Sony Cuts PSP Price...

[J.M. Vargas]

... by $30, down to $170: [url]http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17931362/[/url].  About time, but the PS system with a '3' instead of another 'P' at the end is the one that needs a price cut the most.

[Michael D]

Well, there are two good things about the price drop.

1. All the people who don't already have a PSP and want one (I think there are about 5 people like that in the world) can get it cheaper

2. Sony can hemmorage slightly less money into keeping the PSP on life support, because that's basically where we stand right now. 

Personally, I think Sony's wasting their time and money with the PSP; everybody (including them) knows that it's basically a lost cause (and I don't think even the new God of War game will help at this point). They should focus their energies on the PS3 so it doesn't end up in the same place as the PSP is now; basically dead and buried. 

[Superjay]

The reports of the psp demise have been greatly exagerated. Psp isn't a game.com now.

[Michael D]

[QUOTE=Superjay]The reports of the psp demise have been greatly exagerated. Psp isn't a game.com now.
[/QUOTE]

Well, it's not in as bad a spot as Tiger's system was, but it's basically the Dreamcast of handhelds and that's an insult to the Dreamcast, which at least had many good, original games on it and had a better reputation by gamers and the press.

And let's be honest here; what, besides Sony continuing to pump money into it, is keeping it alive?  UMD is officially the next Mini Disc (that is, completely defunct) and not many games are selling well on it (even GTA: Vice City Stories didn't do that well last year, although after playing the PS2 version, I can see why).

[Superjay]

[QUOTE=Michael D]

[QUOTE=Superjay][/QUOTE]

Well, it's not in as bad a spot as Tiger's system was, but it's basically the Dreamcast of handhelds and that's an insult to the Dreamcast, which at least had many good, original games on it and had a better reputation by gamers and the press.

And let's be honest here; what, besides Sony continuing to pump money into it, is keeping it alive?  UMD is officially the next Mini Disc (that is, completely defunct) and not many games are selling well on it (even GTA: Vice City Stories didn't do that well last year, although after playing the PS2 version, I can see why).
[/QUOTE]

Well your right Dreamcast was way better but like you said yourself Sony is pumping money into it. PSP is getting better games as the months progress and Sony isn't giving up on it. When Sony quits on the system then it truly is dead but Sony continues to shower support on it like a future God of War game. When Sony pulls the plug on it then it is truly dead. They just now did a price drop for the first time. When the price is more affordable then more people will buy it. It will never catch up to the DS and the UMD movies are a novelty but the psp is not DEAD! 

[Michael D]

Wait a sec. What are you telling me here? It's only alive because Sony keeps putting money into it, the UMD failed, it'll never catch up to DS, and that it'll be offically dead when Sony says so, all points which we agree on.

Basically, the PSP's on life support now, so how can it possibly avoid death at this point?  After two years without a truly great selling game (or at least, one that remained PSP exclusive), it seems unlikely that any game, no matter how great, can change the situation.  That is, until the price goes down to an even more competitive rate. 

And by the way, this was not the first price drop for the system.  It sold initially at $250, then dropped to $200 last year, and just dropped to $170 a couple days ago.

You know, maybe Dave has an opinion about this PSP situation that he'd like to address (hint, hint).

[Superjay]

[QUOTE=Michael D]

Wait a sec. What are you telling me here? It's only alive because Sony keeps putting money into it, the UMD failed, it'll never catch up to DS, and that it'll be offically dead when Sony says so, all points which we agree on.

Basically, the PSP's on life support now, so how can it possibly avoid death at this point?  After two years without a truly great selling game (or at least, one that remained PSP exclusive), it seems unlikely that any game, no matter how great, can change the situation.  That is, until the price goes down to an even more competitive rate. 

And by the way, this was not the first price drop for the system.  It sold initially at $250, then dropped to $200 last year, and just dropped to $170 a couple days ago.

You know, maybe Dave has an opinion about this PSP situation that he'd like to address (hint, hint).
[/QUOTE]
It was 250 with alot of extra stuff then they sold it for $200 with basically nothing. So no the first price drop didn't occur until a few days ago. You don't need your buddy Dave to fight along side you. I think you can do it all by yourself. Your doing a good job.  Basically you want to argue but we both believe the same things. I never said the psp is doing great. I just think its doing average which isn't good but it doesn't look like Sony is pulling the plug anytime soon so psp owners have nothing to worry about yet. This is the first time they are giving a real price drop. The DS had the help of a price drop, let's see if psp can have a smaller boost.

[wur1]

I know that Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops was a bestselling game.

It's also one of the reasons I bought a PSP, which I absolutely don't regret.  I'm playing it a lot more than my DS lately, and there's much more that interests me on the PSP than the DS right now.  (Although the DS is still a great system)  I'm particularly hooked on Killzone Liberation and the Genesis compilation.  Right now I'm looking forward to getting Syphon Filter, Daxter, and some more compilations (Metal Slug, et. al).

[Leo Ames]

Not even close, the PSP hasn't been a failure, its shipped over 25 million units to date (Units shipped, safe to assume probably around 1-2 million are on store shelfs worldwide and in warehouses waiting to be sent to locations as needed), Nintendo DS is at 37. No one is going to state that it hasn't been as successful as the competition, but I don't think even Sony expected to surpass Nintendo the first time out. You don't just beat a company that has dominated a market for almost two decades. Being outsold by the competition doesn't mean it's a failure.

UMD as a form of media has clearly been a flop, but who cares. We're gamers, if we want to watch movies on the go, we'd buy a portable dvd player.

This is the PSP's first price drop. The entertainment pack or whatever its called has remained at $250, the $200 pack just left out accessories. and such.

"1. All the people who don't already have a PSP and want one (I think there are about 5 people like that in the world) can get it cheaper"

Yeah, since there's only 25,000,005 people in the world that want a PSP. I like your logic that its suddenly dead. I for one just bought my first three PSP games after just being able to try out other people's systems over the past two years, just waiting to buy Activision Hits Remix and Outrun 2006 and a PSP now. I was worried about hurting a $200 portable to be honest, but somehow being closer to $150 makes me feel a little better about actually using one.

The Sony PSP continues to recieve solid third party support, and games continue to sell well. Did you ever think that Vice City Stories didn't sell because its more of the same old tired GTA game, the PSP controls are lacking for that style of game, and its just a attempt by Rockstar to suck more money from people with something thats basically a expansion pack for a 5 year old PS2 title that every gamer in the world just about has played before.

"And let's be honest here; what, besides Sony continuing to pump money into it, is keeping it alive?"

Because it's making money along with the PS2, and unlike the PS3. And it's game division one of the few components of Sony that can regularly say that they're not losing money in recent times.

"Basically, the PSP's on life support now, so how can it possibly avoid death at this point? "

Basically, you don't have a point. Every hardware company from Nintendo to Microsoft pumps money into their systems and the systems die when they cease to do that. What system has avoided death at this point? They all die.  A PSP price drop does not signal its demise right now, despite as much as you'd like to think it does.

[Crevalle]

Square Enix recently agreed to strongly support the PSP.  This, together with the price cut, will prove successful.