Topic: Sony's PSP May Face Games Shortage

[Mario]

http://quote.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000101&sid=agkKFD5Q9dbk&refer=japan

Koei, Konami, Square-Enix and Capcom "won't offer new games for the device".  

[mouse_clicker]

Wow- this is a huge blow for the PSP. Japan's 4 biggest 3rd parties have all dropped support for the PSP. Square-Enix isn't making PSP games period, while they have, what is it, 3 DS games in the works? Even Sega isn't sure if they can make the launch deadline since Sony hasn't even shipped out final development kits yet. I imagine Sony's stock is going to take quite a hit from this news.  

[S-U-P-E-R]

No new games, but they're still doing ports

[Uncle Rich AiAi]

Looks like the PSP may not be as successful as the Nintendo-bashers think.....

[Infernal Monkey]

Konami are hilarious. Releasing a port of Frogger on the most advanced (from a spec check view, blol spec check) portable hand held thingy ever. I bet they'll scratch their heads raw when it sells like crap.

"WHY DID OUR FROGGER ON PSP NOT SELL TEN MILLION COPIES? WE'LL BLAME NINTENDO ON THIS ONE"

[Uncle Rich AiAi]

Of cause it'll be Nintendo's fault when the DS outsells the PSP!

[Bill Aurion]

Wow...I knew about Squenix not really liking the PSP, but Konami and Koei are basically Playstation-exclusive companies!  What a blow, indeed...

[Ian Sane]

F*ck ya!  No Square-Enix games on the PSP at all?  Man that just decided who wins in Japan.  And Konami sure is all over the place.  "We love Nintendo, no now we love Sony, no now we love Nintendo again."  No mention of Namco but I'm going to take a stab in the dark and say they'll release Namco Museum for the PSP.

Let's hope Nintendo can keep this up for the Revolution as well.  Without Sony having a head start they could trip them up the same way they're doing here if Sony can't get PS3 dev kits out in time and Nintendo can get Rev dev kits out.  Both Playstations had terrible launches so with Nintendo launching at the same time or before they can create an advantage.  And if the Rev truly is unique like the DS that's going to help too.

[KDR_11k]

If that's how the battle turns out we can clearly see that brand loyality is a mere illusion. They are only in for the money.
Maybe that's because so far the public reaction towards he DS is better or because Nintendo is the current monopolist in the handheld market...

I wonder whether companies like Eidos or EA will favor the PSP. No japanese giants to compete with, they might sell better on the PSP, provided that thing gets a sizeable userbase. Would make the PSP the handheld for XBox fans...
I still think there's a chance the PSP will go the way of the NGage.

[Syl]

I'm glad that someone is catching on that the PSP is constantly turning into a worse and worse idea.

Not being able to play MP3's is bad enough, but when the Japanese developers are going "what the hell are you smoking?" you know theres an issue.  

I still need to see some games though, from either the DS or the PSP.  They have to start pimping the DS soon.  

[Koopa Troopa]

Quote
F*ck ya! No Square-Enix games on the PSP at all? Man that just decided who wins in Japan. And Konami sure is all over the place. "We love Nintendo, no now we love Sony, no now we love Nintendo again." No mention of Namco but I'm going to take a stab in the dark and say they'll release Namco Museum for the PSP.

Let's hope Nintendo can keep this up for the Revolution as well. Without Sony having a head start they could trip them up the same way they're doing here if Sony can't get PS3 dev kits out in time and Nintendo can get Rev dev kits out. Both Playstations had terrible launches so with Nintendo launching at the same time or before they can create an advantage. And if the Rev truly is unique like the DS that's going to help too.

Well put!

Man, this could be a stellar victory for Nintendo.  

[Darc Requiem]

Koopa, Ian always has some killer insights. I'm telling you this guy needs to be a game journalist. The cracks in Sony's armor are widening. Now its up to Nintendo to make use of Sony's growing arrogance.

Darc Requiem

[Bill Aurion]

I wonder whether companies like Eidos or EA will favor the PSP. No japanese giants to compete with, they might sell better on the PSP, provided that thing gets a sizeable userbase.

EA has already gone on the record saying that they are "more impressed with the PSP" (lol, wot?) and considering Eidos' scapegoatage on Ninty, I wouldn't expect much from them either...But for me, that's not really a big loss... ^_~

Now all we need is Ninty to push a just a little bit more on third party relations and they can hit hard next gen...

[Djunknown]

Quote
I wonder whether companies like Eidos or EA will favor the PSP.

In Game Informer's E3 issue (yeah yeah, save the GI Sux comments...), when they were getting quotes from developers about the PSP and DS, it broke down like this

DS
Japanese Developers:Can't wait to develop for it. Looks promising.
American Developers: iTs teH KidDy!

PSP
Japanese Developers: We don't know much about it, need more info.
American Developers: iT wIll bE teH r0xoRs!

Hate to bash the American developers, but that's what they sounded like in a nutshell. Looks like Sony's taking a few hits, but let's see what happens at Tokyo Games show. Now if Nintendo made an appearance at said show with the DS; who knows? it'll steal some thunder.

On a side note, even almost-Xbox-exclusive Tecmo has some things cooking for the DS; Ninja Gaiden DS anyone?

[Syl]

Tecmo isn't anywhere near xbox exclusive.
Just the "Team Ninja" division of it.  Tecmo creates far more games than just DOA and ninja gaiden, namely the monster rancher series, along with others.

Monster Rancher DS, i know they'll make it.... wonder if they could somehow use the touchpad in the spawning process...

[Infernal Monkey]

Quote
Originally posted by: Bill

EA has already gone on the record saying that they are "more impressed with the PSP" (lol, wot?) and considering Eidos' scapegoatage on Ninty, I wouldn't expect much from them either...But for me, that's not really a big loss... ^_~

Tomb Raider PSP comin' like what. >_>

"Hey guys, play with Lara in your lap"
"OH NO HER THREE POLYGON BOX BOOBS ARE STABBING ME"
*Game Over okay*

[Urkel]

Wow.

Sony losing support. I never thought I'd hear that.

This makes things a lot more interesting. All that the doomsayers and bashers have been saying is "Sony has a disc based medium and Nintendo has carts. It's PS1 vs. N64 all over again."

Looks like now we can say "It IS PS1 vs. N64. The company with Square wins! LOLOLOLOL!!!!11111"

Am I the only one that sees the irony here? Square (and Enix) is dropping support in favor of the portable that has the smaller medium.

[KDR_11k]

I think S-E know that their CG division will be pretty busy making the home console games already and can't be burdened with handheld games as well... Besides, 1.8G is a bit low for their needs.

[Ymeegod]

Actually most of those developers have projects in the works for the PSP--besides Square-Enix.  

What the developers are stating is how they aren't going meet the deadline for the launch since Sony didn't give them amped amount of time.  

And sony uses it's own compression called ATRAC3 :0.  Why give out royalities when you don't have to.  Also, it's not like nintendo's supporting mp3 either.


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[mouse_clicker]

Read it again, Ymeegod:

Quote
Still, Japan's four biggest independent gamemakers, Konami Corp., Capcom Co., Square Enix Co. and Koei Co., said they won't offer new games for the device.

Sega's the only one saying they don't think they can meet the deadline, the other 4 aren't planning any new games. Square-Enix isn't planning any games period.

[Syl]

I'm curious about how "Metal Gear Acid" falls into "not making any games period"

[couchmonkey]

I think the article accidentally implied there will be no new games from the developers.  Look at this quote:

Quote
Capcom, Japan's third largest independent gamemaker by sales, plans three games including one based on the ``Vampire Chronicles,'' while Koei plans a game based on ``Dynasty Warriors,'' according to the companies.

Maybe by "based on" they mean ports, but those sound like new games to me (not to mention Metal Gear Acid).  I think what the article meant was "no new games at launch".  

Even so, a crappy launch lineup is a crappy launch lineup.  If a few ports of PS2 games and frogger are all PSP has to go on, it will have a tough first year ahead of it.  No Square Enix support is huge, as Ian pointed out.  It also goes to show that whatever portion of Square Enix Sony owns isn't enough to influence the company very much.  This is exciting news.

[BlackNMild2k1]

All the games known to be in the making for PSP (don't know when they are supposed to be released)

Action Girlz Racing (Data Design)
Activision Anthology (Activision)
AI Series: Mahjong (Marvelous)
AI Series: Igo (Marvelous)
AI Series: Shougo (Marvelous)
Autobahn Crossroads (Resolution)
Axel Impact International (SCEK / Axis)
Azaya: Jungle Bowl Champions (Jungle Peak)
Battle Blades (Data Design)
BBG (Seed9)
Big Choppers (Eutechnyx)
BIg Mutha Truckers 2 (Eutechnyx)
Board Game Gallery (Phoenix Games)
Burnout (Criterion)
Bust-A-Move (Taito)
Card Shark 3 (Phoenix Games)
Car Jacker (Eutechnyx)
Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe (Buena Vista)
Cloud of Verruca (Success)
Clusterball 2 (Resolution)
Crazy Racing Kart Rider (Nexon)
Dance Mat Challenge (Data Design)
Derby (SCEI)
Doraslot (Dorat)
Fighting Spirits (SCEA)
Formula One 04 (SCEE/Evolution)
Free Runing (Eidos)
Generation of Chaos (Idea Factory)
Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex (SCEI)
Habitrail Hamster Ball (Data Design)
Harvest Moon (Natsume)
Infected (Planet Moon)
Intelligent License (Now Production)
Joe (HumanSoft)
Junior Sports Basketball (Data Design)
Junior Sports Hockey (Data Design)
Koron (CyberFront)
Legend of River King (Marvelous)
Mahjong Kakutou (Konami)
Mahjong Taikai (Koei)
Mercury (tba/Ignition)
Metal Shell (Tantalus)
Myth Makers Karting (Data Design)
Need for Speed Underground (Electronic Arts)
Ninja Bunny Warriors (Data Design)
Offroad Xtreme (Data Design)
Pilot ni Narou (Marvelous)
Popolocrois Monogatari (SCEI)
Professional Wrestling (Yukes)
Project S (Sega)
Rig Racing (Data Design)
Romance of Three Kingdoms (Koei)
RS Revolution (Spike)
Shingata (Sunrise)
Shin Mojibittan (Namco)
Shin Tenmakai (Idea Factory)
Sparrow Merit (Success)
Sprint Madness (Resolution)
Sticky Balls (Warthog)
Super Star Studio (Coong)
Talkman (SCEI)
Technic Cute (Arika)
Tengai Makyou (Hudson/Red)
TGM-K (Arika)
Tokyo Xtreme Racing (Genki)
Tony Hawk's Underground 2 (Activision/Neversoft)
Transformers (Atrai/Melbourne House)
Twisted Metal: World Tour (SCEA/Incog)
Vegas Casino 2 (Phoenix Games)
Volcanus Online (Zepetto)
World Soccer Winning Eleven 8 (Konami)
World Tour Soccer 2005 (SCEE/Studio Soho)
WRC (SCEE/Evolution)
Zero Hour (Argonaut)
Zooo (Success)

(info gathered by Hey69 from various sources including magicbox)


edit: I just noticed that MGS: Acid (or whatever its called) isn't on the list  

[mouse_clicker]

Quote
Maybe by "based on" they mean ports, but those sound like new games to me (not to mention Metal Gear Acid). I think what the article meant was "no new games at launch".

Those games were already planned and the companies are simply following through with them. THey're not planning any new titles until they see how those do.  

[ruby_onix]

Quote
Square-Enix isn't planning any [PSP] games period.

This is funny and accurate on so many levels.

They DO have one PSP title in the works. Final Fantasy: Advent Children. (OMG, it has Cloud! It's a "real" FF game. Not like that "Crystal Chronicles" crap the DS is getting.)

In fact, Squenix is even delaying their straight-to-video release of the movie until the launch date of the PSP, so that their PSP version won't be utterly useless by the time it comes out.