performance than it's competition.

This puts SONY in a tough spot as their beliefs do not necessarily translate into amazing sales.

Maybe PSP2 has to be a 3D phone in order to compete.

SONY could try to push PSN as a type of App store.

SONY could brand the PSP2 as the phone for 'gamers'

They currently have a arrangement with Google which means it could also have access to an Android OS and the Android App store.

They could also provide a way for PS3 games to be played on the PSP2 on the GO. I.E. access to media stored on your PS3. They almost already have this right now but it's buggy.

3rd and 1st party support is a baseline.

And SONY has to avoid making a proprietary format.

SONY probably needs to do a few other things, the least of which is know how to market their products properly =P

My question would be: what strategy should Sony take with the PSP2? Because I see huge issues with all of them.

1) Little graphical upgrade, but 3D added. If they release this, it will run right in to the 3DS, which has more popular first party titles by a country mile (whether you personally like them), now has monster third party support, and is competitive from a graphical perspective. Worst of all, it's apparent that the 3DS will have a significant advantage by launching faster. Remember how much slack Sony got for launching the PS3 after the 360? Yeah, well, that was only ~8M units. Now multiply that by 2x or 3x, and you see how big a problem falling behind can be.

2) Huge graphical upgrade, comparable to 360/PS3. Third parties are already losing money on consoles right now -- major third parties lost nearly 800M dollars last year. 800 million dollars. Now, imagine applying this strategy to a handheld system, which Western third parties in particular have never been good at. PS3/360 graphics are barely a functional economic investment for home consoles; it's almost certainly unworkable for handhelds.

3) PSPhone. Good luck against the iPhone and Android! If there's a competitor I'd like to face even less than nintendo, it's apple. And if you try to make it a "Phone for gamers," or something, you're going to be competing against Apple and Nintendo at the exact same time. That's a nightmare -- an absolute nightmare. The two hottest, fastest growing companies in the sector.

It just seems to me that the PSP has been squeezed out of the market: Nintendo on one side, Apple ont he other.

Android is like the anti-PSP. Low cost games with no licensing fees. That exact opposite of the current PSP.

Android PSP is absolutely ridiculous.

Android is a totally open platform. It is open source. You think they're going to outsource development of their OS, so that they can have the least secure platform in existance? If you think PSP piracy is bad, wait til you haven't seen PSP Android.

Absolutely, 100% antithetical to Sony's approach.