Recent Comments:
NPD: Over 337k PSP units sold in June {PSP Fanboy}
Jul 18th 2008 2:23PM Seriously, the whole 'it's the pirates' thing is getting OLD.
The reason software sales suck is because there's been nowhere near as many big releases this year as previous years, there's no accessory support and little marketing to speak of.
If piracy was the problem, sales in Japan would be just as bad, because if you think they don't pirate games just as much (and in a tighter markeplace) as we do, you're sadly mistaken.
The US PSP market isn't faring as well as Japan's because it's not being HANDLED the same as Japan's. End of story. Next.
Sony CEO blames piracy for low software sales {PSP Fanboy}
Jul 17th 2008 4:08PM Please just shut up. If you want to be an apologist for a huge corporation blaming YOU for their mistakes, do it on your own frigging time.
Nobody here has CONDONED piracy. It's the same broken logic as saying that since there's people posting God of War to eMule, that must mean the publisher has lost exactly 150,000 unit sales.
In other words, Apples and Oranges are both fruit. Apples are red, so all Oranges must be, too, right..? Exact same logic.
Shuhei Yoshida: PSN expansion to PSP is planned {PSP Fanboy}
Jul 17th 2008 12:46PM Really, this should've been implemented long ago. Who knows how long it'll take? How long has it taken them to get Home out, anyway?
But no, 'piracy' isn't going to keep developers from putting trophies in games. They won't go back to add them, but piracy isn't why... And I really find it sad how many PSP owners are willing to let Sony and other devs off the hook by citing piracy in every other post. We're the freaking END USERS, guys. We're getting left out in the cold. They're using US as the scapegoat for that, and you're enabling it. Lame.
Gran Turismo PSP still 'actively in development' {PSP Fanboy}
Jul 17th 2008 12:41PM This is part of why PSP software sales have bottomed out in the USA. Another big name franchise that just hasn't materialized.
If Sony really wanted this out on PSP, it would've been out by now - in multiple revisions, most likely. But they care more about trying to prop up the PS3, a system that doesn't have a tenth the profit making potential of the PSP (and at this rate, never will).
So they shift their priorities thusly and the PSP suffers. I'm frankly surprised the system has done as well as it has in non-JP markets, given the Sony not pushing any new, hot 1st and 2nd party titles onto the platform.
Maybe if the USA got a little Gundam love and the many other other titles that have made the PSP the #1 system in Japan... But no, Sony is nothing if not totally arrogant and stubborn.
Sony CEO blames piracy for low software sales {PSP Fanboy}
Jul 16th 2008 9:02PM Sorry, but I disagree. You guys didn't know 'exactly that'. You knew access of a shared file on one service. Doesn't tell you how many completed the download, pirated the game in lieu of buying it, how many went on to buy it or how many wouldn't have bought it whether or not they pirated it. Download figures *imply* there may be a loss of sales, but what that actual number is simply isn't calculable with any accuracy. All you can really say for a fact is that some people downloaded the game.
Furthermore, I think it's safe to say that PSP piracy isn't any more prevalent than on the DS or GBA, so it's a moot argument anyway seeing as how those systems have/had no problems moving software -- Publishers will make money if there's games out there that people want to buy, even if there is piracy happening. End of story.
The PSP has a major drought of new titles now. Its visibility and popularity have plummeted in the US thanks to total apathy and lack of support by Sony (compared to how the JP market is being treated). SONY needs to accept responsibility on this, NOT blame their customers.
Wall St. Journal talks about Monster Hunter and PSP {PSP Fanboy}
Jun 24th 2008 2:05PM Except that it's total nonsense. The Japanese have several huge MMO's, including Cronous, the upcoming Hello Kitty and of course Final Fantasy XI. I used to communicate via emoticons with JP players all the time on FF. The Japanese also have LOTS of 2D MMO's like Maple Story and Ragnarok.
While the Japanese are considered by many to be ethnocentric and the gamer otaku may be introverted one on one, their culture is strongly rooted in social activity. Look at their bath houses! Members of the community come together to bathe... Naked. We have nothing like that, here. People would freak completely out. They also have lots of festivals and events that place emphasis on people interacting.
So no, the Japanese aren't averse to online gameplay "with strangers." The idea is ludicrous and plainly used here as an excuse for Monster Hunter's notable lack of Infrastructure play.
Sony Europe boss promises new ways of fighting piracy on PSP {PSP Fanboy}
Jun 19th 2008 4:49PM Piracy isn't why PSP software sales have tanked... It's lack of PSP software. Big titles are selling very well in Japan. You know, that place where they still get big titles released with some regularity. Japan, where piracy is as prevalent as anywhere else.
I think what we need, more than a solution to PSP piracy, is a solution to PSP apathy (Sony's).
Sony pres Yoshida: admits third party struggle, promises continued support for PSP {PSP Fanboy}
Jun 17th 2008 12:21PM '..."It's too early to make judgments," Yoshida says about the three year old handheld.'
I think this basically says it all, unfortunately.
Sony pres Yoshida: admits third party struggle, promises continued support for PSP {PSP Fanboy}
Jun 17th 2008 12:20PM That's right, nothing to back up what you said.
The fact that the DS has, regardless of the teen male/adult target demographic of the PSP, found its way to what is almost certainly MORE teen and adult males due to much higher sales across the board, pretty much blows your theory out of the water.
And again - NO EVIDENCE EXISTS that directly shows that piracy is the only - or even main - reason that PSP software sales have tanked. For one thing, it's been that way almost from the beginning. The PSP game sales have almost constantly struggled against the DS, PS2, 360 and other platforms even early on. Also, Nintendo much more aggressively targets ISP's of pirate DS games on share systems like eDonkey/eMule, sending warning emails out en masse to every IP they find sharing their games. Sony could be helping themselves by doing that.
Piracy is a meaningless scapegoat, anyway. You're not going to shame the CEO of Piracy and have them issue a policy change to eradicate it, but you might get Sony execs to wake up a bit and promote the PSP, localize more Japanese games to the USA, etc.
It's not the PSP phone but ... {PSP Fanboy}
Jun 16th 2008 3:28PM The iPhone is quite ill designed for many (if not most) types of games. Unlike 'real' handheld game systems, it relies exclusively on motion and onscreen virtual buttons that are no substitute. Expect a long list of puzzle/slider games and not a lot of depth. Anyone with a jailbroken iPhone can tell you, emulators and 'traditional' games are not much fun on it.
That said, this phone pisses me off something fierce. It's an anemic device lacking a decent sized screen, first of all. Second, Sony has ignored the PSP here in the USA for the past year or more and yet here's this in a transparent effort capitalize on the hot mobile market - and into which they will no doubt pour a fair chunk of money, marketing and first and third party games. Resources they could (and should) be putting into the PSP and its USA market.
Doesn't that, as a PSP owner, piss YOU off? It should.
