Sony Announces "Greatest Hits" and other News

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Sony talks up the future of the PSP at Comic-Con
7/24/2006 11:53:29 AM, by Ken Fisher

With the recent buzz surrounding Nintendo's DS Lite (here's our review), it might be easy to forget about Sony's PSP. Itself the target of much buzz in the first few months of its life, the PSP has been struck with a curse as of late. From the impending demise of UMD movies to questionable advertising practices, the company's golden launch has faded and the mobile gaming platform is in need of a wax and polish. And maybe a shaman.

This past weekend, Sony took the dog and pony show to Comic-Con International in San Diego and revealed plenty of interesting PSP-related information. Hosting what they called "PSP University," the company emphasized that there would be over 200 PSP games by the close of 2006 (there are approximately 120 available right now), and they were celebrating the top PSP hits so far: Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories, Madden NFL 06, and SOCOM: U.S. Navy SEALs Fireteam Bravo.

The company also revealed that they would be launching a "greatest hits" collection of games for the PSP aimed at bringing older, yet popular titles down in price to $19.99. To be a "greatest hit," a game must be more than 9 months old and must have sold more than 250,000 copies. Sony's first round of greatest hits will include ATV Offroad Fury: Blazin Trails, Ape Escape: On The Loose, Hot Shots Golf: Open Tee, Twisted Metal: Head On and WipEout Pure [sic].

Sony combated the "UMD is dying" virus by noting that there are over 350 UMD movies and television shows on the market, and they confirmed that both Sony and Fox have new titles in the pipeline, including Office Space and Napoleon Dynamite. As we expected, however, the shift at Sony is all about online distribution, and a representative said that they are currently trying to find a secure way to sell movies online for PSP users. Generally, I view this as a confirmation that Sony's experiments with movies on Memory Stick are all about testing the waters. The company also said that they are working on a way to hook PSPs up to TVs, presumably to bolster their forthcoming download service.

Other news included word of a forthcoming firmware update (2.80) that would add support for video via RSS as well as a digital camera addon to be released this fall. Support for keyboards and other text-input methods is still not planned, however. And speaking of firmware, ShackNews reporteds that Sony doesn't get the warm and fuzzies when thinking about homebrew hacks, saying "Overall it's frowned on. Our tech guys have gotten madder and madder lately, and it does void your warranty." That may be true, but it can also spur sales, no?

Finally, the company revealed that the PSP will function as a kind of "remote" for the PlayStation 3, but they did not elaborate on details. Aside from the aforementioned TV connectivity for movies, the company could leverage the PSP to host "secure" copies of Blu-ray movies, and they could also make it possible to play PSP games on the PS3 itself. Just what Sony has up its sleeve isn't clear yet, but the general outline is certainly coming into focus. PS3-to-PSP connectivity is a given, as is Sony's desire to be like Apple and work up a nice device-to-service chain for selling content.

At $200 however, the PSP "core system" is still priced 50 percent more than the Nintendo DS Lite. The PSP could have a significant lifespan as a PS3 accessory, but if the company hopes to stop the Nintendo DS train, a price cut may be in order. The PSP is no spring chicken, either. Today marks its 16-month birthday in North America. Can a price cut be far away?

http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20060724-7335.html
 
I didn't know that the PSP was struggling...probably because I pay no attention to it. :lol:

With the PS3 E3 debacle and this, I think I'm getting some sort of sick pleasure out of watching Sony's hold in the gaming market crumble...despite the fact that I use their PS2 console almost every day.
 
The main problem is that people have been flooding the PSP with PS2 ports that are ruined, usually because of the control scheme, load times or very premise. And when UMD movies died off (not that many people were buying them anyways) and Sony ipdated the firmware to 2.7 (thus alienating the people who had bouhgt it as a portable emulator), PSP's started to just sit on store shelves. That Swedish ad for the PSP that spread like wildfire last month certainly didn't help matters, nor does the fact that the DS has more games and is cheaper. It's like Sony's version of the Game Gear, but less succcesful.
 
Toronado
The main problem is that people have been flooding the PSP with PS2 ports that are ruined, usually because of the control scheme, load times or very premise. And when UMD movies died off (not that many people were buying them anyways) and Sony ipdated the firmware to 2.7 (thus alienating the people who had bouhgt it as a portable emulator), PSP's started to just sit on store shelves. That Swedish ad for the PSP that spread like wildfire last month certainly didn't help matters, nor does the fact that the DS has more games and is cheaper. It's like Sony's version of the Game Gear, but less succcesful.
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I actually agree with that, but Im so fond of my dads PSP that as soon as I get the spare cash I will get one, Im not into the whole Homebrew scene, I may mod chip mine, but not for a long time, becasue the games come on UMD they arnt as easy to damage, and so I think that Pre-owned games are great, and are cheap enough to buy. I mean £15 for Ridge Racer wasnt to shabby.

The one thing I whish sony would wake upto is the potential for the homebrew comunity makeing the sales of PSP higher, I think if it wasnt for homebrew we would see a price drop because of low sales compared, I could be wrong of course but I think that allot of people want a PSP just for the hackability.

If Sony did HB friendly firmware updates then I could see sales going up, Itds not as if Sont have ot condone anything, but they could stop with such crazy updates.

To get its sales up it needs:

a) HB friendly Updates
b) Lower costs for hardware
c) This new Greatest Hits or Platinum Collection
 
How is it struggling, Because some guy says so? The games i've played are all good for a handheld and gaming away from home. Hearsay is not the best way to be informed.

The Psp was the seconed highest selling game machine in Japan for June. In the US the psp has sold 4.5mil. 700k behind overall DS sells. Not bad for a system that at one point costs more than $100 more. Strong sales is more important than what the competiton is doing, that worked for ther Xbox and it will work for PSP. Before the DS lite came out the PSP sold more systems than the DS in the US and most people traded in the old DS for the new one.

Nintendo is doing for the Wii exactly what Sony did for the PSP, not a direct competitor and doing something completely different. Why do you think there are few 2D games for PSP? Its a new idea but also a gamble.

They just need a better firmware strategy like sprite said. open up to homebrew and find a new way to prevet pirated software.
 
LaBounti
The Psp was the seconed highest selling game machine in Japan for June. In the US the psp has sold 4.5mil. 700k behind overall DS sells. Not bad for a system that at one point costs more than $100 more. Strong sales is more important than what the competiton is doing, that worked for ther Xbox and it will work for PSP. Before the DS lite came out the PSP sold more systems than the DS in the US and most people traded in the old DS for the new one.
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Eh, cough cough. The PSP is going through the same problem as the 360 is right now. Yeah, the launch was fantastic. Now where are the games that I wanna play that aren't ports? That's why the PS2 is outselling the 360 now as well as the DS outselling the PSP. The problem with the PSP is that it's launch was over two years ago, and it's still in a post-launch day slump. None of this is helped by the death of UMD movies and Homebrew programs, which is the only reason many people bought it.
 
And you come up with this info based on what? That makes it an opinion, yes?

People like their Xbox360's the same way people like Their PSP's.
 
What info do you think is an opinion? What are you talking about "People like their Xbox360's the same way people like Their PSP's." What does that have to do with anything?
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The problem with the PSP is that it's launch was over two years ago, and it's still in a post-launch day slump. None of this is helped by the death of UMD movies and Homebrew programs, which is the only reason many people bought it.
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This is your opinion. You are also implying that Xbox360 isn't doing well if you compare the current states of both systems. Yes they are similar but by no means are they struggling. The psp has not been out anywhere for 2 years, shows how much you know to even comment about it. UMD movies are not dead, where do you get your information from???? There are many good games post launch and many more coming. There may be a lot of ports but that doesnt mean some of them arent great ones(same for 360). They are portable, thats the whole idea you are missing. and plenty of orginal games as well as popular series titles.:indiff:
 
The 360 isn't doing well. The link I gave you showed you that the PS2 is outselling in in America. And I'm sorry. Almost 2 years ago. The DS is outselling the PSP by 4 million, and is decimating it in Japan. It outsold it in June.
Labounti
UMD movies are not dead, where do you get your information from????
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Yes, I can assure you they are. Even Sony is lowering support for them.
Wikipedia
UMD movies

Main article: List of PlayStation Portable movies
Because of the UMD's large storage capacity and the PSP's large display screen, many film studios have released feature films in the UMD format with pricing comparable to DVD videos. Studios releasing UMD movies include Disney, Warner Bros. Pictures, Twentieth Century Fox, Lions Gate Entertainment, Sony Pictures, New Line Cinema, Paramount Pictures, DreamWorks Pictures, and Anchor Bay Entertainment. Anime companies, such as Bandai, Geneon, FUNimation, and Viz Media are planning to release anime series, such as Trigun, and Gungrave, and movies such as Gundam Wing: Endless Waltz, the Ah! My Goddess movie, and Ghost in the Shell for the format.
Most releases provide alternate audio languages and content, subtitles, and special features. Japanese releases have been somewhat more eclectic, and include UMD/DVD combination packs[4] and pornography.
Movies on UMD were first made available in April 2005. The initial North American releases included House of Flying Daggers, xXx, Hellboy, Once Upon a Time in Mexico, Spider-Man 2, and Resident Evil: Apocalypse from Sony Pictures, along with Kill Bill: Volume 1 and Kill Bill Volume 2 from (Miramax) and Pirates of the Caribbean from Disney Pictures.
On June 22, 2005, Sony confirmed that House of Flying Daggers and Resident Evil: Apocalypse have both sold more than 100,000 copies.
As of March 2006 at least two studios, Universal and Image Entertainment have stopped support, and others including Paramount, 20th Century Fox and Buena Vista are reconsidering their strategy for the format. Some observers note that having released too many movies in a short period of time saturated the market, that the announcement of iPod Video was unfavorable to the format, and that users prefer "ripping content and sticking it onto the device" instead of buying UMD movies.[5]
In an April 12, 2006 article on the website The Digital Bits, it was revealed that Warner Home Video has quietly cancelled their upcoming UMD Video titles.[6] Warner Home Video joins Universal, Paramount, and Image Entertainment as the companies that have dropped support for the UMD Video format.
In a July 17, 2006 article for HomeMediaRetailing, it was revealed that Target has dropped the UMD Video format from its shelves. This makes Target the first major retailer to have dropped the format from its stores.
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That doesn't even take into account how poor an idea it was anyways.
In addition, I would like you to point me out all of these amazing games (that were not panned by critics) that are not ports. When I bought my PSP, I sure as hell did not pay $300 for a system filled with poor PS2 ports (or good ones) and games with horrible controls. I couldn't care less if they were portable. I really couldn't, because the fact remains that it is simply a port for a PS2 game which I could just buy on my PS2 for usually less money and almost always with better controls and graphics. And if you are implying that the PSP didn't sell because it had the ability to do homebrew (which basically allowed you to be able to play, you know, games on your PSP, instead of just using it as a piss-poor MP3 player), than you are very sadly mistaken.
 
Dude please dont mix your opinions with facts.

UMD movies are not dead. Read the artical in post #1. Its dead to you and anyone who wants to beleive that. But to Sony and Fox its not. Same goes for the games, you will not like the same things I like. I'm not trying to sell you on any games, you have your opinion but dont turn them in to facts. you dont like them thats ok and i dont care. The more you type the more I understand your fuzzy subjective logic.

Just because something is being out sold doesnt mean its not doing well. If you are sticking to that logic then I'm ending this brief debate.
 
LaBounti
UMD movies are not dead. Read the artical in post #1. Its dead to you and anyone who wants to beleive that. But to Sony and Fox its not.
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True, UMD Movies are not dead. But they're dying. You can deny this all you want, but when 4 major movie companies and a major retailer drops the UMD format, you can tell it's dying. Sony hasn't dropped it because they created it, and I can guarantee Fox will drop it sometime in the near future too.

It's not dead, but it will be.
 
Oh, good timing too, I'm about to get Twisted Metal. I love my PSP, haha
 
I picked up Midnight Club 3 after hearing the load times were cut in half. great game but I figured out why the frame rate is bad. They use the same car models from the ps2 verion.
 
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