Worldwide PSP releases for the week of May 11

by Majed Athab { May 11th 2008 at 9:00AM }

The headline to this post should really read "Worldwide PSP great depression," because, honestly, that's where this ship is sailing. Even Mr. Reeves in Europe admits to an exhaustive PSP library. With games still coming forth in nonchalant fashion, it seems we're going to have to prepare for that dreaded 'R' word -- recession. That's one thing us Americans really don't want to hear right now ...

NA Games:

No new releases

EU Games:

No new releases

Asian Games:

Well okay, not everything is going so bad. Japan is in a cheery mood, especially coming off from a gleaming Golden Week. PSP is a hot commodity across the Pacific and they seem to be getting an appropriate amount of software support. We want what they have ... but they can keep Keibatsuu Portable.

Tags: releases

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

strike @ May 11th 2008 9:16AM

Keibatsuu Portable? Thats horse racing. How can you race horses on a psp? Is there a nitro button? :P

Also, Ikuze! Gen-San: Yuuyake Daiku Monogatari, is Carpenters Story, isnt it?

Alien @ May 11th 2008 10:07AM

Well I woukd personally only want Bleach 5 from that list :?

rockeranimefreak @ May 11th 2008 10:50AM

Bleach HTS 5 yay! tag system is gonna be sweet! =) it's like tekken tag all over again but with Bleach characters instead!

pixelator @ May 11th 2008 11:09AM

All the 100K sales in Japan aren't going to mean squat without US and EU developers producing A-level games... And they're not. There's been a sharp decline in big name games on the horizon. In fact, the only one I know of that I'm anticipating is Phantasy Star... Maybe Gran Turismo, if it ever comes out.

I tell ya, we're looking at a dark time for the PSP. Long before last Christmas I saw this coming, and it's turning out to be more dismal than I had expected. US sales will follow this shortage of games straight into the toilet (more so than they are, already, that is).

HEY SONY, if you read these things, you've got to get your 1st and 2nd party devs on board to produce some A-level big-name titles for the PSP, or you're through. With PS3 sales falling far behind the Wii and the PS2 ship sailing into the sunset, you're playing a fool's game by failing to properly support your potential bread winning platform.

Jeremy @ May 11th 2008 5:42PM

A list titles don't sell either. Look at how poorly God of War did. I know it cracked the top ten, but 300,000 in the first month is pathetic for a game that big. It will be lucky if it hits a million before going greatest hits.

Even Sony can't simply write off a lot of money throw into games for the PSP that don't sell.

Zippon @ May 11th 2008 7:12PM

Jeremy hit the nail on the head. PSP owners have basically declared a strike against their own game system, either refusing to buy games or stealing them (piracy). They hope this will "encourage Sony and other developers to produce A-List games". But what these kids don't realize is that a strike can have another consequence--it can put the company out of business. Then the management *AND* the employees lose. That's where the PSP is heading right now. I have no doubt that if every person playing an illegally downloaded game on their PSP paid for it (or even paid HALF of what they should), the PSP would suddenly have tons of developer support.

Saigon @ May 11th 2008 7:55PM

Pspfanboy posted these numbers for piracy a while ago.

God of War: Chains of Olympus - 94,154
Patapon - 112,183
Ratchet & Clank - Size Matters - 197,113
Crush - 48,959
LOCO ROCO - 163,904
Wipeout Pulse - 116,965
Castlevania X Chronicles - 102,354
Metal Gear Solid - Portable Ops (Not Including Plus) - 231,054
Burnout Dominator - 269,486

Ready at Dawn lost at least $4 million to pirates. You can guess the boat load of cash Kojima Productions lost to pirates. Also, keep in mind that these numbers surely have significantly risen since they were posted.

So, Good job pirates. Your pirating has helped scare potential psp devs away, and it has robbed developers of millions of dollars - which has in turn has caused some(I'm guessing most) of them to abandon psp.

pixelator @ May 12th 2008 1:55PM

There have never been any figures that accurately gauge piracy -- And since the GBA had more than its share during its tenure (it was rampant), the argument falls flat. Piracy isn't killing the PSP, Sony is.

Their failure to localize more Japanese games in the USA is the same mistake NEC made with the Turbografx-16 and Neo*Geo with their Pocket Color handheld. Refusal to support the PS store and bring the Japan-only accessories here is another mistake. Finally, Sony has forgotten that proper, carefully targeted advertising works better than the pandering lowest-denominator silliness they have done thus far.

In order for US developers to become interested again, there needs to be more units sold and more sell-through of software. The Japanese pirate at LEAST as much as we do per capita game-system-owner - so why hasn't their PSP market failed as ours has? The answer is, they get more games and more accessories that do cool stuff. You'd never know the PSP is by far their best breadwinner of this gen by the way they treat their US customers.

To say Sony is exempt from trying anymore because of piracy is stupidity incarnate... Such an apologist excuse offered up to such a big corporation (who has demonstrated exceedingly poor judgment with this console gen), we might as well give up and just throw our PSPs in the trash.

Saigon @ May 12th 2008 11:40PM

Having more psp games brought over from Japan isn't going to help if they don't get sell well, which alot of good psp games don't seem to do. Sure, if there was no piracy, then there's still a chance alot of good psp games might still sell like crap. However, for sure sales would in turn increase, and devs would be receiving all the money they deserve. More money being made = more likely a psp game being made.

Say those piracy figures posted are accurate - which I think they are - then Ready at Dawn has lost millions in sales. If I was Ready at Dawn, I would consider Chains of Olympus a financial success, but I would also be disappointed that we lost millions. Who knows, the couple of millions lost could've been what ended motivating RaD to start working on another psp game, and it could've funded development for it.

As for Sony, I agree that they share alot of the blame for psp's problems. I think the best things Sony could do are: 1.) create a unhackable firmware. Although, that seems impossible at this point. 2.) create more good first-party games 3.) try(I don't think they can do much) to get more good Japanese games to other territories 4.) lower psp game prices a little more. 5.) better marketing for games. They need to pressure devs or publishers to advertise their games more. I saw that Chains of Olympus commercial alot, but I don't recall seeing one Crisis Core commercial. It's not like aaa psp games are being released all the time, so why not get the ones we have advertised, instead of always advertising the psp itself. Japans seems to see way more psp game commercials.

The only psp game I'm looking forward to now is Dissidia. That's it, one freakin' game, which might not even come out here next year. lol Wait, that isn't funny.

strike @ May 11th 2008 3:25PM

Sony should port some more games. I dont think that would take to much to port a game, would it?

Sigh, no big games coming out, I hope Sony will put a good game on the ps store this week, maybe FFVII *hint*hint*

cafecito @ May 11th 2008 3:51PM

June should be a better month for US PSP titles... I'm eagerly waiting for Open Tee 2 and Naruto 2. For what this week's worth, Bleach and Hammerin Harry (If that's the Monogatari game) should do for the japanese. Maybe for some of us, if the game's import-friendly...

NukeAssault @ May 11th 2008 3:52PM

Hmm, spose ill be buying HTS5 and maybe the first Fate/Tiger game. Oh and echochrome. =D

richard priest @ May 11th 2008 4:27PM

will you know my naaaaaaammmee...........if i saw you in heaveeeeeennnnnnnnnnn. very depressing isn't it. psp needs more gaaaaaaaaameeeeeeesssssssss. bring us devil may cry and other kick tail games because this drought could mean the psp's downfall.

bryansurvive @ May 11th 2008 5:05PM

ooooor,
metal gear solid, some more grand theft auto, tenchu, or i would love to have shinobi on psp that was a really fun game.
i cant think of more. Resident evil, Devil May Cry, another crappy tony hawk game. id love to see that old school thrasher game back for the ps store.
star wars 3, grand turismo (hint hint), katamari, blahlblahblahblahbalhblahbalhblahblahblahblahblahblahb

Jacksons @ May 11th 2008 6:38PM

Wake me up in June!

bryansurvive @ May 11th 2008 9:06PM

i know pirates destroy psp games. but i think they still make a good amount of money. those downloads can consist of connection failure, double clicks, people who test and buy, and who think they can play without any custom firmware etc.
i understand that idea.
but dont you think that would have slowed the ps2? i remember the ps2 being a lot easier to hack all you needed was a dvd burner a 20 dollar chip. but what do i know i just talk and talk and play my games.

Smokey @ May 11th 2008 10:49PM

Hopefully the various higher ups backing psp is a good sign that this drought isnt the death of the psp. I would be really pissed off if the psp isnt going to recover from this period. And all the pirates out there, FUCK U TOO!

Tim @ May 11th 2008 11:41PM

Nice Photo. Margaret Bourke-White was a great photographer. This image can be found in Margaret Bourke-White: Photographer

Senna @ May 11th 2008 11:57PM

Depressing, yes -- both the lack of releases this week and the pirating statistics. I wish Sony would bring some more Japanese games over; I got my PSP back in February, and I haven't bought any English games yet. Most of the stuff I'm interested in is only out in Japan. I know enough Japanese that an import isn't a total waste, but I prefer to play my RPGs in English.

andwhyisit @ May 12th 2008 12:25AM

Oh and used sales. Just thinking how many game I have that are second hand. Devs are not getting that money, only the stores themselves.

If sony gets all of their earlier titles on the PS Store then they could get some of these used game sales back to the devs and encourage them to make new games.

kip @ May 12th 2008 6:53AM

I didnt buy the PSP for the games.

I wanted the
- GPS
- Video Camera
- On Demand Video/Movies downloading.

I also wanted and installed the Skype, but the headsets are just not my style, lets see a single earpiece design.

How about a bluetooth adapter to snap on the bottom of the unit?

Also a Linux operating system would just send the PSP to the moon.

Kip in Ohio.......

Seph @ May 12th 2008 8:22AM

Why is there no RSS-Wallpaper and RSS-Video feed anymore since february!? I miss it!

rikki @ May 12th 2008 8:28AM

"The headline to this post should really read 'Worldwide PSP great depression,' because, honestly, that's where this ship is sailing."

LOLarious.

Dr Haisook @ May 12th 2008 9:03AM

And so what was all that "10-year-span" talk?!

Dr Haisook @ May 12th 2008 9:20AM

Hmm... so you think piracy is the reason for low sales? I'm not so convinced about that. I think the 'majority' of those who illegally download PSP games are from poorer countries where they're not viewed as profitable markets by Sony, so they're not even targeted by the company and won't cause market loss (e.g. Philippines, Indonesia, India,..etc). PSP games are not available in some countries as well (e.g. Egypt).

The people in developed countries are the one to be blamed for pirating PSP games, because they have the money and PSP games are available everywhere. However, as I said before, I think those people are not so many.

A large part of blame should go to DarkAlex who introduced ISO loading off the memory stick. Although he helped me and thousands of users play their favorite oldskool games on the system, he helped thousands of other people to pirate games.

Piracy, if it's really harmful to Sony, is also to be blamed on Sony itself. They should've added at least ANY type of security to their ISOs. Their games are as open to piracy as is a woman's vagina in honeymoon.

Another reason for the low sales is the price of games. All games should retail for $20 if Sony really wants people to buy.

The PSP catalogue, IMO, is not bad at all. I'd rather buy no games for months than buy crappy games. Look how NDS is flooded with crappy games.

May be the only point I find lacking is Internet Multiplaying. Only a handful of games support this feature though it should've been on EVERY multiplayer-enabled game.

andwhyisit @ May 12th 2008 8:34PM

Dark Alex did it to defeat the horrible loading times that seem to come with the UMD format. He assumed everyone would use it for just that reason. Obviously he had way too much faith in humanity.

TheHuntIsOn @ May 13th 2008 5:27AM

That's the reason why I modded my PSP! No really, it was.

I had a fat PSP and the loading times were horrendous especially in Monster Hunter. Now I've dumped my UMD to memory stick and use 333mhz. The battery life is about the same as before and loading times have been shrunk making it a muuuuch more enjoyable game.

That and PS1 (lol @ Sony for trying to drip feed us our own PS1 games again), Mega Drive and SNES emulators. And Cave Story.

Dr Haisook @ May 13th 2008 5:10PM

I've tried to dump a few games on the mem stick and noticed no considerable difference in loading times nor battery life. I don't know why people stress on those points. I think you FELT a difference only because you were told there WOULD BE one. May be the difference is a couple of seconds, which do not worth all that hassle and exploitation of the system.

bryansurvive @ May 12th 2008 12:21PM

i agree with you seph. i have wireless now and i dont get to use it. thats one of the reason why i wanted it. so when i wake up i could download something from the comfort of my bed.

pixelator @ May 12th 2008 1:59PM

"Their games are as open to piracy as is a woman's vagina in honeymoon."

Quote of the Year.

richard priest @ May 12th 2008 8:20PM

i've figured it out, maybe everyone is holding back their big releases until the god of war psp comes out, and then the drought will end...........hopefully.

TheHuntIsOn @ May 13th 2008 5:24AM

I don't know why I'm saying this here but I'd like some PS2 ports. I never bothered with a PS2 and have no plans to get one (even less chance of my playing PS2 games since the PS3 dropped b/c). I'd love to see a SotC and all them kind of games ported to the PSP. Within limits of course.

For cheap.

pixelator @ May 13th 2008 11:26AM

Sorry, I don't buy the piracy figures as accurate. As others have said, they don't account for aborted downloads, people who tried and then bought games, people who wouldn't have bought the game(s) in the first place and people in non-USA countries. The figures are IMHO next to meaningless.

More imported games cannot possibly hurt - but they can help. The DS owes the majority of its success to oddball imported games, so why can't it work for the PSP? If nothing else, non-AAA imported games provide a diverse selection for people to check out when there's nothing else new to pick from.

Sony apparently cannot create an unhackable firmware with the present configuration. They opened the door with Memory Sticks and allowing executables from it. Think about it. Even the DS, a more 'closed' system, is totally hacked and pirated with flash carts. As was the GBA.

I agree some PSP game prices should be lowered. Games that aren't AAA exclusives should come in under the $30 mark and definitely shouldn't cost more than other platforms.

I've seen Crisis Core commercials. Best ads I've see yet for any PSP game. If they'd done it with any number of other solid PSP games to date, sales would've been better. One of the big problems has been that people don't even KNOW about a lot of these games that were really good like D&D Tactics, Final Fantasy Tactics, Dungeon Siege, Ace Combat, etc.

I definitely agree it's not funny. I think it's really sad. The PSP has had far and away the most potential and the least subsequent realization of any platform since perhaps the Dreamcast... Maybe the Jaguar.

Saigon @ May 13th 2008 2:23AM

I don't know why you dismiss those piracy figures as meaningless. Yes, they may not be close to accurate, but maybe they are. Neither of us can say for certain.

"The DS owes the majority of its success to oddball imported games, so why can't it work for the PSP?"

Psp owners in general don't embrace oddball games. Ex. Brain Age, which was successful on the ds. Do you think it would've been successful on psp? Hell no. I would consider Loco roco an oddball game - and look how poorly it's sales turned out.

Psp owners in general have a different taste in games, compared to ds owners. That's probably due to the fact that both systems are aimed at different demographics.

pixelator @ May 13th 2008 11:54AM

PSP owners would embrace nongames and more creative 'Japanese-ish' games if there were more of that on the platform. People who like those games own a DS because the DS has those games. Get it? You can't expect a demographic to flock to your system without the features that appeal to that demographic - and then add them after they've all bought in.

I agree the general PSP owner has different tastes. For example, I don't find much to enjoy in games like Mario Bros. anymore. I used to, and I appreciate the visuals and so forth, but at my age I just don't feel like hopping over another thousand mushrooms in what amounts to 99% the exact same game I played in the 80's. But just because the DS has an horrendous amount of JUNK licensed garbage and a preponderance of kiddie titles doesn't mean it lacks some gems - nor that the PSP market wouldn't expand were some of those more interesting genres to make it over.

I didn't think Loco Roco did THAT badly. Even so, it takes more than one or two such games to incite demand in an otherwise undeveloped market.

Lastly, I dismiss the piracy figures for the reasons I stated. The numbers show nothing other than on X share method, Y people initiated a download. From any remotely statistical standpoint, here's absolutely no control or followthrough - the data is worthless.

Paul (PSN: heypaul) @ May 13th 2008 3:36PM

Majeb, I should tell you that "exhaustive" and "exhausted" are not synonyms. Just thought you'd like to know, considering, you know, you're a writer and all...

Dr Haisook @ May 13th 2008 4:03PM

Yeah, it makes a total difference!

Saigon @ May 13th 2008 5:09PM

"PSP owners would embrace nongames and more creative 'Japanese-ish' games if there were more of that on the platform."

Agreed. I think alot of people still associate psp with only console type games. That was one of big selling points for me before I bought it. It's too bad there aren't more creative games available, like EchoChrome and Loco Roco. The ds has shown us that there's large audience for creative games.

"I stated. The numbers show nothing other than on X share method, Y people initiated a download."

I don't understand what that means, but I think I know what you trying to tell me. I still disagree with you. lol

Well Pixelator, I think psp may have passed it's prime. If everything is going downhill from now on, at least we can say psp had a good life. Unfortunately, it didn't live up to it's full potential. Hmm, I think I'm being too pessimistic. This may be just a drought in games...a very, very long looking drought.