Finalised US PSP launch line-up announced

That's about the price of a GBA game, right?

I see... 4 games i'd consider there. So, 1 in 6. Not bad, but it is consider, not buy.

If I didn;t already have a Jap PSP, I'd be happy enough with that line-up, I'd buy:

Ape Escape: On the Loose (SCEA)
Lumines (Ubisoft)
Ridge Racers (Namco)
Smartbomb (Eidos Interactive)
Spider-Man 2 (Activision)
Tony Hawk's Underground 2 Remix (Activision)
Twisted Metal: Head On (SCEA)

Which would keep me going.

As for PSP battery life, I took mine on a 2 hour (each way) train ride the other day... it was on for the whole trip and the batttery was fine - it also made the trip seem to last about five minutes! I love this thing!!!!

I think this is great news for PSP fans. I must say i'm not entirely sure how sony is going to keep it's head above water financially with this thing: they are taking huge losses on the hardware, and games cost about the same as gba games... and i know a lot of gba developers are having trouble keeping their heads above water.

conclusion:

1- sony isn't making a lot of profit on software either (how much software does the average consumer need to buy for them to break even??? 10 titles?).

2- developers might jump ship because of too much work, and too little profit. (If gba developers are having a hard time putting simple gba games together and make a living out of it, one can only imagine how much work and time they need to invest in PSP games, for +/- the same money).

One could argue Nintendo asks too much money from developers, more than sony, but let's not forget GBA is the best selling piece of gaming equipment out there.

i don't think making games for the psp will be too much of a problem because all they are doing is making the game for ps2 taking a few things out (psp doesn't have the battery power to handle a full blown version of gt4 or a proper action packed mgs game) and then porting it over to psp, doesn't really cost the develop much really.

This is all its ever going to be for psp developers won't make many all new games for it, has people are buying it for the other features really. The early japanese sales figures show psp is ahead of ds in week by week sales but software is selling rubbish on psp in comparison to ds which has three titles in the top 10

So hang on, if all PSP developers are doing is porting PS2 titles, is it fair to say that all GBA developers did was port NES and SNES titles? I mean hey, Nintendo launched the GBA with Super Mario Advance, a tweaked rework of Super Mario Bros. 2, as well as later porting Zelda 3, reworking Metroid and they've got a whole range of individually-sold NES titles there. Third parties do this too - R-Type 3, Super Street Fighter 2, Megaman & Bass (Rockman and Forte) are all on both GBA and SNES.

In fact, half of the top ten highest rated GBA games according to Gamerankings.com are remakes of some kind: Zelda 3, Super Mario World, Super Mario 3, Yoshi's Island and Metroid: Zero Mission. The other half is comprised of sequels - Zelda: The Minish Cap, Metroid Fusion, Mario Kart Super Circuit, Advance Wars (yes, it's a sequel to Famicom Wars) and Mario and Luigi Superstar Saga. Hell, Nintendo even launched it's new handheld with a Super Mario 64 remake.

I can't see that PSP developers are doing anything hugely different to developers for Nintendo's handhelds.


The DS charting three in the top 10 is true, but have you checked out the whole Japanese top 50 for that week? You have to dive down to #34 to find another DS title, with #35 and #50 being the only other two. That's six titles on the entire chart, three occupying the top half. Meanwhile, the PSP occupies slots #11, #15, #16, #17, #19, #23, #31, #41 and #46. That's nine titles, with six in the top half. If nothing else, PSP owners are certainly buying a more diverse range of software.

It's always best to look at the whole picture.

Indeed.

So it's important to also consider that although PSP is selling more units week-on-week, it still has a smaller total installed user-base than DS, so it's only right to expect it to sell less software overall.

Plus if, eventually, most PSP software is third party, Sony are not going to worry about the cost of development, because they take a fixed license fee from each unit sold.

And has anyone actually quantified the loss Sony are taking on each PSP sold? I accept that it must be making a loss in its early run, but production cost plummet with quantity, after tooling up and r&d costs are defrayed. So they won't necessarily be selling at too much of a loss in 6/8 months time.

Same site but this page has hardware sales breakdown. The table doesn't have a title, but I'm assuming it's hardware because it distinguishes between GBA and GBA SP.

Shame they dont have a the same table for software.

Found on Amazon UK - bogus or announced?

It's probably just another example of Amazon having not a f**king clue about videogames and release dates. Amazon and Argos; key members of the axis of cluelessness.