Quality software.

Built-in coffee machine. And games, but not so much as the other one.

Edit: Dang I had witten a long post that just vanished. Oh well.

My main points were that I think in order to actually outsell the 3DS the PSP2 would need a significant price advantage, a unique and easily marketable feature, to launch by the end of 2011 or 3DS will have to big of a head start, and for Sony to develop new handheld specific franchises that can sell more than 5 million units.

I don't think all of that will happen. But the PSP2 can still be profitable and a worthwhile investment. I think Sony should be more concerned about profiting off of PSP2 than gaining marketshare. I suggest selling hardware for a profit from launch, working hard on reducing piracy, and developing some new handheld friendly franchises.

Nintendo has obviously abandoned Gunpei Yokoi's philosophy of lateral thinking with withered technology.  This philosophy gave Ninendo's portables unparalleled battery life compared to it's competition and it seems like this may not be the case with the 3DS.  The winner of the handheld race has always had great battery life as it's very desirable feature in a machine that is supposed to be portable. 3D and heavy graphical output are not Nintendo's friend.  They are at best gimmicks that will win over a few niche handheld players. 

The analog stick is placed in the primary position leading me to believe that many games will be 3D games which will be competing against the PS3/360/PSP type of games.  These games tend to lend themselves better to consoles as most aren't very pick up and play.  Just like many wouldn't pick up a PSP because it competed too much with those types of games that can be better enjoyed at home on a huge screen with the best online services and I think the same will be true of the 3DS.

The DS got the software that was interesting and different mainly because it was nigh impossible to develop traditional blockbuster style titles on it.  This is no longer the case.  

Nintendo has not shown any new expanded audience software.  The DS was losing to the  PSP until the likes of Nintendogs and Brain Training.  While Nintendo may have more of those specific ip's ready they need to focus on people they didn't already get playing those games.  In order to beat the DS they will have to expand gaming even more and I don't see the Nintendogs Cats and another iteration of Animal Crossing, and Brain Training to be doing that.  

I believe that Nintendo is now being over estimated in the same fashion that Sony was before they came to the portable game.  The DS succeeded because it offered many experiences that were not available anywhere else because of it's ancient innards.  There are many people competing for the slice of pie that the 3DS is going after.  

I don't think Sony will take these opportunities and utilize them as best as possible, but it is a great opportunity for them.  I see Sony making sure it gets IPhone games and that PSP2 has some version of UE on it so  that it can share those 3rd party development resources.  I also see alot of 3DS exclusives jumping the wagon as there is very little reason for 3rd parties to not do what they enjoy doing and supporting non-Nintendo platforms.  If Sony can achieve price parity with the App store and keep up with the large number of apps then I see them being more successful than they where with the PSP.

With Apple and Verizon getting ready to make the iPhone available to it's network in addition AT&T's I can see that outselling them both combined in hardware and software much like Job's would boast about during the summer months.  

The Ipad has an analog stick now and I have only heard positive things about it. Does it count as a console now?  Will the iPhone get a smaller version?

I hereby ready my flame shield as I know this is not a popular opinion. 

The only flaw with your statement is that for it to be cheaper than the 3DS, it needs to have cheaper components. Which pretty much means slower processor, less ram, lesser quality graphics. Pretty much an inferior system. I don't think you can pull a "Wii success" with handhelds. Besides, Sony is always about bells and whistles, they will soup up the PSP2 to be at least on par, pricewise, with the 3DS.

I do agree that the 3DS lineup sucks. They should have had Ocarina of Time ready for launch, the game is like 13 years old now afterall.

As for the battery life, that can change with electronic tweaks or a better battery. 3-5 wouldnt bode well for those long car trips with the kids in the back, unless you had a power convertor to plug in to.

it's compatible, the problem is the oil from your fingers making smears on the screen, so 3D wouldn't make sense here, the only part I wish they changed was from single touch to multi-touch on the 3DS, but the cost would go up for sure. The touch screen placed where it currently resides is a very good thing, inventory management, maps, vital display, and can be used as a right analog stick if required so. a touch pad on the back is a decent idea if it's on the psp2, but if that's true, I'd have to say come the fuck on sony! it'd be nowhere near as intuitive as a touch display since it'd work more like a shitty mouse.

They can't have 1st party line ups at launch this time around since it'd murder 3rd party efforts, it's the right thing to do to get more support down the line. That's just how it is, but a few months down the road, it's going to be insane every month.

Hmm but it didnt seem to hurt the DS, no? Didnt they have have 1st party games at launch?

Do we actually have any confirmed info about PSP2 yet? So we don't know what it does, but we're betting on how well it will sell?

Anyway, I think Sony is in a difficult situation. I'd describe their systems as being conservatively designed, but powerful. Kind of the "brute force" approach. If your competitor has a strong novelty feature though (and you don't), your system has to be extra powerful to still convince buyers. If Sony decides to take that route, the PSP2 would be graphically impressive, but plagued by the same problems as PSP1: High price, low battery life. 

The other option would be inventing their own unique feature(s). Maybe putting a stronger emphasis on media center / communication features than Nintendo does? Something completely different? 

Simply copying Nintendos key feature (again) is a bit harder this time: Touch screens have become the de facto standard in media devices (smartphones, tablets, game systems), so Sony probably wants to have that. But on a one display device, a 3D display won't go well with a touch screen. I bet that this is the one problem that keeps Apple from putting out a 3D iphone, btw. So Sony will have to choose what they're going to adapt, touch screen or 3D?

Tricky. They'll be fine, I think, after all there's a market for Sony style games, and their IPs have a strong following. But beating 3DS? Not without an own big innovation on their hands, I'd say.

EDIT: Wouldn't it make sense if Sony dropped the UMD and switched to cartridges instead? 3DS cartridges are rumored to be up to 8GB in size - far more than the clunky, battery-consuming, easily breakable UMD. 

Nice thread, regardless of what happens in the future I think PS3 teach us that any console can fall even if it is the succesor of the most successful machine ever (PS2).