PSP outsells the DS in Japan for the first time

Nintendo is cleaning up on the software sales charts over there, but for the first time since their respective debuts Sony's PlayStation Portable has outsold the Nintendo DS in Japan, selling 64,600 consoles in the week ending January 16th vs. 53,500 for the DS (the Nintendo DS has still sold more overall, but then again, the figures for the PSP don't include exported consoles and it's not clear how many of those there are). The bitter truth fanboys on neither side want to admit: it's possible for each console to be a success, since this isn't a zero sum game (and from what we understand, in most places it is legal to purchase both consoles).

Update: Due to some contestibility of the facts on whether this is units shipped vs. units sold, we invite you to read the material we sourced this information from (which is less than specific).

[dig dug @ Dec 19th 2005 12:09AM]

key words here are "first time"

[Max. @ Dec 19th 2005 12:09AM]

Holy crap, at first glance I thought someone had hacked one of the consoles to make a triple screen handheld.

[Shmee150 @ Dec 19th 2005 12:09AM]

Well I will admit I am surprised that the DS is doing so well, having played on both them, I personally choose the PSP but it is going to be an interesting one, I suppose they will always be equal so maybe everyone should get both? I wonder when the first shop to offer a deal price if you buy both will be!

ShMeE

[Woolly Mittens @ Dec 19th 2005 12:09AM]

At the pre-order prices I've seen stated here in europe, I can't imagine the PSP outselling the DS.

[fdisk @ Dec 19th 2005 12:09AM]

I would imagine the PSP is just now starting to outsell the DS because everyone in Japan ALREADY OWNS A DS

[WizarDru @ Dec 19th 2005 12:09AM]

Newsflash: there is a large enough market for both platforms to do well! Zealots reduced to tears, while most gamers enjoy benefits. More at 11.

[Dale @ Dec 19th 2005 12:09AM]

I love my DS. PSP seems so 2002 after playing with a touch-screen.

[Zoiks @ Dec 19th 2005 12:09AM]

This article says it all...
http://www.gamespot.com/news/2005/01/24/news_6116985.html

This guy is a jackass. I love the whole attidude of, "Yeah, our product has design issues, but those were FEATURES! What?! You aren't pushing the buttons properly, FOOL!"

Shouldn't the product work the way people do instead of adapting people to the product?

I want to find this #^(*er and kick his ass. This is a prime example of form over function.

When was the last time you picked up a controller and didn't have the buttons work the way you expect?

What a shitty design. What a shitty attitude.

Why would you want to buy a system from a company that KNOWINGLY sells broken products and tells you to deal with it?

About 4,800 Japanese PSPs have been returned to Sony due to problems with the handheld's square button.

Sony acknowledged that the button is less responsive than the others, in part because it's so close to the PSP's 480x272 screen, sometimes causing it to stick.

Sony 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."

So, basically, this is a poor design, but everyone has to deal with it?

I cry BULLSHIT! Didn't Sony just come around and say they changed their ways? This is screwing over the consumer. I don't want a poorly designed PSP, I want one that kicks ass!

Who wants stuff from a company that only half-asses things and can't design a primary face button that JUST WORKS!

[Kamalot @ Dec 19th 2005 12:09AM]

How many of these units ended up returned due to problems or, as Sony calls them, "Design Decisions"?

[E-Leet @ Dec 19th 2005 12:09AM]

Sadly, the PSP will do fine. There are too many unwashed masses of mouth-breathers out there that will buy Sony's turd.

[fanboys are sad @ Dec 19th 2005 12:09AM]

PSP owns DS. This is just the first of many weeks of failure for the DS. Take comfort in the fact that DS outsold PSP during the weeks in which PSP wasn't available. Go play baby mario and Metroid PDA

[PrimatePat @ Dec 19th 2005 12:09AM]

Im sorry but im an unwashed mass mouth breather for perfering to not have crap like designed consoles like the x-box or the DS in my house?. I have a playstation 2 as my first next gen console after the deboccal that was the N64 (Fuzz for graphics nuff said). The reason why the PSP will womp the DS is first, it is just pretty compared to the plastic shell crap of the DS. Second, It supports open format standards for the new Mpeg part 10 H.264/AV (the new codec by apple) which makes sense if apple partners with sony to do HD content they could easily be a downloadalbe media partner with sony. Third, the PSP has USB, memory slot expansion, and as well as a huge beautiful screen, you can acutally watch decent movies on it.
Forth, the PSP has the ability to have wifi over the net game play by default, It syncs up easily to both Apple computer and Windows Platforms which alone makes i a nice tool.
And last but far from least is the fact that the firmware is user upgradable allowing users to add features like text messaging, wordprocessing, remote desktop control, or even if netBSD does like it alwasy does, make it run BSD which would allow for naughty computer geeks like my self to have a very very nice portable tool box.

Now also with the fact that sony will allow you to use any region video games on it as well as the possibility of coming out with UMD drives for computers you could in theory then purchase and download games on the internet and then burn them your self.

anyway thats just my rant i got to go to class now

[Joey Geraci @ Dec 19th 2005 12:09AM]

I was really excited about the psp, but all the recent news about it has convinced me that it will fail royally, in the long run. You are right, PrimatePet, there are some pretty amazing features tucked away in this handheld. But there are also some AMAZING design flaws. The problem with many units spitting out discs seemingly at random, the horrible battery life, the horrible loading times, and now this issue where it is the luck of the draw whether you get an unresponsive square button, and Sony just tells you, "Well, we have made a beautiful piece of technology, so if it has a major design flaw, deal with it" He is pretty much saying in that article that he knew about the major design flaw the entire time, and that he has no intention of fixing it. I'm sure there would be another way to fix it other than shrinking the screen or increasing the overall size of the handheld, but he plainly said that he has no intention to spend the r&d neccesary to fix the problem. This alone tells me the kind of priority that Sony actually places on GAME-PLAYING. Which is not much. I can't wait till this thing bombs in the marketplace like it rightfully deserves to. Serves you right, Sony, for cutting corners where it hurts for the consumer!

[DS intolerant @ Dec 19th 2005 12:09AM]

Sorry but after having a couple PSPs for well over a month, no discs have shot out. My DS did give me diarhea though. I don't see any websites writing about that.

[Me @ Dec 19th 2005 12:09AM]

Did all of you fanboys miss the point at the end of this?

"The bitter truth fanboys on neither side want to admit: it�s possible for each console to be a success, since this isn�t a zero sum game (and from what we understand, in most places it is legal to purchase both consoles)."

Now shut your mouths about "PSP/DS pwnz0rz teh othar guys OMG KEKEKEKE". I'm sick of it. Every god-damned PSP or DS article that allows commenting has idiots like this, no matter what the article talks about. It could say, "Holy shite, no one wants EITHER of these systems!" and these fanboys could somehow twist it to show that their system is totally cooler than the other and that you're a complete moron for buying the one they don't like.

[Joey Geraci @ Dec 19th 2005 12:09AM]

Actually I was really excited about the psp when it was first announced and I thought that it would totally massacre the ds. It is only the many facts that have been revealed since then that have raised doubts in my mind about the psp, and this comment by the head of sony just seals the deal, it proves what I have been suspecting for a while now, that sony knew about these major defects for a while now, and DIDN'T DO ANYTHING ABOUT THEM. I thought that the psp might have a prayer if they at least fixed the problems by the time that the device debuted in the US, but there has been no mention of any change in the hardware between the version that they are selling in Japan and the version that they are selling here. The facts are what are making me hate the psp, and nobody can deny them, no matter how much they might want to.

[Megatron @ Dec 19th 2005 12:09AM]

Sony's attitude towards their customers is making me hate them, along with the PSP.

I thought they turned over a new leaf, admitted to mistales and such. Then to come around and blame the broken buttons on us end users is total bullshit.

If they want to play all high-and-mighty, I'll tell them where they can shove their "prefect" device.

If you haven't read this article yet, do it.

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

It really puts Sony's design into perspective. They don't care if they made a good device, as long as it looks nice. Yeah, just like their "wildly successful" all-in-one PSX device, right?

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/feature.php?aid=4375

[joshua @ Dec 19th 2005 12:09AM]

If you look at the handheld gaming market in say... last August... Nintendo owned it. They have for the last 15 years.

Now they don't.

Sure they'll both profit and co-exist, the DS can outsell the PSP all it wants. But every time a single PSP sells, Sony gains and Nintendo loses, only because there was one player before.

And I don't understand why people get so emotional about Sony vs Nintendo, most people will probably end up owning both.

[morcheeba @ Dec 19th 2005 12:09AM]

I was lucky enough to be in Japan for the last two weeks and one of the top items on my to-do list was to get a PSP. (I was originally scheduled to be there on the first day of sale, but my trip got delayed). It was really hard to find! My nearby department store was sold out for over a week, and the two other stores I checked (one was a major game store in Akihabara) were also sold out. So, conclusion, supply has been a big part of slow PSP sales.

My PSP is great. I was anxious to see if it had the disc-flying-flaw, and it doesn't. I looked at the mechanism, and you'd have to bend a piece of metal to get it to do that (besides hold it face-down, gravity is needed to make the disc leave the unit). And it would be pretty easy to bend that latch back if your disc was flying out.

Also, the buttons looked good - there was plenty of clearance between the body of the button (it has a special notch cut out) and the screen frame.

Load times are about 10-15 seconds - reasonable. Battery life has been great - I can play for hours, but, like my cell phone, I charge it every night.

Overall, very happy. Anyone in Boulder have Ridge Racer and want to play wirelessly?

[Joey Geraci @ Dec 19th 2005 12:09AM]

How very lucky for you that your psp didn't have the flaws that have been running rampant in many psp's, but the fact is, the flaws HAVE BEEN RUNNING RAMPANT in many psp's, and the chance that you will get a device with either one of these glaring defects is fairly large. It would be one thing if Sony said "We have heard of the isolated problems that some psp owners have been experiencing, and we are looking into the problem and will be releasing an updated unit with the defects fixed as soon as possible. In the meantime, any devices with defects will be replaced" Something along those lines. Instead, we get the jackass response inherent in that article, where he pretty much says that the psp is so beautiful, that everyone complaining over inherent defects in their "perfect" device is practically quibbling over details. People who want to buy an expensive device from a company who has that attitude about their customers deserve whatever they get.

[AznFX @ Dec 19th 2005 12:09AM]

wut ever happened to that spam control engadget posted so recently?

this take sides thing is pretty much where most of the spam comes from

on the subject(the real subject): sony is really messing up w/ the PSP in the design part
im sure that making PSPs will cost more b/c the clear face and buttons, but this button problem...

ive played RR on a friend's PSP: the disc didnt eject, and ive never pressed the square (which is brake) but i could see how the could so easily have made it wider that it is a real failure
the only real disappointment ive had w/ the system is that wannabe analog stick. u cant use it and the trigger at the same time, its way too wierd that it slides around and is in such a bad place, they didnt think it was just like a touch screen... like that other shiny, new thing?

now i wonder if the evolution will be a real evolution and have crazy good hardware...

[Jed Merrill @ Dec 19th 2005 12:09AM]

Whoever is writing these headlines is missing the point. The PSP did not outsell the DS. It simply SHIPPED more than the DS in this one week. Sales and shipping numbers are very different things. See this article:

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/01/26/psp_vs_ds_sales/

The PSP is not outselling the DS. Also, it will take two to three years for the PSP to catch up with DS even if they are selling 10,000 a month more than Nintendo, and not just shipping that many. Add it up!

Oh. And that is only counting Japanese numbers. Worldwide, Nintendo DS almost doubled Sony's shipping (and sales) numbers for the week.

[Jacques @ Dec 19th 2005 12:09AM]

do peaple just feel like arguing, my cell phone plays mp3 already, why did i buy a dvd player? i can only buy a psp if it can play a whole lord of the ring, a movie battery life is only 2.5 hours. Talking anout movies a third party are making a adaptor for the ds to play music and movie if at all it is necessary. any game made for the psp can be made for the ds as well, only better graphics and bigger screen which makes no point, the point is gameplay, but try making a ds game for psp and see how it works. cus i play my gamecube on small and large screens and it does not make any difference. You can also share a game card for multiplayer for the ds and is impossible for the psp. ds has more potentials of nice games. Bottom line ds is better take it or leave it.