The Glade 4.0

Interesting thread I saw over on NeoGAF.

While I agree with the majority of the posters in that Sony is way too deep in the PSP at the moment to drop it cold, I do kinda see what the article is saying in that something radical needs to be done to breath new life into the system (which would ultimately benefit Sony in general).

Sony is waging war on too many fronts, IMO. If you have an injured battalion barely holding their front, they need re-enforced somehow. Either replace them with a stronger battalion (i.e. introduce the PSP2), or upgrade their weaponry (i.e. better software and software support).

I own a PSP, but really haven't had much desire to play it since GoW: Chains of Olympus. I play my PS3 way more, and can't help but sympathize with the feeling that the finances put into Sony's sagging handheld market could be better put to use in the current gen. Even the PS2 is finally starting to hit the slippery slope, and its 10 year plan is quickly coming to an end.

I also played GOW: chains on my PSP, and the daxter spinoff.

I think this is probably the biggest failing of the PSP, there have just been so few games that I was even interested in playing. I believe gran turismo PSP is coming out soon, when it hits it will probably give it a spike (although I'm not really interested in that one either).

They need some triple-A titles on that platform, soon.

I liked Dissidia.

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Grenade 3 Sports Drink. It's fire in the hole.. Your hole!

Yes.

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The Dude abides.

GT PSP already hit back in Oct, and it got mixed reviews, ending up at about a 75% approval rating among critics.

But yeah, lack of a strong library and rampant e-piracy really crippled the PSP. Throw in Sony's normal head-scratching pricing structure and you are practically going in with three strikes already against you.

The PSP GO was a good concept, but the current consumer market is just not ready for a digital download-only system. The Physical Media A goes into Slot B mentality is still too en-grained in the modern gamer psyche.

What will Sony end up doing? It's really impossible to tell. They can flip-flop from shooting themselves in the foot to moments of sane clarity in the blink of an eye. Either way, they need to find a way to patch their money-bleeding games division. If that means making some tough sacrifices then so be it.

Piracy had little to no effect on the PSP's failure. The PSP is now and has always been a powerful piece of hardware that is a failure even on a conceptual level as a comfortable gaming system as well as being insanely overpriced in both games and system.

Disc-based games? Not a good idea for people on the go. The PSP Go is a great idea; the places where Sony again showed their idiocy are A) introducing the disc-based games in the first place, and then B) telling people that the exorbitant amount of money they've invested in those overpriced but ill-designed systems is now worthless, because the new iteration of the hardware doesn't support them at all.

Download-based sales are thriving, and they're particularly apt for the handheld market. Look at the insane app sales for, say, iPhones. Hell, they've even begun marketing the damn thing as a gaming device. Which would you rather carry with you as a person-on-the-go: a small but comfortable single piece of hardware that is easily and quickly put away and gotten out, or a bulky, uncomfortable machine that has an insanely short battery life and requires an additional element (a bag) to cart around the charger and any games that you might want to play on it. At least Nintendo had the sense to make their handheld's battery last forever and opted for small, solid-state media.

Sony **** itself with the PSP because they never cared about the PSP as a gaming system; it was a trojan horse system to sell everyone on their new UMD media. Which of course went over about as well as a Nazi salute at a bar mitzvah. Again: disc-based gaming systems are a failure for mobile audiences. Sony used the same ploy to get their format for the HD war into home, but that was successful, primarily because A) it's a better product, and B) the media made sense for the product.

About the only way to salvage the PSP would have been for them to not cast aside the PSP Go's launch, and market it as the next generation of hardware, the DS to the PSP's Game Boy Advance. That ship has sailed, however; they're going to have to do (yet another) redesign and actually put some muscle behind it to make it take off.

I enjoy the PSP for what it is, but to lay the blame for the PSP's failure on the audience is disingenuous, as the culprit for its failure is purely Sony itself.

Oh yeah, Sony is no doubt the main culprit here, but I will maintain that the PSP GO backlash was made infinitely worse by outside factors. Look at all the retailers (esp. in Europe) who refused to even carry the GOs because they could not get software attachment sales. Even if Sony were to back the GO 100%, there is still little they could do about retailers refusing to support it.

I agree tho, that a redesign is inevitable. An iPhone-esque interface utilizing the current XMB with cell-phone capabilities (note: supported, not required), as well as a second analogue stick would be nice to see. I personally have no qualms with UMD technology, but if people would rather it go to something else, then that's fine. A well-supported (and well-priced) digital download system that is backed by consumers would be ideal methinks, but the trick is to get everyone on board. Find a way to get it to $199.99 (max) at launch and they got a winner.