Why the First PSP Failed and What the Second Needs

So far gamers are just starting to get a little taste of the computability and it is really nothing special (referring to you Resistance for the PSP). But if the new PSP promises an advanced level of compatibility with the PS3 it will help to give the PS3 something special (the blu-ray routine is getting old) and give the PSP a leg over its competitors

[Jok3r]

Hasn´t the PSP sold like 45 million units by now? How can someone say THAT is a failure??

[Charlie_Shene]

The Wii has sold Zillionans and its a Fail right?

[Polluted]

I guess not outselling the DS=fail. Forget the millions up on millions of dollars the PSP made for Sony and all the awesome software it's seen over its 5 years on the market. Forget that it's the only non-Nintendo handheld to ever put even the slightest dent in the big N's market share. It's fail because "platformnation.com" says so.

[xbollox]

failure is outselling both DS & Wii today and more than double 360 world wide.
it's a great thing that ridicule does not kill,
lol

[rambi80]

the closest anyone ever came to a nintendo handheld before sony was the sega game gear - 11 million units. (launched in 1990!)

noone else has crossed 3 million!

PSP has not been a hardware failure
Hasn't lit up the world in terms of software sales yet though

Usual tabloid journalism of the gaming world - sad thing is that it seems to be getting the desired result - attention

[SL1M DADDY]

And some idiot calls that a failure? Sorry, but the only failure seen here is the article written.

[Information Minister]

This article looks written by a Nintendo fanboy.

[EXCLUSIVEGAMER]

because it has a SONY logo on it

[DrJones]

Because the PSP haven't failed.

[ThanatosDMC]

PSP "failed" since it was hacked by good ol' Dark Alex and totally screwed up publishers in getting their money back. Lack of money incentive meant lack of funded developers.

In Japan the PSP thrives in game... it has tons of games there. Lots of those XXX games sell like candies. Outside of Japan is another story since people just download games.

[FlameBaitGod]

lol wow, i can only say wow. Amazing how bad journalism has gotten

[CobraKai]

It seems like if they aren't number one, it's a failure. For example, if the PSP sold 100 million units and the DS sold 100 million and one, the PSP is officially a failure. Never mind that they were THE ONLY ONES able to give Nintendo much needed competition in an area where they've dominated for decades.

[thesummerofgeorge]

And the "Blu Ray routine" is Not getting old, in fact it's just begun, soon enough it will replace DVDs as the new format of choice.... But apparently it's already old to this guy... what a douche.

[SaiyanFury]

@1.0

Agreed. In a market that Nintendo has dominated for like the last 20 years, 45-50 million sales doesn't sound like a failure to me.

[Sarcasm]

"This article looks written by a Nintendo fanboy. "

What is this "Nintendo fanboy" you speak of?

[jadenkorri]

45 million in sales....right....then whats that say about the 360
let alone don't forget nintendos first HandHeld Gameboy sold 8 millions

[Uzesgelen_Goo]

in japan psp game choices and variaty is more than outside world.
on-topic so stop saying failure.

[Lifendz]

nevermind. It's not important. Calling the PSP a failure is like calling the Wii a failure. Sony's decision to go portable paid off big time.

Another site added to the list.

[TrevorPhillips]

The first PSP didnt fail what kind of article is this

exactly it sold over 45 million units.

[krackchap]

41 mill (and counting) and the system is labeled as a failure. so what is the original xbox or even the 360?? a disaster!?

[Tempist]

Yeah this person really needs to find facts before spitting retorhic.

Fact is it's not easy to have good design and functionality. Looking back, every Nintendo Handheld is basically a block. It takes a lot of skills and creativity to come up with a working real world design and a lot of the concepts people dream up just are unappealing or don't look to work as well as is hoped for. (the one shown looks like it'll break the instant it falls 3 inches on to any surface.)

[Zeus Lee]

It crossed the 50 Million mark already:

http://www.gamesindustry.bi...

It's mainly considered a failure by Americans because it doesn't come with 2 things:
1)Shovelware.
2)A Microsoft logo.

It really is sad that the PSP is the most successful non-Nintendo handheld of all time yet is now being titled 'a disappointment'.

Hopefully Sony will take their sweet time with the PSP2,once gamers realize a daily dose of My Pet Horse&Me and Bratz games hurt the hardcore gaming market,maybe then they'll be more appreciative of Sonys efforts and offerings.

[Charlie_Shene]

Dont Shot the messenger :(

[Bnet343]

I consider it a failure because it's missing an analog stick. What moron came up with one analog stick idea?

[Qdog]

I am an American, and I love my PSP, in fact I like anything I spend money on that is considered a luxury. As long as it works, I dont care what country it originated in. Please stop slandering my nation, it saddens my heart to know that no one else will stand and say that they live in this proud country, and that no matter where you go in this entire world, there is a preference for nationally owned merchandise versus imported merchandise. It has nothing to do with being an American, it has to do with being a consumer, and having an opinion.

Perhaps alot of people dont like the PSP, and never found the value in it that I did, and thats fine, to each their own, but please leave my country out of this, and leave the politics out of gaming. Please stop judging America by what you think, and start considering that we all bleed the same color, breathe the same air, and enjoy playing games (or past-times)to some extent or the other.

On topic, the PSP is definitely not a commercial failure, and the numbers show that relative to hardware, but software by contrast shows, the need for SONY to reinvent the platform, and lock it down, like it has successfully done with the PS3, barring pirates, but not homebrewers. Encourage creativity, discourage piracy.

[Qdog]

Your opinion must not be worth much more than a click, if you cant even dignify your argument with a response. So, you should know that disagrees dont even affect my disposition, though I am eager to understand your logic. So you phantom clickers should make like a hockey player, and get the puck outta here....:p

[BWS1982]

I stopped trying to understand why some people here seem to lump us Americans together with the fanboys or media or whoever they think "represents" us, despite a lack of logic, it keeps happening. I was under the impression that judging someone on who they are, not where they were born, was the righteous way to think.

I love my PSP and PS3, I don't think I'm better than the rest of the world, and Microsoft annoys me. *Gasp*

THE MEDIA AND A HANDFUL OF FANBOYS DO _NOT_ SPEAK FOR ME, I CAN THINK FOR MYSELF. We're NOT all slaves to a collective idiocy in this country, just like other countries don't operate that way. Why is this concept so hard to grasp?

[Aclay]

The article didn't even state any opinion's as to why the PSP has "failed", it's just an article of what he/she thinks the PSP2 needs, and just based on that alone, obviously the article headline was made for hits and attention.

The handheld market has pretty much always been dominated by Nintendo (and probably always will be). There's been other handhelds that have fallen to the wayside, but with Sony's first try at the handheld market, they made their own impact with the PSP and the PSP has sold over 50 Million units... that is not a failure.

[FPShooter]

The PSP has not failed. 50 million units is not a failure. This article is BS.

[San Frandisco]

bullsh!t article but need a daily dose of sony bashing now are we n4g?
the idiot who wrote this dumb article needs to get some facts strait.. say.. about 50 million of them.
damn fool wans hits.. well ill give him a hit.. a hit with a fvckin AXE!

[xxBATTLECATxx]

WHY BREATHING FAILED. SCIENTISTS LOOKING INTO ALTERNATIVE RESPIRATION METHODS.

[xabmol]

Scientist looking into new means of precipitation.

xD

[Bob Dole]

Scientists looking into a new means of ejaculation.

[shopsmartash]

linguists looking to redefine winning

[BWS1982]

at the 4 above. Awesomeness....

[silverchode]

how did it fail?

[jessehaysfl]

As of January 2009, Sony Computer Entertainment claims to have sold 50 million PSP handhelds worldwide. A number that includes all PSP-1000, 2000, and 3000 series devices sold since December 2004.

just so you know that is NOT A FAILURE 50 million is a huge number.

how is wii doing right now lets see......

Rounded to the nearest million, there are 49 million Wiis,

hmmmmm so by your logic has the wii failed?

[d0nT wOrrY]

stop these worthless articles pls, we're here for news.
plus, PSP sold over 50 million and there's great support from Sony this year, so please STFU. Thanks

[AngryTypingGuy]

I totally agree. I think gamers like to throw around the word "fail" WAY too much. The last mainstream video games system that truly failed was the Dreamcast, despite it being a good system, and nothing since.

[Chubear]

actually no, it was the Xbox.

[AngryTypingGuy]

Chubear, you're dead wrong. MS did cut the lifespan of the Xbox 1 short because they wanted to encourage people to buy the 360 and because they said the hard drive costs were too much, but the Xbox accomplished its mission. It made MS a big player in the console market and paved the way for the 360, the most successful HD console.

[360Hater]

I love my Ps3 god of war was awesome and so are the maddens for when on trips. Stupid article.

[infekt]

Same here! Hmm. Ill informed so called "gamers".

[PirateThom]

In terms of sales, in relation to a Nintendo handheld, yes, it "failed", but Nintendo have owned the handheld market since the Game Boy came out.

However, in relation to every other handheld out there, it's been very sucessful. The best selling non-Nintendo handheld, until the PSP, was the Game Gear which sold about 11m units in its life, again PSP's 50m in 4 and a half years.

[rekonizakilla]

Even taking piracy into consideration the psp is still profitable,
and more importantly the psp is starting to match or outsell the ds in japan.
Unless sony came out and said we expect this hand held to outsell the ds in all territories for ever and ever then I think people should find something better to do. (including me)

[raztad]

Well, 50million and counting is far from a failure. The PSP doesnt need to sell more than the Ds to be a success, it only needs to sell good enough to be an attractive platform for devels. 2009 PSP lineup shows that this is indeed the case. Im happy with my PSP, with a full library of mature games it provides an experience I couldnt get on the casual/kiddie Ds.

[fezthabest]

why this article failed, and what the second article is going to be

[Iceman100]

LOl there was a first one?

"I guess not outselling the DS=fail"

exactly.

[life doomer]

i agree

[NJShadow]

Sorry, the PSP doesn't = fail. Even though it has done incredibly well, numbers mean nothing in relation to the homebrew capabilities. It's not about the amount of units sold, but about how much each PSP owner is enjoying their console.

[sinncross]

Considering Sony's first run in the handheld market, against one of Nintendos' best handheld's, and Sony were able to take away a nice chunk of the market share, I fail to see how Sony failed.

It's actually a very good effort since Nintendo has driven every other competitor out of the handheld industry but Sony have a good stake in it now.

[llMurcielagoll]

There used to be criticism on the PS3 sometime ago, "10 reasons why PS3 is a failure" "Why PS3 is failing" "Why PS3 has already FAILED".. ETC..

now fanboys left PS3 and they figured its time to ruin PSP reputation for a while.

Hate to break it to ya critics and you fanboys. You are just wasting your time you know that PSP is doing good then why the hell do you post these lame articles?!

If you are an XBOX 360 Fanboy for example. Waste your time on sharing your ideas to the XBOX team to improve their XBOX 360 systems instead of ruining other companies' reputation but lying to the world this or that product is failing..

If you want to be a fanboy then learn to be GOOD at it or just die...

[devilhunterx]

Simple. It needs more ads of girls licking it. Instant seller.

[Xakep]

Guy spelled "rumors" as "rummers" so in my book anything he says is instantly discredited.

[Sir Ken_Kutaragi]

...Why the 2nd xBox(ChatBox 360)is Failing and What the 3rd one Needs...

...Don't bother Micro$luts!!! It won't be 3rd time Lucky!!! ;-D
(These xBot Articles are SOOOOOOOO SAD + Make this site look Stupid!!!, oh well it is not my site!!!) ;)

[Revvin]

The PSP isn't a failure. It still sold remarkably well despite not following Nintendo down the shovelware, kiddie game route. Just how many pokemon or virtual pet games do you need for crying out loud! The PSP was Sony's first attempt, and what a machine it was and with the online Store and PS3 integration the future is looking good for a PSP2 I know I'll be keeping an eye open for Sony announcements this E3

[Nexy]

PSP definitely failed. SONY sold many PSPs thanks to piracy but the developers keep ignoring this system because their games simply do not sell. NDS has a much wider variety of games for everyone and they can be played only on this system so PSP was smashed by Nintendo's handheld.

Now, PSP2 needs games specifically designed for this handheld and not just conversions. That's all. Hardware specifications do not really matter.

[Cajun Chicken]

It hasn't certainly failed, but a second anologue and L2 R2 set of buttons wouldn't hurt, play Crash 3 on PSP and you'll know exactly what I mean.

[vTuro24]

the psp sold 50 million...how is that a fail?
stupid fanboy article...

[siyrobbo]

the only real problem with the psp is a lack of software titles, but then I'd rather see a slow stream of quality games than a massive surge of absolute s**t like what the DS has. I used to have a psp, but i got rid of it when i got an ipod touch (mainly used to use it for mp3 / video playback) The controller used to give me hand cramps after a while, didn't like the little analogue nub. Hopefully Sony will come out with a better design, even if its based on the same core tech to keep costs down. Couldn't care less about touchscreen and tilt sensing, as they are a novelty I'd tire of pretty quickly

[Knightofelemia]

The first PSP never failed its still doing great

[God_of_War]

dude...u need to get ur facts straight
psp was and still is awesome, thrs no any other portable device which can beat the psp

[mistajeff]

If it turned a profit, it didn't fail. That's what Sony wanted it to do. Turn a profit.

Also, I like to make shocking and controversial headlines so people read and argue on my crappy site.

[be_wrong]

failed? 50 millions sales isn't a failure geez

[han411]

the psp sell about 50 million and you call that a failure

[Psycho_Mantis]

There is no way in hell that the PSP failed. lol

[whateva]

I want to be a failure too.

[Ssxtreme36]

See, this is why NG4 sucks.....opinion pieces like this get to the front page and they do nothing but spur up negative attention.....how did the psp fail when it has sold over 40 million units not to mention that cfw almost doubles the amount in value of the systems original worth due to what its capable of pulling off.....is this a f*cking joke? how can a handheld system that rivals the ps2 fail when its been out on the market for more than 4 years now and has sold that many units? ......this is pathetic

[Jockamo]

Nice job!

[azmanmanz]

xbox360 sell below 30m with 90% failure rate.. that is actualy failed

[hakis86]

Didn't even take 60 seconds to read :S And it's just an opinion

[artsaber]

What happened to Microsoft's Handheld? Anyone remember that? Or did that turn into the Zune... hahaha. Microsoft chickened out (and rightfully so), but the DS and PSP has sold great. They both have turned profits for their companies - end story.

Microsoft fans truly are miserable creatures. Bubble me up!!!!!!!

[drewsny]

blatant fanboy is blatant

[NewScratch]

"In light of all of the PSP 2 rummers floating around..."

[The_Beast]

if anyone says the psp fails... they are automatically retarded

[ironmonkey]

are you fkin serious? people love using the word fail to much and dont have real facts stating it a failure the guy who wrote this article was born a failure

[Gun_Senshi]

PSP is the best handheld ever made.

If PSP sold 50mil+ and its failed

What about X360? Its a failure right?

[cliffbo]

it didn't fail, it hasn't failed and it won't fail in the next few years. will these articles please stop trying to make something that isn't a reality a reality. it's like LIVE is better than PSN... is it fuq

[DroN4eG]

PSP is awesome!

[MmaFanQc]

"why this article fail"

[Flare149]

I think the Touch screen is a cool idea, but hopefull it'll just be used for the menu screen and a few unique games. The logic behind here is that then you can place the buttons behind the system (like in the picture) and then just use your finger to freely scroll through your media.

[xg-ei8ht]

PSP 45million. Damm that is impressive.

[bob saget remix]

Theres like 50 million sold or more. They probably cost only $10 or less to make in China. So Sony is making a huge profit from it.

[Argento-Nox]

I wouldn't go so far as to say the PSP is failing, rather it's coming in a distant 2nd to the NDS. It's done pretty well, considering it's taken between a 1/3 and 1/4 of the portable market away from Nintendo.

I think the PSP2 may have considerably longer legs with regards to sales, considering what gen X to Z want nowadays with their technologically advanced phones, mp3 etc. I think the next Nintendo portable will recognize the need to do more, like how the new DSi can take pics and listen to music.

[MmaFanQc]

0.3mpixels and acc music format is sooo cool.....NOT!

[ActionBastard]

50 million sold = fail?

[Russia208]

This is the definition of a fanboy.

[DERKADER]

Then got an iPhone because I would have it on my at all times. The only problem I had with the PSP is that it only has one analog stick making it useless for FPS. They try and work around it but it just never feels right. Another analog stick would make it a real Playstation not a gimped hand held.

[forthegamergood]

You fail at journalism. Do your research before branding a product a failure.