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PSP product concept shortcomings contributing to poor performance
- Thread starter Chittagong
- Start date
Pimpbaa
Slop Inspector
thorsilver said:
The only thing about this statement that one could argue is the controls. There was no comprimises in level design with GTA3 compared to LCS (or even better in some cases), and any hits in story was due to it possibly not having as talented a team as the original team for the GTA games (the only "hits" in story I found in LCS was it not having the original voice actors for some characters). GTA:VCS looks to improve upon on Vice City moreso than what LCS did to GTA3.
Methodis said:
This isn't about the hard sales numbers or the weeks in which PSP outsold the DS though. This thread is about PSP's failures and its very apparent now that the platform is falling behind in a major way, especially in the near total collapse of its software and total collapse of UMD sales.
I guess you have a problem with the word 'humiliation'? You can look up the thesaurus and replace it with a word of your liking. I'm slightly amused by the new 'spin' which made its premiere in this thread about the PSP being a kind of an Xbox. I just really had to laugh at it and then respond to this new theory.
No, it's not Xbox, it's not a success by any measures. Sony has a very strong prescene and as the portable's name imply they're not cracking an entirely new market, but simply expanding in parts of the matket they previously did not have a product in. So the whole notion that Xbox >360 analogy is somehow relevant (nevermind the 360s overall success is highly debatable at this point) is just really funny, and sounds desperate.
Just get over it. Some you love your PSPs and I don't really have a problem with that. I have one as well, its just not getting used. Enjoy your PSPs, have fun with it. Just don't imply that it's anything more than what it is, or in turn, make up all sorts of excuses about why it really is a huge success. It's all about context, and in this case, the pyschological and market impact of the PSP's failure is real. It simply did not perform to the market and the industry's expectations and that has a caused a major rethink in a lot of development circles in how they support Sony and by relation, its primary competitor in many markets, Nintendo.
I agree that PSP is doing okay in hardware sales but game sales are poor. It's about expectations, games and momentum.
When PSP was released, most GAFers(myself included) most of the Gaming Press and arguably SONY (judging by quotes posted here) expected NDS to be crushed within a year.
Innovative software such as Nintendogs & Brain Training and the launch of DS lite have turned the tide in the DS favour despite the the good launch sales of PSP.
The momentum is now with NDS and SONY need to revise their PSP business strategy soon or the PSP sales will continue to drop.
As many other posters have said, PSP has some good games but it needs System selling software that's not available on other consoles.
When PSP was released, most GAFers(myself included) most of the Gaming Press and arguably SONY (judging by quotes posted here) expected NDS to be crushed within a year.
Innovative software such as Nintendogs & Brain Training and the launch of DS lite have turned the tide in the DS favour despite the the good launch sales of PSP.
The momentum is now with NDS and SONY need to revise their PSP business strategy soon or the PSP sales will continue to drop.
As many other posters have said, PSP has some good games but it needs System selling software that's not available on other consoles.
Deku said:
Well since you keep dogding the question of classifying how exactly the PSP is failing, then you're opinions - just like mine - are moot at best. The PSP did not, I REPEAST, did not fail by any means of the word. Outselling the DS in month charts and selling 5+ million units is a failure? Isn't that only a million off from American DS sales? So the DS must be a failure.
Get over yourself.
Yes, because Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops, and Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories, two franchises who sell some of the most games ever, is a total collapse of software, regardless of the software that is still to come.
Oh jolly miss molly, I better get back to my DS edition of Pokemon Blue Mystery Dungeon Challenge League for Matching Service X and claim how the competitor has software collapse.
I'm really surprised that you haven't brought out that PlayStation tomagatchi from like 10 years ago, since you seem to be gasping for these imaginary straws to make any point that you think you conceive in your head even remotely imaginable.
Oblivion said:
When was the step progression of failure automatically success? Is there not some kind of even ground? I wasn't aware that if a system isn't in first place it's a failure. I guess the Xbox 360, the Dreamcast, the GameCube, the DS, the PSP, the PlayStaion 1, the GBA and all other hardware are failures because they're not beating the PS2 in hardware LDT (did I use that right?).
Methodis said:
Honestly, there's really nothing for me to personally get over. I know it sounds witty for you to throw words back at me but it really makes no sense. As someone said in this thread, people need to accept that PSP is great as a 'niche' platform. I guess some of the nerds who grew up in the PS generation are not used to being assosciated with anything niche. You need to 'get over' that psychological complex.
PSP is great for some people, so was the GameGear.
gutter_trash
Banned
well, I will be enjoying near arcade perfection of Street Fighter II, Street Fighter II Champion Edition and Street Fighter II Turbo Hyperfighting next week
and also returning to Vice City,
and Extend a litle extra of everything in two weeks
and also returning to Vice City,
and Extend a litle extra of everything in two weeks
The media aspect of the PSP is horribly executed and the Sony format onaism just made it worse. Not to mentiont he counter intuitive design and the lack of internal memory. Also, it lacked of a proper interface. Seriously. Each time more tactile touchscreens are considered the standard for mobile devices. This is a conversation that I had with my father, who is a VERY technophile guy and was considering buying the PSP:
Father: "one of the things that I like the most about the PSP is its huge screen. It is just beautiful"
Me: Indeed
Father: I wonder why Palm doesn't copy them and starts making PDAs with such a screen.
Me: Er... because it is not a touchscreen. It is just a conventional screen, but a very big one, that is.
Father: ¿¿??
For him the natural and logical control for a multimedia portable device is the touchscreen. Gamepads are not the pinnacle of electronic interfaces, just (perhaps) the pinnacle of gaming interfaces.
That's, my friends, the main problem with it. It is a problem that the Gamecube shared: a company with lack of focus and vision that ultimately ended up creating a badly designed product. It is as if the PSP would have been designed by gaffers or Drinky Crow himself.
"Hmmm, we are gonna enter in the portable market, what should we do?"
"we must make teh pwning console in order to screw up Nintendo, we must do everything bigger and better than them, that will proof how inferior they are, hur, hur".
The PSP looks as if it were designed in order to win an internet fanboy pissing contest (hence the ginormous amount of hype in the SDF squad about how it would trounce the DS and banish Nintendo into oblivion, etc). More power, even if that means higher development costs, bigger screen even if that means to sacrifice portability and battery life, lots of media fuctions even if they weren't properly implemented or confused the consumers, lack of proper interface because you know, interface doesn't means crap since strategy games can be played in a dancepad and ddr can be as fun as played with a mouse, only Wii fanboys gives importance to that and we hate them so much... and the list goes on.
Thing is, they should have just asked theirselves what the hell the consumer wanted, and which consumers would gave them the advantage their competitor instead of "what can we do bigger than Nintendo?".
Father: "one of the things that I like the most about the PSP is its huge screen. It is just beautiful"
Me: Indeed
Father: I wonder why Palm doesn't copy them and starts making PDAs with such a screen.
Me: Er... because it is not a touchscreen. It is just a conventional screen, but a very big one, that is.
Father: ¿¿??
For him the natural and logical control for a multimedia portable device is the touchscreen. Gamepads are not the pinnacle of electronic interfaces, just (perhaps) the pinnacle of gaming interfaces.
That's, my friends, the main problem with it. It is a problem that the Gamecube shared: a company with lack of focus and vision that ultimately ended up creating a badly designed product. It is as if the PSP would have been designed by gaffers or Drinky Crow himself.
"Hmmm, we are gonna enter in the portable market, what should we do?"
"we must make teh pwning console in order to screw up Nintendo, we must do everything bigger and better than them, that will proof how inferior they are, hur, hur".
The PSP looks as if it were designed in order to win an internet fanboy pissing contest (hence the ginormous amount of hype in the SDF squad about how it would trounce the DS and banish Nintendo into oblivion, etc). More power, even if that means higher development costs, bigger screen even if that means to sacrifice portability and battery life, lots of media fuctions even if they weren't properly implemented or confused the consumers, lack of proper interface because you know, interface doesn't means crap since strategy games can be played in a dancepad and ddr can be as fun as played with a mouse, only Wii fanboys gives importance to that and we hate them so much... and the list goes on.
Thing is, they should have just asked theirselves what the hell the consumer wanted, and which consumers would gave them the advantage their competitor instead of "what can we do bigger than Nintendo?".
Deku said:
Accept WHAT facts? The PSP is selling. It's not falling off the map like you and every Nintendo goggle wearing fan seems to think it is. How come the DS can't be a "niche"? All of the games that people seem to praise seem to be "niches" (Phoenix Wright, Ouendan!, Trauma Center). I guess just because a system doesn't sell as much as the DS LDT means it's a niche. I guess that places the Xbox and GameCube as niche for not selling as much as the PlayStation 2.
Methodis said:
Sony had a target, and it seems they fell unbelievably short.
Dunno what the point is mentioning past hardware in your comparison, though since one would decide if they were a failure for that generation. As for GC, Xbox. Well, Nintendo admitted GC was a failure. Xbox, I dunno, depends on how you define it, I guess. Dunno what Microsoft's target was. And finally, DS, well it's selling faster than GBA, and it's life ain't even close to finished yet, so...
cvxfreak said:
But UMD's weren't supposed to be exclusive. Sony over promised and under delivered. But I fail to see how UMD movies failing means a automatic failure for the PSP. Do you write for Joystiq by chance?
Press release. I meant on paper as I don't want someone linking me to a YouTube video of Krazy Kaz saying "Our goal is to beat the competitor."
Anyways i'm logging out for the night, don't own me too hard.
Methodis said:
...
Did you not see the part where I mentioned "software" as well? i.e. games? Cause they're in the shitter, sales wise.
As for the proof about Sony's expectations...
http://arstechnica.com/news/posts/1084383972.html
Is PSP even close to as being popular as the walkman? Doesn't seem to be. And since they're so far off from it, would you call it a success?
Methodis said:
You are just full of excuses, aren't you? :lol
Excuse after excuse after excuse.
No matter what Sony intended (because intentions don't always happen), UMDs are exclusive and are a selling point for the PSP. They are associated by the masses as a PSP product, and until something else plays them, their loss of support can only directly be attributed to the PSP fanbase failing to support them.
That's one sense of the word!
-jinx- said:
You misunderstood. I was referring to your comments in the recent thread on a similar subject matter when you mentioned 'FUD' as one of the culprits of all the PSP negativity.
I didn't participate in that thread, there is no FUD, maybe you just need to accept the facts.
If you love your PSP good for you man. I just find it interesting that all you could say in response to my post was a reference to a movie and a book I haven't read or seen, nor will I ever read or see it even if Sony crams it down my throats in BlueRay.
By your cryptical humourless reference, you mean to say, everything I say is false or that I enjoyed writing about this? I don't even partipicate in these kinds of threads that often. I know it can be intimidating and a bit disorienting in your situation and all the names start to blur and I'm just 'one of them' to you. But please get your facts straight first.
Edit: I enjoy reading the cop out arguments as Methodis is displaying right now. The PSP = Xbox, and any number of fanciful theories also tops my list. Maybe I just have a morbid fascination in human self-denial or the powers of the intelligent mind to rationalize cognitive dissonance.
Oblivion said:
I'm sorry but that isn't what I asked for. I asked for a official Sony document stating that, not some recap of E3 03.
Also game software is doing bad? I can't say as I don't know nor do I care, but last time I checked, MLB 06: The Show was doing good on the charts, and GTA:LCS sold 1 million copies on the PSP alone.
Deku said:
The character he was talking about was Silas, a follower of some kind of religious sect that whipped himself in front of an altar every so often because he genuinely believed good things would happen.
Truth be told that analogy could apply to a shitload of people on gaming forums. :lol
Methodis said:
I don't think the PSP is an outright failure either actually, like Deku believes. This whole time I've only corrected what I found to be wrong with your posts. I find its performance disappointing, but not failing at all. UMD movies and the weakness against the DS contribute to my disappointment with the platform. There are merits to the platform's performance, even if they don't meet people's standards.
Fester Shinetop
Member
The first thing anyone needs to realize when dissecting the performance of the PSP, or any other handheld system, is that a vast majority of gamers don't give a shit about portability. It's a perk or a novelty. It's the coolest thing about a handheld system that you will absolutely get the least amount of use out of. Now for gamers that have some actual need for handheld gaming that goes beyond playing in your bed or on the shitter, whatever their situation is, then none of the following applies to you. But for the rest of us...
The main cluster**** for the PSP has always been the continuing presence of the PS2. The PSP itself is a great piece of technology, but to a gamer, the only real difference between it and a PS2 is one less analog stick and its portability aspect, which is cool, but unnecessary. So what reason would their be for anyone to buy a PSP? The answer, of course, is the games. Unfortunately, the PSP is already logistically ****ed in that department. Let's pretend we're a third party publisher/developer. We have a nice, new concept for a game and we're going to invest millions of dollars in it to bring it to fruition. But what system to put it on? Let's see, we have the PSP and PS2, which are relatively the same save for the second analog and, of course, the 90 MILLION USERBASE GAP! Tough call there. Even if moneyhats were involved to get a certain game to the PSP instead of the PS2, I wouldn't be surprised if they were turned down anyway in favor of the much broader exposure that a game would get on the PS2 (for possible future sequels).
This is the reason why it's hard to find a quality third party game that isn't some sort of iteration of something else available on the PS2, whether it be a port, rehash, spinoff, sequel, semi-sequel, etc. The more a game relies on its PS2 roots, the less risk involved. Unfortunately that means more of the same as far as game content, which is clearly not appealing to a lot gamers.
The only solution to rectify this is for Sony to step in and provide the exclusive, quality software needed to give the PSP an identity other than it being a "portable PS2". Sony is the only company with a vested interest in the success of the PSP. It serves them to invest millions in new content and put it on the PSP. But thus far, Sony has failed miserably in that department. Until Sony shapes up, expect the same kind of content that you've seen thus far for the remainder of the system's life.
Which brings us to price, because some gamers don't mind that the brunt of quality software is based off popular PS2 franchises. What they might mind is dropping $300+ in order to play it. Realistically, at this point, there's not a lot Sony can do with the price to right the ship. Some people here are clamoring for lower priced games, which isn't going to happen. The system already has a problem with third parties not taking any risks with the content they're providing. Asking them to lower their MSRP is probably not going to help that situation. A price drop to the system would help, of course, but to what extent? Realistically the best we could hope for is a new bundle pack for $200. But what good would that really do? The start up cost is still going to be $250+. With the 360 out and the PS3 and Wii coming out in the next month, what exactly is the draw for gamers to spend that kind of money on a PSP instead of using it towards one of the next-gens? I'm afraid for the PSP it's just too little, too late.
As for advertising, the size of the unit, the battery life, etc., all that is trivial. Did it hurt that Sony had dumb commercials with rats talking about cheese? Maybe a little bit. But the fact of the matter is, the PSP is one sexy piece of equipment that basically sells itself. All it takes is one glance and you'd be hard-pressed not to have at least some interest in it. So maybe, as far as marketing is concerned, the biggest mistake Sony made was taking so long getting demo units out to stores. And again, even if Sony were to revamp their marketing campaign, what good is it going to do now that all three next-gens are going to be available in a month's time? That's a pretty tough sell, no matter how good the ad campaign is, particularly since the PSP has no momentum in the market right now.
In short, the PSP was pretty much screwed from the start. The "portable PS2" situation is one that existed well before the PSP was released, and anyone that knew anything about the market could see that was going to happen. The only saving grace was Sony and the content they provided, which might have given the PSP a different identity. But Sony's effort was and is not nearly good enough. So however you want to interpret the situation the PSP is in now, I guarantee you it's only going to get worse. I honestly don't know what some of you think is going to change to make it more successful than it's current state. You have a system which started out strong, but with every month that passes it shows no signs of improvement if not getting progressively worse. Now you have two next-gens launching in a month, taking a lot more potential money away from the PSP, but somehow it's still going to turn things around? It's not happening.
The main cluster**** for the PSP has always been the continuing presence of the PS2. The PSP itself is a great piece of technology, but to a gamer, the only real difference between it and a PS2 is one less analog stick and its portability aspect, which is cool, but unnecessary. So what reason would their be for anyone to buy a PSP? The answer, of course, is the games. Unfortunately, the PSP is already logistically ****ed in that department. Let's pretend we're a third party publisher/developer. We have a nice, new concept for a game and we're going to invest millions of dollars in it to bring it to fruition. But what system to put it on? Let's see, we have the PSP and PS2, which are relatively the same save for the second analog and, of course, the 90 MILLION USERBASE GAP! Tough call there. Even if moneyhats were involved to get a certain game to the PSP instead of the PS2, I wouldn't be surprised if they were turned down anyway in favor of the much broader exposure that a game would get on the PS2 (for possible future sequels).
This is the reason why it's hard to find a quality third party game that isn't some sort of iteration of something else available on the PS2, whether it be a port, rehash, spinoff, sequel, semi-sequel, etc. The more a game relies on its PS2 roots, the less risk involved. Unfortunately that means more of the same as far as game content, which is clearly not appealing to a lot gamers.
The only solution to rectify this is for Sony to step in and provide the exclusive, quality software needed to give the PSP an identity other than it being a "portable PS2". Sony is the only company with a vested interest in the success of the PSP. It serves them to invest millions in new content and put it on the PSP. But thus far, Sony has failed miserably in that department. Until Sony shapes up, expect the same kind of content that you've seen thus far for the remainder of the system's life.
Which brings us to price, because some gamers don't mind that the brunt of quality software is based off popular PS2 franchises. What they might mind is dropping $300+ in order to play it. Realistically, at this point, there's not a lot Sony can do with the price to right the ship. Some people here are clamoring for lower priced games, which isn't going to happen. The system already has a problem with third parties not taking any risks with the content they're providing. Asking them to lower their MSRP is probably not going to help that situation. A price drop to the system would help, of course, but to what extent? Realistically the best we could hope for is a new bundle pack for $200. But what good would that really do? The start up cost is still going to be $250+. With the 360 out and the PS3 and Wii coming out in the next month, what exactly is the draw for gamers to spend that kind of money on a PSP instead of using it towards one of the next-gens? I'm afraid for the PSP it's just too little, too late.
As for advertising, the size of the unit, the battery life, etc., all that is trivial. Did it hurt that Sony had dumb commercials with rats talking about cheese? Maybe a little bit. But the fact of the matter is, the PSP is one sexy piece of equipment that basically sells itself. All it takes is one glance and you'd be hard-pressed not to have at least some interest in it. So maybe, as far as marketing is concerned, the biggest mistake Sony made was taking so long getting demo units out to stores. And again, even if Sony were to revamp their marketing campaign, what good is it going to do now that all three next-gens are going to be available in a month's time? That's a pretty tough sell, no matter how good the ad campaign is, particularly since the PSP has no momentum in the market right now.
In short, the PSP was pretty much screwed from the start. The "portable PS2" situation is one that existed well before the PSP was released, and anyone that knew anything about the market could see that was going to happen. The only saving grace was Sony and the content they provided, which might have given the PSP a different identity. But Sony's effort was and is not nearly good enough. So however you want to interpret the situation the PSP is in now, I guarantee you it's only going to get worse. I honestly don't know what some of you think is going to change to make it more successful than it's current state. You have a system which started out strong, but with every month that passes it shows no signs of improvement if not getting progressively worse. Now you have two next-gens launching in a month, taking a lot more potential money away from the PSP, but somehow it's still going to turn things around? It's not happening.
cvxfreak said:
As a product, it's not an outright 'disaster' of a failure. But if you view the strategic map, it's a major defeat for Sony. That's the key point I'm making and the PSP is a failure in that regard. But more importantly I mention multiple product specific failures which caused Sony's PSP strategy to unravel (UMD movie format failing, problems with product design, marketing, pricing, game library, 3rd party realtions to an extent)
thorsilver
Member
Pimpbaa said:
Whoops... sorry, I should've said 'mission design' in relation to GTA, obviously the level design is identical (or even, as you say, slightly improved) over GTA3. The missions, though, were pretty much poo in my opinion, and the storyline and gameplay features just weren't up to what I'd expect after the console GTA efforts. Multiplayer was a great idea, but never had a chance to play it with anyone. Here's hoping VCS improves on all that stuff.
Anyway, the point still stands: Nintendo doesn't have to worry about such things, because they can just make the same MK tracks/Mario levels/minigame collections as ever regardless of platform. Like I said, a minor advantage perhaps, but an advantage nonetheless.
gutter_trash
Banned
Liberty City Survivor with 3 players = awesomeness
Chittagong:
I agree with some of the things on your list:
Unclear positioning: As you pointed out, Sony seemed to trying to create a "convergence device" that emphasized multimedia as much as gaming. The irony, of course, is that the one thing the PSP is actually good at is playing games! It is hampered as an MP3 and video player by a lack of built-in storage and lack of features compared to its competitors. It also has a poor form factor for a "carry everywhere" type device -- cellphones are similarly handicapped (shitty cameras, difficult interface for email, etc.), but at least they are small. It's not clear at all whether consumers really love all-in-one devices...but it does seem clear that PSP is not resonating with them now.
The other positioning problem has to do with differentiation against other Sony products. As I mentioned in the "why isn't software selling?" thread, the PSP is competing with another Sony product (PS2) which offers similar games and costs less...not a good plan. If the PS2 was off the market, PSP would likely do a lot better.
Multimedia use cases prioritized redundant UMD instead of digital: No argument here.
Digital multimedia use cases executed poorly: Agreed. If Sony was trying to reuse Apple's business model with the iPod, then they should have included a FREE music/video/game/backup management software package that was easy to use. When they finally came up with a mediocre software package, they had the nerve to charge money for it. Stupid, stupid, stupid. (Then again, it also has to be said that almost no one can offer a good solution because of DRM and IP issues. DVD rippers are illegal...even though that's exactly the kind of thing which makes portable video a killer app.)
Weight and size: I somewhat disagree with you here. The DS Lite has almost identical width and depth dimensions to the PSP -- it's only shorter in length by a few centimeters. Quite frankly, I don't think the DS Lite is particularly portable either when compared to a cellphone or iPod -- it's too big to fit comfortably in a pocket.
Perceived fragility: With a screen protector (clear sticker), the PSP is quite durable. The clamshell form factor of the DS Lite (and the GBA SP) might very well have shaped consumer perception, though.
Media choice hindered the main use case - gaming on go: I've been meaning to address this one for a while, so here's my chance. Some games on the PSP have very long load times. The vast majority have reasonable load times (a few seconds), and a few have almost no load times. Oh, by the way, console games have ALL had loading times this generation, so it's not as if the PSP introduced some new annoyance with the UMD. I simply cannot understand why a five-second load time between levels or races or whatever is such a big deal for some people...unless they're exaggerating for fanboy effect. Are they trying to play in 30-second chunks? Do they have such a severe case of ADHD that they can't stand waiting for longer than milliseconds without freaking out? What do these people do when they're watching TV and a commercial comes on? Do they piss themselves if there's a line for the urinal? If there really is some microculture out there so reliant on instant gratification, I think we should stop discussing videogames, put a few of them under glass, and start the scientific studies.
The misleading audience "wow": As a general statement, most consumers don't understand engineering and have unrealistic expectations. All designs represent tradeoffs, but most people don't understand that. They want a cellphone with a tiny size, a huge beautiful screen, Bluetooth...and a massively long battery life. Hey, guess what? The small size of the case restricts battery capacity, and those other features eat power. Likewise, a big, beautiful screen on a PSP means that you can't necessarily have other features that you might want. It's a subject for debate about whether the design trades were chosen well or poorly...but it's axiomatic that trades MUST be made.
A few other factors which weren't on your original list:
Price: Yes, this is a design problem -- cost is one factor to consider in your design trades. The PSP is far more expensive than its competitors, and more expensive than the PS2. Premium products can exist in the marketplace -- Apple, BMW, etc. -- but typically with smaller sales numbers and higher margins per item. That model does not seem to apply well to videogames, where profitability is tied to software sales...which are in turn tied to userbase. I'm not sure what market analysis led Sony to believe that there was a market for a premium-priced handheld, but it seems to have been a poor decision.
Marketing: Worst marketing campaign ever? WAS there a marketing campaign? Fire the whole staff.
Inability to leverage technological advantages: PSP is far more powerful than the DS, and thanks to upgradable firmware and storage media, has the ability to add features even later in its lifespan. Downloadable games, better web browsing, custom soundtracks, infrastructure games...all of these are completely missed opportunities to differentiate themselves in the market. If you're going to drive up the price per unit by including a lot of tech...then you'd better make sure that you're getting every ounce of perceived value out of those items.
I agree with some of the things on your list:
Unclear positioning: As you pointed out, Sony seemed to trying to create a "convergence device" that emphasized multimedia as much as gaming. The irony, of course, is that the one thing the PSP is actually good at is playing games! It is hampered as an MP3 and video player by a lack of built-in storage and lack of features compared to its competitors. It also has a poor form factor for a "carry everywhere" type device -- cellphones are similarly handicapped (shitty cameras, difficult interface for email, etc.), but at least they are small. It's not clear at all whether consumers really love all-in-one devices...but it does seem clear that PSP is not resonating with them now.
The other positioning problem has to do with differentiation against other Sony products. As I mentioned in the "why isn't software selling?" thread, the PSP is competing with another Sony product (PS2) which offers similar games and costs less...not a good plan. If the PS2 was off the market, PSP would likely do a lot better.
Multimedia use cases prioritized redundant UMD instead of digital: No argument here.
Digital multimedia use cases executed poorly: Agreed. If Sony was trying to reuse Apple's business model with the iPod, then they should have included a FREE music/video/game/backup management software package that was easy to use. When they finally came up with a mediocre software package, they had the nerve to charge money for it. Stupid, stupid, stupid. (Then again, it also has to be said that almost no one can offer a good solution because of DRM and IP issues. DVD rippers are illegal...even though that's exactly the kind of thing which makes portable video a killer app.)
Weight and size: I somewhat disagree with you here. The DS Lite has almost identical width and depth dimensions to the PSP -- it's only shorter in length by a few centimeters. Quite frankly, I don't think the DS Lite is particularly portable either when compared to a cellphone or iPod -- it's too big to fit comfortably in a pocket.
Perceived fragility: With a screen protector (clear sticker), the PSP is quite durable. The clamshell form factor of the DS Lite (and the GBA SP) might very well have shaped consumer perception, though.
Media choice hindered the main use case - gaming on go: I've been meaning to address this one for a while, so here's my chance. Some games on the PSP have very long load times. The vast majority have reasonable load times (a few seconds), and a few have almost no load times. Oh, by the way, console games have ALL had loading times this generation, so it's not as if the PSP introduced some new annoyance with the UMD. I simply cannot understand why a five-second load time between levels or races or whatever is such a big deal for some people...unless they're exaggerating for fanboy effect. Are they trying to play in 30-second chunks? Do they have such a severe case of ADHD that they can't stand waiting for longer than milliseconds without freaking out? What do these people do when they're watching TV and a commercial comes on? Do they piss themselves if there's a line for the urinal? If there really is some microculture out there so reliant on instant gratification, I think we should stop discussing videogames, put a few of them under glass, and start the scientific studies.
The misleading audience "wow": As a general statement, most consumers don't understand engineering and have unrealistic expectations. All designs represent tradeoffs, but most people don't understand that. They want a cellphone with a tiny size, a huge beautiful screen, Bluetooth...and a massively long battery life. Hey, guess what? The small size of the case restricts battery capacity, and those other features eat power. Likewise, a big, beautiful screen on a PSP means that you can't necessarily have other features that you might want. It's a subject for debate about whether the design trades were chosen well or poorly...but it's axiomatic that trades MUST be made.
A few other factors which weren't on your original list:
Price: Yes, this is a design problem -- cost is one factor to consider in your design trades. The PSP is far more expensive than its competitors, and more expensive than the PS2. Premium products can exist in the marketplace -- Apple, BMW, etc. -- but typically with smaller sales numbers and higher margins per item. That model does not seem to apply well to videogames, where profitability is tied to software sales...which are in turn tied to userbase. I'm not sure what market analysis led Sony to believe that there was a market for a premium-priced handheld, but it seems to have been a poor decision.
Marketing: Worst marketing campaign ever? WAS there a marketing campaign? Fire the whole staff.
Inability to leverage technological advantages: PSP is far more powerful than the DS, and thanks to upgradable firmware and storage media, has the ability to add features even later in its lifespan. Downloadable games, better web browsing, custom soundtracks, infrastructure games...all of these are completely missed opportunities to differentiate themselves in the market. If you're going to drive up the price per unit by including a lot of tech...then you'd better make sure that you're getting every ounce of perceived value out of those items.