BusinessWeek: Apple may soon be "a Mobile Gaming Force"
Be afraid, be very afraid. That’s BusinessWeek talking to Sony and Nintendo. The business publication just boldly predicted that Apple, through its iPhone and Touch, will soon be “a mobile gaming force.”
The report looks at how Apple’s gadgets can directly compete with the same market of the PSP and DS considering the availability of games and pricing.
According to BusinessWeek, although the iPhone is primarily a… erm… phone, it being a gaming platform is not so hard to imagine. The iTunes’ participation in the whole thing makes it more easier, seeing as there are more games on it than those lined up for both the DS and PSP combined.
Currently, it’s looking like the iTunes App Store already hosts about 1,500 games, and no, they’re not just all Solitaires in many variations. Meanwhile, the PSP has got about 300 titles, while the DS has 600.
Apart from that, Apple is projected to easily sell more or less 40 million devices every year that accommodates games. If we are to look at Nintendo’s numbers, selling 42 million in the last 18 months, then we can see how Apple can easily outrun Ninty if they be inclined to do so.
True that the gaming function of Apple’s gadgets is a secondary one. But that’s just it, imagine what more it can do were it to focus on gaming as its primary function.
All in all, the BusinessWeek report is saying that both Nintendo and Sony shouldn’t be resting on their laurels in the handheld market. There’s a new guy in town and he’s bound to ruffle some feathers.
So to Sony and Nintendo, stop saying you’re not worried about iPhone. Because if BW is right, then it seems like you have every reason to be. Now that the holidays are coming, that would be a good time to see how close the numbers really are.
For the full report, click on the source link below.
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Sony’s Mark Levitan: Product functionalities will set them apart; 2009 is PSP’s year (again)
Sony Marketing and Public Relations Manager Mark Levitan sat down with Here New Brunswick to talk about their game plan for their consoles, the PlayStation 3 and the PlayStation Portable.
On the PS3 front, Levitan confessed that they have realized they can no longer rely on third party publishers. If they want their console offerings to be a cut above the rest, then they’ll have to focus more on creating original IPs. Not that third-party publishers don’t deliver, but it’s just that they can’t be depended on for exclusives.
As we’ve seen in the last couple of years, you can’t really depend on third party for exclusives anymore. Fallout 3 is an awesome game and it’s going to be awesome on the PS3 but I know it’s on the Xbox 360 as well. So is Call of Duty: World at War and other titles.
Indeed, they do find that their own products are what set them apart from their competitors. “We look at some of the franchises we have now like Gran Turismo, God of War, and Resistance - those are amazing franchises that are among, in my opinion, the best in the industry,” he furthers.
So given that it’s been proven that their own games can stand on their own, what will then be the clincher for this console race? According to him, it’s the price. But more than the price tag, consumers will also have to look at the functionality. That is why despite the numerous successful moves at price cuts of Microsoft, they’re not budging.
Functionality is kind of hand in hand with price - you have to say to yourself, if you’ve bought an HDTV, 1080p resolution is important to you so maybe you want a Blu-ray player. If that’s something you’re considering, then obviously you’re going to pick a PS3. You can go to any chain store and pick up a Blu-ray player for an extra 100 bucks, you can get a PS3.
… I think that funcionality will separate us from our competition.
Looking forward, Levitan says that “it is not a mistake by any means to buy a PSP now.” There are a lot of strong titles just waiting in the wings, and they’re sure to be big hits. MAG (Massive Action Game) is one such title, for example, as well as Infamous. Of course, there’s Resistance: Retribution slated to come out February of next year.
In that note, he reiterates the claim that 2009 is going to be the year of the PSP. Hearing that, I cannot help but be reminded of John Koller’s exact same claims just last month, particularly on how PSP’s software decline will be reversed by 2009. In fact, he’s been saying that for two years now. He also said the same thing back in 2007, claiming that 2007is the year of the PSP.
Not that I’m playing devil’s advocate here, but hopefully, things will turn ’round for the PSP, so that their claims that every year is the PSP’s year won’t just be claims but actual fact.
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Eternity’s Child creator: DS, iPhone can coexist; PSP’s days may be numbered
Eternity’s Child creator Luc Bernard speaks his mind about the current status of the portable market. See, there’s the new PSP-3000 coming out, and then there’s the DSi too. The iPhone’s also starting to look like a worthy adversary in the portable gaming market, what with its App Store and all - so now, where does the whole industry stand?
Satoru Iwata already gave his thoughts on the subject matter - that they’re not after iPhone’s market share. And who can forget? Even John Koller had a thing to say about the current competition - that the DSi may be successful, but will remain for kiddies under 12.
So now, will anyone else give their own two cents? No, duh. Of course someone will pipe in!
In an interview with Pocket Gamer, Luc Bernad compares what game development is like for all three platforms. Now I know some of you may or may not agree with some of his points, but just note that these come from his side of things as a developer for the games. These are his opinions from the way he sees things in the portable market.
Pocket Gamer: What tempted you into producing games for the iPhone?
Luc Bernard: When I first picked up the iPhone and played around with it I was struck by just how beautiful a piece of hardware it was. I really love it and I like the fact that you can also carry the games over to the iPod touch, so it’s effectively two formats. I don’t see it as a rival for the DS so much but I think the PSP’s days may be numbered.
What benefits do you see in producing games for the iPhone as opposed to say, the DS or PSP?
To be honest there are no benefits compared to the DS - now the DSi has a ‘DS Ware’ store on the way it’s pretty much the final piece of the puzzle for Nintendo, but the iPhone is without a doubt the best phone to make games for. I believe the DS and iPhone can coexist in the portable market, but like I said I’m not so sure about the PSP’s chances.
You can read up on the rest of the interview through the Via link below. He talks more about his future games - Eternity’s Child (and its sequel), Defend Mechopolis, and an unnamed RPG (supposedly for the iPhone).
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Sony’s Koller: DSi may be successful, will remain for kiddies under 12
Sony brand manager for the PSP, John Koller, recently spoke his mind about Nintendo’s new DS upgrade: the DSi.
Gizmodo was able to ask Koller about his reaction to the DSi, and as it turns out, he does have some positive remarks (but at the same time still somehow manages to take a potshot at the DS’ “12 and under” demographic). Here’s the full quote:
Nintendo has kind of a history of these [moderate] kinds of updates, and even with DS Lite, there was a lot of discussion, “Is that enough?” And they seemed to do pretty well there.
I can see the DSi being successful. The DS lite was obviously very successful. Will DSi do well with [the DS's] demographic? It probably will. Will it be a product that expands their user base [beyond] under 12? I’m not sure.
While no one can argue with that (well, it’s his opinion, anyways - everyone’s entitled to their own), it’s interesting to hear him talk of “moderate kinds of updates” in the DS lifespan. Can anyone dare say the same thing of the PSP? Anyone? None? After all, when the PSP-3000 was announced, I heard comments that went something like “brighter screen, microphone, that’s it?!”
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PSP-3000 preview reveals battery life, Firmware 4.20 details, more
The lucky folks at Eurogamer got to lay their hands on a PSP-3000 and shared their thoughts on it with the unlucky ones.
Their review talks on the 3000’s much-touted bright screen, the everyone-thought-was-shorter-but-isn’t battery life, and even some details on Firmware 4.20.
Everyone first thought that the new screen took off 20 to 30 minutes in the battery life, but it was later revealed that power consumption was reduced in other components, which evens up the score.
Eurogamer confirms this, saying that they got “the same five and a half hours we’ve come to expect playing games.” Speaking of the battery, they also mention that the 3000 has a “smarter AC adapter unit,” which exchanges the black box with just a “small, direct cable.”
Firmware 4.20 holds several major changes for the new unit. First of all, they talked about the new “wide” setting for the “color space,” which Sony revealed earlier was an option to fully exploit the 3000’s hardware.
[...] The new PSP’s battery-powered third brightness level outshines the mains-powered fourth on its predecessor. If you flick the “Color space” option back to Normal, meanwhile, the colouring reverts to something closer to, though still brighter than, the PSP-2000.
Last month Sony also revealed the 3000’s Automatic USB connection, which switches the unit to USB mode automatically when you hook it up. Eurogamer confirms that this feature will not interrupt gameplay.
Finally for FW4.20, the 3000 now allows you to play games on a TV with a special adapter and composite cable, whereas TV output for gaming on the Slim can only be achieved with component video and D-Terminal cables.
For Eurogamer’s complete review, follow the source link below.
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Rumor alert: all PSP games in 2009 will be available as downloads, more
So apparently the Kojima FPS and DMC-style Strider game weren’t the only rumors in EGM’s latest issue. NeoGAF member SuperSonic1305 let us in on a few more rumors, including one that could have quite an effect on PSP gaming.
Perhaps the biggest rumor is that all of the PSP games that will be released next year will also be made available as downloads. That’s official downloads, not Torrents. While publishers can probably save a lot of money by going digital, I don’t think they’re willing to give up physical discs this soon. It might be part of Sony’s plans to ramp up PSP sales, though.
Here’s a list of the other rumors in the latest EGM:
- Lucas Arts handing Rogue Squadron rights to new publisher. All games released on one Wii disk with enhanced visuals and Wii controls
- Fast domestic release of the Disgaea side scroller
- non-Sony property LittleBigPlanet DLC coming very soon including Disney and characters from 3rd party games
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Sony’s Koller ignores holiday 2008, promises better 2009
Filed under: News
“I think going into next year we’re going to see significant growth. We’re counseling retail to be ready for it. We have a number of very strong franchise games on the docket that will be launching next year,” John Koller responded to Edge’s troubling report on the decline of PSP software. “We haven’t gone public with those, and many third-parties have not yet either because they’re concentrating on holiday, but we have a number of very strong titles coming.”
While we understand that many of these unannounced titles may be far off from now, we’re a bit saddened to see Sony (and their third party partners) remain so secretive about the upcoming 2009 lineup. Right now, it appears Sony is abandoning holiday 2008 altogether. How will they drum up support for the handheld this Christmas season, when they’ve shown no guarantees of what will be available in the coming months? Sony — it’s time to stop playing the same ol’ game of secrecy. Now, when your customers are losing faith in your system, is when you should bypass the typical product marketing schedule — and you give us something to get excited about.
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Sony’s Koller ignores holiday 2008, promises better 2009
Filed under: News
“I think going into next year we’re going to see significant growth. We’re counseling retail to be ready for it. We have a number of very strong franchise games on the docket that will be launching next year,” John Koller responded to Edge’s troubling report on the decline of PSP software. “We haven’t gone public with those, and many third-parties have not yet either because they’re concentrating on holiday, but we have a number of very strong titles coming.”
While we understand that many of these unannounced titles may be far off from now, we’re a bit saddened to see Sony (and their third party partners) remain so secretive about the upcoming 2009 lineup. Right now, it appears Sony is abandoning holiday 2008 altogether. How will they drum up support for the handheld this Christmas season, when they’ve shown no guarantees of what will be available in the coming months? Sony — it’s time to stop playing the same ol’ game of secrecy. Now, when your customers are losing faith in your system, is when you should bypass the typical product marketing schedule — and you give us something to get excited about.
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Koller: PSP software decline to reverse by 2009
While John Koller, SCEA’s director of hardware marketing, admits that PSP software support has been dwindling steadily for the past couple of years, he believes that recent surges in the handheld’s hardware sales will help boost software sales soon.
We ve gone to every publisher and they ve been noticing the hardware is on fire, he told Edge Online. Apparently, Sony had conducted a tour of major publishers to “calibrate and educate” them on the PSP and what kind of software it needs. Here’s a hint: it ain’t ports.
The recipe for success on the PSP resides simply in providing franchise games that are strong brand names like on consoles, but have unique gameplay on the system, Koller said. You cannot have ports.”
Examples given were God of War: Chains of Olympus, Crisis Core: Final Fantasy 7, and the upcoming Midnight Club: LA Remix. According to Koller, these three games “are titles that have very strong brand names on console but are coming over with unique gameplay on the PSP.
This is all well and good, but when will all this happen? Koller said we should be seeing “significant growth” by next year.
“We have a number of very strong franchise games on the docket that will be launching next year. We haven t gone public with those, and many third-parties have not yet either because they re concentrating on holiday, but we have a number of very strong titles coming.
The upcoming release of the PSP-3000 should also factor into this, as hardware sales seem to be the driving force behind Sony’s bid to curb software decline. There are a few PSP games worth mentioning (Valhalla Knights 2 and Star Ocean: First Departure come to mind. Yeah, I’m a bit of an RPG freak) that are scheduled for this Fall, so at least we’ll have something to play while we’re waiting for the fruits of Sony’s labor.
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PSP-3000 battery life shorter; PSP Slim to cease production
In a recent interview with Gamespot, John Koller talked much about the recently unveiled PSP-3000: the improved screen, microphone, bundled releases, and more. In that interview, he revealed that the battery life of the new PSP model will indeed be decreased by about 20 to 30 minutes.
Koller explains that this is because of “a larger power draw with the brighter screen.” Aha, just as I expected. Well, “20 to 30 minutes” of a shorter battery life isn’t that much of a drawback, methinks. And for those who think that it’s the end of the world because of the decreased battery life, Koller confirms that there’s still going to be other options out there:
That’s going to be off-set because we’re still going to have the extended life battery that’s still available for the consumers, so they’re still going to get the 8 to 10 hours out of that battery. Or the battery that comes with the PSP will now be right around three and a half to four hours.
As for other components, the PSP-3000 model will have the same compatibility with the Slim accessories - they want everything out in the market to work with the PSP-3000.
It’s also been confirmed that the Slim will be phased out eventually. Koller says production of the PSP-2000 will cease by September. Already?! If you’re a collector of sorts, better make sure you grab a Slim unit ASAP!
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