Zune & its impact on PSP's identity crisis

by Andrew Yoon { Aug 8th 2006 at 6:15PM }

Rocky Mountain News recently sat down with senior marketing manager and friend John Koller about the current state of the PSP, and how it faces an identity crisis. "We looked at (the PSP)... as a strong portable game system with multifunctional limbs... It's still a gaming system at its heart." The article notes that Sony wanted to highlight the games of the system first and foremost, and with an excellent library of launch games, the gaming critics and community at large embraced the handheld.

However, with a lack of consistent high-profile original games for the system, many PSP users demanded the media functions of the system to be up to snuff. With the failure of UMDs, and cumbersome media restrictions, the PSP has failed to reinvent itself as a defining media platform as well: "The PSP consumer has turned out to be a different consumer in many ways than what we have targeted," Koller admits. By focusing on firmware upgrades, the upcoming GPS and camera peripherals, Sony has a chance to redefine itself. Some other highlights of the article include:

As mentioned before, Sony is working on a DRM that can deliver video and music to the system. They are considering how to deliver content, whether it be through Connect, or even a third-party service.
"Future iterations of the PSP are likely, Koller said, but Sony is counting on the current version to be around for 10 years, much like their consoles. Sony typically releases a new console about every five years, while continuing to support previous models for another five years."
While Nintendo will be Sony's direct competitor, Microsoft's upcoming Zune appears to worry Sony. "I am assuming, we are assuming, that the Zune will eventually have game play," Koller predicts. He expects Zune to have "a huge impact" on the industry.

[Thanks steve, Via Kotaku]

Tags: drm, identity crisis, IdentityCrisis, john koller, JohnKoller, koller, lifespan, media, multimedia, rocky mountain news, RockyMountainNews, zune

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

pixelator @ Aug 8th 2006 7:36PM

Sony saying they expect the PSP to be around 'for ten years' just means we'll see it evolve into other forms, like the DS went to the DS Lite, or how the Gameboy became the Gameboy Color and then Advance. It means almost nothing other than they intend to use the Playstation Portable name and PERHAPS maintain some continuity with current UMD games. The iPOD certainly hasn't stayed the same over the last few years...

I'll buy into the Zune being a competitive game device in this market when I see it. Until then, it's just theory and conjecture.

I don't think any system, including the DS, can lay claim to the 'consistent original high quality title' award, except maybe the GBA in its later years.

The referenced article seems rather unfamiliar with the market and even the history of the PSP. I don't recall a huge push to market this as a multimedia device first and then a shift to gaming emphasis... And Hirai wasn't the one who really introduced the thing, and it wasn't revealed to the USA as late as early 2005. In fact, there was a lot of buzz from SCE even before E3 2004 when I saw the thing for the first time in the 'flesh'.

It seems the media is just falling over itself these days to say the various abilities of the PSP are its 'vulnerable flanks' as this writer implies. In reality, while the PSP may not out-iPOD the iPOD or surf the web as effectively as a laptop, it still benefits from having these expanded features and Sony IS delivering on augments, like audio/video RSS feeds, the web browser itself.

Room for improvement? Check. Better games with more coming? Check. Need for a comprehensive single online media download site? Check. 'Identity Crisis'? Not really.

Citizen Sane @ Aug 9th 2006 2:33AM

What??? Let me guess "pixelator,"... you sound like you work for Sony.

The PSP is a glaring example of another of Sony's misguided attempts at trying to be everything to everybody, but only on their own terms, of course. The system iself is fundamentally flawed as a console game system. First and foremost, ever notice that a majority of PSP games get mediocre to bad reviews for control and camera problems? I submit that the control problems aren't in the games, but in the system. The range of motion from that lame little "analog" nub is incredibly limited and minimize the critical need for subtle and variable movement capabilities that are crucial for an effective 3D gaming experience. And don't even get me started on the blatant need for a second "analog" nub.

How often does it need to be mentioned about that tiny battery and the painfully energy-draining and slow UMD drive. What does Sony do with this inept choice of media interface, it attempts to gloss over it with a multi-media agenda and then gauging their propective audience with a minimum $20.00 price tag per title. Now that all of the firmware is continually cracked, homebrew as well as indiscriminate uploading of content is now (thankfully) killing that scam.

I cant begin to count the serious and casual gamers I've heard bemoaning their $200.00 Sony paperweights. After investing well over $1000.00 into this "albatross" over the last 18 months, this casual gamer is now one of the many who are gladly dumping it in favor of the much more agile, affordable and addictive DS Lite.

Once again, Sony is arrogantly treating their loyal fanbase like stupid cash-cows and feeding them ill-conceived and over-priced product and getting away with it with slick marketing and false promises. It Sony expects to milk 10 years out of the PSP, they need to reinvent the product and get much more quality content on the fast track to release and at a reasonable price. If the PS3 is being driven down a similarly flawed path, Sony may have some painful times ahead.

I,Robot @ Aug 9th 2006 5:56AM

There are SO many statements wrong in this article, I don’t even KNOW where to begin? The “PSP is a gaming system at its heart”? Is he kidding? Is “Senior Marketing Manager”, just another word for STUPID?! The PSP is only a gaming system, WHEN IT HAS GAMES TO GO WITH IT!!!!!

Um… two. Gamers NEVER “demanded media functions”, that was all Sony’s idea. That stuff is nice, but not the original reason that I foolishly bought a PSP. See, my iPod does all that, and so does my phone. So you guys are several years too late on that aspect.

And I certainly NEVER asked for those ridiculously, over priced UMD movies, and memory stick duo bluh, bluh, bluh, over larger capacity Compact Flash or SD cards. You guys must have been smoking-up in the office the day you came up with that dumb-ass idea. Did you actually think that was going to fly, with a bunch of broke gamers and hacker? Who in the hell did you think was going to buy a PSP – Donald Trumph? GPS and camera peripherals? Get real! All you’re doing is dancing around the 500-pound gorilla in the room. Which is why Nintendo is wiping the floor with you.

As for the “current version of the PSP being around for 10 years”… Whatever. I’ll give you 2 years past Christmas of 2006, (and that’s being generous). That’s about the time when the “die-hard fanboys” will get bored with this locked down PSP, and move on to a better system, that’s open to development, by a company that actually welcomes them. Fanboys are fickle.

As for Sony’s famous “DRM’s”… Well… That’s just too easy!! So, let me help you out by telling you to LISTEN, to what your CUSTOMERS ARE SAYING TO YOU!!!!

If the PSP is having an identity crisis, it’s your own damn fault! Every time someone invents code that makes the PSP’s software more user friendly, Sony immediately make a firmware update that disables it. And you’ve done this consistently, like a bunch of idiots! We’ve told you time and time again – OPEN the damn thing up so we can REALLY make something cool out of the PSP, work with us. But NO… you had to have your own way. You've made your bed… Live with it.

Now, your customers are at a point where, WE ARE TIRED OF YOUR SH_T! I know for damn sure, that I will NEVER buy ANOTHER SONY PRODUCT AGAIN!!

dc @ Aug 9th 2006 10:14AM

Right on!

Traded my PSP for a DS Lite.
Cancelled my Sony Card (what's the point if there's nothing worth purchasing with the points).

Can't think of a single Sony item I own anymore.
TV is Panasonic (Matsushita), Receiver is JVC (Matsushita), Speakers are Onkyo, DVD player is Philips...

Oh wait... I still have a PS2. And as for the PS3? Yeah right... X-Box 360 on hand and looking forward to the WIIIIIIIIII!

Hey I loved how you used the Identity Crisis comic, I've been reading more Marvel recently (Civil War), 52 isn't grabbing my interest.

ninja @ Aug 9th 2006 11:29AM

Damn, so many Sony haters on a PSP fanboy site... kind of funny, don't you think?

Every one keeps crying about lack of games, broken promises with the PSP. I will admit, the start was SLOW coming with fun games. Original, they are limited yes, but not having any fun games? I beg to differ. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion and so without further ado, here is mine:

The PSP was very pricey at first release along with the accessories. If I had waited to purchase one till now, I would have been much happier knowing of an already nice library of games to select from along with the cheap(er) memory sticks. I knew of this when I first bought my PSP 1 year ago. But I wanted my portable entertainment system.

I go EVERYWHERE with my PSP. I play games, listen to music in the car, at friends houses, my house, work, everywhere with my PSP. When I travel, I have my favorite movies right by my side. Makes those plane, train and bus trips much more entertaining. Battery life could always be better, but my PSP lasts longer than my cell phone. I have backup batteries and charge my PSP every night, I have only had my PSP fully die on me a couple times. Best part, each of those times, I was home and all I had to do was plug it in, wait 3-5 minutes and I could start off right were I last left it. Something really nice about the 'resume' feature.

People all seem to forget that Sony has a history of slow starts. These people must be part of the younger group who were not around to experience the changes Sony brought to the industry and the enormous library of games. Either that, they smoked too much pot and killed those brain cells.

Name one system Sony had a quick take off with? Give me just one? Exactly.

The Sony network is almost ready, PSone emulation is around the corner. I have the ability to play my PSone games on the go - all I need is a wireless connection to download and save it (hopefully I can find a Starbucks, mall or public library - or go looking for hot spots). "But what about the storage? You'll only be able to save so many at a time!" Yes, this is true, thankfully Sony is employing a policy; "Pay once, download as many times as you want."

Along with the added PSone support we have more games coming are way. People have been crying "NO MORE PORTS" and the developers have responded. We are getting our first 3D copy of Metal Gear, Tekken, Socom FTB, Field Commander, a large dose of sports games from EA, some promised titles from Sega, a new FF7 RPG from Square Enix and other RPG titles as well.

I don't know about other gamers, but those games are fun to me. Best part, the PSP can actually do 3D games, unlike the DS. Yes, the DS does 2D games well but seems to stager on 3D. I've played Metroid on the DS... I seriously have a difficult time telling bodies from the background. Maybe I'm just spoiled. I for one not only want fun games, but I want a game that is easy on the eyes. One that won't give me a headache for staring at the pixilated screen too long.

Either way, DS and PSP are both here for a while. Until Nintendo can get their graphics up to par, I don't see myself donating and funds their way.

ninja @ Aug 9th 2006 11:35AM

One more thought:

PSP games are harder to develop than DS games - thus longer development cycles. Except when devs decide to port games to the PSP - since it's so easy and cheap. DS is not suffering from this cause it is too weak of a device to port console games.

The games are coming - just depends on what kind / style you prefer. :)

zune @ Aug 9th 2006 3:22PM

The zune gaming version will be released as soon as Feb 2007 and the HDD feature will definitely give it an edge.

pixelator @ Aug 9th 2006 6:33PM

"you sound like you work for Sony"

Anyone who sticks up for Sony in any way, shape or form anymore is now 'working for Sony' or a 'Shill'. That's fine, I couldn't care less what some random hater on a blog thinks. If you want to demonize a company, go right ahead - but Nintendo and other co's are no angels, either.

"ever notice that a majority of PSP games get mediocre to bad reviews for control and camera problems?"

No, because the majority of PSP games get good reviews. Check Gamerankings and Metacritic - the overall average PSP score is higher than the DS, it has more games that rate 8.0/80%+ AND it has more games in total. Sure, there are some games with control and cam issues, as there are on the DS. Can you say Mario 64? Rayman 64? The ridiculous forced-stylus-inclusion in Castlevania? How about the recent article talking about people with mid to large hands cramping and hurting when playing the DS?

"The range of motion from that lame little "analog" nub is incredibly limited"

You don't own a PSP, do you?

"tiny battery and the painfully energy-draining and slow UMD drive."

You REALLY don't own a PSP. Mine gets 7+ hours with the extended batt, and got 5.5-6.5 on the old battery. That's about what the DS Lite gets on high brightness. There are UMD games that load quickly, and some that don't. Same with any disc based system.

"gauging their propective audience with a minimum $20.00 price tag per title."

$20 is a lot for a game? Wait - you mean movie? Then you're wrong - the lower priced UMD films have been $14.99.

"I cant begin to count the serious and casual gamers I've heard bemoaning their $200.00 Sony paperweights."

You're obviously such an unbiased census.

"After investing well over $1000.00 into this "albatross" over the last 18 months, this casual gamer is now one of the many who are gladly dumping it in favor of the much more agile, affordable and addictive DS Lite."

What a conglomerate of concentrated bullshit. First off, at $199 for the system, any 'casual' with about five games will pay $400. Your $1000 implies a library of 20 or more games, using a high-ish $40 average (many games are launching at $19 or $29)--Not what I'd call 'casual'. Second, the fanboyishly loving terms you lavish the DS with strongly indicate DS fanaticism. WTF does "agile" mean in this context? As for 'many' you cite as 'dumping the PSP and getting a DS', please provide some some real data other than your own tainted conjecture.

"slick marketing and false promises"

OK, DS Fanboy, which promises that Sony made were false? Really, I'm a vocal critic of many of Sony's practices, but you're targeting all the wrong topics, dude. As far as what the thing was intended to be, it is. Lots of good games, ongoing improving library... The only two things I think it still really lacks is an iTunes-like site run by Sony (there's always others out there like Guba with preformatted TV and movie content) and a decent keyboard accesswory, although they never explicitly PROMISED the keyboard.

Damn, what a hypocrite. You actually advocate piracy in response to Sony's 'scam' of charging $20 for a movie (game?) when they don't even set the studio pricing and then call me a Sony employee for posting a decidedly middle-road response while you proceed to jizz all over the DS.

Tell you what, whiners and Nintendo fanboys pretending they have or had a PSP... Playing Burnout Legends multiplayer with two or three of my PSP owning friends (of which I have six - none own a DS) ranks in the top gaming experiences of my life. Nothing on the DS even compares, not even Mario Kart. Been there, done that. And yes, I actually do own a DS.

pixelator @ Aug 9th 2006 6:34PM

I Robot: Apple uses DRM with iTunes and the iPOD. This isn't a Sony invention.

I,Robot @ Aug 9th 2006 9:39PM

@Ninja, dude… you CLEARLY work for Sony. Your style of writing comes across like a sales brochure for Oldsmobile. You’re not fooling anybody “The Sony network is almost ready", "Until Nintendo can get their graphics up to par”? – Busted! This completely changes everything I was going to say.

So, you want to get on a blog site and pretend to be a gamer – than act like one. This isn’t some marketing meeting where you have to “carefully choose your words” and then say absolutely NOTHING at all. Shut-up, stop arguing and listen to what we, your customers, have to say.

You see, beauty of a blog site is that you really don’t know who you’re ACTULLY talking too? Do you? Male/Female, Black/White, 18/40 year olds. So your “pot smoking” stereotypes references about gamers only shows, just HOW out of touch you are with your target market. Completely proving every point I made earlier, about Sony being arrogant and out of touch with it’s consumer base.

Now… you come to Engadget-PSPfanboy – with your little article, trying to “Rap” with today’s youth, about subject, that you know NOTHING about, and are unwilling to seek out another opinion, that's different from yours, on the off chance that you MIGHT BE WRONG! Is that how a grown man, deals in business? Or is that how a 3 year old acts on the playground?

Talk to people! Find out what they ACTUALLY want, don't assume. Do your job! I don’t mean set-up, some perfectly organized marketing focus group or asking your buddies at the country club. I mean try going outside of your social circle and talking to bums, kids, and grandmothers. Goto the mall and talk to teenage girls on “hello kitty” cell phones, and the Boys chatting-up teenage girls on cell phones. Talk to Black guys downtown, and Spanish women, walk your ass into Chinatown and listen to what they have to say about business. Whatever just get out of the f_cking office, and acknowledge the world outside of your Lexus, when you pass them by on the way to work everyday. These are the people that you sell products too.

It’s up to you? You are NOT a gamer, and you NEVER will be, and “Smack talk” doesn’t sell game consoles. Remember that when you’re looking for work in a couple of years, because you were too arrogant or stupid to change with the times, and overpaid executives always go first.

Oh… good luck with the PS3 at $600 dollars. Let me know how that works out?

I,Robot @ Aug 9th 2006 9:53PM

Get bent “pixelator”! I get my music from the Russians, like everybody else on engadget. I just got finished writing a diatribe to this Sony Marketing douche-bag, so bring it.

Just because I don’t lick Sony’s ass everyday, doesn’t make me some kind of deranged Nintendo fanboy. I also own a PS2, which I love and play constantly (a DVD player and old ass VCR). Now, If you chose to bend over and take it from them… after EVERYTHING that’s happened (just in this past year), than that’s on you for being stupid, and clearly easy!

I,Robot @ Aug 9th 2006 10:05PM

Sorry “pixelator” – thought you were starting in… Yes, I know DRM is on iTunes, which is why I don’t use their music. However, iTunes DRM’s never blow-up anybody’s computer, leaving it open to every virus in the world, and making it on the news.

Every company makes promises, but Sony’s track record has NOT been good. Which is my OVERALL point. Why else would this marketing jerk ass come on engadget, basically begging for attention of the PSP? He knows sales have been bad, or he wouldn’t bother.

Psycho Joe @ Aug 12th 2006 2:48AM

Do I own a PSP: Yes.
Have I played a DS: Oh yeah.
Which do I prefer: PSP as it has a more mature library of games.
Does my PSP have an Identity Crisis: yes, it wonders why it has to be compared to the POS that is the DS.
DS Fanboys: Suck it! F*$K THE WIIIII!!!!!