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Forums - Sony - 2009: Will the PSP strike back in the west?

NJ5 on 19 January 2009
Groucho said:

The comparison you made in your reotort were not similar to the PSP/DS disparity, with regards to tech.  The PS1/N64 and the PS2/GC are much much more similar that they are different -- at best, the higher tech machine is about 2x as powerful as the weakest... i.e. not enough to encompass the gap between console generations.  The gap with the DS/PSP is much larger -- on the order of 5x.  

That's enough to bridge a generation, and that's my point.  You comment didn't make sense to me, in that regard -- I hope you can understand why.

 

What about the Wii/PS3? The Wii has sold almost 3 times more than the PS3 in Japan even though the technological gap (CPU/GPU wise) is very big.

Regarding consoles and handhelds, I don't see much of a reason to believe Japan is particularly performance/graphics-oriented vs the rest of the world.

 



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Godot on 19 January 2009

The PSP is dead in the west. The western support is pretty much non-existent. As for Japan, the PSP is finally getting some support because it could sell software last year. Also, Square Enix decided to put more support for that console than any other for some reasons.



How many cups of darkness have I drank over the years? Even I don't know...

 

Groucho on 19 January 2009
NJ5 said:
Groucho said:

The comparison you made in your reotort were not similar to the PSP/DS disparity, with regards to tech.  The PS1/N64 and the PS2/GC are much much more similar that they are different -- at best, the higher tech machine is about 2x as powerful as the weakest... i.e. not enough to encompass the gap between console generations.  The gap with the DS/PSP is much larger -- on the order of 5x.  

That's enough to bridge a generation, and that's my point.  You comment didn't make sense to me, in that regard -- I hope you can understand why.

 

What about the Wii/PS3? The Wii has sold almost 3 times more than the PS3 in Japan even though the technological gap (CPU/GPU wise) is very big.

Regarding consoles and handhelds, I don't see much of a reason to believe Japan is particularly performance/graphics-oriented vs the rest of the world.

 

I don't believe the handheld market follows the same paradigm as the home console market, in this regard.  The Wii is successful because it caters to the blue ocean, not because it has somehow managed to impress traditional gamers with its low tech.  The handheld market is different, from my perspective.  Still mostly a gamer demographic, and gamers, more than blue ocean consumers, are looking for a bump in tech when they upgrade.  They're also more likely to upgrade than the average joe.

The DS is at a stage in its lifetime where it is eclipsed, technologically, by its competition, and unlike the typical console generation (like those comparisons mentioned by Maxwell), there is no improvement on the horizon.  The only existing technological change is in the PSP -- you can call the PSP's far enhanced ability as a 3D game platform, widescreen media platform, music player, etc. a gimmick, if you like, but its a gimmick that the DS will not be able to provide to the gamer, and those features are of interest to gamers in general.  Without a generational upgrade on the horizon, handheld owners are either stuck with their PSP or DS, or are forced to look elsewhere if they want an interesting new experience (which they inevitably do).

The PSP has a lot more room for growth in the market than the DS does, and has the advantage of being a significantly more powerful platform in an aging handheld console race -- an entire console generation ahead, really.  The immense popularity of the DS also has put Nintendo at something of a crossroads, with regards to providing a new handheld generation -- can they continue to move forward with cartridges as a storage medium, and still provide the data and functionality necessary for a platform on a similar scale to the PSP, or will they need to provide a disc-based/download-based game service to keep up (like DSiWare, but bigger)?  Nintendo abandoned carts with their move from the N64 to the GC (not surprisingly, the N64 and the DS are very very close, in terms of techincal specs) for technological/financial reasons, and they clearly wanted to abandon the GBA's BC with the release of the DSi, to save on hardware costs.  Will they include DS cart functionality in their next handheld?  A big question they don't want to answer anytime soon, while they ride out the DS's success, IMO.  Thus the DS is here to stay, as I see it -- and the PSP will continue to loom as an "upgrade", in the eye of the gaming user.

 

 



wholikeswood on 19 January 2009

I think PSP sales in the West will continue to get worse and worse.

The line-up for 2009 is so strong from a Japanese perspective, though, that it could outsell the DS in 09 over there.



NJ5 on 19 January 2009
Groucho said:

I don't believe the handheld market follows the same paradigm as the home console market, in this regard.  The Wii is successful because it caters to the blue ocean, not because it has somehow managed to impress traditional gamers with its low tech.  The handheld market is different, from my perspective.  Still mostly a gamer demographic, and gamers, more than blue ocean consumers, are looking for a bump in tech when they upgrade.  They're also more likely to upgrade than the average joe.

The DS is at a stage in its lifetime where it is eclipsed, technologically, by its competition, and unlike the typical console generation (like those comparisons mentioned by Maxwell), there is no improvement on the horizon.  The only existing technological change is in the PSP -- you can call the PSP's far enhanced ability as a 3D game platform, widescreen media platform, music player, etc. a gimmick, if you like, but its a gimmick that the DS will not be able to provide to the gamer, and those features are of interest to gamers in general.  Without a generational upgrade on the horizon, handheld owners are either stuck with their PSP or DS, or are forced to look elsewhere if they want an interesting new experience (which they inevitably do).

The PSP has a lot more room for growth in the market than the DS does, and has the advantage of being a significantly more powerful platform in an aging handheld console race -- an entire console generation ahead, really.  The immense popularity of the DS also has put Nintendo at something of a crossroads, with regards to providing a new handheld generation -- can they continue to move forward with cartridges as a storage medium, and still provide the data and functionality necessary for a platform on a similar scale to the PSP, or will they need to provide a disc-based/download-based game service to keep up (like DSiWare, but bigger)?  Nintendo abandoned carts with their move from the N64 to the GC (not surprisingly, the N64 and the DS are very very close, in terms of techincal specs) for technological/financial reasons, and they clearly wanted to abandon the GBA's BC with the release of the DSi, to save on hardware costs.  Will they include DS cart functionality in their next handheld?  A big question they don't want to answer anytime soon, while they ride out the DS's success, IMO.  Thus the DS is here to stay, as I see it -- and the PSP will continue to loom as an "upgrade", in the eye of the gaming user.

 

 

I don't think the DS caters any less to the blue ocean market than the Wii. Do you think so?

Obviously the PSP has more room for growth, but that's not the question... The question is really whether a significant portion of DS owners will want to move to the PSP.

 



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V-r0cK on 19 January 2009

If some games such as Gran Turismo and the Devil May Cry series would actually be released then it could help. I think PSP is due for a Resident Evil game.



RVDondaPC on 19 January 2009
NJ5 said:

I don't think the DS caters any less to the blue ocean market than the Wii. Do you think so?

Obviously the PSP has more room for growth, but that's not the question... The question is really whether a significant portion of DS owners will want to move to the PSP.

 

 

I agree with you. Amongst my family and friends, the people that seem to be gamers don't really own a DS. The people that do own a DS seem to be really young or people that aren't really that much into gaming. And eventhough I consider myself a gamer I've been thinking about buying a handheld for a while now and if I did buy one I would buy a DS, because they have different games to help you learn different languages and such. If I was getting a handheld strictly for gaming I woud get a PSP. But I'd rather play on my PS3 if I wanted to game.



Strategyking92 on 19 January 2009

I think the system is too far gone..
I would buy the psp2 in a heartbeat.

Hey, but this year, WE HAVE A KILLER AP EXCLUSIVE!! SUCK IT, DS!
http://vgchartz.com/forum/thread.php?id=57432



And that's the only thing I need is *this*. I don't need this or this. Just this PS4... And this gaming PC. - The PS4 and the Gaming PC and that's all I need... And this Xbox 360. - The PS4, the Gaming PC, and the Xbox 360, and that's all I need... And these PS3's. - The PS4, and these PS3's, and the Gaming PC, and the Xbox 360... And this Nintendo DS. - The PS4, this Xbox 360, and the Gaming PC, and the PS3's, and that's all *I* need. And that's *all* I need too. I don't need one other thing, not one... I need this. - The Gaming PC and PS4, and Xbox 360, and thePS3's . Well what are you looking at? What do you think I'm some kind of a jerk or something! - And this. That's all I need.

Obligatory dick measuring Gaming Laptop Specs: Sager NP8270-GTX: 17.3" FULL HD (1920X1080) LED Matte LC, nVIDIA GeForce GTX 780M, Intel Core i7-4700MQ, 16GB (2x8GB) DDR3, 750GB SATA II 3GB/s 7,200 RPM Hard Drive

saicho on 19 January 2009
NJ5 said:
Groucho said:

I don't believe the handheld market follows the same paradigm as the home console market, in this regard.  The Wii is successful because it caters to the blue ocean, not because it has somehow managed to impress traditional gamers with its low tech.  The handheld market is different, from my perspective.  Still mostly a gamer demographic, and gamers, more than blue ocean consumers, are looking for a bump in tech when they upgrade.  They're also more likely to upgrade than the average joe.

The DS is at a stage in its lifetime where it is eclipsed, technologically, by its competition, and unlike the typical console generation (like those comparisons mentioned by Maxwell), there is no improvement on the horizon.  The only existing technological change is in the PSP -- you can call the PSP's far enhanced ability as a 3D game platform, widescreen media platform, music player, etc. a gimmick, if you like, but its a gimmick that the DS will not be able to provide to the gamer, and those features are of interest to gamers in general.  Without a generational upgrade on the horizon, handheld owners are either stuck with their PSP or DS, or are forced to look elsewhere if they want an interesting new experience (which they inevitably do).

The PSP has a lot more room for growth in the market than the DS does, and has the advantage of being a significantly more powerful platform in an aging handheld console race -- an entire console generation ahead, really.  The immense popularity of the DS also has put Nintendo at something of a crossroads, with regards to providing a new handheld generation -- can they continue to move forward with cartridges as a storage medium, and still provide the data and functionality necessary for a platform on a similar scale to the PSP, or will they need to provide a disc-based/download-based game service to keep up (like DSiWare, but bigger)?  Nintendo abandoned carts with their move from the N64 to the GC (not surprisingly, the N64 and the DS are very very close, in terms of techincal specs) for technological/financial reasons, and they clearly wanted to abandon the GBA's BC with the release of the DSi, to save on hardware costs.  Will they include DS cart functionality in their next handheld?  A big question they don't want to answer anytime soon, while they ride out the DS's success, IMO.  Thus the DS is here to stay, as I see it -- and the PSP will continue to loom as an "upgrade", in the eye of the gaming user.

 

 

I don't think the DS caters any less to the blue ocean market than the Wii. Do you think so?

Obviously the PSP has more room for growth, but that's not the question... The question is really whether a significant portion of DS owners will want to move to the PSP.

 

agreed. DS started the blue ocean movement fo Nintendo with the touch generation games, Brain Training and Nintendogs. I don't see those customers would really look to upgrade to PSP just becuase it's more powerful. If such factor is important to those consumers, I believe they would have chosen PSP at the first place. One scenario I think that might appeal to those consumers is Sony releases a PSP model with touch screen.

 



MikeB predicts that the PS3 will sell about 140 million units by the end of 2016 and triple the amount of 360s in the long run.

Groucho on 19 January 2009

Hmm, so you guys believe that the DS is blue ocean targetted, due to Brain Age and Nintendogs? Those titles are the reason its sold more nearly 60M more units than the PSP? Is there a "DS Fit" and "DS Sports" I missed out on, too?

Hmm. I can't say I'm convinced.