Time for some CEO smack talk, people. That means thinly veiled insults, coated in "respect" and gleaming with backhandedness. The leaders of big companies always try to play nice with these things, like they aren't extreme rivals who are desperately grabbing for each others' market share. It's all about public persona, so none of them is going to just come out and say something bad about the other guy's product. With this in mind, let's deconstruct Reggie Fils-Aime's quote on the PSPgo.
Speaking with the Washington Post, meaty hands said about the PSPgo, "I have the utmost respect for all our competitors, but it's interesting to try and answer the consumer question of 'What's in it for me?' in that product."
Well, the caveat at the beginning of the sentence kind of softens it up, I suppose, but he's basically saying the PSPgo is a useless upgrade that doesn't give the consumer anything. Ouch, that's kind of rough, Reggie. Mind if you elaborate a little? Oh, so you think it has a "fundamental concept problem in terms of 'Who's it for?' and 'What's the benefit?'" That's not very nice, either. PSPgo fans, defend yourself! I'm actually quite inclined to agree with him, as I think many people who don't game seriously and see the $250 price tag are not wont to see the benefits of the new portable.
The article, which is actually about Nintendo and mainstream gaming, also has Fils-Aime discussing their lack of fear over the iPhone and iTouch competition, the fact that Nintendo will never make a phone and whether or not Nintendo would have originally released the Wii at a higher price point if they knew how well it would sell (no, is the answer). Sadly, the reporter did not ask about doing their E3 presentations over.
[Via GoNintendo]
Contest:
8:00 AM on 10.11.2009
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PSPGo, benefit is... savestates?
-DLC
-two cameras
-music app
-SD card slot
-BIGGER screens
DSi is a BIG UP GRADE from the other DS's. The PSP go is a DOWN GRADE.
I hate how everything is becoming digital now days...
With less piracy, more profit and a higher price the PSPGo's benefits either go to non-PSP owners (a quite large group of people so I can't blame them for that) or Sony. There's no reason for a PSP 3000 owner to upgrade because it's not an upgrade at all.
It definitely is. I'm having a blast with mine.
To me the benefits of the PSPGo are:
-16GB Flash drive
-Bluetooth
-its size
-display quality
-pause game feature
-design
-quality
-button layout
Those are enough benefits to justify the purchase.
It is expensive, yes, but it's totally worth the money if you play want to play games on the go.
I am now enjoying my DSi.
I hate the Nazi machine just as much as the next guy. I don't trust Sony worth a lick to deliver me games at a fair and reasonable price. Not in the same way that competitive retail chains and online stores would. But saying you don't see the benefits is a blind swing at Sony's face.
It's smaller, nicer looking, better built with a stronger software inside of it all. And that's assuming Sony might fuck up PSN by charging full price for games 6 months after their release. If Sony actually does consumers right with PSN and maybe tweaks their PSP Mini restrictions there's a huge win for the pro-Nazi crowd. Hell I'd buy one.
Problem is, the offerings of the PSP Go are minor at best, sometimes being even worse, given that you're even deprived from physical ownership and former catalog of games. If you REALLY want it, it's deffinitely worth every penny, but from a standard consumer point of view, it's far from being good value. Storage space is also a huge issue, given that probably only the more enthusiastic gamers will purchase it. Then again, UMDs are way larger and more sensitive than a handheld console storage solution should ever be.
No motor storm, uncharted, none of that stuff. Sony HARDLY supported the PSP. Pretty lame.
Sure LBP is coming out, but does anyone even care about it? I stopped caring when I heard multyplayer was taken out...WTF SONY?
I think people just want to have their ok'd games forward compatible with the Go. Also, like I said before, a physical product allows for a competitive market. If your only option is Sony chances are they'll find someway to milk you.
Example: I preordered some games recently and I was able to actually preorder the games for less than retail price because I could shop around. What are the chances of Sony doing that? Almost none. Or what about when games age and start dropping in value? It's no old practice to keep those games on PSN or XBL at full price for as long as possible.
Nice find, Matt!
I played it, and now my PSP sits around collecting dust.
Sadly, its pretty much the same way Nintendo updates the DSi Store or stuff for Wii. They nickel and dime you. Sure, they put up 100 games for PSPGo's launch and that will last them a few weeks... maybe. If the coming weeks are just like this week, they're back to nickel-and-dime mode already.
DSiWare is slim pickings, but there finally does seem to be a light at the end of the tunnel in terms of original content. Flipnote Studio, Mighty Flip Champs, Dragon Quest Wars and Mario Vs. DK are all great and three have shown the rise of online support for DSiWare. They're perfect pick-up-and-play stuff, too
I do so wish they would stop adding fucking clocks to the store, though. And shovelware from GameLoft, bad enough iPhone users had to suffer GameLoft titles.
All in all, both do a pretty lousy job of delivering content, only pausing to be awesome on occasion and release a good game or two before going back to mediocrity.
As for software all DS owners are getting is a future f*ck you when DSi exclusive games become more common and we are already seeing a glimpse of that with Monster Finder which personally i really don't care as much as the new Zelda Spirit Tracks (granted, it's just a an unconfirmed rumor so far).
I'll grant that at least the price difference between models between DS models isn't as shameless as the one tried Sony to pull (and so far seems to have backfired HARD on them)
NOTE: I consider the DS slot useless from mi POV since i don't really buy DSi ware (it's mostly clocks anyway) and if i want a music app or apps i'd rather use a proper mp3 player, ipod, pc or laptop.
What Reggie Has Done For His Customers:
No Fatal Frame 4 for you. You Get Carnival Games instead.
I'll go with the PSPGo.
you've got to be blind. there are so many PSP games that have come out in the past two years. Are you trying tosay that the DS actually has game in the first place? 90% of the DS library is puzzle games and games that have been outdone by free flash games. The only thing the DS has over the PSPGo is the R4DS Card. And that's not even done by Nintendo. Shame, guys, shame.
@Steel Brotha:
i feel the same way about ff4.
There are only a couple of things Sony could do to the PSP Go! that would fix some of the minor issues.
1) They could also release games on Memory Stick, for the PSP Go, in addition to download copies from PSN.
2) They could create an external UMD drive for folks who have a big library of UMDs (kind of a half assed solution, but at least you wouldn't be totally screwed if you went to the PSP Go).
One thing that is holding me back, other than the high price, from picking up a PSP Go is the outdated WiFi (802.11 b). I don't understand why they couldn't have put wireless G or N into the PSP Go.
I'll probably pick one up when the price drops. However, I wonder when the next iteration comes out, will the digital games play on the new system.
Whats in it for the consumer? Well...
- Bluetooth functionality that is pretty sweet. The functionality to use a PS3 controller rocks, as does being able to use a bluetooth headset and use skype.
- A smaller but sharper screen.
- A more comfortable layout of buttons
- A very compact, yet powerful piece of hardware. The PSP was reasonably compact, but trust me as a girl I can safely say the normal PSP's do not fit in my girl jeans.
- A more conveniant way to watch media on the go. If you're in a train, slipping the PSP into its screen-only form while watching a movie is a much nicer way to watch a movie than having the whole thing out.
- 16 gb of internal memory to store all of our crap.
Now of course, with no UMD, your gaming options are limited. But clearly the Go is less a video game machine, more a overall-multimedia one. You can download media/games onto the normal PSP, but the system doesn't have the extra features that are tailored towards it, it is far more a gaming system. Its like, OK, you could buy a multimedia laptop that has capacity for some games. Or you could buy a gaming laptop with the ability to play media without the zippy features. We all here (we're on a video game blog, damnit) would pick the gaming laptop, but other consumers would pick the multimedia laptop with some capacity for games. If gaming was their main concern on the PSPGo, do you think that of the 16,000 pieces of new media uploaded to their store, only a small fraction of that is games?
NOW, it is an expensive piece of hardware to do that. But really, lets consider its true competitor: the ipod touch. The ipod touch is $200 for its 8gb model. Now the PSPGo has 16gb internal memory. So then, it is double the touch. But the only other model of the touch is 32gb and that is $300. So the price of a 16gb ipod touch would probably be about $250. So Sony is actually in line with the sort of market it is trying to cross into. The problem I see for the Go is that its not very good at playing music. It also demands to be slid open to be fully utalised, which is a pain. But it is better than the ipod touch I find at playing movies/video clips. It is also a much better gaming system, even with its limited selection, those games pack a far bigger punch that what the ipod touch has to offer, and the number of digitial downloads is only set to increase. Will I buy it? No, because I want the gaming laptop. Will other users buy
So to me, I see the PSPGo as providing many features to the consumers that its attempting to go after. It has just yet to see if consumers find those worthwhile.
On the OTHER hand, Reggie, get your head out of your ass. What the fuck did your "DSi" do for anyone? Oh, a camera? What market were you going after, the digitial camera market with your crappy inbuilt one? Oh what else.... uhm oh you slightly increased the screen size? GREAT..... oh but you got rid of the GAMEBOY SLOT? Oh stupid stupid nintendo. Who here wants a fucking CAMERA when you can have a GAMEBOY SLOT? And some stupid store with crappy games that only DSi individuals can play? How;
a) horrible of you to not keep Nintendo DS/Lite users in mind and make sure they could play too (Sony at least has their store open for both users), why didn't you make plans previous to this in your first models rather than leave some consumers out later (but don't worry guys because theres nothing of worth on there), and,
b) stupid of you to put the most ridiculous camera in it in exchange for the gameboy slot and a tiny bit of wait, and,
c) charge a horrendous price for it? In New Zealand the bloody thing costs $400NZ? What the fuck? The DS Lite costs $250NZ? Oh my WHICH AM I GOING TO CHOOSE?
Nintendo only sells DSi's to either idiots, or people who have the I-must-have-it-all mentality, or to casual individuals that see "high price! Must be better!" $400NZ is $100NZ less than a Nintendo Wii, and for what, a worser version of the Nintendo DS Lite?
And are you attempting to go after a different market than the DS Lite, Nintendo? Hardly. What market are you going after? Gamers that like shitty cameras and higher price tags? Or people that will buy something because it has "nintendo" slapped on it?
So Reggie, you can't talk. The PSPGo actually offers something to consumers. Whether they want it or not is a different story, but it provides an option to a particular market. Your DSi provides absolutely nothing.
Seeing as I never bought any UMDs for my PSP, I thought the Go was a perfectly good idea for me! Again, I'm not going to spend $40 for Persona digitally. Especially when the physical edition has so many extras.
Granted, it is ridiculously overpriced.