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The PSP's path to outshine the Walkman

Posted Feb 27, 2007 at 8:30AM EST by QJ Staff

Listed in: News, Off Topic, Opinions & Analysis Tags: GBA, Ken Kutaragi, Nintendo, Remote Play, Sony
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PSP Value Pack - Image 1When the PSP was first released, Ken Kutaragi announced that it would be the Walkman of this century. While this sounded a bit questionable, it made people wonder if it could be possible. The handheld market was for a long time Nintendo's domain, and all previous challengers have been put down. So now, a good three years after the PSPs release, BBC took a bold step to analyze how the handheld's doing.

While its jump from shipping half a million units in 2004 to a whopping 24.7 million as off December 2006 may sound impressive, Nintendo still has the majority of the market share. Nintendo has shipped 35m units of the DS and DS Lite within that same timespan.

These numbers tell only half the story. It seems that the PSP sales have dropped by 72% this holiday season, although software sales increased by 24% according to PGR. This could be a sign that the market is already saturated. In terms of games, the Nintendo DS has a larger library with more games being released for it as well as large libraries of GBA and GB games.

So what are the future plans for the PSP? The people at Sony are envisioning the PSP and its PS3 connectivity to be the next big thing. The Remote Play feature will allow the PSP to wirelessly access pictures, videos, and audio content stored on the PS3 up to a range of around 25-30 meters. In addition to this, access to the MP3 Walkman, iPods, and even digital cameras connected to the PS3 will be enabled.

The PSP becoming the Walkman of the 21st century might be a tall order, and judging from the numbers... We better wait and see what else Sony has in store to realize Kutaragi's vision for the PSP.



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Comments 


 
# guess i will have to be first againdmedinav1 2007-02-27 09:45
First

Reply
 

 
# ITS TRUEGuest 2007-02-27 10:03
The amount of people that have Walkmans today is probably close to the amount of people that have Walkmans today

Reply
 

 
# plan?quentin 2007-02-27 10:05
lol, their plan is more colours

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# 3 Years??Guest 2007-02-27 10:06
This is a PSP site mostly and they think the PSP has been out for a good three years? Try just over 2 years in Japan and just under two years in the US. Given the fact that the PSP has not yet reached a price that would be an "impulse purchase" it has sold better than the Xbox or Gamecube in there first two years.

Reply
 

 
# two wordsGuest 2007-02-27 10:25
touch screen

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# reGuest 2007-02-27 10:48
the psp has a touch screen too, it just doesnt do anything when you touch it. hahahaha.....



ok seriously, the psp does have a smaller library of games than the ds. but with mp3, video and the ability to view pics and with the expandable memory, it already is the walkman of the 21st century :)

Reply
 

 
# HEY YEAHGuest 2007-02-27 10:51
YEah eh, its been close to under 2 years for Japan and Canada! But realy, what sony should do to win the batle, is offer a Satelite device were your PSP could be played online from anywhere in the world! I would pay up to 200$ for that device!



As well they should offer a PSP game download service. NO not demos, but REAl games were you can buy them online. Kinda like that new PC thing service!

Reply
 

 
# ClarificationGuest 2007-02-27 10:55
Our point is that it was released on 2004 and it's now 2007. I apologize if the info may seem misleading, thank you for pointing it out.

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# Some fact checking on information in articleGuest 2007-02-27 11:00
PSP actually has a slightly larger library of games than DS in the North American and European markets (Japan is a whole nother story) which is growing at a faster rate on PSP, and the DS most certainly can not play GB/C games.

Reply
 

 
# ...Guest 2007-02-27 11:39
Yeah, the DS can play all previous gameboy games. including gameboy color.

Reply
 

 
# Vamp is correct.Guest 2007-02-27 11:45
DS CANNOT play GameBoy/GameBoy Color games without an emulator + ROMs. The cartridges use a different voltage level.

Reply
 

 
# psnGuest 2007-02-27 11:52
we do have the playstation network. it just hasn't been expanded to direct psp access. although psx games are avaliable through ps3.

Reply
 

 
# Well almost...Guest 2007-02-27 11:57
They are almost the walkman of this century except for the fact that they need a yellow psp and an orange one as well. These colors will make the PSP the walkman of this century. (well and a cheaper price, dual analog sticks, touch screen, instead of using those dumb UMD's use a download service, a little hard drive and some RAM)

Reply
 

 
# that would mean a psp2 idot...Guest 2007-02-27 12:57
but still i dont understand why Sony didn't even think about the second analog. prob because it kept messing up the game when you reach over to the face buttons (X,[],^,O).

And the hard drive thing, that would be absolutely dumb. if the umd wwas removed you cant play the new games anymore and it would require more power to use the hard drive (and prob add more bulk to it.) and yes i know the ipods have managed to do that but eventually the psp will have more memory (theoretically 32 gig or more maybe). the psp already has ram. if you mean more ram then sony could possibly use the memmory stick as a ram once the 32 gig gets released. the reason why sony doesnt allow a download service for the psp is because they can be distributed easily and would take forever to download. (dont forget the people with dial-up). touch screen would be pointless, it makes the graphics worse. also how are you supposed to use that n a psp? its a wide screen man! just think instead of flaming for once.

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# Coulda been a contendaGuest 2007-02-27 13:25
If sony would have had a final fantasy game and gran turismo game at launch, then things might be different. Japs love FF and that might have made psp the winner in the handheld category. Unfortunatley, its years later, and we still don't have either game available. (not counting psx games)

WTF were they thinking?

Reply
 

 
# ?Guest 2007-02-27 14:04
and ur point is????

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# reGuest 2007-02-27 14:11
well its not like the ps3 has a final fantasy game or a gran turismo at launch either nor did the ps2 yet those still won. And companies like quaresoft and konami still are making ps3 games and not wii but wont make stellar psp games but ar emaking a dragon quest for the ds, so go figuare. portable gmaing and consoles are different, those ocmpanies support different players.

Reply
 

 
# PSPGuest 2007-02-27 14:15
The PSP doesnt need a tuch screen, that would make it a DS. The PSP is great with it's functions. people just want more use out of it and when they get it, they cry and want more. So far the PSP is the only handheld ever to make nintendo work harder to stay the "one and only" handheld. Remember people the DS is for kids, and is aimed for kids. the PSP is a more "grown up" handheld. Tell me what other handheld has the power of playing emulaters and roms? All the PSP needs is more support from Sony, like downloadeble games, content, and more storage space. also Japan needs to let us have some of those exclusive Japan games (anime) and accessories. Just remember people, the PSP is a mobile multimedia gaming device and more.

"Support our PSP!!!!!"

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# To Idiotic DJGuest 2007-02-27 16:55
First of all IDIOT is the way to spell it not idot, second of all by little hard drive I mean a flash drive and it requires less way less energy than the lens reader required for umd's, third of all if you use the memory stick for RAM that means swapping memory cards everytime you want to do something; a flash drive will be better, fourth they can block sharing downloaded files like PSOne games they have a limit of five but if they want they can do a one time kind of deal. Fifth how the hell can you access the internet with your PSP using a dial-up connection. Sixth think about this: doing a touch screen using their Eyetoy well is not a touch screen it will actually capture your movement instead of you scratching the PSP's beautiful screen. Let's face it guys Sony can do better, the only reason why the PSP does not have all these features is because of conformist people like you. You must be the kind of guy who gets cellphones that come free with the plan, if not you remind me of one.

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# Me + DJGuest 2007-02-28 01:11
You can use the WiFi MAX Datel Portable Router With Dongle and Flash Stick on a PC connected to the net via Dial Up regardless of Broadband.



Theoretically DJ is correct about the 32Gb HG Pro and I can't wait for those days to come. You can even take it a step further DJ, use the "Double Expand Memory Converter" with 2x 32Gb sticks + 64Gb ! Woot!!! I agree, we need more RAM and and a second analog but if final fantasy and gran turismo games were ready at launch this wouldn't be a discussion. The PSP would very well then be the Walkman of the 21st century.

Reply
 

 
# better games...Silver-Tiger 2007-02-28 03:40
I agree, but I think another problem is, that there are no real MUST HAVE are out. I mean... GTA is good and when FF crisis Core will be out ( maybe 2010?) there will be real good games, but in my opinion Sony supports us not so good like nintendo does and I feel like Sony don't give a **** about the Users. I mean look at their site:

yourpsp.com.

much too less downloads, no real support, looks kinda old....

Reply
 

 
# external umd readerGuest 2007-02-28 04:01
What if they just made a small UMD reader that u can connect on the usb port of the psp.

Even if the psp2 has an HD instead of an UMD reader, the problem would be solved and the psp2 would be backwards compatable

Reply
 

 
# Another thing that hasn't been addressedGuest 2007-02-28 12:33
ISO's, How come all the NetPlay/ multiplayer games

don't work when you try to go to an online server.



You can't play ISO/CSO online.



Why not?



If you create an ISO from a UMD dump does it automatically

make netplay unusable?

Reply
 

 
# psp sound badGuest 2007-02-28 16:55
i love using my psp for mp3 but the sound it's not loud enoof i dont know why i put the same head phones to a ipod and i have to put the volume down with my psp i keep presing the + and is still bad i hope they fix that in the future

Reply
 

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