Schild's PSP Countdown Thread

[Trippy]

I'm not convinced that the 'not going to spend $250 to not further my career' thing is entirely valid. But it is valid to say that people who travel a lot on business have laptops which already play music and movies, access the internet, and play games. Also, we already have too much hand luggage thankyouverymuch.

I bought a GBA SP back when I was traveling for business. It's much easier to pull that out and play with that than to haul out a laptop to play games on.

People bought ipods becuase of better marketing and because it gives you a personal stereo you can use while doing other things. The 'while doing other things' is what is special about music. You can't watch movies or play games while doing other things.

That's like saying the video game console market (or the home DVD player market) will never be huge cause, well, you can't do other things while playing games (which isn't totally true either). And yet 100 million in PS console sales, and close to 100 million in PS/2 console sales says you are wrong (with the iPod trailing far far behind at 10 million in sales). Just cause the PSP is a portable device that doesn't mean the only time you can use it is while riding a train/bus/plane, waiting at the airport or whatever.

[Merusk]

Rubbish.
An iPod won't further your carreer, they're just nice to have. And there's cheaper ways to listen to music, but 75% of those buying portable music players (and a lot are 30+) still buys iPod.
I'm 34, I have a wife and a kid and another one due soon... my PSP will arrive shortly from the States (I hope). The stuff that will further my career I expect my boss to pay for.

Not to dismiss you, but as a discussion point, you're also European and working for a Tech magazine, Hanzii. You're a gadget geek to the extent an American isn't.  Euros embraced cell phones years ago to the extent that they're only just reaching in the US.  I know about 0 geeks offline, and of them exactly 3 own an iPod.  2 of them are unmarried men with lots of time and extra cash and the other is a mac-zealot who'd buy a car jack if it said "Apple" on it.  I know more people with satellite radio than I do iPods because, again, iPods require a level of tech savvy they don't want to bother with.

Now lecture me on anecdotal evidence, I know, but all too often I see folks on game and tech boards all over ignoring the fact that the majority of them are geeky techeads. Then, when circle-jerking about the latest hot item and wondering why it's not catching on because everyone thinks it's so damn cool they can't step back and realize that the folks down on it are the ones not waist or neck-deep in the tech industry. I see the same thing happening with the PSP.

[Furiously]

You can't watch movies or play games while doing other things.

You've never played EVE online have you?

[Hanzii]

I was just replying to your argument, where you used yourself as an example, not ordinary people. I used myself as an example too.
I don't think the PSP will reach iPod level sales. I certainly don't think that millions of "ordinary" people, who find the iPod hard to use will embrace this (allthough popping in a UMD-movie or -game and using the PSP is even easier than using the iPod... which is pretty fucking easy).
But as you said every single man, woman and child in this country owns a fairly complicated piece of technicl equipment (pop. 6 million, number of mobiles sold: 6 million)... I'm sure you guys will get there too (you are after all slightly ahead of us in number of high speed internet connections, so it's not like you're a tech third world country).
So the PSP might not be a tech revolution like the iPod. Not because it's technically daunting, but because it's a portable game system - but I do think it will eventually be big and reach a much wider audience than the childrens toy, that is the DS.

[Shockeye]

The only PSP review you'll ever need.

The Good
That screen really is beautiful
The best launch lineup I can remember
Third party apps make encoding your own video a simple process
The power of the sun in the palm of your hand!

The Bad
The value pack: too much pack, not enough value
The Spiderman 2 UMD comes in a cardboard slip, not an actual case. Gee, thanks Sony
Slight ghosting and blurring on the screen
Less than optimal battery life
High price of Sony memory sticks makes the media functions an expensive proposition

The Ugly
The battle this review will cause in our forums.

[eldaec]

That's like saying the video game console market (or the home DVD player market) will never be huge cause, well, you can't do other things while playing games (which isn't totally true either). And yet 100 million in PS console sales, and close to 100 million in PS/2 console sales says you are wrong (with the iPod trailing far far behind at 10 million in sales). Just cause the PSP is a portable device that doesn't mean the only time you can use it is while riding a train/bus/plane, waiting at the airport or whatever.

It's rather more like saying that handheld gaming is not like handheld music.

And like saying that anything people use outside their home is likely to has to make provision for the fact that people are mostly doing something else at the same time.

And like saying that the majority of occaisions when people need whole new activities to occupy them, as opposed to things that make existing activity more fun, they are at home, or at the very least in a specific location at rest. And that there isn't much people will carry around all day just to use when they are at rest.

Maybe Sony (or whoever) should just plug it as 'look, a PS2, only you don't need a TV'. But rooms in homes without TVs in them are something of a niche in the Western hemisphere these days.


Consider other popular mobile gadgets that have seen sudden breakthrough growth as soon as they were generally available, functional, and affordable...

 - Phones
 - Watches
 - Personal Stereos incl. ipods
 - Digital Cameras
 - Satellite radio (and non-satellite radio for that matter)

Mass market versions of all the above are built around the assumption that if the user is out of his or her home and therefore needs a mobile product, then they are probably doing something else as well as using the gadget. The PSP is a different mechanic. If they do make a massively bigger market for handheld gaming simply by producing a handheld that isn't as dated as Nintendo's then they'll have achieved something I don't think you can see a precedent for in recent times.

Mobile TVs, DVDS, and what have you have been profitable, but as a subset of TVs in general it's not a massive segment - the same, I suspect, will end up being said for the PSP relative to console gaming as a whole.

This in itself would not make the product a failure, obviously.

[El Gallo]

Good point, mobile TV sets are an excellent analogy.  They've been around a while, but the only time I ever see them is at sporting events, where hard core fans take them to watch replays.  At home, people watch real TVs, and there just aren't that many times when you are outside the house and able to devote your eyes, ears, and focus to something.

[Hanzii]

Good point, mobile TV sets are an excellent analogy.  They've been around a while, but the only time I ever see them is at sporting events, where hard core fans take them to watch replays.  At home, people watch real TVs, and there just aren't that many times when you are outside the house and able to devote your eyes, ears, and focus to something.

No, it's not.
They're big, bulky and has bad reception - doesn't compare favorably to what people have at home.

And to the arguments above - considering how god a business it is to give newspapers away for free in most major western cities, it appears that a lot of commuters need something to occopy their time. Books are still doing well too, I hear.
Some of those people will buy some sort of portable media - that's why everybody (apart from Apple) is making them.
Some will want one that plays kickass games as well. Not as many as the people with an iPod. But a lot.

[MrHat]

Good point, mobile TV sets are an excellent analogy.  They've been around a while, but the only time I ever see them is at sporting events, where hard core fans take them to watch replays.  At home, people watch real TVs, and there just aren't that many times when you are outside the house and able to devote your eyes, ears, and focus to something.

Oh, a USB card that allowed you to pick up network tv would be awesome :)

[El Gallo]

Also, you guys are too hard on the Sony marketing department.  I have seen at least 5 commercials for this over the past few days, and that nouveau-80's song (I presume its nouveau, maybe it's actually 80's) is currently lodged in my brain like those slug thingies from the Wrath of Khan.

[schild]

Apparently (according to Southpark), the PSP was sent to earth by god himself to train warriors to battle off an invasion from hell. Kenny gets sent back to Earth by Gabriel in Schiavo's body.

Brilliance.

Oh, and I beat Lumines.

[MrHat]

Apparently (according to Southpark), the PSP was sent to earth by god himself to train warriors to battle off an invasion from hell. Kenny gets sent back to Earth by Gabriel in Schiavo's body.

Brilliance.

Oh, and I beat Lumines.

That was the best god damn southpark ever.

[schild]

Wondering how you talk with your head shoved so far up your ass you can nibble on your lungs?

It would seem that the EBGames CEO is as disheveled and clueless as many of his stores. I guess it's only fitting. Most owners look like their pets.

[schild]

That was the best god damn southpark ever.

"Are you stupid Uriel? Japense people don't have souls."

[SirBruce]

God damn I can't even watch South Park without being exposed to PSP hype.

Bruce

[schild]

God damn I can't even watch South Park without being exposed to PSP hype.

Ya know, there really hasn't been that much hype. I think you're just talking to hear yourself speak. Outside of my blatent fanboism and a couple tv spots that are obviously targeting the right consumers, I've seen dental care products get more hype.

[Biobanger]

God damn I can't even watch South Park without being exposed to PSP hype.

Ya know, there really hasn't been that much hype. I think you're just talking to hear yourself speak. Outside of my blatent fanboism and a couple tv spots that are obviously targeting the right consumers, I've seen dental care products get more hype.

You apparently don't have Tivo, as they have PSP crap spammed all over the menus now. Ya would think that since I pay them per month for the service, they wouldn't subject me to ads like this.

[schild]

You apparently don't have Tivo, as they have PSP crap spammed all over the menus now. Ya would think that since I pay them per month for the service, they wouldn't subject me to ads like this.

Would you rather it be McTivo?

[Biobanger]

Would you rather it be McTivo?

I'll settle for It's-my-damn-DVDR-box-and-I-pay-monthly-for-the-damn-TV-llisting-and-should-not-be-subject-to-Tivo-spam Tivo. But if I had to choose between PSP and McDeez ads or my balls would be pulled off by a bus, then I'd go for PSP.

[SirBruce]

Biobangert beat me to it.  But yes, I was going to say it's on my TiVo, etc.

Bruce

[Trippy]

It's odd. EBs and Gamestops all across the country have sold out. Period. Sold Out. But Best Buy and Walmart that each got 250/40 or so respectively still have them. Well, about half of them. I'm sure we'll get numbers soon.

Sony's PSP Selling Well But Not Sold Out - Analyst

[Jain Zar]

I am already sick of the PSP and I don't even own one.  Blah blah blah blah PSP info everywhere. 

That being said, if this version of the PSP comes out for 150 I may have to buy it.

http://ebessan.livedoor.biz/35ee31a7.JPG

Its pretty!  I think the black PSP is ugly, but white with clear buttons and black text is so much nicer for some reason.

[bhodikhan]

   I think the black PSP is ugly, but white with clear buttons and black text is so much nicer for some reason.

I agree. In low light I can't find a key along the bottom row if I actually have to see the text label. I guess once you get used to the locations of each key it might get better.

Black text on white. Works for Windows (unless your one of those types who wanks the colors all over the place)

[Shockeye]

[MaceVanHoffen]

Well hell, there go a lot of the arguments about videogame portables being geeky and not very chic.  When famous hotsluts start carrying them, the floodgates open ...

[MrHat]

Well hell, there go a lot of the arguments about videogame portables being geeky and not very chic.  When famous hotsluts start carrying them, the floodgates open ...

Bet she was paid to carry it around.

[schild]

I bet she has a special Cell Phone attachment ever since that Sidekick incident.

Everyone hates a cold bitch with insecure business apparati.

[Jain Zar]

Maybe its just me, but Paris Hilton with a PSP is all the evidence one needs to buy a DS instead.



Seriously.

[Strazos]

Worst. Evidence. Ever.

Schild is teh lose.

[schild]

I hear Freddie Prinze Jr. got a Nintendo DS.

And Shaquille O'Neal eats NGage QDs for breakfast.

Did I tell you? I beat Lumines last week.

[eldaec]

I hear Freddie Prinze Jr. got a Nintendo DS.

Now that is a low blow.

[Furiously]

I hear Freddie Prinze Jr. got a Nintendo DS.

Now that is a low blow.

Isn't he married to Buffy?

[schild]

Isn't he married to Buffy?

Yes.

[Hoax]

Only an agent of darkness would point that out...

[Jain Zar]

And the chubby kid from Stand by Me who thinned up and was on Sliders is dating Rebecca Romjin now.

What's your point?  Besides, Buffy and Freddie both can't act their way through a wet paper bag anyhow.  Its like they are channeling the utter lack of thespianism of the Friends cast!

And we have photographic EVIDENCE of the PSP being owned by a filthy talentless moronic slut.