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Will Pigs Really Fly?

Posted: Thu Nov 29, 2007 3:22 pm
by BreakmanX
Ok, so I love my DS more than anybody, but this article intrigued me. The PSP has provided quite a bit of delicious gaming for me as well. Mindless bs, or a possibility.. you decide.
http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/psp-vs-ds/8-reasons-why-the-psp-might-overtake-the-ds-327596.php wrote:Dual emotions of surprise and confusion hit our faces when we heard that Sony's redesigned PSP-2000 had shipped 1 million units in Japan in just about two months. Wasn't the DS the portable gaming machine everyone preferred, especially in Japan? Then there's the fact that DS sales (in Japan) might actually be slowly declining, allowing the slightly thinner and slightly more silver PSP to just about catch up. So we did a little research into the portable gaming space and—this is news to you as it is to us—came up with eight reasons why the PSP could be poised to overtake the behemoth money printing machine that is Nintendo's DS.

• 1 Million new PSPs were sold in Japan in around two months. This first point got us curious as to why the PSP was doing so well. Was it because of the redesign, which lead to 250k sales in four days, or has it actually become time (thanks to various factors listed below) for the PSP to catch up, if not surpass, the Nintendo DS. This point alone wouldn't make for a strong argument, but we've found seven more.

• Sales figures for PSPs are going up, sales figures for DS Lites are going down (in Japan). According to the Japanese sales charts Kotaku loves to drool over, the last four weeks for the DS looked like this: 76243, 78552, 78854, 76069. The last four weeks for the PSP looked like this: 59792, 59714, 58964, 65609. DS sales seems to have plateaued (the slight dip probably means nothing), whereas the PSP sales got a nice spike this past week. Has everyone over there finished the new Zelda game already?

PSP actually has more good games to play. According to metacritic, the site that aggregates major game reviews, the PSP has 53 games that are rated 80 (out of 100) or higher, whereas the DS only has 44. Although the DS has three games that score higher than any of the PSP's (Mario Kart DS, Advance Wars: Dual Strike, Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass), on the whole it seems the PSP gets you better bang for your buck.

• The PSP has better PS3 integration compared with the DS and Wii. The recent upgrades to both the PS3 and PSP firmware allow for much, much better compatibility between the two than compared with the DS and the Wii. Remotely starting up your PS3 may be a neat gimmick, but they've also got remote play, which lets you access videos, music, and even games wirelessly through your PSP whether you're at home or outdoors at a Wi-Fi access point. There's been talk of using the DS as a Wii controller in many games, but the most we've seen is transferring Pokemon to your Wii or using the Wii to download DS demos—a function that the PS3/PSP also has.

• The PSP has better media capabilities. Ignoring the failed UMD movie initiative, you can still use the PSP's giant screen to play back movies off of your memory stick. There's also picture viewing, music playing, as well as remote play off your PS3, which lets you stream content from home.

• The PSP has better add-ons. Some of these are only in Japan, but the add-on camera, GPS, TV Tuner, and LocationFree TV give you four things to do with your PSP when you're not playing games.

• The PSP actually sold as well the PS2. We hate to bring up sales numbers again as proof that the PSP is picking up steam, but as J Allard famously found out, the PSP sold just as well as the PS2, hitting 10 million units within a 12-month span (give or take).

• Sony's planning a PSP Phone. Whether the PSP phone will actually support PSP games is uncertain and possibly unlikely, but the mere fact that there's a PSP phone that supports some of the PSP's functions and has some PSP connectivity will be enough to give both platforms a boost.

Does this mean that we think the DS is doomed? Certainly not. If you look at our gaming distribution between DS time and PSP time this past Thanksgiving holiday, the time spent on the DS dwarfed the time spent on the PSP about 1,000 to 1. And the DS just sold 653,000 units over Thanksgiving.

We just think this means the PSP's time has come to step out from behind the DS's shadow as the uglier, fatter, less fun cousin and show itself off as the full-featured portable media powerhouse that it really is.

Posted: Thu Nov 29, 2007 5:19 pm
by mecha
For me, the DS has about 5 or 6 games that I REALLY want. There are other games on the DS that interest me, but they all seem like something that would be fun for a few hours or days. Most of those games are your casual games that get 7s and below by reviewers. The DS is just flooded by these mediocre casual games.

Now with the PSP, I own 10 GAMES, and there are more out there that I want to play. In terms of quality games, the PSP just outright blows the DS out of the water. Don't take that out of context though, the DS does have it's share of AMAZING titles (all 6 of them). Saying the PSP has no good games is completely and utterly idiotic.

However, it really all depends on taste. If you want some almost PS2 quality amazing games in your hands, go with the PSP. If you want quick fun, go with the DS.

Why can't both systems live in harmony! Why do we always have to compete! Buy them both and have HOURS of fun!
We just think this means the PSP's time has come to step out from behind the DS's shadow as the uglier, fatter, less fun cousin and show itself off as the full-featured portable media powerhouse that it really is.

Posted: Thu Nov 29, 2007 7:48 pm
by jayt11
i have a PSP already, it's called PS2.

PSP needs to beat out Game Boy Color and Advance before even thinking of taking out the DS.

Better yet, worry about making back their bottom line on what basically amounts to a home system anyhow, redesign or not.

Posted: Thu Nov 29, 2007 8:19 pm
by mecha
jayt11 wrote:i have a PSP already, it's called PS2.

PSP needs to beat out Game Boy Color and Advance before even thinking of taking out the DS.

Better yet, worry about making back their bottom line on what basically amounts to a home system anyhow, redesign or not.
Totally diagree with that. The DS has it's share of ports too, in fact, every god damn system does. The PSP HAS original titles, damn good ones. You just need to open your eyes.

So the ports arent doing it for you, the original titles arent doing it for you, what else do you want? And even if the PSP ONLY had PS2 ports, isnt that the point of a playstation portable? Now excuse me, I gotta go play Mario Kart DS....and Super Mario 64 DS. Yeah.

Posted: Fri Nov 30, 2007 12:25 am
by BreakmanX
J'eanne D'arc is an amazing original PSP title. Really, both the systems are great. That's what I was trying to say with the article.

Posted: Fri Nov 30, 2007 1:08 am
by Richie
You could probably quote me as saying, "The PSP has no games." What I meant was, "The PSP has no games that I want."

It's great hardware, no question; if I bought one, the first thing I'd do is hack it and load it up with goodies. But with the lack of games that I want, the multimedia capabilities are not enough for me to buy one.

But in reality, the reason that I haven't bought a PSP or a DS, is that I just don't really have a place for either in my life. I never feel the need to game-on-the-go, and any money I spend on a handheld system could probably be better spent on games for consoles I already own.

Posted: Fri Nov 30, 2007 7:01 am
by WiizerFanboy
Richie wrote:You could probably quote me as saying, "The PSP has no games." What I meant was, "The PSP has no games that I want."
sorry to inform you but Project Gotham will never make it's way over to handhelds. :(

Posted: Fri Nov 30, 2007 9:49 am
by mecha
Richie wrote:You could probably quote me as saying, "The PSP has no games." What I meant was, "The PSP has no games that I want."

It's great hardware, no question; if I bought one, the first thing I'd do is hack it and load it up with goodies. But with the lack of games that I want, the multimedia capabilities are not enough for me to buy one.

But in reality, the reason that I haven't bought a PSP or a DS, is that I just don't really have a place for either in my life. I never feel the need to game-on-the-go, and any money I spend on a handheld system could probably be better spent on games for consoles I already own.
A truly honest answer. This is why I love you Richie.

Posted: Fri Nov 30, 2007 12:00 pm
by Richie
Wiizerfanboy wrote:sorry to inform you but Project Gotham will never make it's way over to handhelds. :(
Zing!

Posted: Fri Nov 30, 2007 6:41 pm
by jayt11
yeah, here's my take:

The DS may not have that "hardcore market" cornered. Who's to say what constitutes a game...and a quality game. I'm really enamoured with Brain Ages 1,2, the Spanish Coach game, the Castlevanias and Mega Man games. The latter 2 you can get on most systems sure. But Brain Age is a unique experience.

Yeah, the DS has a few remakes, so does PSP. As Richie said, there's nother there that I want....I simply elaborated to say "there's nothing on a PSP that you couldn't experience on a home system you've already purchased. DS fits a niche for me, however, which is why I favor it.

Posted: Fri Nov 30, 2007 9:21 pm
by mecha
jayt11 wrote:But Brain Age is a unique experience.
The sheer amount of brain age rip offs are starting to piss me off. They'll do anything for money.

Posted: Fri Nov 30, 2007 10:03 pm
by Mericks
Wanzer wrote:
jayt11 wrote:But Brain Age is a unique experience.
The sheer amount of brain age rip offs are starting to piss me off. They'll do anything for money.
Which is kind of ironic since, when you try to rip off Brain Age...all you're doing is losing money since people are more aware of Brain Age and the money spent on a cheap knock-off might actually be earned back if you actually thought of a different game...

Posted: Sat Dec 01, 2007 5:25 am
by jayt11
Mericks wrote:
Wanzer wrote:
jayt11 wrote:But Brain Age is a unique experience.
The sheer amount of brain age rip offs are starting to piss me off. They'll do anything for money.
Which is kind of ironic since, when you try to rip off Brain Age...all you're doing is losing money since people are more aware of Brain Age and the money spent on a cheap knock-off might actually be earned back if you actually thought of a different game...
quoted for truth.....and i stick to the originals

Posted: Sat Dec 01, 2007 12:07 pm
by BreakmanX
You'd be surprised how many people buy knock offs. Much to our dismay, of course.

Posted: Sat Dec 01, 2007 1:26 pm
by RurouniQ
The reason the PSP took off in Japan is due to 2 simple words: Final Fantasy. The timing of the slim PSP coincided perfectly with the release of Crisis Core. The true test of the PSP will come in the upcoming months, when we see whether or not the sales drop off once FF and Slim fever has died down. That being said, I do agree with this article in that the PSP certainly has a lot more going for it on the numbers side, and has a lot more potential in some areas, but the areas in which it lacks are seriously damning, i.e. original games, market share, fun playstyle. Even a mediocre game on the DS can be made more fun by the relative originality of the touchscreen. And yes there are tons of Brain Age rip-offs, but that's because they're still selling decently well; their marketability surpasses the typical game market.

Sony can catch up, but it's going to have a lot of hurdles to clear: flawed control and UMD design, botched-at-best advertising campaigns, relative cost, and a serious need of games that people WANT to play, regardless of a relative ratio of review scores.