The PSP: Is there still hope?

Every now and then, I feel the urge to look at things from a new perspective. It's no news that changes take place in the gaming industry at an extremely fast pace; sometimes even overnight. Any one decision has the potential to make or break a particular game or console depending on its execution. In order to reflect the rapidly changing trends of the gaming industry, I feel video game journalists (aspiring and professional alike) need to maintain an extremely open-minded stance at all times, whether they're simply reporting the news, speculating or just trying to express their views in general.

Hell, certain systems even require that we observe them with an open mind in order to appreciate what they have to offer. Last generation's unlucky candidate was the GameCube. What with Nintendo's refusal to allow mature content on the console combined with their total lack of interest in online gaming, only the most loving Nintendo fans could justify their purchase without flinching. However, the GameCube wasn't bad. No, far from it.

The device was more powerful than the PS2 and it was cheaper, too. It wasn't the hardware but a steady flow of bad decisions on Nintendo's part that made the Cube suffer the way it did. Sound familiar? This generation's sucker for abuse is the PSP.

Sony's portable black beast comes packed with a plethora of multimedia capabilities in addition to playing games, sporting a 16:9 screen and including support for several add-ons such as a camera or a GPS device. Yet, the damned thing is still getting its ass handed to it by the DS, a device dedicated to gaming and only gaming.

Clearly, there are a bunch of reasons for this and I'm going to touch upon them briefly before I move on to discuss a certain aspect of the PSP that I genuinely think could help the device's sales.


The glaring difference between the PSP and the DS is that one sports a 16:9 widescreen while the other sports TWO screens. As longtime fans of gaming will probably know, this drew a collective "WTF?!" from game devs back when Nintendo first pulled back the curtain on their latest portable brainchild. Furthermore, the damned thing came equipped with a stylus and touchscreen. How was that going to be of any use? And two screens? Really now, a gimmick is a gimmick, but to take it this far...


And yet, two years later the touchscreen and dual screens are exactly what make the DS a superior device in the eyes of many. Or to be more specific, a superior, more precise method of input and a more informative method of output are what make the DS a superior device. The PSP includes an "analogue stick" of sorts and the widescreen, but neither really serves to provide anything new. And then, there's the price. The PSP tries way too hard to rely on a brand name; namely that of the PlayStations.

Ironically enough, while this is one of the biggest factors dragging down PSP sales, it could also work in the exact opposite way.

Sony has always referred to the PSP as a portable PlayStation 2. Each time Phil Harrison or another Sony exec is asked about the PSP, they make it a point to point out that the device equals the PS2 in terms of horsepower. In fact, if you look at the PSP's Wikipedia page, it looks like the PSP's maximum clock speed is actually higher than that of the PS2's.

What I'm trying to say is, Sony needs to establish a clear, direct connection between the PlayStation Portable and PlayStation 2 ... not the PlayStation Portable and PlayStation 3, which is what they've been doing all this while. Nintendo's done that with the Wii. It isn't seen as the successor to the GameCube, but to the DS. Needless to point out, that alone has done wonders for the platform.

Sony needs to stop advertising the multimedia connectivity between the PSP and PS3 and instead focus on the relation between the PSP and PS2. "What relation?" you ask? Well, that's the problem now, isn't it? There isn't any.

Sony's a huge fan of using brand names to promote their devices. Fine, let's focus on this for a bit. I'm going to use Nintendo's "Touch Generations" as an example to prove my point.

The "Touch Generations" brand name has done wonders for the DS in U.S., Japan and Europe. Nearly every DS game that has the TG logo slapped onto its cover has sold extremely well in all three territories. Why, then, can't Sony come up with something similar to boost PSP sales and push for developer support? Here's an idea: If you're going to market your console as a portable PS2, how about actually having some portable PS2 games on there?


Namco managed to port XenoSaga 1 & 2 onto the DS. Why can't the same be done for the PSP? Obviously, it's not possible to port every single PS2 game onto a portable (owing largely due to the button configuration as well as the absence of the emotion engine from the PSP), but certain games can and should be ported and should have a catchy brand name slapped onto them to make them stand out. Porting games is way easier than building them from scratch anyway. The PSOne emulation on the PSP is one of the system's most attractive features. PS2 ports would be completely mindblowing. Hell, even re-makes of PSOne games have potential.


If I could have a portable Final Fantasy X, I'd buy the PSP, too. Or a portable God of War (which is apparently already on the way).

Moving on, we come to the price and the fact that its multimedia capabilities completely overshadow the device's gaming aspects. Thus far, Sony's been marketing the console as some sort of all-round portable media device, which is what's leading to its downfall. The iPods are a better solution for portable media devices and the DS is a better solution for portable gaming. The PSP doesn't excel at anything. It's a sort of jack-of-all-trades, which is the main reason for its comparitively weak sales. A device that excels at nothing in particular and sells at such a high price point isn't attractive in the least.

In my opinion, Sony either needs to pimp the multimedia capabilities and take the fight to Apple to justify their price-point or they need to drive developer support in the gaming industry and make sure PSP owners aren't left crying after their purchase. Rich kids buying the console to show it off to their buddies won't help Sony's rep in any way whatsoever. "Rom hack" just isn't a good enough reason to justify the purchase of a PSP anymore.