Will 2007 be good to the PSP?

(I apologize if this topic has been brought up before, although I used the search function to search this forum; so Mods, feel free to close it if necessary.)

I'm a big, big fan of Castlevania. So naturally when the series came out on the DS I was ecstatic and bought a Lite so I could play Dawn of Sorrow and Portrait of Ruin.

However, the latest entry, Dracula X Chronicles, is going to be on the PSP. In case you're not aware, this means that the highly anticipated Rondo of Blood AND a full portable port of Symphony of the Night are going to finally be available, a dream the fans have been waiting for for over 10 years. But with Sony under fire like it is... Things could definitely get messy regarding the anticipation of the game.

I've done some searching around, reading everything from online blogs to gaming magazines, and the reaction has been pretty consistent-- Most sources have said the PSP outright SUCKS. So I have a question: do you think IGA made the right decision to put the latest Castlevania game on the PSP, forcing gamers who already bought a DS to shell out the $200+ bucks for the other handheld?

I also found out that God of War and Tomb Raider: Anniversary are going to be released later this year on the PSP (tentatively anyway). It looks like the PSP is finally going to get some fun games on it... So, is 2007 going to change the gaming community's mind about the PSP sucking? Are we right to criticize Sony's handheld, or are we just blind with hatred because of the PS3 fiasco?

I'd appreciate some feedback on this to hear what you guys think.

PSP ftw!!

sony's been too busy with the PS3

that's why we never saw anything good for the PSP

p.s CASTLEVANIA RULES

Yeah I think that this year may be ok for the PSP as Sony have been pretty busy with the PS3.. I hope some new titles are released soon, maybe even an official FF7 on the PSP, that would be nice.

The PSP is the last of its breed from Sony, it's going to die off for sure. Yeah, I like random RPGS that Sony normally belts out...the bad thing is that most of them are normally crap. Nintendo has the market for sure....and I would'nt be surprised if they always have the market on handheld gaming.

Let's face it...handhelds are designed for a younger audience, usually only hardcore gamers such as myself and the people here would ever want a handheld gaming system. Nintendo is very good a marketting to younger people...much to our dismay...but either way they have that down.
PSP is trying to bridge that gap with a adult handheld, which I dont think will work that well...and hey, it's not working that well.

So PSP FTW? Nah...maybe for the lose.

I hope the PSP gets some upgrades this year, I expect it will. I mean I love the sports games but I'd love to see some new titles come to the system. I know EWJ is coming out for it! YEAH!

I'm really interested in the PSP, not because it's got alot of games that I want to buy. Mostly because it's just so darn hackable. My friend has a PSP and he downgraded it and then loaded music, Super Nintendo Emulators and Roms, entire PS1 games and entire PSP games. He downloaded all of them off of the internet and he saved them to his many memory sticks. That's probably my main reason for getting a PSP, you can just hack it in so many ways.

This year's looking up. Ratchet & Clank Size Matters already came out this year, and later we can expect Crisis Core Final Fantasy VII (Which looks to be better than the other spin offs), and Final Fantasy Tactics : The Lion Wars. That's more wanted PSP games than all other years combined for me. (Which included Daxter and MGS Portable Ops)

Source

PlayStation Portable Price Drops to $169.99
Sony's handheld pricing drops starting tomorrow.
By 1UP Staff, 04/02/2007
Edit: 1UP has confirmed that Sony intends to make a significant announcement tomorrow, further lending credence to this report.

Original Story: According to Kotaku, Sony's PlayStation Portable will drop from $199 to $169 tomorrow. Previously, we speculated that something, anything had to happen with Sony's handheld, with a price drop and/or redesign being the two most likely scenarios. Last month, we reported that major retailers were considering pulling the system from store shelves if there wasn't a price drop -- whether or not retail had to play hardball with Sony, now stores (and consumers) have their price drop.

So the PSP has dropped to $169. Not too bad now. Though it should have been done last holiday season, really. I wonder if there is anything more to the announcement coming today...Maybe we'll finally see the drool worthy PSP redesign.

So the PSP started 100$ more than the DS, now it's merely a 20$ step from the DS. That's not to bad, especially when everyone complained the PSP was way to expensive. The PSP gets better and better every month. I have been using it a lot lately! Now I'm just waiting until Valhalla Knights come out, I pre-ordered it looks like an interesting RPG to get.

Also Legend of Dragoon isn't too far off from hitting shelves, I never played the original on the PS1 I heard it was supposedly good.

Originally Posted by Zeldafan1

So the PSP started 100$ more than the DS, now it's merely a 20$ step from the DS.

I thought the DS was $130? That's how much I got it for... or is the Lite still at the $150 mark?

It would not surprise me if Nintendo did a price cut of their own. Sony is already loosing money with each PS3 sold, and as the PSP's price drops Sony will lose even more. Nintendo on the other hand is making a profit with each Wii and DS sold.

Actually I predict that Nintendo will follow up with a price cut...

Originally Posted by LinkTetra

It would not surprise me if Nintendo did a price cut of their own. Sony is already loosing money with each PS3 sold, and as the PSP's price drops Sony will lose even more. Nintendo on the other hand is making a profit with each Wii and DS sold.

Actually I predict that Nintendo will follow up with a price cut...

If the DS is selling like mad, don't expect any kind of price cut. Once the sales start to slow down some, which still has a possibility to happen by the holiday season of 2007, we might see the drop to $100. But that most likely has no chance of happening this year. Problem is though that $100 is the sweet sport, and after that, the product doesn't have anywhere to go below.

No. I would find it much more likely that Nintendo would release another DS revision before they drop the price again anytime soon. That or they drop the price of the Lite, then raise it again with the new DS revision.

But like I said, I would find it hard to believe that any kind of DS price cut is going to happen in the next year.

Originally Posted by Ricky of Kokiri

I thought the DS was $130? That's how much I got it for... or is the Lite still at the $150 mark?

Actually, that's kind of a strange thing to hear considering I was able to buy my DS Lite last Summer for $130. I hope this doesn't mean there are some stores out there that are selling DS systems at a price higher than what Nintendo officially announced. That's a major no-no!

Well, these responses are pretty surprising, I wasn't expecting any at all actually [chuckles]. Hacking into the PSP to play PSOne games... That sounds like a tempting idea

I agree that once titles like the Final Fantasy franchise hits the PSP (particularly Crisis Core), things will pick up considerably for the handheld's market.

I've been thinking about something lately... Kind of a stupid thought but I just thought I'd throw it out there... I noticed the PSP's games seem, for the most part, to be ports of previous PS2/PSX/agnostic titles, and people have been complaining about the lack of quality of the ports.

I wonder how much of an impact it would have on Sony's sales if they started turning that around... Would they then have even a chance at getting some ground in the market?
I guess only time will tell.

By the way, and this is slightly off-topic, but when I went to GameStop to pre-order Dracula X Chronicles, the clerk there kindly printed me out a couple of lists, detailing known DS and PSP releases for this year, at least ones announced so far.

If anyone's interested, I'd be happy to send them a PM with the lists, or perhaps I should just put them in a new thread ^_^

only game that is good for psp is metal gear portable ops

Ratchet & Clank Size Matters is good too.