After spending time in Japan recently I will admit that I did see a lot more DS and DSi’s in the hands of gamers of all walks of life then I did the PSP. Not that I didn’t see the PSP live and uncensored, especially in Akibahara, I’m making this observation based on the walking and transit time spent in and out of Tokyo.
That being said, and knowing full well that both District and I bought PSPs as soon as they hit the street, we both enjoyed them for a while until the ‘WOW’ factor slowly died off and morphed into an item I/we only picked up or thought about if there was a trip coming up that involved a long flight/drive. In essence: the PSP did little to hold my attention. So little in fact that I re-gifted my PSP to my little brother as his Christmas present last year: he’s had it at both family dinners since then and is totally getting more use out of it then I ever did. That and I am a firm believer in buying my siblings affection. ^_^
Truth be told while I am and always will be a true-and-through diehard Sony fan, they have been dropping the ball lately. While the PS3 by far has been a much better system to me over the three (yes THREE) Xbox 360 Elites I went through (Red Ring of Death) before replacing it, the portable handheld market has always been Nintendo’s turf and I don’t see that changing any time soon.
Yes, Nintendo is producing games and platforms for ‘kid’ gamers but something Sony forgot is that all the adults who didn’t grow up as gamers will only become gamers if exposed to lower level more relatable games and platforms. The games might not appeal to a hard-core first person shooter gamer or died in the cold war RPG gamer (Tuffie through and through), but they can be picked up by just about anyone (DS/DSi and the Wii) and be figured out and enjoyed with relatively little or no effort.
If you can get a non-gamer to sit down in front of a PS3, Xbox 360, or PSP and figure out both the system and the game play in the same amount of time and enjoyment level and you should probably play the lottery because you’re one lucky SOB. And I’m not talking Little Big Planet here, I’m talking Final Fantasy 10, Heavenly Sword, Gears of War, and Fall out. These games require the skillful hand-eye-controller coordination of a seasoned or slightly seasoned gamer to pick up and enjoy.
Conclusion: I plan to buy a DSi but I’m super excited about the UMD-less PSP2 and will probably buy that as well.
1 comment:
Hmmmmm
After spending time in Japan recently I will admit that I did see a lot more DS and DSi’s in the hands of gamers of all walks of life then I did the PSP. Not that I didn’t see the PSP live and uncensored, especially in Akibahara, I’m making this observation based on the walking and transit time spent in and out of Tokyo.
That being said, and knowing full well that both District and I bought PSPs as soon as they hit the street, we both enjoyed them for a while until the ‘WOW’ factor slowly died off and morphed into an item I/we only picked up or thought about if there was a trip coming up that involved a long flight/drive. In essence: the PSP did little to hold my attention. So little in fact that I re-gifted my PSP to my little brother as his Christmas present last year: he’s had it at both family dinners since then and is totally getting more use out of it then I ever did. That and I am a firm believer in buying my siblings affection. ^_^
Truth be told while I am and always will be a true-and-through diehard Sony fan, they have been dropping the ball lately. While the PS3 by far has been a much better system to me over the three (yes THREE) Xbox 360 Elites I went through (Red Ring of Death) before replacing it, the portable handheld market has always been Nintendo’s turf and I don’t see that changing any time soon.
Yes, Nintendo is producing games and platforms for ‘kid’ gamers but something Sony forgot is that all the adults who didn’t grow up as gamers will only become gamers if exposed to lower level more relatable games and platforms. The games might not appeal to a hard-core first person shooter gamer or died in the cold war RPG gamer (Tuffie through and through), but they can be picked up by just about anyone (DS/DSi and the Wii) and be figured out and enjoyed with relatively little or no effort.
If you can get a non-gamer to sit down in front of a PS3, Xbox 360, or PSP and figure out both the system and the game play in the same amount of time and enjoyment level and you should probably play the lottery because you’re one lucky SOB. And I’m not talking Little Big Planet here, I’m talking Final Fantasy 10, Heavenly Sword, Gears of War, and Fall out. These games require the skillful hand-eye-controller coordination of a seasoned or slightly seasoned gamer to pick up and enjoy.
Conclusion: I plan to buy a DSi but I’m super excited about the UMD-less PSP2 and will probably buy that as well.
o_O
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