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Nintendo PR on psp's new pricepoint
- Thread starter neptunes
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snapty00 said:
You too, eh?
From what I understand, the PSP just happens to play movies since it's so powerful. Kinda like how the GBA can play cartoons. It's got nothing to do with extra features. You can't put a DVD into your PSP and expect it to work, but it can play movies anyhow.
soundwave05
Member
The problem is though if Nintendo continues to lose marketshare that they may damage their IPs.
I don't ever worry about Nintendo making money. I think they structure themselves so well as a business from top to bottom, that there's no issue there.
However you still need *some* access to a userbase to promote your franchises, and its becoming harder to do that because other companies are aggressively wooing away users.
I don't ever worry about Nintendo making money. I think they structure themselves so well as a business from top to bottom, that there's no issue there.
However you still need *some* access to a userbase to promote your franchises, and its becoming harder to do that because other companies are aggressively wooing away users.
Point: Sony's and Microsoft's efforts in the console market and Sony's efforts in the handheld market are showing Nintendo to be out of touch.
Counterpoint: Nintendo is trying to compete against two multi-billion dollar corporations who both have enormous resources and considerable global influence.
Counterpoint: Nintendo is trying to compete against two multi-billion dollar corporations who both have enormous resources and considerable global influence.
and i'm sure that distinction will comfort nintendo as sony eats their lunch. "you know, there were months where we'd outsell them. it's true!"
and i'm not suggesting that nintendo will share sega's fate anytime soon, just that they're making similarly scatterbrained decisions.
and i'm not suggesting that nintendo will share sega's fate anytime soon, just that they're making similarly scatterbrained decisions.
Mr_Furious
Member
"That's not a game machine". One simple quote give me the feeling Nintendo will continue to ignore both the competition and the market as a whole which will ultimately seal it's doom in the hardware biz.
Nintendo's lost a significant portion of today's home market and mindshare yet they continue to express their same old attitude towards the portable market as well.
Nintendo's lost a significant portion of today's home market and mindshare yet they continue to express their same old attitude towards the portable market as well.
soundwave05
Member
I don't think Nintendo has made any scatterbrain decisions with the DS.
The hardware is great and does bring new elements to the fold. When PSP was first announced many people were going crazy at the thought of PSOne level visuals on a handheld.
Nintendo is in touch with the portable market, if they weren't Sony wouldn't be going to such ridiculous lengths as they are now.
I don't think you can blame Nintendo. They've done their job with DS, you can't help it if your competition is willing to sell something that's really a $300-$350 piece of technology for sub-$200 prices.
Sony often times will throw huge amounts of money into ventures that take years and years to be profitable ... sometimes they may never make a profit. Nintendo can't play by those rules.
The hardware is great and does bring new elements to the fold. When PSP was first announced many people were going crazy at the thought of PSOne level visuals on a handheld.
Nintendo is in touch with the portable market, if they weren't Sony wouldn't be going to such ridiculous lengths as they are now.
I don't think you can blame Nintendo. They've done their job with DS, you can't help it if your competition is willing to sell something that's really a $300-$350 piece of technology for sub-$200 prices.
Sony often times will throw huge amounts of money into ventures that take years and years to be profitable ... sometimes they may never make a profit. Nintendo can't play by those rules.
I understand all of this, and it's fair to point out that the PSP isn't *just* a flash based MP3 player. The multiple functions are going to be very attractive to people who might be considering an iPod. Gigs and gigs and gigs of music might be nice, but who knows if people might rather have something that has 1 GB of flash storage and the ability to play movies and games?soundwave05 said:
And you can bet that at some point, Sony is going to release a PSP with internal storage, or very cheap, very large rewritable media, because they want people to use this thing for all of their mobile entertainment, not just games.
as a music\movie player psp will fall flat on its face.
as a game player, well thats yet to be determined, but things arent looking bad for them. HOWEEEEEEEEEEEVER, if initial reports have complaints about the battery life i dont see it being the big bad portable monster everyone else does.
as a game player, well thats yet to be determined, but things arent looking bad for them. HOWEEEEEEEEEEEVER, if initial reports have complaints about the battery life i dont see it being the big bad portable monster everyone else does.
Spiritreaver
Member
AniHawk said:
...and fanboys of a certain PSX RPG...
soundwave05
Member
Well with that first batch of PSPs ... if people do start complaining about sub-4 hour battery life, then yeah, Sony might have hit its own achilles heel.
The battery life *must* hold at 4 hours at least per charge, otherwise it's gonna get ugly even with swappable battery paks.
The battery life *must* hold at 4 hours at least per charge, otherwise it's gonna get ugly even with swappable battery paks.
krypt0nian
Banned
If he's comparing GT4 with Pokemon, Kutaragi is nuts.....unless he doesn't care about sales.
Also I believe GT4 will be on a much more popular console as well.
Also I believe GT4 will be on a much more popular console as well.
explodet said:
Sadly, this is Nintendo's biggest problem. Even if Nintendo did everything right, MS and Sony would still be eating away at them. It's inevitable that their consoles will be niche from now on if they continue in this field. I don't know what's going to happen with the portable market, however. I think people are being premature about Nintendo dying in this area. But It's obvious that Nintendo needs to make a big move before the DS launches. On top of that, they desperately need a killer app. I don't think a revision of Mario 64 will cut it, nor have I seen anything that really could do what Tetris did for the original GB or what Pokemon did for the GB line later on.
Okay, let's assume that PSP comes out and obliterates the DS, and the PS fanboys are correct and Sony dominates the handheld market as well as the home.
How is that better than Sony owning the home industry, and Nintendo owning the handheld arena? You speak of competition, but competition breeds winners and losers. If Nintendo folds, then Sony reigns supreme. Anyone remember the NES days when Nintendo ruled all? Do you really want that to happen again? And don't feed me the bullshit that Sony'll be different because MS still is out there and shit. Xbox and Cube are nothing but flies to Sony saleswise, regardless of being better hardware.
When one company becomes dominant, they'll gouge the users for as much as they possibly can. Microsoft with Windows, Nintendo with the GB line, and eventually Sony will follow suit.
How is that better than Sony owning the home industry, and Nintendo owning the handheld arena? You speak of competition, but competition breeds winners and losers. If Nintendo folds, then Sony reigns supreme. Anyone remember the NES days when Nintendo ruled all? Do you really want that to happen again? And don't feed me the bullshit that Sony'll be different because MS still is out there and shit. Xbox and Cube are nothing but flies to Sony saleswise, regardless of being better hardware.
When one company becomes dominant, they'll gouge the users for as much as they possibly can. Microsoft with Windows, Nintendo with the GB line, and eventually Sony will follow suit.
soundwave05
Member
I think Sony is leading the game hardware industry to being chronically unprofitable, just like Columbia Studios (their movie division) barely cracks a profit every few years.
IF Microsoft is successful making more of a 50/50 or even a 60/40 split, Sony probably will struggle to profit.
Their whole strategy seems to be contigent on being the resounding no.1 market leader and then using that to leverage profit down the line.
If that changes though, then they run out of userbase to leech profit off of later on.
The problem is though Microsoft likewise is going to probably bleed a sh-tload of money on their side too to get any concievable edge they can.
IF Microsoft is successful making more of a 50/50 or even a 60/40 split, Sony probably will struggle to profit.
Their whole strategy seems to be contigent on being the resounding no.1 market leader and then using that to leverage profit down the line.
If that changes though, then they run out of userbase to leech profit off of later on.
The problem is though Microsoft likewise is going to probably bleed a sh-tload of money on their side too to get any concievable edge they can.
krypt0nian
Banned
Speevy said:
While I agree that Sony and (especially) Microsoft are global corporations with billions of dollars, Nintendo has more in the bank than Sony has. Microsoft, obviously, is a different situation.
If Nintendo wanted to burn a little money on DS for a year or so, it could. It chose not to do so. That's fine and dandy, and maybe it'll pay off short-term, but long-term, this will go down as yet another mistake in a long list of mistakes.
If Nintendo wanted to burn a little money on DS for a year or so, it could. It chose not to do so. That's fine and dandy, and maybe it'll pay off short-term, but long-term, this will go down as yet another mistake in a long list of mistakes.
Don't know about that. Of the top requested FAQs, only two games from Nintendo consoles are listed. On top of that, theres twice as many topics on the Playstation 2 split board than on the GameCube and GBA board combined.
Now, if you don't mind, I'll open up a window because obviously someone was talking out of their ass yet again.
soundwave05
Member
Money in the bank I think is pointless to some degree.
Sony operates in a kind of a "liquid cash" state.
When their movie division comes to their head board and says "well, we need another $500 million to keep going, but we promise we'll be profitable in five or six years" ... they get it.
When you hear Kutaragi say the PSP is a "10-year project" you kind of have to chuckle and wonder if that's the sales pitch he used to the Sony board to get them to agree to the financials.
It's different, as Nintendo only has a game division, so they can't say "well lets make our game division unprofitable for a few years and see what happens".
Sony and Microsoft's game divisions are basically like the kids who get to ivy league colleges with their parents paying for everything (including that fancy sports car). Nintendo would be the kid that is fiscally smart but still has to go using his own money.
Sony operates in a kind of a "liquid cash" state.
When their movie division comes to their head board and says "well, we need another $500 million to keep going, but we promise we'll be profitable in five or six years" ... they get it.
When you hear Kutaragi say the PSP is a "10-year project" you kind of have to chuckle and wonder if that's the sales pitch he used to the Sony board to get them to agree to the financials.
It's different, as Nintendo only has a game division, so they can't say "well lets make our game division unprofitable for a few years and see what happens".
Sony and Microsoft's game divisions are basically like the kids who get to ivy league colleges with their parents paying for everything (including that fancy sports car). Nintendo would be the kid that is fiscally smart but still has to go using his own money.
seismologist
Banned
I dont think the price changes anything. The regular Gameboy playing crowd is still gonna go for the DS.
snapty00 said:
Sony just annouced their price, however. We don't know if Nintendo has a lower price planned, so I wouldn't say they aren't prepared to burn the money at this point. A lot can go down before launch, even at this stage.
Also, keep in mind as well that MS and Sony have a vested interest in convergence technology. Both are prepared to spend what it takes to beat the other to the goal, regardless of how much they have in the bank or what Nintendo has to spend.
CrimsonSkies
Member
Nintendo is pretty screwed at that price point.
soundwave05
Member
For Nintendo to sell a product like PSP for $200, they'd probably have to lose upwards of $150/unit for a good while. That's not a "little bit".
Multiply that by the 4 million units of DS' that they're planning to ship prior to March 2005.
I don't know what that would be number wise but I imagine it'd take a nice sized chunk out of their war chest in just a few months.
Multiply that by the 4 million units of DS' that they're planning to ship prior to March 2005.
I don't know what that would be number wise but I imagine it'd take a nice sized chunk out of their war chest in just a few months.
TheGreenGiant
Banned
well, I'm sure Nintendo can lower the pricepoint if they chose to. All this is only because Sony held back on announcing a price til they figured how much they can lose - they did take like 1+ months after TGS to announce the price. I'm interested to see how this will play out;
1) Nintendo price drops
2) Nintendo starts selling first and sells well.. GBA dominance helps DS
3) Fight Fight
either way; I expect the PSP to get foothold now.
1) Nintendo price drops
2) Nintendo starts selling first and sells well.. GBA dominance helps DS
3) Fight Fight
either way; I expect the PSP to get foothold now.
seismologist
Banned
I think $150 is the sweet spot for handheld launch. People dont want to pay more than $100 for a portable game system. The extra $50 isn't too much of a hurdle.
At least that's how I look at it. If Nintendo released one at $200 I'd be having second thoughts. I dont care how good the graphics are.
At least that's how I look at it. If Nintendo released one at $200 I'd be having second thoughts. I dont care how good the graphics are.
DavidDayton said:
The Playstation console brand isn't what it once was. Consumers are finding a better alternative, plain and simple.
The way this year's console race has gone would be the equivalent of the Sega Master System outselling the NES for the entire holiday season of 1988 or something. No console market leader has ever held that lead for more than two consecutive generations to my knowledge, and I expect MS to have the #1 console on the market.
I'm no fortune teller mind you, but the momentum is clearly not in Sony's favor.
Spiritreaver
Member
jenov4 said:
Yeah I agree, don't take them seriously. But for the latter point, I guess FF7:CC news didn't spread.
seismologist
Banned
DarthWufei said:
isn't the DS getting like 6 games from Square before the PSP even gets one?
soundwave05 said:
And not to mention the R&D that took to make the PSP. Sony is far more prepared to put out a product like the PSP IMO. Even if Sony is taking a huge bath, I bet it still cheaper for them to make PSP than it is for Nintendo put out something akin to a portable GC or even DC. Nintendo is outgunned on this front.
nintendo may not have been capable of psp-level hardware, but surely they could've done better than ds. jesus, nintendo: give ati a call. they've done good work for you. but that boat has sailed.
what's the opposite of a "sweet spot?" a "sour spot?" the ds occupies a graphics sour spot. it's powerful enough that most developers will attempt 3d, but it's not powerful enough to do 3d well. ps1-era 3d is just ugly, and i'd as soon never see it again. i don't have the same reaction to 16 bit console games, or even 8 bit console games.
what's the opposite of a "sweet spot?" a "sour spot?" the ds occupies a graphics sour spot. it's powerful enough that most developers will attempt 3d, but it's not powerful enough to do 3d well. ps1-era 3d is just ugly, and i'd as soon never see it again. i don't have the same reaction to 16 bit console games, or even 8 bit console games.
just a silly little question, but what does having billions of dollars sitting in the bank do for you the gamer? microsoft and nintendo both have it, sony doesn't. I just don't think anyone can complain what sony is doing with the psp. neither is doomed but all this sony hate for the psp has me boggled...
soundwave05
Member
We're speaking in terms of the industry here.
thefit said:Waaa!
The PSP price has really riled up nintendo afterall they are trying to look like a more mature game company with the way the have headed in the design of the SP and DS and the low prices so that at the same time be affordable to the younger croud but here comes big bad sony and pops that bubble cuz now you can be a seriouse "mature" gamer even if your not old enought to have a bank account yet!
nintendo is afraid that now people will see things the way they really are and have been for a while.
$149.00
VS
$185.00
lol
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