With the European arrival of the PSP a scant few days away you would expect Sony representatives to talk up the machine. Yet you may consider that Phil Harrison, Executive VP of Sony Computer Entertainment Europe, has overcooked his comments to industry trade magazine MCV. Not only does he dismiss the undisputed kings of the hand-held market since its inception out of hand, he labels the top-selling DS as nothing more than a gimmick:

"The idea of a handheld rivalry with Nintendo is an irrelevance. Those formats don't appear in our planning. It's not a fair comparison; not fair on them, I should stress. That sounds arrogant, maybe, but it's the truth. Nintendo knows its target audience, because it has really narrowed that down; and it's pretty much defined by a boy or girl's ability to admire Pokemon."

"With the DS, it's fair to say that Nintendo stepped out of the technical race and went for a feature differentiation with the touch screen," Harrison continued. "But I fear that it won't have a lasting impact beyond that of a gimmick. so the long-lasting appeal of the platform is at peril as a direct result of that."

You have to wonder why Mr Harrison would make such comments, particularly as the DS has outsold the PSP in every region so far, although the PSP is catching up with the DS in the US. A study of 1000 PSP owners in Japan also brings into question the long-term future of the PSP, with 50% of them freely admitting that they hadn't touched their PSP 'in some time', as they wait for interesting new games to appear. More as we get it.

By Sam Gibson

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  1. Bing Unregistered 3 years ago

    Sony needs to grow up. Yes, Nintendo uses characters more likely to be found in a comic strip, but that's not childish or "kiddy" - basing your gameplay desicion based on the number of explosions, however, is immature.

    Sony insists that all of Nintendo is childish and a gimick, but let's not forget who led the industry to where it is today. The father of modern gaming is Nintendo.

    So Sony, who's your daddy? Now, go sit in the corner: you're on a time-out.

  2. Vance Unregistered 3 years ago

    I don't have a particular horse in this DS/PSP race, but one thing is very clear to me right now: Sony has very few cards left to play in this handheld game. There is no way a company would resort to mudslinging like this unless they knew they were beaten. Name-calling is a tactic for those who have nothing else.

    Looking at the upcoming titles for the two systems, it does seem that Sony realizes what analysts have suspected for some time now: Nintendo is going to sell shiploads of DSs and DS software, and it's going to craploads of money off of it.

    The rest of the industry knows it, too. Try logging on to a job board for CG artists and game designers. Everyone realizes the DS is going to be huge, and everyone wants in on the action.

    The PSP is a sexy piece of hardware, no doubt. But it's main problem is that it is competiting against the home console market for developer attendtion. If a studio decides to invest money on producing a console-quality game, they're just going to go for the console version, as the installed base is much greater, as would be sales. Sony really shot itself in the foot by making a product that essentially competes with their other system, the PS2.

  3. Kris Unregistered 3 years ago

    Who cares what you say. The fact of the matter is that more people living and breathing on the face of this Earth are walking around with a DS rather than a PSP.

    What's more, even though Nintendo had alot of its third party support turn its back to it, the system still provided plenty of great games.

    I'm not going to highlight the fact that neither XBox or PS2 would not exist right now were it not for Nintendo, however, I will stress the fact that the innovation Nintendo brings forth will open the door to many more genres.

    The DS games like Advance Wars, Nintendogs, Meteos, and Kirby: Canvas Curse show more and more innovation. What does the PSP have? Something new? No. Something original? No. On the PSP you will find a limited amount of remade games. Burnout and THUG are prime examples. If you want everything that the PSP offers, spend 50 bucks less on a PS2. Although they will help, graphics cannot carry the weight of the future on its shoulders, power will not make a good console. The consoles and handhelds that introduce something new and fun will beat the ones that keep putting up the same things over and over again with improved graphics. The DS deserves to be winning this handheld battle as it is. You can't name four innovative titles that you are looking for in the future for the PSP.

    In the words of Stan Lee:
    'nuff said

  4. gabe Unregistered 3 years ago

    mr. harrison and his nervous comments is nothing more than a fad just passing through, much like his out dated (so called) handheld device "psp"
    anyone who would make such arogant comments must be worried about thier own product.
    i love my nintendo ds and i hate pokemon.
    i mean what does sony have? another handheld system with nothing to offer but flashy graphics crappy ported games.
    well done Harrison

  5. SCEE fan! Unregistered 3 years ago

    Pride cometh before a fall.

    All hail Ray 'Show me the Money' Maguire.