October 24, 2006, 12:12 AM by superSONIC to chairmansteve
I think your mistaken. The load times are the worst problem, and that cannot be corrected, as far as I know.

October 24, 2006, 1:19 AM by Sirius_Grey to chairmansteve
I think there should be a 6 added on to that list, but in reality, it's just the combination of the 5 you've already listed. That problem being that the PSP is not a true handheld. It's a portable home console.

It's not just the hardware that's part of this problem. It's the software too. Most PSP games are just console games and not handheld games in design and playability. To me this is the lingering reason that PSP games don't sell well.

A substantial price cut will obviously move hardware. But in the end, as long as portable home console games are being made for the PSP instead of true handheld games, its software sales will never rise well enough to support sustained growth.

Case in point: even when the PSP was selling neck and neck with the DS in North America, PSP software sales were always lackluster. This is despite better graphics, more development money, better average ratings in the media, good looks, and media capabilities. The PSP is failing because Sony didn't know that there is much more to making a handheld game than simply shoving a console game into a portable format (Yes, I know that Nintendo games are cannabalising 3rd party sales, but that doesn't explain the PSP's software troubles).

And even if developers decide to change their perspective in making PSP games and make games more suited for handheld play, they have to deal with the problems you've listed. They really can't make a game give the player instant gratification when the player has to wait through long load times. There are just too many things that get in the way of a true handheld experience on the PSP.

I don't think there's anything they can do to really salvage the situation. A price cut will just do more damage in the long run as they hemorage more money on the thing. They'll sell more hardware, but people will simply just buy the PSP to play pirated and emulated games. Sony will lose even more money then. Sony should've tried something more drastic when and before the DS lite took NA by storm. Now it's too late.

October 24, 2006, 3:15 AM by mizzle to chairmansteve
Gran Turismo. Seriously, if GTA couldnt do it (though the game sold well-ish) I really cant see GT doing it.

The system itself is fatally flawed. UMD is definately the culprit. It would take some GCN type of memory design to eliminate the load times, which is the real problem.

Handhelds are designed for pick up and play, PSP is not. No game can save it. No feature can redeem it.

Sony probably cant afford a redesign. Why would they? Theyve shown throughout the systems lifespan that it is the forgotten red headed stepchild pushed aside to focus on PS3. E3s and different expos and shows come and go but the PSP gets little to no love. Why would Sony redesign the system they forgot?

Its the redesign that would save it, however. Stick a 10+ gigger of space on it, ditch the memory stick, ditch the UMD (moving parts to eat up the battery and break sooner), figure out how to clamshell and Id consider buying it.

And add a touchscreen or I wont go near it.

October 24, 2006, 3:41 AM by chairmansteve to mizzle
Ditch UMD? But then it wouldn't be able to play any of the existing movie or game discs. I say keep UMD in a redesign. It can spin less often if game files are cached to an internal flash memory.

Touchscreen? Maybe for non-gaming functions. Camera is more likely.

October 24, 2006, 4:28 AM by monsly
I won't consider getting one purely because of the dead pixel policy. I hate having dead pixels on a brand new piece of kit - it's unacceptable to me. When I bought my DS, I had 1 dead pixel - Nintendo said I could send to them for repair or return it to the shop for an exchange - when I went to the shop, they switched it, no problem at all. If Sony offer that kind of service, I'd consider it. Only consider though mind, it's got a mountain of other problems too.

October 24, 2006, 8:22 AM by AKS
I've been reading very strong reviews for GTA: Vice City Stories. Evidently it's quite a bit better than Liberty City Stories, which was a very good game but not quite up to GTA standards. I'm pretty sure that GTA: VCS will sell quite well. I really enjoyed the console Vice City game; it blew GTA III away. We'll see how the PSP version turns out.

October 24, 2006, 2:47 PM by mizzle to chairmansteve
Yes, ditch UMD. The games dont sell, neither do the movies.

Im going with the assumption that currently the PSP and UMD have failed. So Im not too worried about existing systems that people are using for for emus and ripped movies anyways. Im not worried about existing games and movies that people arent buying anyways.

UMD needs dedicated players for it to be appealling and sucessful as a format. Thats really the only way the format can be adopted on a wider scale and make some money. Sony, in all there brilliance, has chosen to ignore the UMD. Yeah its cheap to make, but they arent making money. Ditch the UMD. Unless your willing to do it right, you shouldnt do it at all. The Nintendo WFC comes to mind; Nintendo shuns online gaming to the dismay of many until they can do it right. The result is one of the fastest growing services on the best selling system.

Instead of UMD, use the space for a solidstate hdd. Build an iTunes-esque online shop for games and movies and music (thusly clobbering iTunes in terms of services provided).

They need a better input control. Thats why I say touchscreen. Web browsing with dpad and nubs kinda sucks. A camera would be interesting, but even cell phones have cams. Its not that ground breaking.

October 24, 2006, 4:20 PM by superSONIC to mizzle
I like your idea. They should write off PSP, and do PSP2 with an internal HDD. They should have games copy to the HDD and play off that. You don't need any of the other crap.

As it stands the PSP is just a $250 Nintendo & Sega emulator.

October 24, 2006, 4:44 PM by rajveer to superSONIC
But PSp has got teh uber l33t graphicsLOL

October 24, 2006, 5:02 PM by chairmansteve
Likely
- Smaller, Thinner, Lighter
- Internal Flash Memory (game saves, downloads, cache)
- Improved UMD Drive (slot-loading?)
- Improved Battery Life

Maybe
- Digital Camera
- Dual Analog Nubs
- Touchscreen

Unlikely
- Ditch UMD
- Clamshell
- Accelerometer

That's my guess for a PSP Redesign.

October 25, 2006, 1:06 AM by mizzle to chairmansteve
From what I understand, slot loaders are a bit more unreliable and fragile. Thats the one knock on the Wii that not many have picked up on. But knowing Sony, they would use a slot loading drive just so it breaks down more.

October 25, 2006, 7:35 AM by fearsomepirate
I think a good way to judge how bad piracy is is by what people are pirating. For example, you can pirate Gamecube games, but you've got to have a lot of technical know-how and some hard-to-find hardware to do it.

A guy in my office has a PSP, and he's basically the biggest techtard I've ever met. Yet he has tons of pirated games on his PSP (not just emus, but also full games pirated to Memory Stick), so it can't possibly be that hard. I'm gonna guess all kinds of people are pirating for the PSP if he is.

October 25, 2006, 7:53 AM by Alfons to chairmansteve
1. Too Expensive -Costs to much for what it does.
2. No Killer Apps -Seems more like remade old games.
3. Poor Battery Life -Horrible, more like for home use.
4. Long Load Times -Loads 4/10th of the total battery time.

zing!

October 25, 2006, 8:18 AM by monsly to fearsomepirate
Defnitely a piraters dream the PSP - a friend of mine plays emu games on his mainly (but I was a bit disappointed with some of them - SNES Mario Kart was awfully slow - almost unplayable).

He also told me it was better to get pirated PSP games as he could run them off the memory stick, giving better perfomance and better battery life - don't know how true that is, but he seemed convinced.

October 25, 2006, 8:57 AM by MustangSVT
Do any of you guys here have a PSP? The PSP is great as it is right now, a pirater's dream. You can rip any DVDs or movies that you have and convert them and watch them on it. You can download games for it and it's got some pretty awesome games in my opinion. I'm not looking to play Mario Kart or StarFox or Advance Wars, I'm looking to play Pro Evo Soccer, Dragonball Z Budokai, Syphon Filter and Tekken. And watching movies on it is pretty slick too.

As a standalone unit without the piracy, not too great:
- UMD movies are too expensive for what they are
- loading times are long if you pay for games

Sony didn't really think it through. I really love my PSP because of what I can do with it. However, there's no incentive to buy any movies or games whatsoever, so just downloading them (or converting from your own computer) is much much more likely. Example:

In case of PC games, incentive to buy it:
+ ability to play online (many games like Battlefield, Call of Duty, any game that uses Steam for online, requires you to buy the game for the valid CD-Key), and for many of these games, online is where the game truly shines

In the case of DVD movies, incentive to buy:
+ you get a full DVD9 (bitrate doesn't get compressed to DVD5)
+ you get a nice case with artwork
+ you might get a bonus disc which otherwise you might've not been able to download
+ you get a DTS audio track that might've ripped in the downloaded version

Now let's look at PSP.

PSP games, incentive to buy:
+ you get a nice case
- longer loading times than if playing off memory stick, so why bother buying?

PSP movies
- equal price or more expensive than DVD (some stores have sales nowadays though)
- why not just buy the movie on DVD (if you want it) so you can watch it on your home theater and also rip it to your PSP if you want