Quote:PlayStation Portable for $500?
Atari CEO Bonnell predicts high initial price tag for forthcoming handheld.
June 9, 2004: 5:29 PM EDT

NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - It's astonishing how far a slick design and some pre-rendered footage can boost a product's buzz -- even when there are few, if any, real details available.

Last month, Sony showed the world the PSP. Sometimes known as the PlayStation Portable, this all-in-one media device quickly became one of the must-see items at E3. Plenty of people vowed to buy one when it went on sale in the U.S. next year and some overly optimistic folks declared Nintendo's Game Boy to be destined for extinction. Basically, it quickly reached a critical mass of fan boys.

Atari CEO Bruno Bonnell is not one of them, however. While he said he sees the promise of the device and looks forward to having his company make games for it, he believes Sony is doing a poor job of positioning the machine.

"We saw pictures and a nice prototype at E3, but I want to see more," Bonnell said at a Piper Jaffrey consumer conference Wednesday. "Yeah, it's cool. It's nice, like a nice car. But we have no idea if the PSP's pricing is going to be $250, $350 or $500.

"What about the breakable aspects of it? If it breaks, can you bring it back and get another one for free? What about the movie strategy? The wireless strategy? The MP3 downloading? We don't know. What about the connectivity issues? We don't know. What about the video output? We don't know."

Boasting roughly the same graphical quality as the PlayStation2, the handheld PSP will play movies and digital music in addition to games. Sony has referred to the device as the interactive Walkman of the 21st Century.

Bonnell later said he expects initial pricing on the PSP to be at the high end of the scale. "$500 to start would be my guess."

The PSP's sleek design won kudos, but Sony has refused to give a retail price.

That estimate is significantly higher than those made by other game publishers. In January, for example, Electronic Arts CEO Larry Probst predicted a range of $199-$249. Analysts, meanwhile, are expecting a price somewhere between the dueling estimates.

"I think $500 is aggressive," said P.J. McNealy, an analyst with American Technology Research. "I think it's going to be in the $299-$349 range. Keep in mind that [Sony Computer Entertainment president and CEO Ken] Kutaragi has maintained that they want to break even on the hardware."

Other publishing executives on the panel, which looked at trends in the video game sector, were not quite as critical of Sony, but did express concern. THQ CEO Brian Farrell acknowledged his company (the largest independent developer of handheld games) has not yet received any development hardware for the PSP.

"It's a very compelling opportunity for the consumer in some ways, but we'd like to see how it's positioned," he said.

With details about the machine's functionality still under wraps, publishers are also unsure about how much it will cost to build games for the PSP. Farrell speculated that THQ (THQI: Research, Estimates) will spend somewhere between $1 million and $2 million to create a game for the PSP. Bonnell said there's no way to accurately predict costs at this point.

"Development costs? From one cent to $50 million. I have no idea. I mean, it might be that 'Pong' is cool on the PSP," he said, referring to industry's first success story. "Pong doesn't cost us anything. We're Atari (ATAR: Research, Estimates)! We have Pong! Let's make it!"

By this point, obviously, Bonnell was having some fun at Sony's expense. But his criticisms aren't without merit.

The PSP is certainly an impressive looking device -- and it has loads of potential. But so far, that's all it has. We have yet to see any game running on the system in real time. (All demos have simply been footage of titles under development.) Sony's claims about the device's battery life are being met with strong skepticism, given all of the moving parts on a PSP. And the lack of developer kits has some observers worried that Sony (SNE: Research, Estimates) may not be able to meet its planned U.S. launch date by the end of March.

No developer is willing to ignore the PSP, though. EA (ERTS: Research, Estimates) has vowed to have four games ready at the system's launch. Take Two (TTWO: Research, Estimates) is currently working on two PSP titles.

That's smart business -- as the PlayStation fan base looks all set to embrace the PSP. But I suspect even that collection of loyal Sony customers is getting a little antsy about the lack of hard information about the system.

Quote:Riiight, we know nothing about the battery life of games. Nope.

Oh, and the movie and music lifetimes aren't completely irrelevant as far as games go! They provide reference for how the battery lasts and that should give more clues about how long it'll work for games...

Quote:Here's another article OB1 will dismiss out of hand based on his bizarre love for Sony...

Quote:I'll post it for the click-impaired. Some very harsh words from the head of Infogrames ("Atari") for the PSP...
Quote:

Quote:Developers on the N64 had to work around the system's low amount of RAM

Quote:I find it very, very sad that your only ammunition in this debate is conjecture and quotes from Atari of all people. This is a new low for you, ABF.

Quote:Yes, because I don't have a blind, biased hatred towards Sony like you do and take a very unbiased stance when it comes to videogames, I have a "bizarre love" for Sony. If that's what you call love then I feel sorry for your future significant other.

Quote:Yet we still don't know what battery life games will get. I wonder why that is... hmm, perhaps it could be because we don't know how well developers will use the system RAM? Gee wiz, I think that's it!

Quote:Exactly the kind of response I expected. You are in serious denial here... I sunk to a new low by posting an article that gave a lengthy list of the problems with the PSP as we know it now?

Quote:You are not acting unbiased here. You're strongly defending Sony in places that even the Sony people aren't going. I just recognize problems as problems. You seem to want to just ignore such things. "It'll be awesome and the critics are all morons" isn't an unbiased perspective on the issue.

Quote:If it would make THAT much of a difference they'd probably be hinting that games could be a lot higher... and mentioning numbers for that as well. They aren't. Doesn't that mean anything?

Quote:I am taking the most unbiased view on this subject out of anyone here, while you remind me of the glory days of the Gaystation and Nintendo Sucks sites. I haven't seen this sort of blind bias in a long time. This is classic fanboy syndrome here, all of the symptoms are the same. You only own Nintendo consoles, so competition is a threat to you. Acknowledging realistic strengths and weaknesses of those competing consoles would make you realize that you are missing out on a lot, and simply being an ignorant fanboy and thinking that what you cannot have is terrible is a lot easier to take. I know exactly h[QUOTE]ow it is, I've been there. The Gameboy is your favorite system, and the PSP poses a huge threat to it. So rather than looking at the situation with no biases (like I am doing; calling me a Sony fanboy shows just how sad your argument has become), you grasp for straws and blow even the most baseless points out of proportion in order to help make yourself feel better, to lessen the threat of the PSP. It's extremely sad to see.

Quote:Oh no, you're totally right. I'm an absolute Sony fanboy, and especially a PSP fanboy. So much so in fact, that Nintendo is my favorite developer, I'm looking forward to the DS more than the PSP, and I thought the DS stole E3. Yup, true signs of a biased fanboy!

Quote:Calling you a Sony fanboy... sure on other issues you don't act that way but I was talking about this one in specific, not anything else. And here you sure seem to really, really want the PSP to not only win but roll over the competition, and for it to have super-great stats. This thing with you and battery life is a perfect example of that you know...

Quote:Admit it Brian, you're just an immature, biased Nintendo fanboy who hates all competition. The PC is not competiting with the GC. That has never counted. You like PC games, and you like Nintendo system games. That is all. And why is that? BECAUSE YOU'RE A BIASED FANBOY!! Honestly, the more you deny this the more of a compete retard you make yourself look like. Calling me a Sony fanboy when I like Nintendo a hell of a lot more than you do, soley because I don't like just them and try my best to have an unbiased opinion on the industry as a whole shows how incredibly inane and futile your pathetic argument is. It's like calling me anti-Star Wars because I also love Star Trek. Don't make everyone laugh.

Quote:And as for the battery issue, none of us know if games will use up two or eight hours of battery life. It's not an issue of knowing anything about electronics, it's an issue of knowing how developers will make their games. And I'm sorry to burst your idiotic bubble, but you have no fucking clue what that answer is.