TotalRoundTable: The Portable Nature of Mobile PlayStations
Or: How Sony decisively lost the handheld wars.
Published: January 26, 2011
Sammy, EIC:
I think it’s important to remember that the PSP lasted nearly its entire life at or around the original launch price and outsold the Xbox and GameCube combined. That's a hell of a feat for a first-time competitor, and I'm not really worried about the thing's sales overall – just my ability to buy it at launch. There's a lot of tech in that thing, which is where my concern about it being some $300-plus monster comes from.
Sir Gordon, guru:
Well, the hardware certainly sold very well, but the software... not so much.
For me, the cost of entry is dependent upon what it'll get you. The 3DS will get you MGS, Zelda, Mario, Kid Icarus, etc. etc. etc. Yes, a lot of those are just updates to games we've already played, but that's just launch-ish stuff. Not that I'm buying one or anything...
The PSP actually has a pretty bad rap of having no good games. That's extremely far from the truth, but it's a fact that that's what many people think. That doesn't help Sony going into the sequel.
Shaun Mason, TPS consultant:
I'll admit that I've been essentially in the background of this discussion, but then again, I've been wandering the halls of developers and CES for almost the past month, checking out more AMOLED, Super AMOLED, and tablets than I ever cared to see in my life. But along with that has come a large number of thoughts and comments about the possible entries from Sony, and with some extra time, this is what I'd have to think about this two-party entry.
Although the new Sony Xperia (or PSPhone, or whatever the hell it'll be called eventually) is primarily a phone developed by Sony Ericsson, one of the largest things that they have to decide is clearly which flavor of Android they'll use to power the device. If they use Eclair, the device is DOA. Froyo is easily becoming antiquated in comparison to Gingerbread. Personally, if they were trying to be competitive to the iPhone, which everyone knows is their primary competition and has the largest market share that they're competing with, they should aim for Honeycomb. It's better for multitasking, it's much faster, and its browsing is much better. If Sony wants to compete with the iPhone with a piece of tech that isn't going to be outdated as soon as it hits shelves, this is its best bet. That being said, the PSPhone is going to solely rely upon the Android Market and (perhaps) PSP Minis as its sole focus of games/apps. It's the only way that Sony can tout a somewhat comparable library to the iPhone.
In many ways, however, I think that many people probably won't see the phone as competition for the iPhone (because it's practically untouchable as a brand right now). In some ways, I don't know that Sony would immediately want to aim for that off the bat, either. Instead, what they may want to do is aim at devices like the Windows Media Phone with its Xbox Live connectivity, or other Android devices like HTC or Motorola devices. By picking their battles and re-establishing the PSPhone as a phone that happens to be a gaming device with one of the most powerful mobile OSes on the market, Sony can gain vital ground in the phone market and work on eventually challenging Apple. Besides, being able to claim a victory over Microsoft in the mobile market given the battles in the console arena would be a substantial claim for Sony as a major competitor (and we all know these companies like to one-up each other).
The PSP2, from all reports, sounds like it could be an incredible piece of hardware. The mix of OLED and HD touchscreen, along with two analog nubs, a faster processor, and games that supposedly rival the PS3’s, sounds fantastic. However, there be plenty of monsters lying in wait to make this a tragic failure for Sony, and if they don't get things right, they'll make a serious mistake. For one thing, Sony has to prove that the portable system is a viable platform. Regardless of whether you purchased a launch system or the 2000 or 3000 series PSP, the system wasn't the runaway success that it should've been. Whether this was because of the prices of the games, the specific games offered, or the system and its "Swiss Army Knife" approach to handle everything isn't fully known, but the PSP didn't completely fly off shelves. The PSP go was an even worse debacle that called the company's portable platform judgment into question: would you want to pay an absurd amount of money for a system ($250 – the same as the newly announced 3DS) without a removable battery that wouldn't let you import your various UMDs that you'd already purchased, forcing you to buy them again? Nah, didn't think so...
I think it’s important to remember that the PSP lasted nearly its entire life at or around the original launch price and outsold the Xbox and GameCube combined. That's a hell of a feat for a first-time competitor, and I'm not really worried about the thing's sales overall – just my ability to buy it at launch. There's a lot of tech in that thing, which is where my concern about it being some $300-plus monster comes from.
Sir Gordon, guru:
Well, the hardware certainly sold very well, but the software... not so much.
For me, the cost of entry is dependent upon what it'll get you. The 3DS will get you MGS, Zelda, Mario, Kid Icarus, etc. etc. etc. Yes, a lot of those are just updates to games we've already played, but that's just launch-ish stuff. Not that I'm buying one or anything...
The PSP actually has a pretty bad rap of having no good games. That's extremely far from the truth, but it's a fact that that's what many people think. That doesn't help Sony going into the sequel.
Shaun Mason, TPS consultant:
I'll admit that I've been essentially in the background of this discussion, but then again, I've been wandering the halls of developers and CES for almost the past month, checking out more AMOLED, Super AMOLED, and tablets than I ever cared to see in my life. But along with that has come a large number of thoughts and comments about the possible entries from Sony, and with some extra time, this is what I'd have to think about this two-party entry.
Although the new Sony Xperia (or PSPhone, or whatever the hell it'll be called eventually) is primarily a phone developed by Sony Ericsson, one of the largest things that they have to decide is clearly which flavor of Android they'll use to power the device. If they use Eclair, the device is DOA. Froyo is easily becoming antiquated in comparison to Gingerbread. Personally, if they were trying to be competitive to the iPhone, which everyone knows is their primary competition and has the largest market share that they're competing with, they should aim for Honeycomb. It's better for multitasking, it's much faster, and its browsing is much better. If Sony wants to compete with the iPhone with a piece of tech that isn't going to be outdated as soon as it hits shelves, this is its best bet. That being said, the PSPhone is going to solely rely upon the Android Market and (perhaps) PSP Minis as its sole focus of games/apps. It's the only way that Sony can tout a somewhat comparable library to the iPhone.
In many ways, however, I think that many people probably won't see the phone as competition for the iPhone (because it's practically untouchable as a brand right now). In some ways, I don't know that Sony would immediately want to aim for that off the bat, either. Instead, what they may want to do is aim at devices like the Windows Media Phone with its Xbox Live connectivity, or other Android devices like HTC or Motorola devices. By picking their battles and re-establishing the PSPhone as a phone that happens to be a gaming device with one of the most powerful mobile OSes on the market, Sony can gain vital ground in the phone market and work on eventually challenging Apple. Besides, being able to claim a victory over Microsoft in the mobile market given the battles in the console arena would be a substantial claim for Sony as a major competitor (and we all know these companies like to one-up each other).
The PSP2, from all reports, sounds like it could be an incredible piece of hardware. The mix of OLED and HD touchscreen, along with two analog nubs, a faster processor, and games that supposedly rival the PS3’s, sounds fantastic. However, there be plenty of monsters lying in wait to make this a tragic failure for Sony, and if they don't get things right, they'll make a serious mistake. For one thing, Sony has to prove that the portable system is a viable platform. Regardless of whether you purchased a launch system or the 2000 or 3000 series PSP, the system wasn't the runaway success that it should've been. Whether this was because of the prices of the games, the specific games offered, or the system and its "Swiss Army Knife" approach to handle everything isn't fully known, but the PSP didn't completely fly off shelves. The PSP go was an even worse debacle that called the company's portable platform judgment into question: would you want to pay an absurd amount of money for a system ($250 – the same as the newly announced 3DS) without a removable battery that wouldn't let you import your various UMDs that you'd already purchased, forcing you to buy them again? Nah, didn't think so...
