$450 PSP?

[OB1]

Sure, there would be a difference but I don't think it would be enough to make the PSP affordable to me if it's $400-$500 in Japan

But as GR says the difference is usually quite small, $10 or less. Which is why I said that $400 is a absolute minimum, and $450 is quite likely.

What I mean is that something like that could sell well in Japan for that price, but not over here. So I seriously doubt it'll cost that much in the U.S. But neither of us will no for sure until E3 at the earliest.

I'd say that Nintendo has a year at least before they have to release a new GB. No question. And between the strong limitations of the PSP and Sony's inevitable issues, I think that they will have at least that much time until the PSP begins to seriously challenge the GB in almost all of its market...

Again, there are no "strong limitations" that you know of!! And if there are limitations, it won't stop Sony from gaining the lead! Just look at the PS2 and it's dozens of flaws and limitations. Even today it sells more than the Gamecube and X-Box combined!

I meant it in the sense of taking a paragraph and dividing it into small chunks.

It sounded more like the laughable DJ kind of way.

It would do well enough to not be cancelled.

Do you have any idea how much money it would cost to develop new games for the IQue? Much more than they'd get from sales.

Sure Sony had better marketing than Phillips (CD-i) (another attempt at that same thing by a giant in the industry) or 3D0/Panasonic (3D0), but yes, if the PSX had come out a few years earlier like those did it'd have suffered the same fate. You see, PSX just hit the sweet spot... as Trip Hawkins (3D0 founder) said. When they released the 3D0 at $700 it was the most powerful console around and had to be that expensive. But it didn't do 3d... and not too long later the PSX comes out much cheaper with strong 3d. That wasn't because Sony is so smart. It was luck. Luck that they started the PSX project when they did, luck that Nintendo got rid of them at just the right time so that when they finished the PSX on their own it'd be at just the right time to have that level of 3d... and then using marketing better than the aforementioned consoles sold it to the public. But make no mistake about it, luck had a very large role in the success of the PSX.
Oh yeah, and Sega misreading the market and thinking 2d was still good when people wanted 3d helped a lot too... as well obviously as Nintendo's mistaken faith in carts. Both of those things were more major lucky breaks for Sony.

Luck had nothing to do with it, and that's just something a sore loser would say. Sony was able to take over the industry for these reasons (in no particular order), none of them being luck:

1) They offered much much more freedom to developers, even more than Sega did
2) Super-low licensing fees
3) Great marketing and PR; they know what people want and how to make games more accessable to the mainstream
4) Great third-party support because of reasons #1 & #2
5) They encouraged developers to make games for a more "mature" audience

And that was before the PlayStation brand name became so popular. I suppose you also think that luck is why Sony is still #1 with far inferior hardware, right? Boy, I bet they have a huge stash of four-leaf clovers!

And as I said, in the first year at least a lot of people DID get PS2s just to be DVD players! It's a fact, and it lost Sony a lot of money! This is the same way since it's a multifunction device. And this time they don't want to lose money to those people who use the PSP for its nongaming functions far more than its gaming ones, like they did with the PS2... seems reasonable to me.

That was a "problem" early on in Japan, but even then they still made bucketloads of money in software.

And you are wrong. Sony from the very start has been VERY clear that this is a multifunction 'Walkman for the new generation' that will bring together multiple functions into one handheld... and I'm sure that you'll see this fact more clearly once they start showing exactly what the thing can do.

Dorkus, I already know that. I know very well what Sony is calling the PSP, as I clearly explained before. But it doesn't matter what they call it. It's a PlayStation, and that means games to people.

Were you actually in one? Oh, and what I remember best is that there weren't seatbelts in the back seat...

No, I lived in the country where Yugos were made for four years and never drove in one once.

What do you think, genius?

The rumors seem quite solid and consistent on these features of the system.

They're still just that: rumors.

So you admit your comparison was badly flawed. The SNES-PSX is better but still off... on battery life and game prices, most obviously.

"badly flawed"?

It was a good comparison, but the PSX with SNES is closer.

We don't know the final exact details, but it's good enough...

Rumors and conjecture are "good enough"??

No one acting like you do wants Nintendo to succeed. And I think I'll believe the head of Sony Europe over your hopes for its immediate mass-market success.

Yes, the head of SCEE is saying that the PSP will fail.
It's called being realistic, Brian. R-E-A-L-I-S-T-I-C! I don't like to lie to myself.

I read that at Magicbox. And yes, if it's successful enough Sony can get developers to ignore it just like the PS2, you are right... but until it gets there I think it'll be an impediment to its success. And as for price the $400 one is reasonable for the kind of device the PSP actually is turning out to be, you know...

Again, all of this is based off of rumor and speculation. Great debate!

More money is in the adult market than children's, true, but the younger market is still quite important for sure... and yes you are mostly right that adults don't get handhelds for the same reasons they didn't get consoles. But that attitude until recently was pretty accurate... it's only in the last while that the GB has finally tried to hit the adult market and while it is making some headway with the SP and the strategy/rpg lineup, it hasn't hit mass acceptance. Sony is trying to do it by releasing a handheld that also does other things that adults do want portable devices for... of course that was also the attitude that Nokia did with the N-Gage and Tapwave with the Zodiac, so I don't know how successful it'll be. The only difference will be because of Sony's muscle among developers and good marketing...

Actually, Nintendo making handhelds look slightly more attractive to adults with the GBA SP will help Sony with the PSP. Adults are already starting to think "hey, this Gameboy stuff might be more than just kids' toys after all...". Now in comes Sony with a handheld that produces high-quality 3D graphics with a great picture and sound, and it's a PlayStation! That means it's cool!

You get the idea. It'll take an awful lot of screwing up on Sony's part for it not to be a huge success.