North American PSP Launch Details Revealed

[Matt Young 0]

http://www.insidepulse.com/article.php?contentid=31729

 

North American PSP Launch Details Revealed

Posted By Michael O'Reilly on 02.03.2005

 

March 24. $249

North American PSP Launch Details Revealed.

 

The launch date and pricing for Sony's upcoming Playstation Portable have finally been revealed. The system will begin selling in North America on March 24, and will retail for $249, which is more than the $199 price point many were expecting.

 

Unlike Japan there will only be the one package available for purchase, so no variety that way. The system will come with memory stick, remote controlled headphones, a non interactive demo disc and a soft case, along with an AC power adapter. The first million units will also ship with a free copy of Spider-man 2 on the PSP's UMD disc format.

 

Here are the expected Launch Window Games:

 

-- Ape Escape®: On the Loose, Sony Computer Entertainment America

-- ATV Offroad Fury®: Blazin' Trails, SCEA

-- Darkstalkers Chronicle: The Chaos Tower, Capcom

-- Dynasty Warriors®, KOEI

-- FIFA 2005, Electronic Arts

-- Gretzky NHL®, Sony Computer Entertainment America

-- Lumines, Ubisoft

-- Metal Gear Acid, Konami

-- MLB, Sony Computer Entertainment America

-- MVP Baseball, Electronic Arts

-- NBA, Sony Computer Entertainment America

-- NBA Street Showdown, Electronic Arts

-- Need for Speed Rivals, Electronic Arts

-- NFL Street 2 Unleashed, Electronic Arts

-- Rengoku: Tower of Purgatory, Konami

-- Ridge Racer, Namco

-- Smartbomb, Eidos Interactive

-- Spider-Man 2, Activision

-- Tiger Woods PGA TOUR®, Electronic Arts

-- Tony Hawk's Underground 2 Remix, Activision

-- Twisted Metal: Head On, Sony Computer Entertainment America

-- Untold Legends: Brotherhood of the Blade, Sony Online Entertainment

-- Wipeout® Pure, Sony Computer Entertainment America

-- World Tour Soccer, Sony Computer Entertainment America

 

Source: GamesIndustry.biz, Evil Avatar

----------------------------

 

This is a decent launch lineup, but it might suck for you if you're not into sports games.

 

Personally, I haven't even gotten a DS yet and I'm a Nintendo fanatic. I'd like to get a PSP, but I'll be waiting until it has more games that I'm interested in. Also, there's no way in hell that I can afford it at the moment.

[Ripper 0]

The launch date and pricing for Sony's upcoming Playstation Portable have finally been revealed. The system will begin selling in North America on March 24, and will retail for $249

 

Dude... that is a wee bit steep. I mean, the next generation consoles should be around that price. Damn. 250?

[Guest Salacious Crumb]

People were seriously kidding themselves if they thought they were going to get that thing for any less than $250 at launch.

[USC Wuz Robbed! 0]

No, but Sony is seriously kidding themselves if they think they can get a lot of buyers for it. Who the fuck is going to buy this shit for their kids? For 250 it better come with a goddamn insurance policy.

[Guest CronoT]

No, but Sony is seriously kidding themselves if they think they can get a lot of buyers for it. Who the fuck is going to buy this shit for their kids? For 250 it better come with a goddamn insurance policy.

Especially considering all the manufacturing glitches and errors they were having in Japan.

[Lightning Flik 0]

Um... I'd just like to add that while the price is really fucking awful, first million copies get a free Spider-Man 2 movie. So that likely brings the price down to about $225. Plus you get headphones (something you have to buy for the DS, or have your own), so that drops it down by at least $10, so that's $215. You also get an AC Adaptor which is about $10, which again is something you'd have to buy for the DS (yes, I know the PSP needs it, but I'm just pointing out the cost factor). Meaning that the system itself is only $205.

 

So while its really shitty, they just added the costs of everything into the price. Which is still stupid. Honestly, give a free fucking game. At least let the consumer feel like they aren't being ripped off.

[The Man in Blak 0]

That's an outrageous price. GBA, which is about a third of the price, is the current market standard for portable gaming and is part of a product line that has been that standard since...well, since ever. Hell, the DS, which recently came out (and that Amazon.com has sold out of), is a cool $100 cheaper than the PSP.

 

Even throwing out the hardware malfunctions and manufacturing glitches that have been reported, this is a titanically stupid idea. Sony should be trying to attract as many customers as possible, rather than pricing themselves out of the market, which is exactly what they're doing.

 

If the PSP is a success at that price, then Nintendo should be crying themselves to sleep over all of the lost revenue that they could have had from higher prices.

[AndrewTS 0]

The one game I'm actually interested in on the entire list:

 

Lumines™, Ubisoft

 

I guess the PSP Viewtiful Joe was canned. Then again, maybe it'll come out later on, like I just *know* Devil May Cry has gotta be.

 

Is there any reason for anyone who owns a PS2 and owns the analogs to those games to bother with this thing?

 

Vampire Chronicles could be interesting depending on how the multiplayer support works, but it's still an old game. Plus I own Vampire Savior and the "HK special" DC version Vampire Chronicles, so meh.

 

Note: For those unaware, Vampire Chronicles is basically to Darkstalkers 3/Vampire Savior what Hyper SF2: Anniversary Edition is to SFII.

[Guest CronoT]

Um... I'd just like to add that while the price is really fucking awful, first million copies get a free Spider-Man 2 movie. So that likely brings the price down to about $225. Plus you get headphones (something you have to buy for the DS, or have your own), so that drops it down by at least $10, so that's $215. You also get an AC Adaptor which is about $10, which again is something you'd have to buy for the DS (yes, I know the PSP needs it, but I'm just pointing out the cost factor). Meaning that the system itself is only $205.

 

So while its really shitty, they just added the costs of everything into the price. Which is still stupid. Honestly, give a free fucking game. At least let the consumer feel like they aren't being ripped off.

Flik, the DS comes with an AC Adaptor. Also, the DS comes with a Demo Game, not a movie, which most people already have.

[Guest Danny Dubya v 2.0]

Heh. Well, so much for anyone ever having a chance in hell of dominating the one market Nintendo's dominated in for more than a decade. It looks as if not even Sony will be able to pull it off, at least with that price and the glitches.

[AndrewTS 0]

Heh. Well, so much for anyone ever having a chance in hell of dominating the one market Nintendo's dominated in for more than a decade. It looks as if not even Sony will be able to pull it off, at least with that price and the glitches.

The PS2 was damn expensive at launch, it had a shitty lineup (except for OMGTEKKENTAGRULZ), and the first consoles were buggy as all hell.

 

It didn't stop Sony from dominating then, so I doubt that it's going to cause the PSP to bomb either.

 

Who cares about Spider-Man 2 on UMD when you can get the damn DVD right now for under 10 bucks?

[Guest CronoT]

That's an outrageous price. GBA, which is about a third of the price, is the current market standard for portable gaming and is part of a product line that has been that standard since...well, since ever. Hell, the DS, which recently came out (and that Amazon.com has sold out of), is a cool $100 cheaper than the PSP.

 

Even throwing out the hardware malfunctions and manufacturing glitches that have been reported, this is a titanically stupid idea. Sony should be trying to attract as many customers as possible, rather than pricing themselves out of the market, which is exactly what they're doing.

 

If the PSP is a success at that price, then Nintendo should be crying themselves to sleep over all of the lost revenue that they could have had from higher prices.

Actually, Blak, the profit-per-unit for the DS is around $50-$75, while the projected "ppu" for the PSP will be much lower, due to all the crap they crammed into it. The reason the PSP costs $100 more than the DS, is because it costs almost twice as much to manufacture.

[The Man in Blak 0]

The PS2 was damn expensive at launch, it had a shitty lineup (except for OMGTEKKENTAGRULZ), and the first consoles were buggy as all hell.

 

It didn't stop Sony from dominating then, so I doubt that it's going to cause the PSP to bomb either.

You're comparing apples with hand grenades, though. The PS2 was riding off of the fact that the PS1 had basically taken a great deal of the market share out of Nintendo and Sega's collective hands.

 

In the portable market, Sony is breaking completely new ground. They can't leverage off of the success of a prior entry into the field because they don't have one. Therefore, they've got to attract as many customers as they can to establish that the PSP can even be competitive with the DS/GBA and they need to keep the entry price as low as possible to achieve that goal, IMO.

 

Actually, Blak, the profit-per-unit for the DS is around $50-$75, while the projected "ppu" for the PSP will be much lower, due to all the crap they crammed into it. The reason the PSP costs $100 more than the DS, is because it costs almost twice as much to manufacture.

 

It's disturbing to see those manufacturing costs, and then see all of the manufacturing glitches and defects that have came from the PSPs released in Japan. Even more of a reason for me to suspect that this could potentially be an embarrassment.

[Lightning Flik 0]

Flik, the DS comes with an AC Adaptor. Also, the DS comes with a Demo Game, not a movie, which most people already have.

God dammit... I need my gaming systems. I'm so out of the loop if I don't know that fucking info!

 

Seriously, I was tempted to buy a PSP, but not at the price of $250 American. That's like $300 Canadian. I doubt many will be sold in Canada. Geezus, Sony is fucked up if they think they can win the handheld arena with a system that costs that fucking much.

 

PS2 isn't a fair comparison, because it was also built on the fact that it was backwards compatible, meaning you could carry over your old PS1 games. Shitty lineup at the start didn't matter, because you could still play the good games of the original PS1.

[Guest Salacious Crumb]

The PS2 also had all the PSX games to make up for their shitty launch just like the DS did. I don't see how they expect this to sell.

 

It's extremely expensive, eats batteries alive and probably breaks if hit with a slight gust of wind. It's a really stupid approach to make this more of a mini-counsel than a portable game system.

[Eclipse 0]

I already bought the Nintendo DS, because I wanted to get my hands on the new Mario 64 games, and the great price. DS at 150 is a great deal, but PSP at nearly 250 bucks? The casual gamer WILL NOT buy the PSP. Plus, if this is indeed true, I heard the PSP games will be close to 50 bucks each. Umm, I would never charge that much for a HANDHELD's games. The price for DS games retail between 29.99 and 39.99.

 

So far, I'd say that the PSP is not gonna sell as much as I thought it would. The price is unattractive.

[MarvinisaLunatic 0]

People are going to be disapointed when they find out the only movies they'll be able to play on the thing will be movies from Sony's own studio. Plus, if you own the movie already on DVD, why would you want to buy it again (or vice versa, if you dont own the movie, why would you want to buy it for the PSP and only be able to watch it on the small screen). I dont even get why "You can watch movies on it!" is a touted feature..

 

Im rooting for Nintendo to shrink the Gamecube hardware and make a handheld system that plays the small Gamecube discs. They could probably sell the thing cheaper than the PSP if they did it right.

[razazteca 0]

Im rooting for Nintendo to shrink the Gamecube hardware and make a handheld system that plays the small Gamecube discs. They could probably sell the thing cheaper than the PSP if they did it right.

The buttons and D-pad will still be too small.....even for Verne Troyer.

[AndrewTS 0]

Im rooting for Nintendo to shrink the Gamecube hardware and make a handheld system that plays the small Gamecube discs. They could probably sell the thing cheaper than the PSP if they did it right.

The buttons and D-pad will still be too small.....even for Verne Troyer.

That would be a great idea for a console though--if they did a "Nomad" for Gamecube, they'd have arguably the most powerful portable system out with a backward-compatible library ready to go.

 

However, it would kill off Nintendo's credibility in the handheld market, because the DS just came out and it would be viewed as a replacement for the DS.

 

I doubt The Revolution (which will probably be something like the Nintendoxygen by the time it's more than vaporware) will leave any room for such an arrangment, since it supposed to work in tandem with the DS.

 

I really don't consider the PS2's backward-compatibility *that* big of a deal when considering it's position at the time. However, since it is a completely different format, I guess that's a good point. It's more like the PS1, which had plenty of hardware problems in the early model, and Sony was taking the leap into the console war for the first time. Yet the DS isn't quite as anemic as the Saturn/N64.

[BUTT 0]

Here's an interesting PSP story from a couple of weeks ago, which I'm sure some of you have already heard:

 

TOKYO--About 4,800 Japanese PSPs have been returned to Sony due to problems with the handheld's square button, according to a recent interview with Sony Computer Entertainment president Ken Kutaragi in Nikkei Business magazine.

 

Kutaragi acknowledged that the button is less responsive than the others, in part because it's so close to the PSP's 480x272 screen. Because there isn't enough room to put the square button's detection switch directly underneath, it's off to the right, making it less responsive--and sometimes causing it to stick.

 

Nikkei Business reported that, to date, .6 percent of the 800,000 shipped units have been returned to Sony for repair. Kutaragi was unapologetic about the issue: "This is the design that we came up with. There may be people that complain about its usability, but that's something which users and game software developers will have to adapt to. I didn't want the PSP's LCD screen to become any smaller than this, nor did I want its machine body to become any larger.

 

"The button's location is [architectured] on purpose," Kutaragi added. "It's according to specifications. This is something that we've created, and this is our specification. There was a clear purpose to it, and it wasn't a mistake."

 

Offering additional testimony praising the handheld, Kutaragi said, "I believe we made the most beautiful thing in the world. Nobody would criticize a renowned architect's blueprint that the position of a gate is wrong. It's the same as that."

 

http://www.gamespot.com/news/2005/01/24/news_6116985.html

 

So not only did he intentionally design it poorly, but he doesn't think it's fair to criticize him for it? Awesome!

[Anya 0]

They need a better lineup before I'll buy it. The only thing I'm really all that into is Darkstalkers, and it's just a new version of a REALLY old game. I own the PSX and arcade versions of Savior, why should I be hyped for this? OMG you can be the Hunter version of Victor!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'll pass. I didn't care when it was on DC and I don't care when it's on PSP.

[Scroby 0]

It doesn't surprise me that Sony are being hardasses about the PSP and if anyone in the states thought that Sony was going to try to be in the same price range of the DS are insane. Seeing how Sony prices their main accseries so high, in the 25 to 40 dollar range, Sony doesn't really care what people are paying for their products as long as people pay money for it. I have given an estimate to my customers who pre-ordered the PSP on a price range and they all told me if it was more than $150, they would cancel the pre-order. Sounds like the PSP is already starting to fail, regardless of strong sales, if a lot of them have already been returned due to problems and the head of PSP is already bitching about how people don't like the design (Even if it ripped off the First Gameboy advance/ Gamegear designs and just altered it.), the system sounds like its failing to me. It might do well in the U.S. but it will take awhile since the price is insanely high.

[Guest CronoT]

It wouldn't surprise me if the price for the PSP dropped fairly quickly. Does anyone else remember when the N-Gage came out for $300, and was dropped down to $200 almost immediately after about 6 weeks?

[Prophet of Mike Zagurski 0]

Isn't the battery life short on it because of the all the processing power on it?

 

In the story above, Ken Kutaragi knew about this but did not want to change how the system looked. One of the first articles revealing the Xbox appeared in EGM, the developers said they were not going to change the controllers because they were too large. (Also they said they were gods too.) Well, what 2 years later and they made smaller controls for the US. Sony is going to have to change their attitude or I would not spend $300 (cause you have to buy a game) for a broken button.

[ChrisMWaters 0]

Just checking...

 

What are all the portable systems that have come out during the reign of the Game Boy that have passed on.

 

The ones I can think of are:

 

Sega Game Gear

Sega Nomad

Atari Lynxx

Neo-Geo Pocket

I thought there was a portable Turbo Graphix 16, but I could have dreamt that.

N*Gage

 

...any I'm missing?

[BUTT 0]

Tiger Game.com

Wonderswan (but that was only in Japan)

And yes there was a portable TurboGrafx, the TurboExpress.

[Scroby 0]

There's also a few more handhelds come out this, the gizmoto or something and some other different one. I haven't heard a thing about these nore really care to. As far as Sony changing their ways goes. I just wanna point out something with the harddrive. When Sony annouced that they were making a slimmer PS2 and showed a model of it, someone asked where the harddrive port was, whom ever was showing it told the media that there wasn't going to be one for the new verison of the PS2 cause their hardcore fans already owned the older model and figured that if someone bought a slimmer PS2, they weren't part of that fanbase and wouldn't want to play Final Fantasy XI and won't need the harddrive. Now if Sony was to egotistic and stupid to add something to make the harddrive capatable with the newer PS2, I really doubt they'll listen to people when their is some sort of issue with one of their new products. I honestly beleave Sony doesn't care what issues arise with their products as long as they make money.

[Guest CronoT]

As far as Sony changing their ways goes. I just wanna point out something with the harddrive. When Sony annouced that they were making a slimmer PS2 and showed a model of it, someone asked where the harddrive port was, whom ever was showing it told the media that there wasn't going to be one for the new verison of the PS2 cause their hardcore fans already owned the older model and figured that if someone bought a slimmer PS2, they weren't part of that fanbase and wouldn't want to play Final Fantasy XI and won't need the harddrive. Now if Sony was to egotistic and stupid to add something to make the harddrive capatable with the newer PS2, I really doubt they'll listen to people when their is some sort of issue with one of their new products. I honestly beleave Sony doesn't care what issues arise with their products as long as they make money.

What people have to remember is that Sony is an appliance company first, an electronic media company second, and a video game company a distant third.

 

Nintendo is a video game company first and foremost, so they care a great deal about their video game products. Sony's video game business makes up only about 15-20% of their overall business. It's no wonder they treat it like their stepford son.

[Lightning Flik 0]

Wonderswan (but that was only in Japan)

Actually, last I checked, I think the Wonderswan is still going strong in Japan. But I might be wrong on that. Since I'm out of date with my video gaming info lately.