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[Ninja Scooter]

im not gonna sit here and bitch about the price, cause i honestly wasn't gonna buy one anyway, but it does seem a bit high. Sure you get a lot of value, but you have to look at the perception from casual/mainstream gamers (which is the market Sony seems to want to target), is that they are essentially paying $250 for a gameboy, and $40 for games? Might not seem that intriguing to them, but who knows. And if you want to bring in the Ipod comparisons, sure the Ipod is vastly inferior tech, but its basically a hugeass harddrive that plays music, and music is something that is far more accesible to the general public than videogaming. People buy ipods because they can take them everywhere with them. Use them while they are at work, at school, studying, working out, whereever. PSP doesn't have that same kind of appeal IMO. And even if you want to compare the PSP favorably to the ipod, as succesful as it is, apple sells like what? 1/5th of the amount of ipods as Nintendo does Gameboys and DS'?

 

[Docpan]

FUCK!

 

[VictimOfGrief]

I've long since arrived at the conclusion that you don't know what the hell you're talking about... but I'm cool with that.

Likewise.

 

[Justin Bailey]

You people are acting like were they only releasing a basic pack, it would definitely be $200.

And again, you WILL need a case, a micro-fiber cloth and a memory stick (32MB is more than enough if you're using it for gaming only), and those would cost you around $50 anyway. The demo disc, earphones with remote, and Spiderman 2 are a nice bonus.

Yeah and I could use that $50 to go towards a better case and a bigger mem card. Considering the PSP is also a PVP and a music player, I might want to try using it for such (not to mention the emulation capabilities, which really have me interested). I already have headphones, don't need a remote, and don't care about a non-playable demo. Spidey 2 is really the only cool addition.

 

[J. Horwitz]

I don't think I need to point this out to anyone here, but since GAF is the de-facto "opinion leader" on gaming issues these days, all it would take is a unified agreement that "this is bullshit" from this crowd, and the PSP's initial launch would be an abject failure.

If I was a betting man, I'd say that the people who read and post in this forum are collectively responsible for influencing more buying decisions on games and game hardware than at any other English-speaking games forum online. The word would spread on this forum's collective position, "I'm not buying one of those until Sony de-couples all that crap from the box," and really force Sony's hand.

By the way, for those who don't have a PSP yet, the stuff in the Value Pack box is crap, and will be sitting unused within weeks (maybe days) of your purchase. The remote and headphones are next to worthless, the memory stick is way too small (yeah, if you want to save a few games, great, but not if you're looking to use the system's potential), and a non-interactive demo disc? Uh, right, people don't pay money for those, ever. Having had a system for a couple of months, I can only say that I sincerely regret spending the extra cash on the Value items, and should have just put the $50 towards a 512MB memory stick and a cheap generic case. Say nothing of another frigging battery.

 

[SantaC]

The money is not a problem for me, I can afford that easily, but I am willing to wait a couple of extra months for some killer app games (for me) to come out. Just like I am waiting for american wario and yoshi touch and go to come out.

 

[VictimOfGrief]

If I was a betting man, I'd say that the people who read and post in this forum are collectively responsible for influencing more buying decisions on games and game hardware than at any other English-speaking games forum online. The word would spread on this forum's collective position, "I'm not buying one of those until Sony de-couples all that crap from the box," and really force Sony's hand.

.

Whoa whoa whoa.... you have to remember that most people here bitch by nature and that the influence of that does warrant people to stray from buying at launch which means more PSP's for you and me.

 

[Miburou]

I know this comes as a shock.... but everyone will not need a case.
A micro-fiber cloth? You mean the same type I use to clean my glasses with?
A memory stick? You mean like the two 512MB ones I already have for our Cybershot camera and our Sony camcorder?
Fuck the demo disc that lasts 5 seconds these days.
Fuck the earphones Ive got two hundred pairs of earbuds laying around the house.... oh wait they do have remote controls on them.... well I guess if I was going to use the PSP for something besides gaming that would be cool....and Spiderman 2? wow neato.... for some folks.

You don't need a case? Wow, you're a braver man than I am.

I don't wear glasses, so I had to buy a cloth for my PSP.

And you have 2 Duo sticks for your Cybershot? I have a 128MB for mine, but it's not a Duo, just a regular pro, so I can't use it and I have to use the one that came with my PSP.

Sure, Sony is throwing in these extras to justify the $250 price tag, but they're more than likely still losing money on the thing, so you're not really getting ripped off. And for most people the stuff that comes with the value pack is useful or even essential.

 

[VictimOfGrief]

You don't need a case? Wow, you're a braver man than I am.

I don't wear glasses, so I had to buy a cloth for my PSP.

And you have 2 Duo sticks for your Cybershot? I have a 128MB for mine, but it's not a Duo, just a regular pro, so I can't use it and I have to use the one that came with my PSP.

Sure, Sony is throwing in these extras to justify the $250 price tag, but they're more than likely still losing money on the thing, so you're not really getting ripped off. And for most people the stuff that comes with the value pack is useful or even essential.

Exactly, they're thinking for the consumer that doesn't already have, I think that's what people are missing.

 

[jarrod]

Somebody who had played a much more recent version mentioned that the PS2 version is now 60 fps, interestingly enough...

Well, that's good to hear. But I still prefer the sprites, PSP wins!

 

[J. Horwitz]

Name one portable system that has succeeded after a $249 or higher price at launch.

And no, N-Gage does not count.

 

[Docpan]

Well, they lost my sale for sure.

*cancels pre-order*

 

[chespace]

Name one portable system that has succeeded after a $249 or higher price at launch.

And no, N-Gage does not count.

Name one portable system that's had photo, mp3, and movie playback.

And no, GBA doesn't count.

 

[Miburou]

Yeah and I could use that $50 to go towards a better case and a bigger mem card. Considering the PSP is also a PVP and a music player, I might want to try using it for such (not to mention the emulation capabilities, which really have me interested). I already have headphones, don't need a remote, and don't care about a non-playable demo. Spidey 2 is really the only cool addition.

What $50? This only applies in Japan, where there are two types of packs with a $50 difference in price, and one can contemplate which one to buy based on how much they need the extra stuff.

How do you know that had Sony released a basic pack instead (or in addition), that it would've been $200? It might as well been $220. And don't base that on the Japanese price, because PSP games in the US seem to be at least $5 more expensive than in Japan.

 

[VictimOfGrief]

Name one portable system that has succeeded after a $249 or higher price at launch.

And no, N-Gage does not count.

*dammit* /punches wall

 

[SantaC]

Name one portable system that's had photo, mp3, and movie playback.

And no, GBA doesn't count.

N-GAGE had all that (yes it has some crappy movie playback). But it's design and software support where horrible. The PSP has all the tools to become extremley succesful.

 

[shantyman]

I don't think I need to point this out to anyone here, but since GAF is the de-facto "opinion leader" on gaming issues these days, all it would take is a unified agreement that "this is bullshit" from this crowd, and the PSP's initial launch would be an abject failure.

If I was a betting man, I'd say that the people who read and post in this forum are collectively responsible for influencing more buying decisions on games and game hardware than at any other English-speaking games forum online. The word would spread on this forum's collective position, "I'm not buying one of those until Sony de-couples all that crap from the box," and really force Sony's hand.

This is quite possibly the funniest thing I have ever read on this forum.

 

[jarrod]

Name one portable system that's had photo, mp3, and movie playback.

And no, GBA doesn't count.

DS!

 

[acklame]

finally announced! about fucking time too.

looks like i'll be grabbing PSP w/ Lumines, MGA!, Ridge Racer, Twisted Metal and Untold Legends.

Spiderman 2 UMD is a nice bonus

 

[sonycowboy]

I don't think I need to point this out to anyone here, but since GAF is the de-facto "opinion leader" on gaming issues these days, all it would take is a unified agreement that "this is bullshit" from this crowd, and the PSP's initial launch would be an abject failure.

If I was a betting man, I'd say that the people who read and post in this forum are collectively responsible for influencing more buying decisions on games and game hardware than at any other English-speaking games forum online. The word would spread on this forum's collective position, "I'm not buying one of those until Sony de-couples all that crap from the box," and really force Sony's hand.

By the way, for those who don't have a PSP yet, the stuff in the Value Pack box is crap, and will be sitting unused within weeks (maybe days) of your purchase. The remote and headphones are next to worthless, the memory stick is way too small (yeah, if you want to save a few games, great, but not if you're looking to use the system's potential), and a non-interactive demo disc? Uh, right, people don't pay money for those, ever. Having had a system for a couple of months, I can only say that I sincerely regret spending the extra cash on the Value items, and should have just put the $50 towards a 512MB memory stick and a cheap generic case. Say nothing of another frigging battery.

:lol :lol :lol

Who are you? And you clearly haven't been paying attention. Look at every major announcement from anyone and you'll see the requisite trolling, dooming, & abject horror in all of them. This is nothing new and in fact, it's quite tame.

 

[Kobun Heat]

In a shocking twist, I'm going to take a more pro-Sony position than Horwitz:

-I figured this would happen. Not so much the price point (I was thinking $199 or $249) but the one package with all the Value Pack stuff shoved in there. In general, you only want to have one SKU for an American launch. No need to confuse consumers with multiple packages.

-It's really a great deal. Sony's still taking a massive loss on the hardware, AND you're getting more than Japan did. Spider-Man 2 on UMD is probably going to generate a lot of buzz among the casuals.

-The only people who thought PSP was going to be less than $199 (let alone $129) were batshit insane and it's your fault for ever listening to them. PEACE.

-The only real issue I see is that, as has been mentioned a few times already, EB and GameStop will probably put together massive bundle packages that cost upwards of $399.

-All that said, however, Nintendo is probably breathing a sigh of relief over this news. $149 vs. $249 is a clearer distinction than $149 vs $199.

 

[jiggle]

GAF is the reason MGS3 sold tons in November! :lol

 

[Hero]

If they had the option of 200 dollars for the stand alone PSP it would've been a lot better.

Most consumers are probably going to get pissed off once that tiny memory stick duo gets filled up, and anyone who buys a high-tech gadget should have all that other stuff.

300 bucks for the system, a small memory card, useless stuff, and one game? Eh. I'll wait a little bit longer.

Well, I'll probably still buy one or two to sell on eBay, but we'll see. The launch shipment will definitely sell out.

 

[Lord Error]

Name one portable system that has succeeded after a $249 or higher price at launch.

And no, N-Gage does not count.

Does iPod count?

In all seriousness, PSP at the simillar price in Japan (for value pack that's selling more than base pack anyways) seems to be quite a success.

 

[chespace]

:lol :lol :lol

Who are you? And you clearly haven't been paying attention. Look at every major announcement from anyone and you'll see the requisite trolling, dooming, & abject horror in all of them. This is nothing new and in fact, it's quite tame.

Uh, yeah. I think Jer is still a little too enamored with (or delusional about) just how much power or influence the GAF really has.

The "collective voice" of GAF making Sony leave 50 million bucks on the table? Yeah.

 

[Hollywood]

God these portable systems are way too expensive. You could get a GC plus XBox or PS2, and bundled games for the price of a PSP. All buyers out there: you definately got more bling than I.

 

[Justin Bailey]

How do you know that had Sony released a basic pack instead (or in addition), that it would've been $200? It might as well been $220. And don't base that on the Japanese price, because PSP games in the US seem to be at least $5 more expensive than in Japan.

Yeah maybe it would have been $180. I'm not going to try and guess what the costs of these things are, but the fact of the matter is that I'd be paying more money for something I don't need or want. Also my (and many, many others') expectation for the price was $200. By not meeting this expectation, Sony is making a mistake.

But seriously, the real kicker here is the price point of games. $40-50 is too much.

 

[Deleted member 1235]

UGH that things going to be like 6-700 dollars by the time it gets to Aussie/NZ

 

[Lord Error]

The remote and headphones are next to worthless

Headphones are poor, but what's really wrong with remote (or the soft case for that matter - it's just fine)? It's not like you even have an option to get a better remote. It's that one or nothing, and I definitely don't see that one going unused anytime soon, until someone makes a better one. I'm definitely not going to pull out PSP out of a pocket or a bag every time I want to adjust the volume or change the song.

 

[hyp]

way too expensive? you guys make me laugh. many of you not even having touched a psp already make assumptions that its price tag makes it "not worth it." bullshit. find me a consumer electronic device that does everything the psp does and decently priced. get a damn job.

 

[kaching]

Strip away the extras in this package and the PSP by itself would still be worth $250. Sony has sold PDAs for $100-$200 more that either weren't any better or were worse in terms of hardware/technology/design on offer, and those didn't even include the extras that this package does.

With all respect to those of you that simply can't justify its value on a personal level, try not to get that confused with a more objective estimation of its worth.

Name one portable system that has succeeded after a $249 or higher price at launch.

And no, N-Gage does not count.

Could have said the same about the HDD-based MP3 player market prior to iPod. I guess that's why they say there's a first time for everything...

 

[LukeSmith]

But seriously, the real kicker here is the price point of games. $40-50 is too much.

Yeah, I think the software prices are pretty high for the system. Especially when it sounds like the majority of games will be priced at $50. So does Nintendo have anything to worry about? Not from a price perspective, as it has been pointed out, the PSP initially is going to target a narrower audience and one with a bit more disposable income.

I don't know that a game like Metal Gear Ac!d is worth, to me, the same as Snake Eater. Whoever mentioned earlier about the PSP announcement targeting Nintendo less and Microsoft more was probably right on.

 

[Pedigree Chum]

way too expensive? you guys make me laugh. many of you not even having touched a psp already make assumptions that its price tag makes it "not worth it." bullshit. find me a consumer electronic device that does everything the psp does and decently priced. get a damn job.

x2

 

[Hollywood]

With all respect to those of you that simply can't justify its value on a personal level, try not to get that confused with a more objective estimation of its worth.

Well all worth is subjective. It's worth how much a person is willing to pay for it. Hell a grilled cheese sandwich with the image of Mary on is was worth a few ten grand to someone. The PSP to me isn't worth $250, neither is any portable. Not even $150, maybe even $100 honestly. You could say 'well the items included is well worth the $250', well thats you. Just because it costs Sony so much to make doesn't mean thats translated to worth. Hell you could say the NGage is worth $300. It's a phone, it can play online, surf the web, has more featurers than other cell phones of the same price, its own set of game, etc. It's all subjective. And then you cold say the raw materials of plastic, and stuff inside the system isn't worth $10 overall. It's not made of gold or platinum. It all depends on how you determine worth.

 

[DarienA]

You don't need a case? Wow, you're a braver man than I am.

Well while I'm interested in owning a PSP, I'm not at a point in my life where I go alot of places where I would have the thing in my pocket, walking around and such....such is my adult life.

And you have 2 Duo sticks for your Cybershot? I have a 128MB for mine, but it's not a Duo, just a regular pro, so I can't use it and I have to use the one that came with my PSP.

Yeah got them on eBay and they came with the standard size adapter.

Sure, Sony is throwing in these extras to justify the $250 price tag, but they're more than likely still losing money on the thing, so you're not really getting ripped off. And for most people the stuff that comes with the value pack is useful or even essential.

It's all about perception. I'd simply like Sony to have given US gamers the same option they gave Japanese gamers.


Here's a question that I haven't seen asked anywhere or commented on in general.

How much space does the average PSP save take up?

EDIT: Exactly.

 

[xsarien]

It's all about perception. I'd simply like Sony to have given US gamers the same option they gave Japanese gamers.

"Maaaaaaaaaaaaabye you'll get one, maaaaaaaaaaaaaabye you won't?"

 

[J. Horwitz]

Che, with all due respect, your comment is pretty much exactly what I would have expected. On the one hand, someone of your importance (and coordinate people who should be far too busy 'working' to hang out on a discussion forum) shows up on this forum multiple times daily and posts all variety of stuff, but yet you try to underplay the value of GAF as an opinion leader and resource.

I would call it hypocritical and self-serving (you'd obviously prefer that your employer's sites and magazines be the "important" ones), but maybe it's just something else. For whatever reason, you spend a lot of time here, but don't want to admit how great of a forum this is.

Communities such as this one are becoming increasingly important in spreading information and generating sales, hence the presence of all the viral marketers, PR folks, and - yes - journalists here. To suggest that this isn't the case is to deny reality. And to suggest that the voice of a community has no impact on the destiny of a product launch is to deny history.

 

[Speevy]

What some of you just proved is that you don't give a crap about any of the PSP's 8347790743903274974907432 functions. You just want the PS2 on a handheld. And the PS2 on a console is even stretching it at $150.

The device is worth it from a standpoint of what they're giving you. But from the standpoint of the $150 Xbox that comes with a game, a hard drive, 2 months of Xbox Live and a DVD player built-in, you feel ripped off. I understand. Don't blame Sony though. Blame everyone else for pricing everything so low this generation.

 

[J. Horwitz]

And Chris, re: the 'more pro-Sony position,' as you note, the biggest winner after this announcement is Nintendo by a landslide. A $249 price point essentially validates the Nintendo DS to the mass market and leaves Nintendo to do pretty much whatever it wants on pricing for the foreseeable future. Sony has taken a pro-Nintendo position with this price announcement. They've just guaranteed the continuation of the "ghetto", not obsoleted it.

 

[SantaC]

And Chris, re: the 'more pro-Sony position,' as you note, the biggest winner after this announcement is Nintendo by a landslide. A $249 price point essentially validates the Nintendo DS to the mass market and leaves Nintendo to do pretty much whatever it wants on pricing for the foreseeable future. Sony has taken a pro-Nintendo position with this price announcement.

Sony wasn't ready to kill Nintendo?

 

[Drinky Crow]

If this forum was an opinion leader, Nintendo would never have released hardware as cut-rate and archaic as the DS.

 

[Lyte Edge]

So much more those saying it would be $150 or even $199 :lol This is the value pack also.

We need some eat crow quotes.

Er, technically the system still IS $199.99, since the "value pack" items make up the other $50. Regardless, the Japanese PSP price was $200, so anyone saying that certainly had good reason to say it.

The base unit will end up being released for $199.99 as well. Sony would be foolish not to do so.

 

[duderon]

Shit, i really don't want to get this at $250. I can resist ONE hardware launch, right? RIGHT?

 

[Deg]

You are all fools. Sony will lower the price just before Launch like in Japan. Just watch.

The moronic worth it/not worth crap has to stop. We all know which sides you are on :lol

 

[Kobun Heat]

They've just guaranteed the continuation of the "ghetto", not obsoleted it.

Which is bizarre when you think about it, in that they had the chance to really make Nintendo squirm this morning.

 

[SantaC]

Which is bizarre when you think about it, in that they had the chance to really make Nintendo squirm this morning.

Sony must have thought of this. Maybe they thought that Nintendo was still needed in the market? They didn't show same pardon to sega though.

 

[kaching]

Well all worth is subjective.

The fundamental difference between subjective worth and objective worth is that you consider factors outside of your own personal preferences in the latter case to arrive at an estimation of worth, which is what the rest of your rant fails to do, just as many others have in this thread. At the end of the day, there is a bill for materials and services per PSP unit that you aren't going to be able to argue down below a $100 price point right now just because it doesn't happen to represent something you'd pay for. But go ahead, be my guest and replace Ken Kutaragi as PSP czar and try to convince all the involved suppliers to drastically reduce the prices of PSP materials and services they supply on the strength of your argument that "all worth is subjective".

 

[Speevy]

I've always found that "ghetto" statement hilarious, since everything about the PS2, from the reliability of the product to its online service to the way its accessories and games are distributed is so slapped together. That's "ghetto" if you ask me.

 

[Hero]

So who's expecting a PR of sorts within 24 hours from Nintendo announcing 'surprise' DS games in the second week of March?

 

[The End]

-The only real issue I see is that, as has been mentioned a few times already, EB and GameStop will probably put together massive bundle packages that cost upwards of $399.

Hopefully, if you have an in-store pre-order, you'll be able to get out of there with a couple of games and a service plan. It looks like most of the stuff they throw in those crap-ass "starter packs" is going to be included in the Value Pack box.