Sony's Little Situation [Reader Discussion]

Subject: Sony's Little Situation [Reader Discussion] Wed Feb 02, 2011 3:54 am

My first article to help get the Game Informers back on track. Sound off at the comments below!

Very low expectations and pessimistic feelings clouded my mind over the NGP announcement. Afterward, I felt that this may be another popular must-have gadget everyone will eat up...until Sony got to the specs.

Many people, including myself, thought that there was no way Sony could cram all of that hardware into a very sleek package. Boy, did they prove me wrong. However, pricing is a big factor in the NGP's/PSP2's success.

Quad cores, sixaxis, rear touchpad, 3G, and a super high-resolution 5-inch OLED screen will probably put a strain on consumers' wallets and battery life. Sony said they're trying to make this affordable and profitable, but for all we know, this might translate to:

"GIMME MAH 500 DOLLAHS, NAO!!!"

Speaking of battery life, notice that there isn't a removable battery on the NGP. That curvy design may churn out some weird internal battery packs, which could damage the overall life of the system.

Marketing is also a key factor here, as well. With smart phones becoming more and more advanced, Sony needs to come up with a way to position this as an experience phones can't get.

Last but not least, probably the biggest factor working against the device is the Nintendo 3DS. No doubt Nintendo is dead serious with this piece of tech, and if they go down with the 3DS (though, they probably won't), they'll go down kicking and screaming with raging fists like a monkey on fire...something Sony may have to think long and hard about before planning their next Move (did I just give Sony an idea?)

So what do you think? Should the NGP keep a close eye on the 3DS, not sweat since they have nothing to worry about, or will Nintendo give them an uppercut to the sun? Speak your mind, below...

Oh NGP will destroy 3DS. If I can find it, I read an article yesterday that PSP has as many if not more worldwide sales. And Nintendo is failing as of late. Last quarter saw a 46% drop in sales.

Me and anyone I know would much rather have this beast of a machine than some god awful mario kart playing piece of anus. I don't think sony has anything to worry about.

You guys can't forget that it still has competition. We said the same thing about the original PSP with the DS Lite, and it was outsold twofold.

What people like about the 3DS is the fact that a ton of their favorite franchises are available on the device, and they expect it to be pretty good. On a couple side notes, that 46% figure is for both the Wii and DS combined. They have one quarter left, and people are still holding out for the 3DS.

Side note #2: Apparently, that 3-5 hour battery life is for the maximum settings. Turning 3D off alone will kick it to 8 hours minimum.

For some reason, I can't shake the idea of the NGP failing out of my mind. I really want to like it, but it seems as though too many ports, pricing, marketing...all sorts of things aren't going to get it to where it wants to go. I wish I was wrong.

I'm not a big fan of "portable consoles" but I would probably go with whatever Sony is cooking up. I'd prefer action packed, violent games over kid-friendly Nintendo games any day.

Iirc I said that psp sales matched ds.

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