Codemasters executives aren't really know for their harsh industry criticisms or, indeed, anything at all, but vice president Gavin Cheshire has recently had some incredibly brutal things to say about Sony's PSP, claiming that it was ostensibly useless, and that has put off consumers.
"Well, speaking as a person who bought a PSP, the problem was that I always thought, because it was a better screen than iPod’s, that I’d be doing more with it," he explains. "But it was such a bollocking useless waste of space; just getting stuff on it was ridiculous. That was its downfall.
"Relatively speaking, we didn’t do too badly on F1 PSP. But regarding the future, I think they’ve got -- well … no. PSPGo’s a lovely device, really smart, but our senior VP bought one the day it came out and has a great story, because he ended up on some customer support line just trying to do basic stuff. He had to re-download his software, do an immediate firmware update, and that’s your user experience. Sony just hasn’t got it right. Stuff like that will make people leave it alone."
Cheshire also said his company wasn't developing for Project Natal because the company wasn't big enough to make products for it yet. He also said it'll fail in the area of allowing developers to back-engineer their games. When he was done kicking the sh*t out of Sony and Microsoft, he turned and looked at a frightened Nintendo with a sour leer and a baseball bat in his trembling hand.
Codemasters Exec: PSP User Experience Not Right [Edge]
Contest:
8:20 AM on 03.15.2010
| 
There Sony, I just fucking fixed the thing for you.
No charge.
I can't remember the last time I really enjoyed a "Codies" game, but I think it was on the ZX Spectrum. I did enjoy those Codemasters ZX Spectrum games though...
Dirt 2 sucked? What planet are you from?
Besides, it kinda sounds like he doesn't know what he's doing with it. A bad workman blames his tools.
I like the PSP for what it is. I never expected it to take over my iPod or iPhone duties. I play games on it. Games that work better when using buttons than shitty virtual controls. I happen to prefer the PSP to the DS even.
Haven't all the PSP models except the Go been selling like hotcakes lately? Or is that just Japan...?
Your opinion is invalid.
Seriously micro Machines games were fucking brilliant, then Codies went to shit. Their head office is like 3 miles away from where i live, i might rock up and tell them how shit they are and show them how awesome PSP games can be, bit of Socom online or Monster Hunter anyone?
I think Sony should pursue a modified Apple App Store model. Modified in that they try to sell some games at the $15 (EA, Activision, Ubi, Naughty Dog, etc), but Endeavor to keep as much content as possible in the $2.99 range (PopCap, etc). On the go you don't need huge games, and huge games often just don't make sense. The next PSP needs to have inexpensive hardware $150, inexpensive games, and thoughtful design that makes it small, light weight, and decent with power use.
Those that say PSP was a disaster are wrong, the sales demonstrated it wasn't a disaster at all. But, I think it could be said that it could have done much better if Sony had not bitten off so much given a worldwide recession/depression occurred in what should have been it prime years. If they could have changed one thing ist shoudl have been the price. But that is all water under the bridge.
I guess it's my fault, though, for not playing it more. It's just that the iPhone satisfies 97.2% of my portable gaming needs, and it's always in my pocket...
The hardware is extremely versatile and has a ton of great games. It works great the way it is, but the inclusion of second nub would make so many games easier to play.
Wait...there's a story? Meh.
Back to staring at that kitty!!!
You may well have played your Dreamcast for two years with no desire for a second analogue stick, but consider this: cavemen existed for thousands of years with no desire for an internet connection. Or videogames.
"I think Sony should pursue a modified Apple App Store model... keep as much content as possible in the $2.99 range..."
*cough*
PSP Minis. Notice how everyone is constantly raving about their brilliance.
Sony's support has also been utterly appalling, the most shocking aspect being the incoherent messages they gave out, especially for the PSP Go;
There'll be a UMD legacy program. No there won't, too much legal hassle. But every game on UMD will be available at the same time on PSN. No they won't, the publishers won't let us. You can have a free game... but not if you bought one at launch.
Jesus.
I happen to own a Go, simply because I like the hardware, but I also own a 2000, and that gets played a lot more. If I had to choose one over the other, I'd drop the Go like a hot brick.