DS is a Gimmick, says Sony.

Mr E

Total shocker that this quote comes out just before the european launch.... (Quoted from Eurogamer)

A top Sony executive has dismissed the Nintendo DS as "an irrelevance" when it comes to predicting the success of the PSP, describing the handheld's touch screen feature as nothing more than a "gimmick".

Speaking to trade magazine MCV, VP of studios Phil Harrison said: "The idea of a handheld rivalry with Nintendo is an irrelevance. Those formats don’t appear in our planning."

"It’s not a fair comparison; not fair on them, I should stress. That sounds arrogant, maybe, but it’s the truth."

Harrison went on to state that the DS can't compete with the PSP in the hardware stakes, telling MCV: "It’s fair to say that Nintendo stepped out of the technical race and went for a feature differentiation with the touch screen.

“But I fear that it won’t have a lasting impact beyond that of a gimmick - so the long-lasting appeal of the platform is at peril as a direct result of that.”

“Nintendo knows its target audience, because it has really narrowed that down," Harrison continued. "It’s pretty much defined by a boy or girl’s ability to admire Pokémon."

Sony is anticipating high demand for the PSP when it launches in Europe on September 1, priced at GBP 179.99. However, it remains to be seen whether the machine will overtake Nintendo's handheld to become market leader - more than 6.65m DS consoles have already been sold worldwide, including 300,000 in the UK.

Rew

Sour grapes, DS is doing well despite the odds and the best games arn't even out on it yet. I saw one site say that the PSP will live or die based on the PSP version of GTA. If its crap then the PSP can go off and compete with the GameGear and Lynx

rainbow kirby

Meh. This is only to be expected. What did you expect Sony to say, that the DS is the greatest thing on the face of the planet?

weemcd

imo psp > ds

I know what i'd have. I just wonder at how much of a loss they are selling the yokes at, i mean £180 is feck all considering you are getting mp3, video, mobile browser ASIDE from just games. The amount of functionality in the psp is astounding for the price. imo.

thelordofcheese

“Nintendo knows its target audience, because it has really narrowed that down," Harrison continued. "It’s pretty much defined by a boy or girl’s ability to admire Pokémon."

ahhh, the good old "Nintendo games are for little kids" argument, the bastion of mindless flame-wars and sony executives everywhere.

Rew

Well the simple fact is most people couldn't give a monkys if its a thermo nuclear bomb they are only intrested in the games side of it. Alot of people have said that PS2 games arn't what they want to pull out of their pocket and play. Anyway each to their own there are plenty of fanboy psp/ds threads.

columok

I have a ds and I love it to contextualise my point...

but Sony in a sense are right at the moment.

The DS touch screen is a gimmick and is being treated like such by games developers. Until things settle a bit and nintendo add a bit more urgency to getting loads of good innovative games out there its gonna be seen as same.

The DS needs games that dont have a compulsion to tack on "touch screen elements" when they arent needed. That combined with some good point n click adventures... (Bring on some old skool lucasarts stuff ) and a few good RTSs aswell as the usual crazy Japaneseness and nintendo might just prove them wrong.

ambro25

weemcd wrote:

imo psp > ds

I know what i'd have. I just wonder at how much of a loss they are selling the yokes at, i mean £180 is feck all considering you are getting mp3, video, mobile browser ASIDE from just games. The amount of functionality in the psp is astounding for the price. imo.

imo psp < ARCHOS AV700
imo psp < ARCHOS PMA400
imo psp < Apple iPod
etc, etc...

As with all things trying to be everything and the rest, no matter how sexy the design, "Jack of all trades, Master of None" somehow springs to mind :rolleyes:

Be on your way over to the Playstation Forum, fanboy

Gone West

nah.
Nothing is better than the atari2600
Anything made after 1989 just isnt 'l33t' enough.

R0ot

ambro25 wrote:

imo psp < ARCHOS AV700
imo psp < ARCHOS PMA400
imo psp < Apple iPod
etc, etc...

As with all things trying to be everything and the rest, no matter how sexy the design, "Jack of all trades, Master of None" somehow springs to mind :rolleyes:

Be on your way over to the Playstation Forum, fanboy

And you be on your way to the "I'm a retard and i don't have a clue what the **** i'm taking about Forum, bitchboy"

Stompbox

Actually the DS is Shit

weemcd

ambro25 wrote:

imo psp < ARCHOS AV700
imo psp < ARCHOS PMA400
imo psp < Apple iPod
etc, etc...

As with all things trying to be everything and the rest, no matter how sexy the design, "Jack of all trades, Master of None" somehow springs to mind :rolleyes:

Be on your way over to the Playstation Forum, fanboy

Apple iPod
http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0007V9IOQ/qid=1125430124/sr=2-1/ref=sr_2_3_1/202-7119619-2998222
£194.99

Archos AV4100 100GB
http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0007U9KFE/qid=1125429822/sr=1-3/ref=sr_1_2_3/202-7119619-2998222
£499.99

Archos AV700 40GB
http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0009MUDF6/ref=pd_ecc_rvi_3/202-7119619-2998222
£375.99

Now. Aside from the limited storage of the 32mb memory stick, my point was that at the price of £180 there is nothing that comes close to the functionality of the psp. If you had of bothered to read my original post instead of saying "omfg, you are a fanboy" you might have realised this was what I meant.

As for the fanboy comment, I was being critical of sony for selling the product at a loss.

ambro25

weemcd wrote:

Now. Aside from the limited storage of the 32mb memory stick, my point was that at the price of £180 there is nothing that comes close to the functionality of the psp.

A SP (if you want backlighting, that is) or -even cheaper- a GBA, a Supercard and a 512/1GB Compact Flash - total?

Assuming you get the SP 2nd hand, the SC new ($40) and the CF 1GB from eBay, it should set you back about €85 or so. It does everything, except browsing - but then I'm not really bothered about browsing the web without a keyboard :rolleyes:

weemcd wrote:

If you had of bothered to read my original post instead of saying "omfg, you are a fanboy" you might have realised this was what I meant.

Sorry for not "catching" the extent of what you implied in your post - did you not "catch" the implied joke when I posted that closing fanboy remark?

EDIT re. the mis-quoting: got anything constructive to contribute, lately?

Erm... @root -

weemcd

way to quote :rolleyes:

Gone West

she has nice legs







Shuuu-uuudder

R0ot

AHAHAHAHAHAHA He cant even quote right, what a muppet i love his reference to the word IF, if you can get all those for all low prices, whereas the psp is a set price and will drop eventually as all consoles and handhelds do , PSP FTW

weemcd

wan teh r0ot.

Nice work on the "legends" wiki

segadreamcast

Er, the DS is a gimmick. It's a gameboy with a second touch-screen? No pushing technology to the limits, no innovation, just a gimmick. Sorry, but it's up there with Malibu Stacy with a hat in terms of product advancement... Nintendo's game boy bandwagon started to get greedy after the original Game Boy Advance IMO.

ambro25

R0ot wrote:

AHAHAHAHAHAHA He cant even quote right, what a muppet i love his reference to the word IF, if you can get all those for all low prices, whereas the psp is a set price and will drop eventually as all consoles and handhelds do , PSP FTW

(i) reported - wish they'd set a price on manners :rolleyes:
(ii) you want to buy a PSP, go right ahead. Don't come crying in your soup when firmware upgrade version X stops your DRM-noncompliant mp3s or divx from playing off your MemStick

TerrorFirmer

NoelRock wrote:

Er, the DS is a gimmick. It's a gameboy with a second touch-screen? No pushing technology to the limits, no innovation, just a gimmick. Sorry, but it's up there with Malibu Stacy with a hat in terms of product advancement... Nintendo's game boy bandwagon started to get greedy after the original Game Boy Advance IMO.

When used correctly as an an important part of gameplay the touch screen is more then a gimmick. Although true, as of its rellease, theres been little to showcase the true potential but still.....its a nice system that I think works well. I'm not a fanboy of either side but I prefer the DS really.

ambro25

As for whether touchscreen is a gimmick or not, there are really only two tests, one conclusive and the other wholly subjective: consumer choice and personal taste. Ive had one and I'm not a fan - that's not to call it a gimmick, just that developers ae still only just getting to grips with touchscreen functionality as standard - and it's a bit more of a quantum leap where videogames are concerned than the transition from say, cart to CD. To call it gimmicky so early in the life of the product denotes short-sightedness of the worst order, imo, particularly coming from one of the worst sequelitis-afflicted parties in the industry.

Gone West

ambro25.

ambro25

Care to characterize that some more? :rolleyes:

And coming from a Mod, no less - I'm quietly impressed, here...

mp3guy

FuzzyLogic wrote:

ambro25.

Say, fuzzylogic, why did you register in jan 2005, while ambro25 registered in sept 2004? :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes:

flogen

Firstly, why am I not surprised that this has become another bloody fanboy battle? The psp is a great machine, great graphics and some nice functionality. I wont buy one yet because the software doesnt interest me, I have an ipod and I don't want to watch movies on such a small screen.
The DS is also a great machine. Good graphics, great innovative ideas and (some) great software so far. I got one because I was really happy with some of the launch titles and because the coming soon games really interested me.

Play Kirby Canvas Curse and tell me it's a gimmick. After playing that game for a few minutes you forget you're using a touch screen, which is the best way. I admit that there have been too many games (mainly third party) have not used it properly, but hopefully that will change very soon.

This comment is very standard marketing, no one should be surprised. I would, however be surprised if the PSP took over the DS in Europe, it's sold so well, had a huge headstart, appeals to kids more (big audience), has some killer apps on the way and is half the price. The psp will sell well, and there should be some great games for it soon, but Sony have a lot of ground to make up regardless. They need to make Ninty look bad.

Retr0gamer

My god, I can't believe the Sony executives are fanboi's!

It's incredibly cheeky of them. DS sales have caught up with PSP sales in Japan due to some fantastic games being released on the system including Nintendogs. I doubt PSP sales can catch up with DS sales in Europe either. The DS has sold surprisingly well and an awful lot of people have already imported a PSP. And it is all Sonys own doing. Europe isn't even 'The Third Place' anymore. We are last behind even the once neglected market of China.

It's just a smear campaign from Sony. They can say all they like but their price and launch line up is not going to impress me especially when I can get it cheaper on the net or when I go to america soon.

Gone West

mp3guy wrote:

Say, fuzzylogic, why did you register in jan 2005, while ambro25 registered in sept 2004? :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes:

Joindate means nothing.
I first signed up on these boards back in 2001, but that account has been lost to time.
I was merely (humorously) pointing out some flaws in his arguments for/against X console.
Lighten up.

flogen

Retr0gamer wrote:

It's incredibly cheeky of them. DS sales have caught up with PSP sales in Japan due to some fantastic games being released on the system including Nintendogs.

I thought the DS was ahead in all territories, just by a small amount in Japan and the US?

Laguna

I've got both and feel that the asshole in a suit who made these comments obviously doesn't play games, he was probably given flash cards on the PSP and DS before he was interviewed. The PSP is great for it's multi functionality. The DS is great for new ways of playing games, i.e. Like in WarioWare/Another Code. Sony think better graphics=better gameplay....

Patricide

to be honest the psp does destroy it in its support from developers as nintendo never had huge 3rd party support cause it allways used cartriges up till the camecube. however as for the psp its looking great so far looking more stylish and having better specs than the ds but what good are all those specs without the battery to run them, imo the outcome of this will contend on whether the psp will get a better battery and if developers will take the ds more seriously as a games machine rather than a toy

flogen

Laguna wrote:

Sony think better graphics=better gameplay....

Nah, they've been trying to deny that one for the last three years!

ambro25

As for whether touchscreen is a gimmick or not, there are really only two tests, one conclusive and the other wholly subjective: consumer choice and personal taste. Ive had one and I'm not a fan - that's not to call it a gimmick, just that developers ae still only just getting to grips with touchscreen functionality as standard - and it's a bit more of a quantum leap where videogames are concerned than the transition from say, cart to CD. To call it gimmicky so early in the life of the product denotes short-sightedness of the worst order, imo, particularly coming from one of the worst sequelitis-afflicted parties in the industry.

FuzzyLogic wrote:

I was merely (humorously) pointing out some flaws in his arguments for/against X console.Lighten up.

I'm all humorously lit up - but I'm still waiting for the "flaws"

And I'm not arguing for/against either. I've owned one, got rid as games which I'd be interested in were too slow to come through, but not owned the other - was all ready to own both, but will not buy a PSP since SONY's attempts to gut the parallel import scene (that served them so well 10 years ago with the PS1, when they needed all the parallel importers they could get to float the 'lifestyle' console).

I'm arguing that, all cross-functional that the PSP may be, it's still gonna be compromised as a 'converging' device, e.g. doing a lot of things but none of them good or better than task-specific devices.

Whereby it all depends of what model you subscribe to: owning several devices (PSP, PDA, mobile phone, etc.) which each does a lot of things, often the same, but not as well as a specific device for the purpose, or owning task-specific devices (say, a digital camera, a PVR, a 'standard' mobile with no camera, an mp3 player...) - in that context, I'd call movie UMDs a 'gimmick' as well, since it's not as if the PSP outputs 5.1 sound, is it?

I can't help but think SONY's got an agenda, broader in scope than merely all things PSP-related, and as a very-long-time gamer I'm not sure I'll like the state of things when they get to where they want to be...

Insofar as gaming's concerned, I've had every portable console ever (except the NEC LT and the PSP) and each of the current-gen TV consoles, and got rid of them all at some point or other through boredom. I'm now PC-near exclusively, but you don't see me berating PSP's gaming aptitude with super-duper AlienWare lappies for gaming-on-the-go, do you? 'talk about fanboyism :rolleyes:

evad_lhorg

flogen wrote:

I thought the DS was ahead in all territories, just by a small amount in Japan and the US?

http://www.cube-europe.com/news.php?nid=8175

DS is ahead in all territories tbh.

Citizen_Erased

Wooo , the ds is owning man.

On the subjects of gimmicks , the only thing that will tell is time. When nintendo first came up with the idea of the analog stick it was met by sega fanboy or whichever irrelevant inferior console it was at the time with the same attitude as this. That is why no one need argue with Sony Biatches because they eat their ancestors words every day by using the sticks on the ps pad.

Aaron M

Personally speaking, the DS has re-invigorated my passion for gaming in a way that I thought I had lost having played nothing but PC games for the past several years. There is a very strong line-up of upcoming titles that I am looking forward to playing.

For those who view the touchscreen as nothing more than a gimmick I strongly disagree, but I won't bother debating the point because I don't think anything I could write on this message board would be likely to change your opinion. Perhaps some of the future releases on the format will do that for me.

Though technically speaking an impressive unit graphically, the PSP just offers absolutely nothing of interest that would make me want to personally purchase one currently. If some genuinely good games came out for it, I would consider it. In any event, I would like to play one to judge what they are like.

4Xcut

I really don't see why this added functionality is so important. Firstly the watching movies:1)The films are going to be expensive because of a monopoly on the format.2)Its only a small screen.3)Sony will not release blank UMDs as this would destroy their complete hold over the format which is trademark of them(remember atrac3)

Second the mp3:To get any decent ammount of music you would need a gig card which are not the cheapest thing in the world which adds more expense.

To summerise the consoles: The DS is cheaper with less depth but has some excellent titles. The PSP is more expensive with additional costs and although having better hardware does not as yet have a large ammount of quality titles. It will all rest on the GTA game. Personally i'd go with the ds

Ciaran500

Anything I watch on the PSP are either downloaded or ripped from my dvds. The screen is a perfect size for watching on the bus/during break in college.

I usually have one album on my PSP which is perfect for the walk from the bus to college.

1huge1

columok wrote:

I have a ds and I love it to contextualise my point...

but Sony in a sense are right at the moment.

The DS touch screen is a gimmick and is being treated like such by games developers. Until things settle a bit and nintendo add a bit more urgency to getting loads of good innovative games out there its gonna be seen as same.

The DS needs games that dont have a compulsion to tack on "touch screen elements" when they arent needed. That combined with some good point n click adventures... (Bring on some old skool lucasarts stuff ) and a few good RTSs aswell as the usual crazy Japaneseness and nintendo might just prove them wrong.

ya like day of the tentacle,sam and max and monkey island
they would work perfect for the ds

Rew

1huge1 wrote:

ya like day of the tentacle,sam and max and monkey island
they would work perfect for the ds

You can emulate them on it at the moment.

fortuneg

I'd love to see a Broken Sword game on the DS!