Advertisement
Climax worried about PSP News
PSP News by Games Industry.biz
Karl Jeffery, CEO of developer Climax, has told our sister site GamesIndustry.biz that Sony must act to reverse poor performance of the PSP before publishers begin to abandon the format.
The outspoken development boss, whose company has recently released a new ATV Offroad Fury title for the system, is concerned that the Nintendo DS is trouncing the PlayStation Portable - while Sony is doing little to support its own handheld.
"To be honest and frank about it we worry about the future of the PSP," said Jeffery.
"In terms of sales of the actual units, it's not doing so great. The DS is going gangbusters, the sales volumes are going up exponentially. But the PSP worries us, because we're sitting here thinking about what Sony is going to do to get the platform back on track and we're not hearing much from them."
Jeffery believes there are two ways to reinvigorate the format - redesign the handheld to create a more ergonomically appealing unit, and develop a serious digital download content strategy.
"Personally, I love it as a platform to develop for, it's very powerful and it's a great machine. But it's a big bit of kit to lug around and the battery life's not great. Perhaps they could bring out a 'PSP Lite' or something along those lines," said Jeffery.
"Another thing that would be smart is to get into a downloadable games model, which Sony hasn't really done yet. There's Wi-Fi possibilities and memory stick features that could be used - we can see where Sony could take the platform to re-energise it. But it's very disappointing at the moment when you look at the installed base and the sales of the games that are out there; it's not a compelling prospect for many publishers."
When asked whether he thought publishers may begin to abandon the format, Jeffery replied: "That's my instinct, yes. Maybe Sony has got something planned, but at the moment it's very worrying. It's probably the platform we're most worried about."
Advertisement
Want to comment on this article? Log in, or register!
Comments: 1-45 of 45 in total
Poster
|
sickpuppysoftware
21/11/06 @ 17:00
0
Also try releasing games that play to the systems strengths instead of ports of PS2 games.
#cough#ATV Offroad Fury#cough# I'm sure the PS2 originals really set the charts alight |
|
chupachups
21/11/06 @ 17:03
0
"ummm.... has he missed the whole PS1 downloads thingy then?"
That's not going to help with encouraging development of new games though, which is what the person from Climax is worried about. I suppose though, if they manage to eventually sell PS1 games direct to the PSP (instead of through a PS3) then they could use the same method to sell PSP games that way too.
Edited 1 times,
most recently on 21/11/06 @ 17:04
|
|
0
"That's not going to help with encouraging development of new games though, which is what the person from Climax is worried about.
I suppose though, if they manage to eventually sell PS1 games direct to the PSP (instead of through a PS3) then they could use the same method to sell PSP games that way too. " While PS1 games downloaded in whatever way to the PSP may not directly encourage PSP game development it would however possibly sell more PSP's... Which surely would have the effect of encouraging more development if the install base gets larger? And yeah, once the PS Store can direct download you have to assume that opens up the possibility of Xbox Live Arcade style games to be downloaded too.... Which would be an interesting development...
Edited 1 times,
most recently on 21/11/06 @ 17:09
|
|
chupachups
21/11/06 @ 17:14
0
"While PS1 games downloaded in whatever way to the PSP may not directly encourage PSP game development it would however possibly sell more PSP's... Which surely would have the effect of encouraging more development if the install base gets larger?"
I meant that the download service that the Climax person wants to see happen is for new games, because that would put money directly into the pockets of people who make new games so they'd make more of them. If downloads are restricted to emulation they might actually discourage people from buying new games if they can get classic old games dirt cheap (the Japanese service will only cost £3 a game apparently!). |
|
SuperGamerMatt
21/11/06 @ 17:56
0
Another Idea!: Sony could just start developing some good games for it? They did well with Wipeout, but we want more!
|
|
immateriaux
21/11/06 @ 18:03
0
Downloadable content straight to PSP - linking it to the PS3 is just dumb. Dumb dumb dumb :(
|
|
0
The problem with the PSP is not Sony or the hardware - it's devs who don't understand the handheld market trying to sell shoddy ports all the time.
The reason the DS is doing so well is because it has lots of games that people want to play. Almost none of those games are truly dependant on the DS's unique features which means the PSP could easily be home to similar or better titles, if only devs would actually put the effort in. |
|
0
"The reason the DS is doing so well is because it has lots of games that people want to play. Almost none of those games are truly dependant on the DS's unique features which means the PSP could easily be home to similar or better titles"
o_O Ok maybe not truly dependant, but it makes a whole lot of differnce. |
|
0
How about cutting the price of games by say 50%
I mean €50 for a game for a portable unit, you must be joking. At €25 or €19.99 the games become impulse buys, but so far I've bought 1 title new (Outrun) and the rest of my (small 5) collection is 2nd hand. I don't see anything that worth parting with €50 for. |
|
0
"ummm.... has he missed the whole PS1 downloads thingy then?"
Like mentioned above, requiring to own a ps3 for this is a big limiting factor. The price for just the PSP is bad enough, but both? And all evidence so far (highly popular GBA and the not so Cube) suggests that connectivity doesn't significantly changes the sales. None of the things sony has been doing reaches out to a bigger market, instead it slims down their existing market. Making more money from fewer individuals rather then less money from more, well, look at places like the cinema, or Marvel and DC comics where that leads. |
|
0
"Ok maybe not truly dependant, but it makes a whole lot of differnce."
I'd have never believed it until I experienced it myself. Not switching back and forth between the game screen and menu (map, status, whatever) screens is amazingly effective as it keeps you in the game at all times. It doesn't take you out of the game every few seconds. |
|
0
Its possible that Sony are hoping the PSP will really start to come into its own once the PS3 comes out, as they seem to be aiming for the PSP becoming some sort of portable extension of the PS3, what with al that content-streaming they demoed (And I don't just mean the rear-view mirror bollocks)
Still, that sort of connectivity never really took off for Nintendo, and expecting all PSP owners to go out and buy a PS3 is asking a lot - hell, you think all those GBA owners all also had GameCubes? Hardly! Well, better tech and the fact that both PSP and PS3 are more flexible devices than the GC and GBA might make it a better selling point, but really, as others have said, it just needs better games first. There seems to be a constant trickle of those right now, but that's not really enough to stand up to the DS. |
|
peak_performance
21/11/06 @ 19:42
0
@ jamhead "By shamelessly abandoning the cube mid-way through it's life?"
Nintendo fanboy as I may be, that one actually made me laugh. Thanks. |
|
0
"PSP owners to go out and buy a PS3"
Actually, I'd say that that is a very solid overlap in audiences. The gadget 30 year old with a big spending budget that would buy a PSP is also very certain to go for the blueray player to go with his HD tv that can also play games. Okay, bad snark there. But multimedia, cutting edge and blueray is a selling point for them. I wonder if more games for the psp would really help at this point. Sales so far have been good but incredibly flat. The PSP would seel just as well through months without a new game release as when a big game was released. The trouble it ran into by appealing to a tech savy crowd was that the same tech savy crowd not only knew that they'd have to hack the thing to get the best out of it also knew HOW to hack the thing. |
|
0
If they could get away with it, I think they'd actually prefer not to realease Twilight Princess on the Cube at all.
Why couldn't they get away with it? Because all 5 Cube owners that still care would buy their Wii a few days later? They sell it for the Cube, because they have it for the Cube. That's more sold software, more money. |
|
0
I don't see any market for the PSP, I mean I have one but every time I would play on it; I play on my PS2 instead. The average working man (most PSP users) can only handle one gaming session a day at best and that is played on a big LCD TV!
The DS is different, for example my little brother plays on it in the living room while my parents are watching movies.
Edited 1 times,
most recently on 21/11/06 @ 21:12
|
|
0
They're worried? Didn't they develop trash like ATV and Who wants to be a Milionaire for the PSP?! Isn't Climax working on Silent Hill: Origins which is arcade-action based?
It's somewhat ironic they're asking for the machine to be revamped, hoping it will turn around Sony's fortunes when it's impossible to see Climax develop games for the "PSP lite" that differ from what they've done already. Move along Karl Jeffrey. You're just pissing in the wind, mate. |
|
0
"Why couldn't they get away with it?"
It causes a furore in Japan when Twilight Princess was announced to be a Wii launch game, when it wasn't clear yet that it would be released both systems. They had been saying for years that this would be a big zelda game for the cube and when it got delayed and the revolution appeared on the horizon thay said it wouldn't still be a cube game and not pushed dback to the new console. Then for a while it appeared they went back on their word, which wasn't taken well. Even still, nintendo isn't making it easy to get, pushing the Cube release behind the Wii release, only making it available from the online store in Japan and who knows what availability will be like in the west, nevermind Europe. Japanese companies seem to hate Europe as much as they wish to court the US. Er, I may have diverged there a bit. Sony may have the market position to lose, but Nintendo has the reputation to lose. |
|
0
I think its a pity about the PSP. It really is an amazing device for the size of it. I know its bigger than the DS and some ppl say its too big to carry around but IF ONLY DEVELOPERS COULD MAKE SOME REALLY SAVAGE GAMES FOR IT!!! Nearly every game seems to be half arsed. Metal Gear Solid wasnt even a proper game...it was cards for gods sake!!!! Maybe if games like Final Fantasy or a good Resident Evil or something like that came out for it, ppl would be happy.
It seems like such a shame that such a good device with loads of features(even though you'll prob never store photos on it at all!) isnt brought to its potential. I got GTA Liberty City Stories for it and I must say even though the graphics arent as good as a PS2, they're still savage which proves the power it has and the need for developers to make games for it. Does anyone agree??? Also, when is Microsoft's portable device coming out and is it supposed to be any good??? |
|
wellzy4eva
22/11/06 @ 01:01
0
I agree with Shuffles, get companies like Square enix (One of the many companies that help make the PSX so successful) to properly make games for it and the interest will go up a lot, the GBA and DS both are reaping the rewards with final Fantasy 1-2;4-6 Sword of mana, Kingdom Hearts, Final Fantasy Tactics Advance available on GBA, and Final Fantasy 3 and Children of Mana on DS which all (will) have great sale records.
If Sony announced games like Final Fantasy X-3/Final Fantasy Tactics Port/Final Fantasy VII-IX ports, then I know a dozen people who'd look at the PSP in a helluva serious more perspective. Of course this applies to other companies as well (But Square Enix is the one I know the best) Edit: I know about Crisis Core - Final Fantasy VII but come on, Sony == Final Fantasy, they should do more!
Edited 2 times,
most recently on 22/11/06 @ 01:06
|
|
0
@ Chtulie:
Okay, I'll concede my list are of games in development years ago, but it's still amazing how the DS didn't suffer the same pitfall of tried and tested genres of a games machine's lifecycle which the PSP has been thrown into: 1. Crummy simple games 2. Novelty "games" eg. Talkman 3. FPS Shooters/Driving/Beat 'em ups Instead the DS went straight in with a variety of games which catered more to the East (and surpringly Westerners enjoyed too, eg. FF, Braintrain etc) whereas the PSP went the more Westerners generic "It's a powerful machine, let's port every PS2 game (FPS, driving etc.) over to it!". PSPs in a nightclub really don't work as well as a PS1. Not that I want to appear to be Climax bashing (seriously, I've nothing against them personally, but this is on topic) but they're working on Ghost Rider which I'll wager will feature lots of cutscenes, voiceovers and quite possibly some generic beating/shooting gameplay, oh and it's another movie tie-in - hardly trying something new or pushing the exisitng tech, eh, Climax? http://uk.psp.ign.com/articles/633/63329... I will admit it's largely down to the publishers what appears on a given machine, but if developers are happy to make the quick buck and in effect, hardly expanding the range of games available then their being "worried" about the demise of a platform is somewhat pointless.
Edited 1 times,
most recently on 22/11/06 @ 07:55
|
|
0
Change the dpad for one that acknowledges diagonals and swap it round with the woeful analogue nub thingy, that way you could actually control games without getting cramp. Make the screen so that you can actaully play it in daylight without feeling you are looking a mirror. Ditch UMD and supply games on memory sticks so you don't have to wait 5 minutes for loading. Give it a decent battery. Make it stronger so it can survive being dropped without having to buy a case that makes it even bigger. Develop some games that are written for psp and not PS2.
Second thoughts why not just stop making it and bring out a totally new model. Mind you, all this came to light when the thing first launched and I seem to remeber a Sony exec getting the hump and saying that they had designed a thing of great beauty and had no intention of changing anything. |
|
0
1. Cut the price.
2. Start thinking/selling it primarily a games machine rather than a multimedia handheld. 3. Invest in some original 3rd party IP... (e.g Loco Roco) 4. Insist that developers provide proper Wi-Fi multiplayer gaming content. 5. Invest in a PSP Wi-Fi network.... just like Ninty did ! |
|
0
"it's still amazing how the DS didn't suffer the same pitfall of tried and tested genres of a games"
It's very easy to forget that first year or so in the DS' life cycle, when it looked like all it'd get were N64 ports and normal genre games with a badly implemented interface tacked on. It wasn't until stuff like Kirby's Canvas Curse and esp. Nintendogs that it proved it's nontraditional worth. Also, like the GBA, as it gains popularity it also gains a lot of shovelware. Lastly, it isn't until now this winter that the DS is getting it's first games from Square-enix. |
|
YourMessageHere
23/11/06 @ 04:16
0
The PSP needs:
- cheaper games; in terms of cost to size/length, it's just not encouraging me to buy games, you know? - cheaper hardware; it IS expensive - another stick; problem alpha one. How do you port a game well if you have to cripple it? - integrated microphone - stop trying to prevent homebrew; since when was it Sony's problem what end users did with their hardware? I don't feel any impetus to use homebrew but I don't see any reason to obstruct it - support for more video and audio codecs, and/or free, easy conversion/video resizing tools - release all those natty peripherals here; I could fancy a camera thingy, and while I can't actually justify getting a GPS dongle it doesn't stop me wanting one - this might sound odd, but make an add-on keyboard and add some PDA functionality; I'd buy it for note-taking, reading and suchlike - EDIT: oh yeah, and add ability to play infrastructure multiplayer via USB2 link to PC (for those like me who don't have or want wireless)
Edited 1 times,
most recently on 23/11/06 @ 04:19
|
|
0
"The reason the DS is doing so well is because it has lots of games that people want to play. Almost none of those games are truly dependant on the DS's unique features which means the PSP could easily be home to similar or better titles, if only devs would actually put the effort in."
Three male Japanese cheerleaders just started yelling at you and waving their arms about.... I think they beg to differ. :) |
Comments: 1-45 of 45 in total
Want to comment on this article? Log in, or register!
