
The name might not be too familiar, but Mr. O'Rourke is the man responsible for the PSP-bashing report he created for the analyst group In-Stat. In an interview with Gamasutra, O'Rourke explains his reasoning behind Nintendo's continued success in the handheld market. Here are a few excerpts:
- "The DS's shipment advantage has been overstated somewhat."
- "The key to a successful handheld is not necessarily graphics. Several of Nintendo's challengers over the years (e.g., Atari, NEC) have had superior graphics performance. But they did not succeed. More important is strong software support, and recognizable characters, that appeal to what has been primarily a pre-teen, early teen demographic. This is what Nintendo has understood well, and has executed on."
- "Sony does not have the same number of breakout titles for the PSP as Nintendo has created for the DS. In addition, the PSP costs substantially more than the DS ($199 vs. $129 in the US)."
- "No, publishers will not move away from the PSP. Sony is selling too many of them. Publishers are not in the business of throwing away revenue opportunities."













Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
9-14-2006 @ 7:20AM
Stefano V said...
the thing is The PSP is getting allot better support then any other hand held console thats tried to compte with Nintendo. That what doomed the other handhelds. Sony right on the money. They know what they need to do. Good games, GOOD support both first and more expcially third party. Sony is seeing the mistakes of the other handhelds and trying to make sure they don't fail because of those reason. now if only they could get better games Sony PSP would take off. I am NOT dissing the PSP lack of good games, the PP does have great games just not as many as it needs to have to to be considered a really "great" handheld in the eyes of the consumers. I think this will change soon enough thou since the PSP is getting out there and companies are going to realize. "OH wait the PSP is fading out unlike the other handheld consoles soon after they came out. THE PSP is STILL selling like hot cake and people are still interested."
THE PSP is here to stay. Sony isn't going to suffer the ill fate of the other handheld gaming devices. They know what they need to do and they are working on it. (Now only if they allowed homebrew we would be fine)
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9-14-2006 @ 11:35AM
pixelator said...
Exactly. The PSP isn't "failing" or "on its last leg" as many Nintendo fans / Sony bashers want to have everyone believe. It will pass the installed Gamecube userbase by Christmas of this year, doing in less than two years (in USA) what it took Nintendo five to do... And few people, despite its distant third place to the PS2, would argue that the Gamecube was a total failure.
People didn't say the Gamecube was a failure in 2002 because it didn't penetrate Sony's stranglehold, and look at all the pundits predicting the Wii will topple the PS3 this coming generation.
I agree with the analyst that the PSP lacks character based titles, I've said this all along. More Daxters, Katamaris, Loco Rocos and Sonics need to come to the PSP. However, if you look at the PS2, it was sheer volume of good games that did the trick, no one single character or selection of characters.
Look at what worked for Sony compared to what's worked for Nintendo. Across all their platforms, Nintendo has had the most success with Mario, Zelda and Pokemon. Sony has had the most success with GTA, Gran Turismo and Final Fantasy. I think with a stronger GTA in Vice City Stories, the upcoming Final Fantasy VII and hopefully eventually Gran Turismo, we'll see that old Playstation magic appear on the PSP without the kiddie-level 'evergreen' characters Nintendo relies on year after year.
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9-14-2006 @ 11:56AM
alienclay said...
The issue is not a lack of or not enough good games, but as o'rourke said, "number of breakout titles for the PSP". we psp users know we have a phat stack of good games that's only getting better, but nintendo is the one with money making, attention grabbing plumbers and the like that it can pull out of its hat whenever it feels like it. i would almost go so far to say the DS has the same problem as the gamecube, (for good or for bad,) in that its life is almost completely in the hands of first party titles. look at the top selling games for DS and what do you almost always see, the same games made by ninty weeks and weeks on end. imo the third party lineup for the DS is crap.
i think the psp hits its target demographic very well,( i'm in the navy and on my ship all i see is PSP. i know there's at least 20 onboard. however i've only seen one DS around.) and maybe we don't hit the demographic that wants portables more than anyone else, but give it some time. there are many i know that own the psp that would never own a nintendo handheld or the "kids play" image that comes with it. in a way sony has covered an otherwise untapped group of consumers and expanded the market some.
finnaly, sony, we need more than GTA to grab attention for us. the ps2 ports we get are good, but we need games designed for the psp from the ground up that can appel to a wide demographic and stand up for it on its own two feet.
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9-14-2006 @ 11:59AM
alienclay said...
i need to step up my typing speed. thx pix
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9-14-2006 @ 12:15PM
page said...
The thing people forget is that the PSP has killed the GameBoy.
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9-14-2006 @ 4:04PM
alienclay said...
i need to step up my typing speed. thx pix.
as for killing the gameboy,... that depends on whether or not you consider the DS the successor to the game boy. i personally do by virtue of its backwards compatible gba game slot. but some dissagree. whatever.
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9-14-2006 @ 6:21PM
Kade Storm said...
...don't forget Metal Gear: Portable Ops.
We also need more titles that feature infrastructure (online) mode; that is always a great way to enhance replay value, and can even encourage the not-so-typical gamers to pickup a console and copy to play against their friends. Just to reaffirm a very obvious example: Battlefront II would've absolutely demolished with online multiplayer. The same can be said for Monster Hunter Portable, which is actually happening on X-link Kai.
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