Sony exec admits that PSP developer community should be revitalized

If you just can't get enough of what Sony Europe execs are saying, here's another mouthful just days after hearing from David Reeves. This time we've got SCEE's VP of publisher and developer relations Zeno Colaço shouting out on the state of PSP, and overall, his comments weren't that surprising. Most notably, he mentioned that the developer community needed to be "revitalized" so that it would get behind the PSP in a big way. When asked about the current dearth of games for the handheld, he commented that such a scenario happens "when you rely on a business model that relies on 25% games from Sony and 75% from other publishers." He continued by stating that Sony "probably suffered" from being unable to completely recover when third-party developers refocused efforts away from the PlayStation Portable. Hungry for more? You know where to head for the full interview.

[Via GamesIndustry]

[Jamma @ Jun 25th 2008 4:58PM]

how about a public SDK and a direct-to-PSP game store, similar to the iPhone SDK idea

[aidman @ Jun 25th 2008 5:13PM]

ummmm....
http://store.playstation.com/game/index.vm

[SteveBirk @ Jun 25th 2008 5:16PM]

thats a good idea. the reason why i dont have a psp any more was the lack of games

[Jamma @ Jun 25th 2008 5:49PM]

yeah, i used to have a PSP too, sold it due to lack of use/lack of money last month

and yes, aidman, there is the PSP store- but it is not very well known and only the "proper" devs can put games on there - a PUBLIC SDK would allow anyone to create a game, like on the iPhone.

And maybe sony could take the "web app" idea as well, and allow people to clip certain websites straight to the xmb

and viral advertising too would help, i haven't seen a PSP ad in ages

[Jamma @ Jun 25th 2008 5:50PM]

oh, and aidman, I said DIRECT-to-psp

[Matt @ Jun 25th 2008 6:23PM]

Fat chance of that. Sony went out of their way to kill any and all independent development on the platform. Even if they did decide to release a public SDK, it'd be too little to late.

[Ridgecity @ Jun 25th 2008 7:45PM]

Why would they release an SDK if they said they were going to send Dark_Alex to court? and they weren't nice enough to send a letter, they wrote the message in the firmware code....

[LiQuiD_FuSioN @ Jun 25th 2008 10:03PM]

The PSP has some pretty decent titles out there. I have 8 PSP games, but sadly they don't keep me too interested. I've looked at getting God of War, but my system broke recently.

Sony should get on the ball with development though. Put out some fresh ideas, improve on things and here and there. I still gotta give them credit for even putting out such a powerful portable.

[JAmerican @ Jun 25th 2008 5:01PM]

They kept focusing on killing the homebrew community instead of giving it an alternative.

[Speeddemon2008 @ Jun 25th 2008 5:18PM]

yea I would agree. too much time spent on trying to stop homebrew. They are non successful yet. Really they should let everybody be.

[gabe @ Jun 25th 2008 5:27PM]

my modded psp slim was the worst investment sine the iomega zip drive.

The nintendo ds lite is 100x better at playing fun games

[LiQuiD_FuSioN @ Jun 25th 2008 10:06PM]

I agree for the most part. =)

Been trying to nab Tetris DS.. instead, I've been having tons of fun with Arkanoid, Ninja Gaiden and Space Invaders. I was still stuck in 2004 for some reason and didn't realize how much the DS's library grew. I'm really happy with it.

[Mr. S. @ Jun 25th 2008 5:44PM]

How about producing the PSP2 with second analoge controller! dbags.

[Linkman2004 @ Jun 25th 2008 6:00PM]

It's almost too late to revitalize it given the fact that the next-generation of handhelds will, most likely, be upon us within the next year or two.

[Tubalcain @ Jun 25th 2008 6:04PM]

I own one and when it comes down to it, its a pretty shitty system unless you have a plethora of homebrew stuff installed. I found myself playing CPS1 & 2, Neo-Geo, SNES, Sega Genesis and numerous other emulators more than any games ever released for the system. It is a Jack of all all trades and master of none, music support=weird, video support=weird, pictures=ehh, standard, Games=Half Assed. Sony's focus was not like the Nintendo DS (also own) where most games you just pick up and play and most importantly have fun. Sony thought that they can get developers to dump PS2 ports and call it a day and they turned out clunky, too complicated and just uninteresting for a portable. There are the few exceptions as usual eg. God of War, Ratchet & Clank, Metal Gear and things of that nature. Sony and their 3rd party developers need to make games that are simple and fun for a portable and stop trying to make it some multimedia bloated bullshit.

[adrian @ Jun 25th 2008 7:40PM]

I'm not a Mario fan but I do like the DS because they have things like Brain Training and the Cooking Guide. You wont get that on a PSP (Well,i don't think so anyway).

[Mr. S. @ Jun 25th 2008 9:00PM]

Yep, i agree.... I've wanted one forever, but i cant let myself spend the money. I use a DS only becuase of advanced wars. Its the only reason why i had a GBA too. There is nothing as fun on the PSP... and this is coming from someone who's friends call me a Sony Fan boy.

[Jamar @ Jun 26th 2008 9:00AM]

The two reasons I bought a PSP are Densha de Go and Jet de Go. If only I could get a DS version of either...

[required @ Jun 25th 2008 6:32PM]

SteveBirk, There are a heck of a lot of titles. Here is a list of reviewed: http://www.metacritic.com/games/psp/alpha/ then there are things like these: http://www.psponme.com/list_psp.asp?cat=Arcade

[Stellar Developer @ Jun 25th 2008 6:39PM]

I don't know what this article is talking about, The psp is revitalized every time sony releases new firmware and DarkAlex brews a new Custom Firmware for it.

[Ridgecity @ Jun 25th 2008 7:37PM]

They should drop the PSP name and change it to: "Dark_Alex's Freetime Waster"...

[Some Kid @ Jun 25th 2008 6:58PM]

last time they physically revitalized the psp it come out with shinier plastic and horrific battery life
i dont know what the hell they are thinking-maybe start getting better graphics from their games on the PSP then figure out why they dont even make good enough games for their own console
did any other continetns execs say this(like asia-where sony is based?)

[thaylinsgate @ Jun 25th 2008 7:35PM]

What better way to revitalize the PSP then with a full redesign. No PSP Slimmer please.

No UMD
Internal SSD Solid State Drive
2nd analog nub
Bluetooth
Same Codecs as PS3 for movie playback without having to convert files.
Wireless file transfer from PS3 (PICS, MOVIES, MUSIC)
PSP Online store
Oh and last but not least.. Digital downloads of Sony's portfolio of Movies, Music Labels......

[Ridgecity @ Jun 25th 2008 7:38PM]

didn't they did a redesign a few months ago?

[ttl @ Jun 25th 2008 8:25PM]

- internal go!cam + gps
- sdhc slot
- wifi a/g

[TavisJohn @ Jun 26th 2008 12:11AM]

Sony will use NO other storage medium than their own. So it is going to be Memory Stick and BluRay or nothing.

I personally think that all the various flash storage mediums is crazy. I think it could be boiled down to DS(HC), Micro SD(HC), and CF.
XD, Memory Stick, Mini DS, and other flash media are pointless and useless.

So do what I do, if a device you want uses a different format than the ones you want to support, do not get it. My digital camera takes CF (Or SD with a SD to CF adapter), my Razr has a MicroSD slot, My Wii uses SD... You get the idea. I refuse to get a PSP because of the Memory Stick (And the lack of games is also an issue).

[tekdroid @ Jun 26th 2008 6:15AM]

thaylinsgate @ Jun 25th 2008 7:35PM wrote:

No UMD
-------
So in other words no retail sales and no robust removable media. No resale value and no easy selling or sharing with friends? No killer reliability? 'Cause fitting hundreds of megabytes on anything but an optical disc is gonna be very very expensive versus UMD.


Internal SSD Solid State Drive
------
All great in theory, but the PSP goes 100% downloads? I think that would suck personally. Solid-state drives also fail; the more they are written to, the weaker they get. I'd rather have a robust read-only medium for originals that you know can never be overwritten, and is farrrrr more robust than any flash media. If they go solid-state, what is the option at retail? They aren't gonna release games on solid-state media, that's for sure. Unless they charge you more for it. Lots more. Retail still makes the overwhelming majority of PSP sales. You can't ignore Joe User at retail, frankly.


2nd analog nub
----
Introducing that now (and not in PSP2) would make for some interesting complications for developers, IMO. And they'd still have to code for people with the original (lowest-common-denominator) hardware who don't have the second one. Very messy, and very costly for Sony (millions wiped out from their profits as the thing sells millions each year), unless they up the price...which would mean more of a disparity with Nintendo's pricing which they are trying to compete with.



Bluetooth
---
Why? Wireless GPS comes to mind. Wireless Skype? If you use it. Very little reason if you ask me. The risk you run with a jack-of-all-trades device is millions wiped out from your profits, or increasing the price and making your customers buy a DS instead, because they consider your machine too expensive for a games machine versus DS, especially.



Same Codecs as PS3 for movie playback without having to convert files.
---
Again, lots of those codecs cost money (royalties). It's not a simple case of implementing them free. Also the PSP has limited processing capabilities processing hidef. You can't expect it to play hidef, much less display it on its 480x272 pixel display.



Wireless file transfer from PS3 (PICS, MOVIES, MUSIC)
PSP Online store
Oh and last but not least.. Digital downloads of Sony's portfolio of Movies, Music Labels......
-----
No doubt some of these are coming...but we gotta realise that PSP was released in 2005. Doing the internet from a portable device was a bit of a novelty back then. They do need to improve it steadily and they have done that in some aspects (movie playing features, in particular).

[Ridgecity @ Jun 25th 2008 7:41PM]

considering Software software 25% was 2 titles this year, that leaves 6 third party titles people are expecting.

I bought a PSP for the homebrew anyways, Once they said they were bring a camera and gps I was going to buy more stuff for it, and were full of shit. They are already focused on the PSP phone so this console is not their priority anymore.

[jed @ Jun 25th 2008 8:34PM]

No one should ever buy a psp.
The wifi browser is based on Netscape 4.0, and hasn't been updated in years. The on screen keyboard is of a picture of a cellphone, but doesn't support t9. think about that. The on screen keyboard is represented as something lesser than the interface you are using to type on it. That's like if the iphone keyboard was a visible representation of Morse code. No flash videos work natively in the browser, and many times pages are too outdated to show up. only 2 mb of cache is allowed, but the psp can hold a 4gb memory stick. All fonts are changed to Sony's semi readable Spider Man font, and most pictures are misplaced. Very frequently, pictures and fonts overlap, and the one thing you can count on loading first and most accurately, even quickly, is flash ads, waving in your face the potential.
I would declare that there is no game that could not be scaled down to be developed for psp, as the graphics can always be turned down a tad, and the resoltion is low, and hell, its portable, no one minds missing the physics engine or full screen glow. there is no reason that system shouldn't have online crysis, team fortress, or oblivion, except that the system is deliberately broken, and the developers know it. all we are left with are a few shallow kid's games, 200 final fantasy japanese clones, and some nice looking driving games, nice enough looking to again let you know what you are missing.
Skype could have saved the system all by itself if they allowed you to use it while you played, but no, don't bother sony. If you think it's impossible, remember that c.o.d. has online voice chat. There is no indication that anyone likes online capability in some measure except, i don't know, almost every pc game and millions of people on xbox live. again, don't bother. The original psp comes with a microphone jack in the remote, but won't run skype, and the one that will run skype, you guessed it, doesn't come with a remote to plug the mic into. They didn't even release a remote with mic for months. Let that set of facts roll around in your head awhile.
The movies played on a psp are without fail required to be converted, at a length determined by your processor speed, but it won't be quick, and it won't be convenient. rss downloads do not work, and haven't been addressed. sony has not built in software for movie conversion. but if you think about it, all they have to do is give you a codec, and you are set. if you don't believe that is possible, remember that homebrew psp's do it effortlessly.

what seems to be the case, is that sony is afraid they will make one good gadget, the psp, that does it all and therefore obscures all their other gadgets, like the milo and the other pmp's. but by hampering the firmware, you have a piece of hardware that is sleek and powerful, but can't do any one thing well, and that's why developers couldn't care less.

and by the way sony, if you are afraid you will make one good product that eclipses your last one, take a look at apple, which has been doing precisely that for many years in a row with inarguable success.

[michas_pi @ Jun 25th 2008 9:04PM]

Sony, listen to this man.

[required @ Jun 25th 2008 9:38PM]

You're being extremely daft and short sighted. The fact is, the PSP has more critically acclaimed games than its only quasi-competition (Nintendo DS). Also it is the second best selling personal media player, second only to the iPod (its other quasi-competition). In closing, as a lifelong Apple user I know you're dead wrong in your summation of them. There marketing has improved ten fold, but in many ways their product offerings have degraded.

[sinjinn @ Jun 25th 2008 9:57PM]

i dont think these extra things are really important to sony. they want to make money on software . the real problem is not any of those things you mentioned. the reall problem is that it has nly one analogue stick

[Ridgecity @ Jun 26th 2008 1:29AM]

@ required:

So what are they complaining about, you are saying that the DS which sells 5 to 1 and the Ipod which sells 40 to 1 are not enough to beat the PSP, I don't know what can beat it, maybe a PSP made of gold and Skypes God. And it seems the critically acclaimed games you mention still aren't enough to beat the "quasicompetition" DS and the lame other "quasicompetition" ipod. It almost sounds like you love your PSP too much and get blinded by love...

[tekdroid @ Jun 26th 2008 1:28AM]

And the PSP's ratio of hardware to software sales is quite high, isn't it?
--------
"The tie-ratio is about four games to each PSP, which is very healthy. What I think is interesting is that people compare PSP to PS2, which has a huge tie-ratio of over ten, so sometimes we suffer from our own successes. But we've learnt a lot with PSP. It's our first foray into this space and we are pushing the boundaries."


Interesting. 4 games to each PSP, on average.
Overall, Zeno seems like a guy who tells it like it is, which is rare!
I think the hardware sales have caught everyone by surprise lately, so there's a renewed interest in the PSP.

I like what he said here regarding DS and PSP:
"It is frustrating from the point of view of it being seen a direct comparison. Both companies and both products need to be complimented for what they have achieved."

I agree. Both great portable systems with their own strengths and weaknesses, and both doing good things for the portable market. They really can't be compared, IMO. They are so different.

[Ridgecity @ Jun 26th 2008 1:32AM]

tie ratio is a new statistic console makers bring every time someone tells them the Wii is selling 6 times as much as them...

[tekdroid @ Jun 26th 2008 5:55AM]

Ridgecity, the PSP is actually selling well and 4 games to every PSP... I think is not much to brag about but not embarrassing all the same. They know they can do far better.

Wii is really unrelated to PSP. Perhaps compared to PS3, yes. But unrelated to portables like the PSP.

Wii wasn't even mentioned in the article.

[Carbonize @ Jun 26th 2008 6:51AM]

About time they opened up to home made games like MS is doing on the Xbox. I have a modded PSP and all I seem to do these days is watch movies on it at work.

Also be nice if they could build a pdf reader in so I could read ebooks on it.

[GrumpyOldMan @ Jun 27th 2008 3:30AM]

For PDFs, this one works quite nicely for me:

http://psp-homebrew.eu/version.php?id=1585

[Carbonize @ Jun 27th 2008 3:48AM]

Cheers for that. Now I can read my ebooks at work.

[neofolklore @ Jun 26th 2008 8:07AM]

Everyone that loves the PSP does everything but play PSP games on it.