"LTNK brought this up, because he thinks that a focus on console-like games is the wrong strategy for a handheld."

Well... it's more the focus on console games that don't work for handhelds. A lot of the games made for consoles and PCs work just fine on handhelds, due to their pick-up-and-play nature (Final Fantasy I-VI have all done well on handhelds). And Tetris wasn't made specifically for the Gameboy, It started out as a PC game. It just works really well on any system.

Also, Monster Hunter apparently isn't the same on the PSP as home systems. At least according to the writer of this email (http://seanmalstrom.wordpress.com/2011/09/05/email-psps-monster-hunters-online-was-integrated-with-the-single-player/).

That brings us to some games that don't work as well.

While GTA LCS and VCS have sold quite well on the PSP, they are still far short of the deca-platinum sales of their PS2 brothers, but more importantly, neither was a killer app for the PSP. And some have complained about Chinatown Wars not taking off, but the game wasn't made for the strength of handhelds. It was made 2D and cel shaded, both of which makes it look as though they dumbed down the game for the DS (which did insult a lot of DS owners who would have given the game a shot), and the gameplay was part of the obsolete 2D gameplay (and I mean obsolete, because these are largely driving games, and driving is type of gameplay that actually works better in 3D instead of 2D) combined with shoehorned touch screen controls (that turned out to not even be necessary due to the PSP port).

Or Resident Evil on the DS. Of course the horror in the game was lost due to being on a handheld, but more importantly, the nature of the gameplay in these games also works better when sitting down for a long session. And even though 4 was more action intensive, that style of gameplay might also not work as well on a handheld, if the focus remains on long sessions.

GTA on PSP is one of the best if the THE best selling game on that system. It didnt sell as well as the others?? It has a smaller install base for one, 2 neither of those got anywhere near the coverage or attention of the console siblings especially VCS.  As for CWs, I love how people claim it was a dumbed down game, when the series started as a 2d game. It wasnt dumbed down at all, thats how GTA originally played.  If anything "true" GTA fans should be insulted becasue it is clear that some people simply did not know anything about the series. I get that some people did not like it, but what did you expect?? If they would have made it 3d it most likely would have sucked due to the DS' limitations and even if it was good some people would still cry that it is a "console game on handheld", they went the 2d route and others are complaining its not a true GTA, they were better off just not making the damn thing.

I like these "consoles on handhelds" they are the ONLY reason I play dedicated portable gaming machines. SF, Tekken, MGS, GTA, bring em on. I want my cake and eat it too, i cant see why there cant be markets for both, oh there actually is.

Oh well this will certainly take away alot of sales for this game.

1. 6.65 million is the highest sales of the PSP GTA games, while 11.60 is the lowest on the PS2. Even IV is nearing 10 million on the 360 alone.

2. Install base? You really think that a) install base causes a correlation of sales differences, and b) the sales of the PSP now count as sales of the system when LCS came out?

3. Hype didn't make GTA take off. If it did, Metal Gear Solid 2 would have outsold GTA III.

4. It doesn't matter what the series started as. The series became a blockbuster AFTER going 3D. That's like making a Mario Bros game instead of a Super Mario Bros game (and I mean "instead", not just including it like the Super Mario Advance games).

5. If the game was old GTA style, why was it hyped as a game for fans of GTA in general? Those people didn't buy the past GTA games, so they should NOT be expected to know or care about them.

6. COP The Recuit already proved the DS could do that. Sure the scale wasn't huge, but these games don't need to be, as they are on handhelds.

7. Um, who? When that's brought up, it's not for complaining, but explaining why it doesn't sell.

8. I'm not discussing the complainers. I'm discussing the sales. What made you think I was discussing the other thing?

9. No, they were better off making a 3D game, on a scale that fit the system. Again, this is about sales, not the people on message boards.

10. Did you pay attention at all to my qualifying comments on console games on handhelds? I distinctly wrote that some actually works. And some of those you mentioned also work.

11. Did you think I claimed that the GTA Stories games didn't sell because they were console games? I did not give any such reasons in the post you quoted. The reasons were actually a) recycling content (selling us the same cities were already played, which made them basically expansion packs), b) missions were only slightly shorter than on the home systems, when they should have been significantly shorter (they could just add more mission to make up for it), c) stories were too intensive, when people shouldn't have their play time on the bus eaten up by cut scenes (doesn't matter if they are skippable, since there is no theater mode to later watch at your leisure), d) controls should have been more based on III and Vice City than San Andreas. The first two barely used the second analog stick, so would have been much less confusing to play.

This isn't the first game being sold for over 40 bucks. Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor Overclocked is selling for over 40 bucks used on amazon and over 50 going as far as 80 new. So even though I'd rather pay 40 but 50 is reasonable.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/B002I09286/ref=dp_olp_new?ie=UTF8&qid=1320353277&sr=1-13&condition=new

i dont care what the price of the game is, because as long as its good than that is what really matters. $50.00 for a handheld game with a console like experience is justified i think.

Used sales are not MSRP.

I personally played the crap out of GTA for PSP and IMHO it was a better game than 3 which is what it was based off. I get your points, but if you look to COP and say they should have emulated that, that just shows the limitations of the DS. That game sucked. It wasnt just because it was smaller the games sucked as a whole.  Is that what DS owners wanted??? A mediocore GTA game, sure it would have sold alright at first, but as soon as people realized it sucked, sales would have plummeted

OT

as others have stated, its 40 bucks on Amazon. Everyone chill.

http://www.amazon.com/Resident-Evil-Revelations-Nintendo-3DS/dp/B0050SVLI2/ref=wl_it_dp_o_npd?ie=UTF8&coliid=I2FPEKBD7VB8HO&colid=3957XJ2MY8SRZ

"I personally played the crap out of GTA for PSP and IMHO it was a better game than 3 which is what it was based off. I get your points, but if you look to COP and say they should have emulated that, that just shows the limitations of the DS. That game sucked. It wasnt just because it was smaller the games sucked as a whole. Is that what DS owners wanted??? A mediocore GTA game, sure it would have sold alright at first, but as soon as people realized it sucked, sales would have plummeted"

I didn't mean COP TR as a game, but what it did on the system. If done in a similar way, but by developers with the skill to pull it off, like Rockstar Leeds, then they game would actually have been better.