Saving the PSP

GameAlmighty's Christiaan Allebest writes, "Last year, Sony sold 3.82 million of its little handheld wonder, the PlayStation Portable. An impressive number until you compare it to the 8.5 million units Nintendo's DS was able to move. They are numbers that should cause Sony and its investors some alarm. But what's the reason, and can the company turn the outlook around?"

[decapitator]

Nothing to see here guys. The same ole 'teh PSP is dead' articles. I hate these kind of article. Especially when it is about the PSP. How the fack does the PSP need saving with over 30 Million sold worldwide.

Ever heard of the Ngage from Nokia ? Now that could use some seroius saving.

[Harry190]

oh yeah,that nokia stuff.a friend of
mine used to have one.

[littletad]

Right and I'm sure you'd say the same thing for anther RROD article or the Wii is a fad. Seriously if ANY Sony product isn't praised at least in the headline, you'll be hyper defensive.

And no the psp doesn't need any saving, but yes the DS is selling at a much better rate.

[kewlkat007]

This guy can't be serious, if you think those are real competitors in the hand-held market.

Not sure why the PSP is not out-selling the DS but the PSP, I think is a Hardcore mobile PS2 hand-held.

The Nintendo DS, like the Wii targets a little bit of every market.

I bet you would not see grandma with a PSP but what the DS offers many older folks use it, as well as parents, kids and all sorts of people, now I heard it's being used for education.

Having the touch-screen/stylus adds a whole new target market/demography.

I'm sure price comes in there somehow..and well, Nintendo.

[crck]

from 10 million units to 13 million units. How can an article claim the PSP handheld needs saving when Sony expects to sell 3 million more units then they previously thought. When all is said and done the PSP will probably end up selling between 50-60 million units in a 5 year cycle. That is 10-20 million more then all the original Xboxs and Gamecubes sold put together. I'm sure Sony would have wanted to sell more but I hardly think it classifies the PSP as a failure.

[AzaziL]

Ok, this is what I never got about sony. To date, there's only a handful of PSX games that you can play legitimately on the PSP, yet with a few hacks, it's possible to play almost every PSX game that has been released. Why they don't just go ahead and release at the very least, all their top games from the PSX puzzles me, especially with some great RPGS like FFVII and Chrono Cross, the sales for the PSP would blow sky high.

They really need to get that going, but something for sony to remember, if they make the PSPtwo, they have to include full emulation of most all PS2 games as well as have them ready for digital distribution at launch, only then will Sony finally dominate the handheld market.

[godofthunder10]

i'm posting this article about jadenkorri.i never would be doing this if he wouldn't be posting our privatly sent messages all over ng4 and he's only trying to make his self look good and he's the one that started it all.the first time i heard from him was when i wrote an article about the 360 and ps3 saying that they were both good systems.he turned around and posted an article saying that i was stupid and i must be from the U.S because i can't spell.well now he's posting only what he want to post to make his self look good but he's not posting the bad stuff he said so here's one that he sent me saying how proud he was of his country because they burnrd down the white house years.i'll admit that i cut his country down but that's after he started with the U.S first.so here's his email to me bragging about how his country burned down the white house years ago.

1 day 10 hours ago | By: jadenkorri | Block

Re:
so did u block me or not...like it matters...u feel sorry for me...well same goes for you...sounds like your purposely following and reading my posts.....someone has a crush...btw I'm not into that sort of thing FYI....I give a point up for actually not swearing as much as the last one....You are however just degrading yourself by sending these msgs, and i have no problem posting them myself... lastly....I'm proud of my country, we are the only country in the world that has burned down the white house...that should give you an idea were I'm from and no i would not want to be an American, but i have nothing really against Americans with the exception of you...

[jadenkorri]

wow guys... it feels like bigbrother is watching me..no wait its godofthunder... i got one question...normally one post would a been.. ah alright whatever...but 9 posts...who's attention you trying to get...i could care less what you post about me...cause the people are gonna read two things, your post then mine...i wonder who's the immature one........well maybe i am for replying...
BTW you emailed me first and blocked me so why don't you stop emailing me and posting about me...you did after all supposedly bloacked me. Be a good sport and GROW UP...

jaden will hereby will stop agreeing, disagreeing, report, reply to godofthunder so as to hopefully get him off my back...

[Brian5247]

And will continue to do so with Crisis Core and Echochrome. Alot of people will buy PSP for its media functionality as well.

[shizball]

The death of the PSP has been long rumored however, over the holiday season the PSP was the third best selling gaming device behind only the 360 and the Wii. There are approx. 5 million psp owners so the psp doesnt need to be saved it's holding it's own.

[pp]

well i'm one of those people who want be buying one i'll wait for microsoft hand held thankyou

[Brian5247]

Cant wait until they do and it Red Rings in peoples hands.

[Bleucrunch]

I would buy a game gear before I buy a M$ handheld THAN YOU!

[destroyah]

PSP doesn't need to be saved. It's not dying.

[PS360WII]

PSP the hardware is doing well, while PSP the gaming handheld isn't :(

People love using the PSP for there homebrew and emulators not for buying PSP games.

I like the games they come out for it but the good releases of games are few and far between.

[crck]

Then you just aren't looking hard enough.

[PS360WII]

Dude look at my game list! I look hard enough and yes the good game releases on the PSP are Few and Far between!

[VirusE]

ps360wii i feel the same way you do on the subject. Everyone i know that has a psp uses it for everything but games. I hardly think its dead or even dying but it 100% is getting owned by the DS. When i write a list of games i want to play on both the DS has WAAAAAAAAAAY more on its list. The psp was great for web surfing due its wifi but then i got my iphone..... Not sure what to do with the psp now. When I pull up n4g on the psp and iphone at the same time the iphone pulls it at least 2-3 seconds faster.

Sony need to pony up to the bar and get us some more GOW quality games for the psp.

[pp]

yeh what ever i'm sure your waiting for one yourself

[ooop]

its alreay 10 times better then the ds and it looks better then the ds so whats there to save?

[Breakfast]

Sales compared to the ds? Although i think its doing alright.

Xbox, and the ps3 look miles better than the wii, but guess who's selling miles better.

[ooop]

The wii looks better then the 360 does....

[littletad]

Whoa there, I strongly disagree. The DS is home to some of the most interesting titles I've ever played. From Phoenix Wright, to Hotel Dusk and Professor Layton. Sure you could argue that these games are for the more casual crowd, but somehow they appeal to the core gamer as well. Then there's Contra 4, New Super Marios Bros, and Castlevania for your hardcore gaming needs. DS is a tough slick little system that outperforms the PSP, not in sheer graphical power, but rather innovation and versatile gaming experience.

[Breakfast]

ooo... i think your talking cosmetically

[Bleucrunch]

Wow M$ with a handheld so that means you are gonna get a GUNE......I mean Zune as well. Show how much you know about good products. What a lame!

[Aaron_V667]

Does the fool who wrote this article know what the top selling console in Japan is.
Thats right the psp has been outselling the ds and wii over there most of the year.

[GETPWNT]

Acceptance is the first step to recovery. no wait, ditch it.

[DJ]

Not sure why this guy thinks it needs saving.

[Danja]

The PSP is just hitting it's stride especially in Japan...it's doing fine considering it's Sony's 1st Handheld and I use it more than my DS.

[riksweeney]

The only reason people think the PSP is dying is because it's not selling as well as the DS. The PSP is selling in acceptable numbers, it's just that the DS has been a runaway success which makes the PSP look bad by comparison. End of.

[mindedone]

Is the venture PROFITABLE. But no one really invests in the PSP, do they? No one holds PSP stock, they hold SONY stock. So even IF the PSP weren't profitable on it's own, investors still have to question whether Sony as a company would be better off without the portable device.

[Fux4Bux]

It's been selling quite well. 30 million sold is bigger than any of the next-gen systems or Gamecube/Xbox last gen. Only problem is after this recent wave of great games it looks pretty bleak.

[DrWan]

I think PSP is earning money on both hardware and software at this point, i don't think investors are too concern.

[TheMART]

Don't know for sure, but since the Slim&Lite was introduced, at least the last couple of months there are several reports even in Japan outselling the DS.

It seems the PSP at least gets the position it deserves. That stupid DS with an ARM CPU that's 10 times less powerfull then my Mobile phone/PDA from 3 years ago

[Skerj]

I wonder where all these magical DS games that are killing PSP games are. Because I only know of like 5 that I want and I own about 30 or so (LEGITIMATE) PSP games. The system isn't dead, isn't dying, and it has tons of good games.

[zslash]

even look at the NPD hardware charts? PSP is selling GREAT. PSP software sales are the problem.

[IntelligentAj]

It's amazing how people can say that the PSP needs saving. How many have been sold so far?30 million? if that needs a lifeline then I feel bad for a couple of other products. And for the people saying that the PSP has less good games than the DS I would say the opposite. Not including GBA games there aren't many titles I find appealing on my DS. They both have some great games but neither one is close to dying so please stop with the nonsense.

[ChrisGTR1]

there talking about the psp needs saving from the software side. games dont sell on psp due to extreemely high piracy rates...
once the GTA and luminus downgraders were discoverd.. it reached a whole new level of piracy.. just go to pspiso.com they have EVERY psp game posted on their forums available for download.

[Skerj]

Hah you know you added to that piracy rating by posting a site that has the games right?

[Hellgiver]

I'll take my PSP over my DS any day. It is much easier to mess around with the PSP and it has so many extra features. The games look so much better IMO, and I actually do watch videos sometimes when I am just waiting around for something. I get enough games on it to satisfy me, and I just play emulators most of the time anyways. Don't get me wrong, though. I enjoy my DS when I find a game that is actually appealing to me, but it doesn't happen very often. I can't wait for Final Fantasy Tactics 2 for the DS. That'll be the only DS game I play this entire year, more than likely, though. Disagree if you want, but I get a lot more out of my PSPs (yes, I have more than one) than my DS.

[jinn]

its time to move on