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Robbie Bach: "PSP is a cautionary tale"
Author: Joe MartinPublished: 13th June 2008
According to Microsoft the PSP is officially good for nothing, but what do you think?
Robbie Bach, President of the Entertainment and Devices Division at Microsoft, outlined just why he thought the PSP had failed to make a splash in the market in an interview with VentureBeat's Dean Takahashi, calling the PSP a 'cautionary tale'.
"The PSP is a reasonably successful product at the profit-and-loss level. But as a product concept, there are cautionary tales to learn from it," said Bach.
"While it is good at producing audio, it’s not a good music player because it doesn’t have local storage (except for flash memory slots). You can’t keep your music there," continued Bach - though he didn't stop there and went on to outline how the handheld is awful at video as well as music.
"It has a beautiful screen, but you can only get the video under the Universal Media Disc format. That format hasn’t been successful."
Hm. Is there anything Microsoft thinks the PSP is actually good at? Apparently not.
"On a game level, it has done well. But even there, it is mostly PlayStation 2 ports. There isn’t much original content," said Robbie as he put the final nail in the coffin.
Have you got a PSP? How do you rate it compared to other PMPs and the Nintendo DS? Let us know in the forums.
Comments (21)
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But then, my PSP is used chiefly to transfer files from my PC to the produo memory sticks, because I'm too lazy to get a card reader >.>
I doubt anyone could make the claim that the PSP has been unsuccessful, the sales figures certainly don't lie, but I can't help but feeling that maybe with a few truly "killer" apps and maybe less Sony proprietary-ness going on it could be doing better.
I certainly think Microsoft is doing the smart move and staying out of the mobile gaming market, the target audience for a system like the DS is much larger than that of a system that would combine Xbox style gaming with mobile gaming. They would have to create something that would be technically more advanced than the PSP and therefore cost quite a bit more than the DS, the games would most likely just try to emulate games that have been successful on Xbox platforms (FPS's) and most likely not succeed. Consumers looking for something like that would most definitely be better off just buying a laptop.
O wait thats 'almost' a HTC smartphone!
At least be a little realistic. No battery in a mobile device would last for 200 hours of use. Plus the fact that Sony will only use their own Memory Sticks for expandable memory. It has wifi built in and can be connected to your tv, plus it has a usb connection, too. Why put an ssd in it, when games are sold on umd?
A multi-touch screen would be very cool - I don't know how cost prohibitive one that size/res would be atm though. It's a pity it doesn't have bluetooth built in, as you could then use it with a mobile phone and surf/play online anywhere you liked (although, the browser works but the interface is still a little clunky - this is where a touchscreen would be beneficial, amongst other uses).
the biggest issue with the PSP IMO is the lack of original games. I've never been a huge fan of the PS2 games and thats really what's only release. call it a PS2P and that's what it is. there's only one game on the PSP that i want for my DS, ghouls and ghosts!
it's not a BAD device - codec support for videos is good and it has some decent games. it's just not a GREAT device. I'd like to see what sony manage with a PSP2; they stand to learn a lot.
Do you want to read what you wrote. You want original games on psp but want old remakes on DS? and thats better? Because that game is not original.
There are plenty of original games and the PSP is far more advanced than the DS and yet people are disapointed? Those people should go design there own handheld then.
Talk about propriaty, the DS does not let you play mp3s and surf web out the box. You got to buy propriety game cartridges to do that.
People talk about the UMD as a propriety media format, well what do you think the DS game cartridges are?? You cant use them on anything else.
You can also play video off the flash memory...where did he get requiring only UMD from for video? The PSP definately has it's fault but this guy should have done more research before trying to take a stab at Sony's first try at the handheld. Has Microsoft already forgotten that they were new to the industry as well? Let alone they don't even make a handheld. They seem to trying to hold hands with Nintendo alot lately.
The PSP itself does a decent job. You can rip DVDs to play on it, it'll play MP3s and so forth - all backed up by the now-cheap MemoryStick Duo. So the statement of "only getting video via UMD" is a total lie. Sure, UMD is a failure, but most people just drop their .avi files over.
Sounds like sour grapes to me.
I give huge kudos to nintendo for original content and ideas. Want to really have some fun? Get a Wii and play the tennis game with 4 friends or family... now THAT is fun...
The original PSP "known as FAT or PHAT": has less built-in memory and doesn't support skype because of that reason, and also doesn't have the tv out cables like the new slim.
I find that a rip off cause if I want those features I have to go out and buy another PSP.
For me the way to improve the PSP is MORE CODECS! only being able to use UMD's or mp4 format is a drag, cause a psp is not a Ipod (which also uses mp4 format). Another way to improve it, if we have handhelds and phones that can use a operating system why not use a CPU that is higher than 222 - 333 mhz (for fat psp's) i don't know what the speed of the slims... and don't make the interface on the PSP look the same or close to a PS3. Also make it too that it can support more than one type of sd cards, or at least more than one. I have a 8gb myself, but there have been advancements in Japan that will get people up to 64gb!!! thats the way to go if you ask me. Last thing i can think about for a improvement is to allow it to play your music while you go and look through your settings or photos, or even through a game.
From a long time fan of the PSP, i hope they make improvements that will actually make me want to update, but until then I will play my modded psp.
You do know the Gradius games and I believe the Raiden games were re-released on PSP if you were looking sidescroller and topdown shooters with crazy weapons and jets.