Who says Sony's afraid of competition when it comes to the handheld race? Definitely not John Koller, if you ask him. Actually, he was asked just exactly that in the closing moments of E3. And he believes that the PlayStation Portable is just as primed for the big 08.

With iPhone joining the fray and Nintendo's DS consistently raking in the bucks, the PSP brand manager is still optimistic that the PSP still has got more experience under its belt than its competitors that it will still stay ahead despite the features offered by others.

Let's take it point by point.

    1) "It simply has the best gaming experiences around."  - Keep in mind, it's got
        high-profile     titles like God of War: Chains of Olympus and Crisis Core: Final Fantasy
        VII in its backyard. Oh, and yes, colors do also add to that gaming experience, and with
         assorted choices, they definitely got that in the bag.

    2) "It's been a perfect confluence of events resulting in our performance." - It's not just
        a portable gaming machine, it's got multimedia functionality. It's got Remote play
        functionality, Skype, video content via the PlayStation Store, and more.

Good points, there, really. But what of the new iPhone App Store? Are they feeling the pressure with that? No, not really. See, it should be Nintendo who's worried about that. "We think the iPhone is more of a threat to the DS than anything else." Casual content is a key demographic for the DS, but iPhone's got its eyes on it as well. To put it simply, they're not worried at all about iPhone coming into the picture.

However, although they do say that they've got good prospects on the PSP for the coming year, 2009, and despite the fact that up and coming games like Patapon 2, LocoRoco2 and Resistance: Retribution are sure to generate renewed interest with their handheld, third-party publishers for the PSP were apparently not as felt in this year's E3. DS, on the other hand, has stocked up healthy on those, and the iPhone is showing tremendous adaptation rate.

So, while it's good that they're feeling confident about PSP still getting through okay despite the competition, overconfidence just may be a tad problematic, don't you think? Anyhow, we've always believed competition makes the world a healthier place, so just bring it on, we say!

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