E3 2008: 'iPhone more of a threat to DS', 'PSP has best gaming around' say Sony

Speaking with us in the closing moments of E3 in Los Angeles, PSP brand manager John Koller argued PSP as primed for a strong 2008.

Faced with increasing competition from Nintendo DS, mobile, and now iPhone, he contends the portable will succeed by playing into "broader cultural trend for content on the go".

High-profile titles like God of War: Chains of Olympus and Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII have spurred purchases of the handheld in North America. Additionally, the introduction of new colours has made the platform more attractive to new consumers. "It simply has the best gaming experiences around."

Although PSP is first and foremost designed for games, Koller pointed out the multimedia functionality of the portable as crucial to its success. Remote play functionality, Skype, video content via the PlayStation Store, and other features set it apart from DS and other handhelds. "It's been a perfect confluence of events resulting in our performance," Koller observed.

When questioned on how Sony plans on driving continued sales of the system, Koller mentioned "the need to keep adding new features, new functionality." Adding GPS is part of that plan and he confirmed that it will receive a release in North America within the next nine months. (The Go!Explore GPS unit has already launched in Europe.)

PSP has always faced fierce competition from Nintendo DS, yet Koller remains optimistic about Sony's prospects through 2009. Concerns over other competitors, such as iPhone, are virtually nonexistent according to the company's perspective.

Asked specifically about the recently-launched iPhone App Store, Koller confessed, "We think the iPhone is more of a threat to DS than anything else." The device's focus on telephony leads its users to be more compelled by casual content, a key demographic for Nintendo's handheld, is the thinking.

Given our first look at key titles including Patapon 2, LocoRoco 2, and Resistance: Retribution, there's little doubt gamers will be flocking to PSP through the next year.

Pressure from other portables, however, is undeniable. Few third-party publishers had PSP on display during this year's E3, a stark contrast to the slew of DS games on show. Couple that with iPhone's rapid adoption rate and promising line-up of games and PSP may end up sharing a within that broadening cultural trend Koller mentioned.

http://www.pocketgamer.co.uk/r/PSP/P...ews.asp?c=7870

As far as I'm concerned, there's simply no comparing nintendo ds and psp. comparing ds and iphone, however - apples & ... less delicious apples

PSP Games suck. The reason a lot of people buy a PSP is to do everything besides play games (That includes Homebrew, which is why I bought mine)

DS has really good games.

iPhone? Why the hell are we comparing it to Gaming Handhelds? No offense, but games on the iPhone suck compared to just emulating your favorites on it.

I'll take Zelda on iPhone before Super Monkey Ball. (Oh wait, I already did that)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by uberjack

As far as I'm concerned, there's simply no comparing nintendo ds and psp. comparing ds and iphone, however - apples & ... less delicious apples

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I agree there is no comparison between units, different audiences.
However I spent like 20 bucks on 2 iphone (Have a Touch) games I wanted. 20 bucks to apple, 20 bucks NOT going to Sony (was considering getting a PSP game or DS game). I mean for the retail price of a PSP game I can get anywhere from 2-4 GOOD iphone games. Loco Roco would ROCK on this platform the controls are just great for that kind of motion games.

I know many n00bs are complaining about the difficulty of controlling a rolling monkey but in reality they are very intuitive and great once you understand them (Sega however should add an option to calibrate the sensor on coming updates). A Loco Roco game would obviously be easier to handle properly (2 planes instead of 3D accelerometer detection).

People also complain about price. Simple don't buy useless overpriced crap on the app store. Many of the games are a good value. 10 buck for a 100+ levels game, not bad.

To the user above: Yes I would also take Zelda over the iphone version of SMB anyday. But remember that when new those games where like 30 bucks. Since that's how companies would contrast numbers. Emulation is just another plus on the iphone.

If apple released officially something like this I'm sure it would pose a great deal of damage to both the PSP and DS software market (As long as they were to attract the right developers).

Sony needs to stop denying all this crap. This applies to the Wii also. Every dollar spent on a wii game is a possible dollar not considered to be spent on PS3 games/hardware.

I Had a DS for a year, there weren't many games out, when PSP Came out i sold my DS and got a psp.. stupid me :P

I Like the PSP, the PSP has more Power then DS, and has almost as good graphics as PS2.

To me nintendo made it to the point where They care about new interface. and what get's me kind of mad is that i hate that some games don't show it's potential. Warioware is the Hardware Pushing (control wise) for both systems (DS\Wii)

PS3 has Proven itself has the choice for graphics lovers and gaming fans. I hate the price , but it is a good price in retrospect ($500 = 80GB hdd\CPU Proven in SuperComputers\HDMI\Blue-ray\1080i/p Output\ and more)

Truly MGS4 could have been Sony's Poster boy. Playing all of the MGS Games it really ties together, and the freaking graphics on a 1080p HDMI Screen (48") + 5.1 Surround sound, This really shows the Playstation Power!


DS vs iPhone well as a gaming platform i do think the DS may live over iPhone. (if DS was part PSP (Skype\Higher System Storage, The iPhone would be dead!)

Nonsense. The iPhone is $400 minimum, and is stuck with a single-carrier-only subscription and data fees (especially horrid in Canada, I hear). DS is about $130 now, and there's no forced subscriptions attached.

In response to the above poster:

the newly released iPhone 3G is only $199.99 for an 8GB model.

I'd say the iphone is closer to a PDA than a gaming handheld. You can emulate gb and nes on a lot of PDA's; one I got maybe 6 or 7 years ago can. Saying the iphone is a threat is like saying PDA's are a threat. Long story short, the impact the iphone itself will make on anything gaming will be insignificant at best.