We're all looking forward to a great year for the PSP, which has recently surpassed the 50 million mark worldwide and can definitely use some top-notch software to continue its surge. We'll see the handheld adaptation of LittleBigPlanet and MotorStorm: Arctic Edge for starters, and then there's the distinct possibility that Ready at Dawn is preparing a new God of War title.
Even so, Sony's senior vice-president and marketing director for the UK and parts of Europe admitted to letting the PSP slide too far in the recent past. According to a recent GamesIndustry.biz interview, Maguire attributes this to the amount of effort invested into getting the PlayStation 3 off the mat early on, which is understandable. Said Magure:
"It was slightly under-supported, mainly because a lot of the energy was going into stuff we're doing for PlayStation 3. There was an added complication in that the UMD model wasn't brilliant for third parties, either. But I think as the installed base has grown – we're now at 50 million globally – the PSP has become one of the best-selling formats ever, and I think people are seeing that they need to get back into it. I think we had a bit of a barren year last year, and this year we seem to have a bumper crop."
As Sony didn't really give the PSP enough attention, retailers treated the handheld in much the same way. This isn't something Sony wants to have happen, so in this new push to solidify the PSP's place in the market, Maguire says that retailers are beginning to come around and that they have confidence in 2009.
"Retailers are looking at it as well, realising that they haven't supported it as much as maybe they might have done, and they're also thinking about how we almost reintroduce the PlayStation Portable into the market place, with the confidence that we should have had last year, but didn't. We do have that confidence this year – many things are happening with the PSP. The online side of it is developing nicely, and there are clearly lots of great games for it this year, but also we're introducing new colours – so it starts to become much more desirable for a wider range of consumers."
If you'd like to read Part Two of the interview, feel free; Maguire has some very interesting things to say. For the most part, we absolutely agree that the PSP was under-supported, although we wonder why – if extra focus on the PS3 was the culprit – we didn't see more in the way of PS3 advertising… Well, whatever. Let's just hope the PSP continues to rise, because there are plenty of ardent fans out there, and a bunch of great software on the horizon.
does anyone else get the feeling they are secretly telling us that a new PSP (maybe UMD free) is coming?
the devs could do both formats, UMD and HDD. HDD downloads for the new psp and also sell UMD of the games for the older psp's
Last edited by crapreviews on 3/11/2009 11:28:47 AM
GEEE Sony. Ya think it was undersupported. It is a great system and should be treated as such. Give me games and I wont need to emulate everything to have good games for my PSP. They need more on PSN also.
Yeah but what about backwards compatibility? How am I supposed to play my library of PSP games? I'm not gonna carry my PSP and PSP2 with me.
Slightly under supported is a understatement.
Last edited by Cpt_Geez on 3/11/2009 12:10:09 PM
Did anyone else noice this quote
"There was an added complication in that the UMD model wasn't brilliant for third parties, either."
Emphasis on UMD Model, what does that mean? Is the new model not going to be UMD based??
I think he meant the UMDs themselves but it could be cause for speculation…
Radio Shack is a terrible store.
@camaro: probably umd-free
Id only get the PSP2 if it was compatible with PS1/PS2 games and i doubt that very much
HA! As much as I would love that it won't be happening anytime soon. If it does I owe you a handshake and a box of whatchamacallits .
I really want those psp2/psp4000 picture floating around the internet to be accurate. I'll buy one of those!
I always assumed a good chunk of Sony's employees focus only on the PSP while say the majority work for the PS3, or something similar.
But nonetheless, the PSP was no doubt under-supported since its launch. Granted, the system did have it's fair share of great games over the years, however, I thought the PSP was going to blow me away with ridiculous games every month or so. Still love the system, I just wish there were more reason for me to pick it up and play again.
But as I'm getting older, I find myself becoming more picky with what games I should buy, due to interests, price, and where we are with technology atm, which could be a bad or good thing depending on how you look at it.
Last edited by Daedusian on 3/11/2009 3:18:02 PM
I just hope they don't turn it into some kind of phone.
Sony undersupports everything. This to no advertising for the PS3. You would think they would know how after the success of the PS2, but too many corporate bigwigs are probably holding everything back.
@worldendswithme if they make the psp2 into a phone me u and many others would be dissapointed but being umd free would be pretty cool since no1 really wants to walk around with tons of umds but they gonna have to do sumtin about those that already bought tons of umd and by makin the game umd less the devs might be able to put more money into their gaming projects
Woot! Resistance Retribution got a 9.4 on GT!! Was not expecting that!.. Can't wait!
Hmm….well…I was particularly ok with how the PSP was going along. Ok sure there might not have been so many "BIG NAME" games. But I found that before 2009 there were still a lot of good things happening with the PSP.
I frankly loved its online capabilities with PSN and stuff.
I loved the games it had such as Metal Gear Solid Portable Ops, Final Fantasy VII Crisis Core, Final Fantasy Tactics: War of the Lions, Grand Theft Auto Liberty City Stories, Grand Theft Auto Vice City Stories, Socom Fireteam Bravo, Medal of Honor Heroes, Patapon, and Loco Roco.
There's so much more too. But hey the more the better! =)
@shadowpal2 I totally agree with u patapon and loco roco were awesome games i love those two i can honestly say those are my favorite 2 psp games cant wait for dissidia final fantasy
Well if I have to buy another PSP because the UMD issue PISS on that.
lol u got that rite with the other people who actually bought them me i run on the infamous custom firmware baby freee games wooohooo!!!!!!!! lol