Friday, February 04, 2005
The 'whores' take
Alright, Tom has been bugging the crap out of me as to why I'm even considering buying a PSP, especially with all the new launch details out. So, my take:
$250 isn't bad. It's a lot of money, especially considering what else can be bought for that much (5 new games, 12.5 copies of Katamari Damacy, etc.), but it's still an amazing deal consider the technology you're paying for. I don't expect anybody who hasn't played the system to understand that, but I think Sony's marketing department, and word of mouth, will take care of that. If you'll remember the release of the original Game Boy, it launched for $169.99 in 1988. I asked my dad how much money that would be today, and without being prompted, he replied "probably about $250". So, there you go. Obviously times have changed, and while I won't try to compare how on the cusp of technology the GB was compared to the PSP, I will say that this is meant for a much more adult audience. That amount of money is pretty inconsequential for anyone paying rent, and that seems to be the case these days for the average gamer (who is 24).
The main reason people are bitching about the price is that it was expected to be a bit less than that after the unit launched optionally by itself for $185 in Japan. But c'mon, everyone is going to buy a memory stick anyways (which has plenty of space for game saves), a case (which will protect it if it's dropped, unlike Tom "I haven't seen the system in person, nevermind played it, but I'll judge everything about it anyways" Mc Shea would have you believe), and a cleaning cloth (which you'll want once you see the magnificent screen). The Spider-Man 2 bonus is nice for those who like awful movies, and the rest of the stuff is pretty much expected. I guess it would be nice to have the option of buying everything separately, but it's not like they're giving you anything you wouldn't end up buying anyways (except the remote).
Saying that the system is "clearly not worth $250", like a certain co-writer of mine, just shows how little you understand about the cost of technology. Making things portable is expensive as hell, as you'll see from the price of laptops, iPods, etc. I can't begin to imagine how large a hit Sony are taking with every system sold; they must really be banking on selling a ton of games. Speaking of games, the launch lineup is pretty spectacular. Not so much for the amount of 'must-buy' games, of which there are only a few, but for the massive number of games available. Seriously, when was the last time a system launch had every genre except traditional RPG covered? People only buy a couple of games at launch anyhow, so it's great to have such a variety to choose from. There are a ton of sports games for those who give a damn about them, some updates to classic fan favorite PS1 franchises (Twisted Metal, Wipeout, Ape Escape), a fighting game, several action games, an action-RPG, and a couple of really cool original games (Lumines, Metal Gear Ac!d, possibly Smartbomb when we find out what the hell it is). No, there aren't any 'killer apps', but compared to most other launches (DS, PS2, GC), this one is pretty great.
The fact that Tom is talking about it competing with Xbox2 pretty much proves my point though - it's more than a simple GBA competitor.
$250 isn't bad. It's a lot of money, especially considering what else can be bought for that much (5 new games, 12.5 copies of Katamari Damacy, etc.), but it's still an amazing deal consider the technology you're paying for. I don't expect anybody who hasn't played the system to understand that, but I think Sony's marketing department, and word of mouth, will take care of that. If you'll remember the release of the original Game Boy, it launched for $169.99 in 1988. I asked my dad how much money that would be today, and without being prompted, he replied "probably about $250". So, there you go. Obviously times have changed, and while I won't try to compare how on the cusp of technology the GB was compared to the PSP, I will say that this is meant for a much more adult audience. That amount of money is pretty inconsequential for anyone paying rent, and that seems to be the case these days for the average gamer (who is 24).
The main reason people are bitching about the price is that it was expected to be a bit less than that after the unit launched optionally by itself for $185 in Japan. But c'mon, everyone is going to buy a memory stick anyways (which has plenty of space for game saves), a case (which will protect it if it's dropped, unlike Tom "I haven't seen the system in person, nevermind played it, but I'll judge everything about it anyways" Mc Shea would have you believe), and a cleaning cloth (which you'll want once you see the magnificent screen). The Spider-Man 2 bonus is nice for those who like awful movies, and the rest of the stuff is pretty much expected. I guess it would be nice to have the option of buying everything separately, but it's not like they're giving you anything you wouldn't end up buying anyways (except the remote).
Saying that the system is "clearly not worth $250", like a certain co-writer of mine, just shows how little you understand about the cost of technology. Making things portable is expensive as hell, as you'll see from the price of laptops, iPods, etc. I can't begin to imagine how large a hit Sony are taking with every system sold; they must really be banking on selling a ton of games. Speaking of games, the launch lineup is pretty spectacular. Not so much for the amount of 'must-buy' games, of which there are only a few, but for the massive number of games available. Seriously, when was the last time a system launch had every genre except traditional RPG covered? People only buy a couple of games at launch anyhow, so it's great to have such a variety to choose from. There are a ton of sports games for those who give a damn about them, some updates to classic fan favorite PS1 franchises (Twisted Metal, Wipeout, Ape Escape), a fighting game, several action games, an action-RPG, and a couple of really cool original games (Lumines, Metal Gear Ac!d, possibly Smartbomb when we find out what the hell it is). No, there aren't any 'killer apps', but compared to most other launches (DS, PS2, GC), this one is pretty great.
The fact that Tom is talking about it competing with Xbox2 pretty much proves my point though - it's more than a simple GBA competitor.
// posted by Nick @ 1:29 PM 
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