I was going to reply to Gballzack's post in detail, but windbane already covered it.

Anyway, my point was that it's ridiculous to call it a failure just because it is being outsold by the DS. The DS just happens to be that one wildly popular console of the generation and it's outselling everything, so by that standard, everything is a failure. Was the N64 a failure because it was outsold by the PlayStation?

The PSP has sold over 20 million units in 2 years, and for the first 9 months of that first year, it wasn't even available in a major region(Europe). There's no doubt that it will surpass the Genesis and the N64, and at the rate it's going, it will surpass the SNES if it's left on the market for atleast 5 years, which it most likely will be.

A few years from now, this system will have outsold several other systems that aren't considered to be failures(Xbox 360, Xbox, Gamecube, Genesis, N64, possibly SNES), but the same people will still be calling it a failure, and the crux of their argument will still be "BUT IT WAS OUTSOLD BY THE DS!"

Well, you say, "at the rate its going", but did you know that the PSP's hardware shipments for its 2nd year were about half what they were for its first year? Something like 16M vs. 9M., it's in the Sony financial report somewhere. If it keeps declining like that it'll stall somewhere 30-35M lifetime. And let's not bring up the software sales. ;>

Your right, the shipments have dried up a bit...although I reckon Sony flooded the market with PSP's in the first 18 months anyway, so stores are just bringing the numbers down to a reasonable level before Sony need to bring in more shipments, as you'll see, the PSP has sold as many this year than it did last year at the same time.

Also...this may be something to do with the redesigned PSP that is now looking more like happening.

Dec04 - March 05:  3m shipped

March 05 - Sept 05:  9m shipped

Sept 05 - March 06:  17m shipped

March 06 - Sept 06:  23m shipped

Sept 06 - March 07:  25m shipped

And to date, the PSP has sold 22m

Yeah, it does look like a redesign is on the cards. 

i seem it as a success whether what people say...the reason because in America psp has caught 40% of the market and the DS has 60% another thing is that if the psp is a failure....then why the hell is square enix supporting the system why is it that games are still coming out for it...i believe that sony is doing the right thing and is discussing with developers that they see potential within the psp...whether anyone agrees...the psp is a success and it was a worthy contender against nintendo and its handhelds....

Regarding "kiddie", I see that this word results in a knee-jerk reaction from a lot of you without much additional thought. Let's think about this, shall we, and the frame of reference that *you* choose to place that word. You see the word "kiddie" and you automatically think along the lines of "everyone who owns such-and-such is a kid". That's your way of looking at it. Let me point out the other way. Let's say you have a child. You want to buy your child a portable gaming system, because, like I said, you want to shut him up and keep him busy while you're driving, on roadtrips, on shopping trips, get him out of the house even if he'd rather play videogames (now he can do both), etc. What would you buy? 1. The DS is the less expensive console, so, if the kid destroys it as kids tend to do, you are out less money. 2. The DS library is more "child-friendly" (a synonym for you-know-what). So can we conclude that, given this scenario, which is a very real one happening all over this fine country, that most parents would opt for the DS? That it is the console to choose for children? C'mon, we all know that Nintendo knows this, likes this, as it really is a great advantage, and tries to retain this edge through the generations of consoles. In other words, your thinking is that I said "all DS owners are kids", which is obviously not true as I said I am a DS owner and I am not a kid. However, if you are a kid or buying for a kid, chances are much higher than not that you would end up with a DS. It is what it is.

JSF said: Regarding "kiddie", I see that this word results in a knee-jerk reaction from a lot of you without much additional thought. Let's think about this, shall we, and the frame of reference that *you* choose to place that word. You see the word "kiddie" and you automatically think along the lines of "everyone who owns such-and-such is a kid". That's your way of looking at it. Let me point out the other way. Let's say you have a child. You want to buy your child a portable gaming system, because, like I said, you want to shut him up and keep him busy while you're driving, on roadtrips, on shopping trips, get him out of the house even if he'd rather play videogames (now he can do both), etc. What would you buy? 1. The DS is the less expensive console, so, if the kid destroys it as kids tend to do, you are out less money. 2. The DS library is more "child-friendly" (a synonym for you-know-what). So can we conclude that, given this scenario, which is a very real one happening all over this fine country, that most parents would opt for the DS? That it is the console to choose for children? C'mon, we all know that Nintendo knows this, likes this, as it really is a great advantage, and tries to retain this edge through the generations of consoles. In other words, your thinking is that I said "all DS owners are kids", which is obviously not true as I said I am a DS owner and I am not a kid. However, if you are a kid or buying for a kid, chances are much higher than not that you would end up with a DS. It is what it is.

i totally agree with u i have a ds and i play pokemon....people need to realize that as gamers who played games in the NES era or Genesis or Playstation or GB or GBA era...r still playing games....im only 19 but i still play games and i plan on in the future to still play games....so for those people that say the ds and the wii are kiddie are wrong...the wii and the ds are consoles for new and existing nintendo users...and i believe the way nintendo is goin i think they are never gonna leave the console market...they would have to do something really retarded to get them to leave the console business..microsoft caters more to the hardcore and teen, and adults...i for one dont see any titles that can get youth to play there console...playstation 3 is the same right now they dont have that jak and daxter or crash bandicoot right now.....everyone needs to know that adults teens and kids make the a console successful...if u dont gather the whole audience then u fail and ur system wont catch the masses

At the beginning of the year, the stores already had enough, so there was no need to send out any big shipments.

The PSP actually outsold the 360 not just in Europe and Japan in April, but also in North America.

So much for it being doomed.

You know...shipments may be down...but do you know that over 100,000 more PSP's in Japan have been sold this year so far compared to the same period last year.

Sales from Jan - May 2006 - 760,301

Sales from Jan - May 2007 - 876,144

Also you have to account for the fact that in early 2006 there was either a shortage of DS's in Japan or noone was buying them....more people were buying PSP's for a short period...also there was no Wii or PS3 to compete.

I think the sales so far this year for the PSP have been very good and are on track to sell around 2m in Japan alone this year. 

windbane said: *sigh* Another one... 1. His point is that yes, the DS is doing much better, but the PSP is doing well. 2. Funny you should mention the charts, because for number 3 you seem to forget they exist...you know...on this site... 3. Why should anyone show you figures that are readily available on this website?! But hey, since you are sooo lazy... Console Maker Date Japan Americas PAL Total Nintendo Mar-2007 0.00 / 32.47 0.00 / 44.06 0.00 / 42.16 0.00 / 118.69 Sony Mar-2007 1.43 / 25.42 2.82 / 47.68 2.39 / 44.79 6.64 / 117.89 Sony Mar-2007 0.00 / 21.59 0.00 / 40.78 0.00 / 40.12 0.00 / 102.49 Nintendo Mar-2007 0.04 / 16.66 2.00 / 41.10 0.66 / 21.71 2.70 / 79.47 Nintendo Mar-2007 0.00 / 19.23 0.00 / 34.00 0.00 / 8.56 0.00 / 61.79 Nintendo Mar-2007 0.00 / 17.15 0.00 / 23.35 0.00 / 8.58 0.00 / 49.08 Nintendo Mar-2007 4.50 / 16.02 4.23 / 11.74 4.73 / 12.52 13.46 / 40.28 Nintendo Mar-2007 0.00 / 5.55 0.00 / 20.63 0.00 / 6.75 0.00 / 32.93 Sega Mar-2007 0.00 / 3.59 0.00 / 17.80 0.00 / 9.36 0.00 / 30.75 Sony Mar-2007 1.55 / 6.92 0.01 / 9.58 0.89 / 8.89 2.45 / 25.39 Microsoft Mar-2007 0.00 / 0.53 0.08 / 16.42 0.03 / 7.81 0.11 / 24.76 Nintendo Mar-2007 0.00 / 4.02 0.37 / 12.81 0.01 / 4.76 0.38 / 21.59 Microsoft Mar-2007 0.19 / 0.39 3.34 / 6.96 1.42 / 3.61 4.93 / 10.94 Sega Mar-2007 0.00 / 1.79 0.00 / 5.54 0.00 / 3.34 0.00 / 10.67 As you can see, the PSP passed the Xbox and the Gamecube. The gamegear is the most successful handheld that isn't Nintendo's (a concept you seemed to have trouble with, since Nintendo also made the Virtual Boy...but whatever), and as you can see the PSP has shipped 2.5 times more than the gamegear ever did. The PSP will catch the Genesis and N64 this year or next, too. We'll see if it catches the SNES. 4. Is it any surprise that more kids play with handhelds than adults? Whatever... 5. I get great battery life playing games off my memory stick, and with my X2-battery case I can go half a day without worrying, at least. That's when I'm playing games and videos. If I'm just listening to music or podcasts with the screen off I'm not sure how long it lasts because it never drains my battery all the way before I play stuff inbetween. Sony itself has said it is targeting an older demographic now, but you can ignore that if you want.

God, not another one...

1. His point was poorly delivered and your summation of it seems to imply you didn't even bother reading beyond my reply.

2. Since he made the positive claim, burden of proof relied on him, not I. It was a simple request and if you can so easily provide the numbers I fail to see what was so outlandish to ask the same of him. Also, see point 3 for further illustration of why this is a moot point to begin with.

3. He said that the PSP had surpassed the sales of any Nintendo handheld that wasn't redone a million times, not all handhelds in general. You know, maybe you should try bother reading the post that the person was responding to before puting in your own two cents. And again I have to point out the pointlessness of comparing a handheld to consoles in a debate that is now comparing two handhelds in their bid for that market. The PSP isn't directly competing with consoles so comparing it to them is about as pertinent as comparing 360 sales to the sales of a JVC DVD player.

4. That's not the point, he was claiming the PSP was prefered by adults and the DS wasn't, I was arguing against this assumption. And you saying, "DUR, IS IT A SURPRISE MORE KIDS PLAY HANDHELDS?" is not only irrelevant to the debate but an asinine contribution to a discussion you obviously didn't bother reading beyond my reply.

5. Good for you, you're using your PSP for everything other than a direct UMD gaming system and saving battery life, if only we all used it was everything other than its primary purpose than we too could be free from the limits of battery life. Also, Sony saying its targeting an older demographic now? Oh well that obviously proves more adults prefer the PSP to the DS because Sony says so. You know Sony never spews underhanded self-serving shit like that ever. Sony also said the PS3 would dominate this generation so that obviously means that the PS3 is selling much better than the 360 and Wii right now eh?

 It is a wonder how I manage to stay toe to toe with someone so seasoned in debating, god... you're obviously a master at this. If only everyone would jump haphazardly into a debate without reading beyond the last post.

LOL, Genesis beat Xbox and Gamecube. That's embarassing.