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PSP's Next Move
Colin Campbell is Editor-in-Chief, Online of Edge
News that Sony is gauging public opinion on desirable future specs for its PSP has prompted debate about the future direction of this likeable device.
Ken Kutaragi's predictions that PSP would take its seat as the "Walkman of the 21st century" now looks like a bad joke. Apple's iPhone is the only device that might make such a ludicrous claim and, even with that happy little chappy's amazing success, Walkman still feels like an overblown comparison.
iPhone's relevance to PSP goes beyond the hyperbole of executives. When it launched around the world in 2004 and 2005, PSP looked like something futuristic and pretty. But even after the introduction of lighter, sleeker versions in 2007 and 2008, with attendant jump in sales, it now looks like a contraption whose time has gone. iPhone is smaller, sleeker, prettier, and better in almost every department, save as a games device.
You may argue that, given PSP's status as a games machine, this is all that matters. But it's not.
Graphically and via the quality of its games library, PSP is way better. PSP is, at the core of its beating heart, a games machine, while iPhone is absolutely not. Those famous PlayStation face buttons and directional pad offer no illusions about PSP's function.
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And yet, for Sony, the prize never was to simply create a successful handheld games device, but to create a handheld games device that would make the company successful in the portable entertainment market. And, by that metric, PSP must be considered only a partial success at best and one without much of a future, as the technology now stands.
As a media device and as a social networking device it is entirely inferior to iPhone; not to mention as a fashion accessory. Remember when Sony was telling us that cool people like PSPs while children like DS? The problem with pinning your hopes to 'cool' is the mutability of that particular quality.
If Sony wishes its games machine to be anything other than a bygone, it must make significant changes.
Curious then, that Kotaku's story about a questionnaire sent out to PSP owners, covers many of the improvements that you'd hope to see in any future iterations.
PSP must and will get smaller. It must offer a touch-screen (although not at the expense of proper game controls). It must offer a vast library of simple-to-download content and community features that embrace existing communities (it would be just like Sony to make a mistake like trying to re-invent Facebook). It must offer sufficient storage for content, while allowing users to play complex games via UMD.
Some of these wish-list items appear to be contradictory, and herein lies Sony's problem. In the handheld games machine market it has been beaten by Nintendo's DS. In the handheld content market it has been outfoxed by its own dedication to UMD, and the very obvious dedication of the rest of the word to downloadable content.
PSP and DS have been saved from defeat these past few years by the complete poverty of the mobile phone games market. But iPhone is already showing signs of significant improvement. There are plenty of potential PSP owners who will wonder what such a device can really offer them, that they can't get from their iPhone. For them, niceties like game complexity or graphical fidelity are less important than the usefulness of having one device that is 'good enough' at playing games.
PSP must be positioned as significantly superior as a games machine, and just as good as an entertainment and communications device. It must also be redesigned for the world of 2010, and not for the world of 2005, which was a significantly different place. Sony must also resist the temptation to merely ape iPhone. There is no shame in being outflanked by the likes of Steve Jobs, but the lesson he offers is that big ambitions are way more lucrative than playing catch-up.
News that Sony is gauging public opinion on desirable future specs for its PSP has prompted debate about the future direction of this likeable device.
Ken Kutaragi's predictions that PSP would take its seat as the "Walkman of the 21st century" now looks like a bad joke. Apple's iPhone is the only device that might make such a ludicrous claim and, even with that happy little chappy's amazing success, Walkman still feels like an overblown comparison.
iPhone's relevance to PSP goes beyond the hyperbole of executives. When it launched around the world in 2004 and 2005, PSP looked like something futuristic and pretty. But even after the introduction of lighter, sleeker versions in 2007 and 2008, with attendant jump in sales, it now looks like a contraption whose time has gone. iPhone is smaller, sleeker, prettier, and better in almost every department, save as a games device.
You may argue that, given PSP's status as a games machine, this is all that matters. But it's not.
Graphically and via the quality of its games library, PSP is way better. PSP is, at the core of its beating heart, a games machine, while iPhone is absolutely not. Those famous PlayStation face buttons and directional pad offer no illusions about PSP's function.
And yet, for Sony, the prize never was to simply create a successful handheld games device, but to create a handheld games device that would make the company successful in the portable entertainment market. And, by that metric, PSP must be considered only a partial success at best and one without much of a future, as the technology now stands.
As a media device and as a social networking device it is entirely inferior to iPhone; not to mention as a fashion accessory. Remember when Sony was telling us that cool people like PSPs while children like DS? The problem with pinning your hopes to 'cool' is the mutability of that particular quality.
If Sony wishes its games machine to be anything other than a bygone, it must make significant changes.
Curious then, that Kotaku's story about a questionnaire sent out to PSP owners, covers many of the improvements that you'd hope to see in any future iterations.
PSP must and will get smaller. It must offer a touch-screen (although not at the expense of proper game controls). It must offer a vast library of simple-to-download content and community features that embrace existing communities (it would be just like Sony to make a mistake like trying to re-invent Facebook). It must offer sufficient storage for content, while allowing users to play complex games via UMD.
Some of these wish-list items appear to be contradictory, and herein lies Sony's problem. In the handheld games machine market it has been beaten by Nintendo's DS. In the handheld content market it has been outfoxed by its own dedication to UMD, and the very obvious dedication of the rest of the word to downloadable content.
PSP and DS have been saved from defeat these past few years by the complete poverty of the mobile phone games market. But iPhone is already showing signs of significant improvement. There are plenty of potential PSP owners who will wonder what such a device can really offer them, that they can't get from their iPhone. For them, niceties like game complexity or graphical fidelity are less important than the usefulness of having one device that is 'good enough' at playing games.
PSP must be positioned as significantly superior as a games machine, and just as good as an entertainment and communications device. It must also be redesigned for the world of 2010, and not for the world of 2005, which was a significantly different place. Sony must also resist the temptation to merely ape iPhone. There is no shame in being outflanked by the likes of Steve Jobs, but the lesson he offers is that big ambitions are way more lucrative than playing catch-up.
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Copyright 2006 - 2009 Future Publishing Limited, Beauford Court 30 Monmouth Street Bath, UK BA1 2BW
England and Wales company registration number 2008885
As long as the IPhone has that $70 a month tag, I don't feel that the way to go for playing games.
I agree with the original article in the main, the only thing I dont agree with is that Sony should go touch screen.
In regards to gaming, touch screen only works with certain games, like football (soccer) management games or games like Advance Wars, any game really where you dont move fast. I have played a lot of the touch screen games on the Ipod Touch and I will put my life savings on a bet that touch screen gaming will never be anything but a welcome distraction to games played via a pad or joystick. The DS too only has limited appeal. Yes its big, but it wont last forever, people will get bored of not being able to play 'proper' games. Touch screen gaming for me sits in between mobile gaming and 'normal' gaming.
As for the PSP itself, I believe it has actually survived because it has (eventually) released a good catalogue of games. Its downfall was certainly its software, who remembers trying to downloaded a movie file onto the machine? All that 'root file' nonsense? If they made it any more user UN-friendly it would have been kicked into touch a long time ago. Also its game roster for a long time was poor. The thumb stick was and still is poorly realised, and of course it will never be anyones music player.
I think Sony should start again, get back to the drawing board and release something well thought out. The PSP was not well thought out, the basics are there for an excellent machine, they need to refine it. But for the public to take more of an interest in it , they need a re-design and new PR
The PSP failed not because of a lack of focus, but because it didn't do anything well.
It failed entirely because of its software. Sony threw everything at the wall, and it all sucked. The media player capabilities were a nightmare. The interface was unbelievably bad, the format compatibility was poor, and the file allocation requirements just to get the God-damned device to see the files was off-the-charts stupid.
The web browser was slow and couldn't fully load pages. It had a bitch of a time with video aspect ratios. The LocationFree player? HA! Try getting that shit working.
I think, that in much the same way as the Zune's WiFi, that the PSP is a good example of poorly implemented features being inferior to not having the feature at all. By all means, give me a kitchen sink! Just spend more than ten minutes making it work correctly.
If Sony could just take the current PSP and make all its bloody features be competitive; not the best, just competitive, they'd be in good shape.
I was so hyped up about the PSP. I got in launch day. I woke up early to be at EB at open. I was disappointed by 8pm that night.
I love a world where shifting 45 million units is considered failing, the Wii, 360 and PS3 have all failed as well.
Agree with many of things already on this thread. Sony has concentrated on making the PSP try to do everything and has ended up with a 'Jack of all trades but master of none'. I would also say they are doing the same thing with the PS3.
I like the idea of a company that is constantly looking to improve and adapt its hardware to make it multi-functional (I use my PSP for PlayTV, storing images, playing movies, listening to music - its great on holiday) but PSP and PS3 ARE first and foremost GAMES consoles. Over 2 years in and PS3 is just about to get some half decent exclusive titles. PSP?....all I see are the same old titles collecting dust on the shelf which seems a waste of essentially a powerful piece of kit.
I don't think Sony have ever released a 'dud' format but they need to reprioritise to address the needs of their core audience.
Like you I've got a lot of consoles and in 2008 i've only been stuck to Patapon 2 and Locoroco 2 with PSP. Rest of the year i've been playing DS. Let's face it, if i want to listen music i'll make it with my iphone. And movies-on-the-go? Well, i liked at first but now i prefer gaming so i look for the game of the month.
I'll remove the analogue stick, and touch screen? see DS. Has one and most of the games still use the buttons as main control. Remove the UMD to get it slimmer? Well, i'd like it. PSP is way too big to carrry in your pocket.
Sony should really worry about the lack of AAA games in PSP. 45 millions units sold should encourage publishers to give it.
I'm not sure they need to backtrack so much. I think they just need to spend more time iterating before they release the thing. So like; the analog button wouldn't hurt, you wouldn't accidentally press the off button all the time. And for god's sake give it all the buttons of a PS3 controller! Then it will work properly.
Needs a full size USB on it definetly, and maybe, I don't know, a decent operating system? So you can skim through music by artist, album etc.
I really think if it was expandable that would be brilliant. Kind of like the 360 but subsidised. That big space at the back was just asking
I agree entirely what nathaniel.kent has already said. Unfortunately Sony is stuck with the UMD format and to abandon it now to digital distribution would in my mind be a little too hasty. I can imagine a great deal of people still don't feel confortable paying full-price for digital content that has no physical presence. Of just because consumers aren't quite ready to accept digital distribution yet, that doesn't mean that Sony should give it up entirely. To allow people the option to download games at the same time as buying them in the shop would be the way to go I think (perhaps offering a discount on the digital version as an incentive).
As mentioned before, Sony should abandon the ethos of the PSP being an entertainment centre and re-position it as, what it should always have been, a portable games console. This means encouraging games development on the platform that are not watered down console ports but original properties that better suit and take advantage of the console's portability. Good examples would be Lumines and Every Extra Extend among others.
Other improvements which I think could be made to the hardware would be to improve the left analogue stick (maybe make it slightly bigger and change the position) and fix the screen interlacing issues.Other than that, an extended battery life would also be desirable. Ideas like adding a second analogue stick and making the console smaller I think are mistakes. A second analogue stick would be too cramping on the PSP shell and beside which they haven't even got the first analogue stick right, you really want them to make a second? With regards to the size of the console, the size is fine, making it any smaller is just going to make playing games more uncomfortable.
Focusing on the aesthetic points of the PSP is a red herring, of course it has to look reasonably sexy but to concentrate to much on this point is to lose sight of the PSP's most obvious disadvantage, the game selection. I've looked at the hardware sales for the PSP and they're quite good. It's the software sales that are the problem. If the PSP can have a few AAA titles to its name (and if they are marketed correctly) then things will start to brighten up because at the moment the PSP doesn't really seem to know exactly what it is.
I also think adding a microphone or touch screen would be a short sighted and reactionary move on Sony's part. If I wanted to play Animal Crossing or WarioWare then I'd buy a DS, these are casual games that Nintendo specialises in making (and which incidentally I'm not interested in). The PSP must remain distinctive from the DS's image otherwise it will seem like a second best knock off and to do this it must reinforce its image as a 'serious' games console which hones back to the old-school definition of 'video game'.This does not mean GTA clones, Manhunt, God of War or any other perceived 'adult' game. These are fine but they don't provide the console with anything unique. No, what I'm talking about is a re-emphasis on games with a high-concept, arcade-like design. Games that emphasise high score, glorious visuals and addictive gameplay that you can just pick up and play for a few minutes and then put it down again as needs be. This means games that are accessable but challenging. I have already mentioned a couple of games which already do this but Metal Slug also works pretty well in this regard.
As nathaniel has already mentioned, Sony needs to move away from this mindset of producing all-inclusive products and go back to producing products which specialise in what they do. Unfortunately I think this has to do a lot with Sony's corporate culture as well as its arrogant disposition. They have to recognise that their vision of the future was wrong for the present time. I do see an eventual future where all our entertainment devices are synergised together but it's not here yet. Not everyone is linked to high-speed internet and even with regards to more conventional technologies like Blu-Ray and high def televisions the uptake has been slow. I think Sony has been a little optimistic with regards to how readily the customer will adopt new technologies and with this new economic downtown this isn't going to change for at least another couple of years. Sony need to adapt with the times if they are to survive and shrug off their arrogance which has led them to this unfortunate position in the first place.
I totally agree with you SunKing - Sony should definitely stick with UMD for the next iteration of PSP, if only for backwards compatibility. What they should stop doing is pushing for UMD to be seen as a viable format for movies, and keep their eye on the ball with the games. I also agree on not adding a touch screen - PSP needs to be distinctive from DS, not belatedly copying it (remember what a fiasco the motion sensors in the PS3 controllers were?). PSP can be really great as a more hardcore handheld console if it just focuses on getting the games right. Copying DS/iPhone hardware is unnecessary.
Digital Distribution is way overrated. Abandoning the retail sales channel is wishful thinking.
Look at the facts: Most games are bought at stores or ordered online. Only a small percentage of the customers use the digital distribution. Maybe in ten years the situation will change, but now... that's the situation.
Digital Distribution may be a good "extra" business, but it won't replace the retail channel for a long time.
Think about the parents who want to buy a game for their children. They're not gonna download it, they're going at the store to make a pretty present. I can't imagine that changing soon.
I myself prefer the retail versions. I collect them and put them in the shelf...and hell ya I like it like that.
Best option: Publishing all games as an online and retail version. Better than UMD would be small (cheap?) SD-Cards. Each game could have a unique size (258 MB card for Locoroco, 2 GB Cards for FinalFantasy, etc.).
45 million sold PSPs is a big success for Sony. And don't forget about the millions of ProDuo Cards that sony is selling...
And saying the PSP would be a bad multimedia device is BS. One example of my last vacation: I went with the car and listened to my music (PSP connected to radio), then at the evening looked at a couple of movies on it with my girlfriend, and when it was raining outside played FinalFantasy 8 on it (5.00 M33-3 rules!).
I don't know any device capable of that.
In my opinion Sony would be better off releasing a "PSP Touch" and running it like Nintendo did it with the Gameboy Colour, having titles the are "For PSP Touch". Obviously this would splinter the base but if you want to run those games then buy a PSP Touch, if not then shut up and play your normal PSP games.
Sony has always managed their gear as 'moving targets' with updates and expansions. None are more like this than the PSP and PS3. When Sony say they are not going to release a PSP2, I'm inclined to believe them. I think the PSP4000 will have touch screen, accelerometer, 802.11 G, no second stick and no internal flash storage.
IF they do drop the UMD (I hope so) then the system will be very slim and battery will last much longer as it could be larger, also flash uses less power. All games would be offered as downloadable via the PC, PSN and even shops (download and Memory Stick). Removing the UMD would also cut costs, which would probably taken up by the Touch screen and battery.
"All games would be offered as downloadable via the PC, PSN and even shops (download and Memory Stick)."
Even shops? That would be pretty crazy, go in with you card stick it in and upload a game. I can kinda see that, I'd be down. However I don't want them to stop supporting UMD because ultimately I stand by backwards compatibility, it was a sad day for me when PS3 lost the emotion engine. I think the form factor of PSP is necessary ergonomically for a lot of PSP gaming. Sure for IPhones inane, softcore digital interactions, you don't need it to be that comfortable as you're probably not going to play it for more than 5 minutes at a time (Bar maybe the 2-3 games which sound kinda addictive). But contorting hand postures into cramp inducing positions for 2+ hours on a phone playing FF, Monster Hunter or Killzone isn't really an option for me. I could see a GBA phone keeping inline with post 2005 cell phone form factor trends but I like my PSP as a bit of a brick. Honestly I think if Nintendo made a phone it would own IPhone, hands down, DS, GBA whatever. It would have Steve Jobs spewing.
Sony's key problem with PSP is their core strategy of convergence, i.e. focusing too hard on trying to make it do everything. It's a games device. It needs to have good games on it. Where's the killer app? I've had my eye on PSP for a while but I've never really been tempted to buy it because it doesn't offer any experiences that home consoles can't do better. The DS is successful because it offers something unique and immensely entertaining, which is why it's caught the popular imagination. If Sony want PSP or its successor to be a success, they need to fix the games.
But the biggest lesson that Sony ought to take from DS is that if it's a games device, everything else that it does is irrelevant. Who cares if it makes phone calls? Who cares if it watches movies? Who cares if it has GPS functionality or if it streams TV over WiFi? People don't buy it to do those things. They buy it to play games. If they wanted a device that did those things, they'd buy a dedicated device that does them better. This is especially true when it comes to the ludicrous notion of people actually making phone calls on PSP (remember seeing people talking on the original N-Gage? It would look just as stupid as that) or the equally ludicrous thought that somehow an expensive, proprietary video format would ever take off. UMDs are mini-discs all over again.
The hardest thing for Sony to do, I think, is to accept that all these add-ons and extras distract - and therefore detract - from the value proposition, rather than adding to it. The DS has proved that a machine that does very little other than playing games can be a runaway success, and even Sony's biggest successes - Walkman, Playstation 1, their excellent electronics products - are designed to do one thing well and succeed commercially because of that focus. If PSP can mutate into a device with a single focus - great gaming - and a distinctive software line-up (building on Loco Roco and Patapon, which really seem to be its only distinctive high-profile games so far), I don't see any reason why it can't be a serious competitor to the DS. But if Sony take their eye off the ball and try to make a PSP successor that competes with the iPhone, the iPod, or other non-gaming devices, then it will flop. Simple as that.
That's my two cents at any rate! Interested to hear from people who disagree.
I agree with your point here. Particularly with this part: "it (PSP) doesn't offer any experiences that home consoles can't do better".
I've participated in some forum discussions in my country about which is better for handheld gamers: DS, PSP, or iPhone. Every person who's voted for PSP has done so citing its technical capabilities as the reason. They discarded DS because of its lack of power and multimedia, and the iPhone because of its lack of good games. But I think that the issue of hardware power is something developers, rather than consumers, should be more concerned with. I use to buy hardware to play games, not the other way around.
So, for me at least, PSP is in no man's land, as it only comes second in both races (games and multimedia), and while it has its share of interesting games (LocoRoco, Echochrome, Exit, etc), these are usually not very resource-consuming games, being on the platform only by Sony's choice, not by necessity (contrary to Professor Layton or Rolando, for example).
1) Fix the screen interlacing issue.
2) Add a 2nd analog stick
3) Add phone capabilities (Ericsson is right there to use)
4) large internal hdd
5) bluetooth capability
6) I like the mini-DV approach listed above but use slot-loading drives
The PSP is sitll a great media device. However, it appears that more PMPs are appearing that do everything the PSP does, with the exception of playing games. What made the Gameboy so cool was that it felt like a console experience in your hands. The PSP needs to find its fun factor and make it shine.
Sony has put itself in a corner from the start - a 'mobile' device which is not exactly very mobile, a "jack of all trades, master of none" kind of design philosophy, support of UMD, short battery life-cycle...
PSP sells very good, that's true. But we all know that Sony isn't particularly satisfied with being second. And I think there is a sense of pride involved here - if Sony really put touch-screen into a next version of PSP, it would be the same as announcing: "Look, Nintendo's won, we admit it." And then maybe they put cover on it with the integrated second screen. : )
I think that woldn't happen easily.
It wont be the first time they copy ideas, and they have the chance to do it better. I don't see the problem in this, if you pay close attention to CES, almost half of everything shown there was touch screen capable.
The PSP is a fantastic machine for portable entertainment
it's just unfortunate that pirating everything on the memory card is more convenient than swapping UMD's.
Sony need to make the next PSP less like the DS and more like the cutting edge, innovative device we all except from them.
More like everything good from DS and iPhone, keep the buttons, better analog stick, eliminate UMDs and use Mini-DVDs like the GCs ones, they must be cheaper to produce and with more space with double layer technology, but of course, all games should be avaliable online as well, wich also means this device must offer at least 16GB of internal storage plus Memory Card compatibilty. Bluetooth would be great to.
If they are branding it as an all around entertaiment device the should also make it open to all kinds of formats, so nobody will have problems playing stuff, reconverting everything to make it work. The device will have the power to do so (it might even have a reduced cell procesor heh).
"PSP and DS have been saved from defeat these past few years by the complete poverty of the mobile phone games market."
Yeah right. What wishful thinking. Mobile phones will *not* be a replacement for portable gaming.
yeah, Cell phones will always be more like the PC, and Portable devices like the Consoles in some perspective. But maybe the fact that the iPhone its a controled platform like all the apple things is making it take a shape to compete with the Portable market, and obviously Apple supervising everything to make sure there's some quality on the mix.
Get rid of UMD and add a second analog nub. I don't really care if it gets smaller, but that would be a nice bonus. I'd prefer it not have a phone built in as the "kitchen sink" approach to the existing model has already been detrimental (it does plenty of things, but none of them particularly well) - focus on the games.
Sony should completely abandon the retail sales channel if they make another PSP and have all games downloadable from the device and also via USB to a PC and/or PS3 (all three of which they belatedly added to the existing PSP). The type of games that do best on handhelds matches up nicely with the type of developers/publishers who make games for XBLA/PSN/WiiWare, so there is certainly a precedent for this model already.
While Sony may wish to compete in the mobile entertainment market, realistically it isn't a competitor in the field at all. I'm pretty certain that I read some research not too long ago that said 72% of psp owners spend the majority of their time with the machine in the comfort of their own homes. It's competing more with the PS3 than the iPhone.