The Future of the PSP

We're not in Japan. We're not in the land of Monster Hunter. And because of this, the future of the PSP in America is shaky. There's a recently announced new PSP-3000 with improved screen for use outdoors, but people have got to want to play it outdoors in the first place. I've also heard that the LCD response time is twice as fast, whatever that means. I do understand this is an upgrade for a machine that seems quite unnecessary. The system ran fine before and better with the PSP-2000 upgrade. More important of a factor, there's about 2/3rds less games available to the consumer when compared to the competing portable and Sony feels that reintroducing another model will turn the tables. I'm sorry but I think it's time to call it quits here if that's all they have. The PSP put up a good fight here in America. But like I said in the beginning, we're not Japan. Maybe there's not a market here. Or worse, Sony didn't know who to target.

The PSP was an attempt at grabbing the gaming population. It wasn't marketed towards kids. It didn't have the sugar coated franchise to help it move systems. They had games created for people who played games. But in a time where motion controls and casual mini-games rule, Maybe there's there no place for the people who just want to play games?

Sony could pull it off. They could out of the blue announce triple A titles that would span across every genre, get every game player excited again, and then turn the sinking ship around. But that's not going to happen. Developers have lost faith in the system. I know this company said this, and Capcom said that. But that's what always happens. It happened with the GameCube and it happened with HD-DVD. But people/companies will always put up a front to avoid showing weakness, and that's when you know they're in trouble.

Here's a thought though. Make the PSP-3000 cheap. $149.99 won't do it. Make it less than the DS. Make it $99.99 MSRP. You've been pushed back to the edge of your territories. Make one last stand. The Christmas season is coming up. The opportunity is there. Get the system in people's hands. Then come the games.

Hell, at 100 bucks I'll buy another one,
David