Topic: Should Sony abandon the PlayStation Portable?

Crisis Core is awesome.

The Original PSP systems are fine, but the PSP Go! needs to go now.

It's sad that the PSP is turning out like this. I used to actually want one.

I used to have a PSP but sold it. It was a great system I just never used it.
They should stick with the original PSP.
Not this PSP Go! rubbish.

Why is the Go discouraging you from getting a PSP 3000? It makes no sense.

Well if we didn't have the psp who'd compete against the ds and attempt to drive the quality of games up on it

@Hyper Luigi: I already have an Nintendo DSi, so I have no need for an PSP at all.

Probably some cheap, weird and illegal console.

My point exactly

I actually really liked my PSP-2000 while I had it. I just couldn't find that many games that I was interested in playing--a problem I always seem to have on Sony consoles (I also had a PS2 for about a year; I bought it when I couldn't find a Wii anywhere and wanted to increase my variety of gaming options). My tastes just don't seem to run in the direction they went with gaming.

That said, the PSP has been successful even if it hasn't sold as well as the DS. I see no reason to abandon the platform as a whole, but the PSPGo was a step in the wrong direction. People in general are more likely to buy something that is not too expensive and that actually allows them to play the games they already own for another version of the same system...

I really don't know. On one hand, Sony has failed to keep the console alive or advance upon it in a good way (PSPGo = only downloadable games? Really?). On the other, I'd like to have more than one option for portable gaming if Nintendo's next handheld is full of shovel-ware. I really don't know what to say.

The ds is much better than the psp. That does not mean that the psp is worthless.
I picked up a really cheap 2nd hand psp for Christmas. I don't regret it at all. Because it's near the end of its life cycle there is now a large collection of games to choose from. The games are really cheap 2nd hand too. Like the ds it is region free but I also have a Japanese psn account so there are loads of ps1 games you can download.
There are a lot of ports on the psp. I prefer originality but I travel a lot and spend more of my gaming time on the move than on a home console. Being able to play Katamari or Gitaroo Man on a handheld is no bad thing.

Introducing the Pretendo SDi.

Lol that's pretty funny.

@thelawyer
Double post!

Oops sorry!

Having just read the actual article, I'm not too sure about the idea of the PSP watering down the Playstation brand by association. I think if anything Sony got too confident in its gaming dominance and then made the same mistake twice. Instead of making a technically weak but relatively cheap console as it did on the PSX and PS2, beginning with the PSP they began making technically-superior but expensive gaming machines. Basically, they took Apple's strategy but lacked the marketing prowess to make people want to part with greater amounts of money.

There is some merit to the argument that they might be more likely to make the PS3 profitable if they shifted all their resources over to it exclusively, but that's a business decision--and ultimately it's Sony's business decision to make.

No. They are making money and there are some great games on psp!

The PSP Go, imo, was a bad idea. While the unit is smaller, so gone is the nice big screen the others had, and no more UMD's, just download, which is convenient, but you'll run out of the 16 GB's fast. But it's not like you still can't buy the 3000's, I just got one for my birthday and I'm loving it! There are tons of great games both at retail and the shop (and especially those PSOne Classics, mmmmm!)

A lot of people fail to take into account that PSP is possibly the MOST successful non-Nintendo handheld ever. I'm pretty sure it long outdid Sega's Game Gear. Considering prior to PSP any other system failed to keep up or match the Game Boy/DS for console life or big-game collection. Essentially while the PSP hasn't won the war, its held its own very well lasting as long as it has

In all honesty at the start with the PSP having a stronger graphical advantage and its ability to play music and movies should of made it a shoo-in, and for a while it was the casual choice, what went wrong? Well Sony maybe made a mistake in making the system too much like the PS2. While the DS was based on the N64, there are few games shared between the platforms: Mario 64 and Diddy Kong Racing are the most prominent ports. The PSP shared many its games with the PS2 and Sony made this annoying habit of porting PSP "exclusives" to PS2. Sony also produced the console with a VERY vulnerable firmware, which may of made updates/customisation easy but it also made it easy for any owner to download alternative firmware and games. Most PSP owners I know have hacked firmware, I'm one of few that didn't bother.

In addition it took the PSP a long time to get some notable titles. GTA: Liberty City and Metal Gear were main headliners and GTA was ported to PS2. LocoRoco was the first great title and it came about 2-3 years into the systems life when people had gotten fed up with endless cheap ports and lame retro collections (with only really Capcom bringing the goods). Then Locoroco, Patapon, Daxter. Ratchet and Clank and a raft of awesome titles appeared in the past 2 years. Sony picked it up again and managed to save the console from an early death with the massively improved PSP 2000.

Honestly the more recent raft of games for PSP are AMAZING, specially with renewed Sony support after a year or so of the system running almost only on third party support. I think the PSP has some amazing titles, I dont love it like I love the DS but its a very admirable little handheld. Its just a shame Sony kind of treated it badly with a horribly lousy update. Theres titles here worth playing if your willing to take a chance: Megaman Powered Up, Megaman Maverick Hunter, Monster Hunter, LocoRoco 1 + 2, Patapon, Daxter, Secret Agent Clank, Little Big Planet...