No PSP redesign planned, but more colors proposed
by James Ransom-Wiley 
{ Mar 9th 2007 at 6:42PM }
During a GDC appearance, Sony PSP senior product manager John Koller continued to thwart off rumors that a redesign is the works. It seems that Sony is particularly interested in denying plans to reduce the handheld's overall size, especially its screen. The current strategy is to stay the course; to generate interest in the existing model. Which means? You guessed it: tapping into some of that unused real estate in the ol' rainbow. Handheld owners are known to purchase multiple units, explained Koller -- especially when there are new colors on the market. Why expand your consumer base when you can continue to re-sell freshened up old goods to the same customers? (Wonder where Sony got that idea...?)
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
CJC @ Mar 9th 2007 6:49PM
You can get a PSP in any color you want, as long as it's black.
I think it IS about time they changed that!
LaughingTarget @ Mar 9th 2007 7:11PM
The harder they deny, the more true it is. The PSP needs a redesign.
Vince UK @ Mar 9th 2007 7:11PM
But black frames the screen so much better.
Black or teak are the only colours that should surround a screen.
JRM @ Mar 9th 2007 7:11PM
People want to buy multiple PSPs? What, so it can collect dust in rainbow of colours?
Multiple DSs I can see: you give one to your parents, girlfriends, little kids and so forth. But, does your grandma really want to play a PSP?
Aex @ Mar 9th 2007 7:15PM
I love PSP related topics.
Shagittarius @ Mar 9th 2007 7:17PM
I would like to see a return to the faux wood esthetics of the 70s.
KC @ Mar 9th 2007 7:27PM
WEAK.
I'm prayin for a redesign. Oh well :(
silkylove @ Mar 9th 2007 7:28PM
I'm not really interested in PSP news that doesn't involve a price cut, but I guess this is cool for the gamers who are interested.
Rubang B @ Mar 9th 2007 7:34PM
"Why expand your consumer base when you can continue to re-sell freshened up old goods to the same customers? (Wonder where Sony got that idea...?)"
They got the idea from drugdealers.
Aex @ Mar 10th 2007 1:06AM
@Rubang B
They probably got the idea from Nintendo, and Nintendo probably got it from the drugdealers...
adeeL @ Mar 10th 2007 4:38AM
dual analogues is all im sayin' ... please
Oniel @ Mar 9th 2007 7:58PM
I'll take it in the color big case of denial (I think thats pink).
Steve 3.2 @ Mar 9th 2007 7:59PM
Why would I buy a second PSP when I barely play the one I've got? And for the record, I've never purchased a new GameBoy or DS just to get it in a different color. I picked up new models for new features -- i.e. GB Pocket for it's better screen, GBA for all new games, and the SP for the built-in back light and rechargeable battery. And I waited to buy a DS until the Lite came out.
NintendoFanbot @ Mar 9th 2007 8:17PM
PSP's newest campaign:
"Play it EARSPLITTING!"
Of course I'm kidding. :D
sonofnone @ Mar 9th 2007 8:55PM
What? A color other than black? Why Sony? Why? I mean. Hell, you've punished the rest of the worlds with the evil temptation to buy sleek white PSPs, metallic blue and silver PSPs, funky gold PSPs and even the fugly camouflage PSPs.
So what have we done to draw your evil eye to this great land of hope? Why would you now, with the hope of a tar black blanket of PSPs covering this nation from coast to coast, deign to infiltrate our desires of uniformity with the wickedness of individuality? Damn you Sony! Damn you to hell.
Mike @ Mar 9th 2007 9:06PM
I would settle for Sony to have a replacement d-pad. The thing they have now sucks bigtime. The d-pad is a 100% legit design flaw. The d-pad itself doesn't press hard enough into the rubber to register diagonals.
steve17 @ Mar 9th 2007 9:16PM
2 THUMB STICKS!!! THATS ALL I WANT IS 2 THUMB STICKS!!!
please sony, PLEASE!! you would sell shitloads with that redesign alone.
SKI @ Mar 9th 2007 9:48PM
Actually, people bought the DS lite because it WAS a redesign that was better then the original.
hvnlysoldr @ Mar 9th 2007 11:37PM
Price cut. There are very few games I would want from PSP but it's just too expensive.
tmmoore_nc @ Mar 10th 2007 12:12AM
Next, it'll be
"Buy 2 PSP's for a Dual-Screen experience". Of course, only 1 analog nub will be usable at a time.
Castle @ Mar 10th 2007 12:22AM
Actually there are already White, Pink, and Blue PSPs available around the world. Since the PSP is region free you can just purchase those online.
Brian @ Mar 10th 2007 4:18AM
when i was flying to beijing china i had to make a stop over at tokyo. The guy who sat next to me was an engineer for some US company that worked on the memory chips and the clock setup for the original psp. He told me that there was a plan for a PSP 2 but he didnt say anything about what it would look like..,.. so im guessing that sony does have plans for a new psp but they want to keep quite in order to keep a steady sales rate for the psp. Who would want a psp if there was another one coming out later?
just my theory....
Dustin Leiblein @ Mar 10th 2007 4:13PM
Stay the course?!
Oh God, don't tell me John Koller is the George Bush of the PSP.
Let's hope the PSP doesn't turn into Iraq.
Obviously @ Mar 10th 2007 9:33AM
1. You can get a PSP in any color you want, as long as it's black.
I think it IS about time they changed that!
Posted at 6:49PM on M
UH they did like a year ago....
Blue @ Mar 10th 2007 10:19AM
"Why expand your consumer base when you can continue to re-sell freshened up old goods to the same customers? (Wonder where Sony got that idea...?)"
It looks like a dig at Nintendo, except if that were the case, then Sony learned the wrong lesson. Nintendo may often sell freshened-up goods, but they ALSO happen to be redesigns:
GBA -> GBA SP -> GBA Micro -> backlit GBA SP.
DS -> DS Lite
They were gambling on the consumers wanting to buy a NEW model, that might either be sleeker, or have new features(better battery life, BACKLIT screens, a sleek clamshell body). NOT NEW COLORS. When multiple colors were released, they were released at the SAME time, not years later(or in the case of the Lite, a couple months down the line when the public is STILL having trouble finding the system, so it'd be their first.).
Second, Nintendo's handheld systems are MARKEDLY less expensive to buy than Sony's. For the price of ONE PSP+ $10, you could get a DS and DS Lite. And all FOUR incarnations of the GBA cost less than two PSPs would.
Whether or not you like either system and hate the other, you have to consider that PRICE is a significant factor in getting someone to buy a similar system. And Sony's cost too much for the average person to just say "a new color is worth $200-$250."
ssuk @ Mar 10th 2007 11:20AM
You all seem to have forgotten the white and pink PSPs released by Sony. There are more colours than just black, how about looking further than your noses sometime, commentors.
sheppy @ Mar 10th 2007 12:30PM
"They were gambling on the consumers wanting to buy a NEW model, that might either be sleeker, or have new features(better battery life, BACKLIT screens, a sleek clamshell body). NOT NEW COLORS. When multiple colors were released, they were released at the SAME time, not years later(or in the case of the Lite, a couple months down the line when the public is STILL having trouble finding the system, so it'd be their first.)."
Man, what is it like living in lalaland? The ONLY GB that never received new colors midlife was the original GBA. Actually, scratch that. It got a couple LEs. But Gameboy Pocket never did... actually, scratch that shit too.
Original Gameboy was revamped with grey LCD (not spinach graphics) and colors during the Play It Loud series.
Gameboy Pocket originally launched in silver. Within a year, it started getting other colors as well.
Gameboy Pocket Lite, well, never came stateside.
Gameboy Color initially released in purple and crystal (read: clear purple). Only later did they finally add slightly less effiminate colors to this lineup.
GBA Brick launched in three colors. It received a couple LEs.
GBA SP only launched in Cobalt. Shortly after, new colors were added. Not to mention the constant LEs like Famicom Edition or Spongebob editions.
GBA Micro has had only one LE edition released stateside but in Japan, four different LE sets were released.
DS launched in only silver. Cobalt was added later, added to other LE colors like the Mario Kart edition.
DS Lite launched in one color. Then it got more colors.
Dude, seriously. Nintendo is infamous for this behavior. I mean, hell, you have Kaplan talking about a Wii console revision by the end of the year.
sheppy @ Mar 10th 2007 12:31PM
"You all seem to have forgotten the white and pink PSPs released by Sony. There are more colours than just black, how about looking further than your noses sometime, commentors."
Says the man commenting on a US website about all the wonderful colors never released here.
Slaziman @ Mar 10th 2007 1:10PM
I saw a white PSP once in real life, it looked really cool. I may actually buy a PSP some time because of it (I'm European)
sheppy @ Mar 10th 2007 1:18PM
I had one of the few white PSPs in my area until word got out importing the console was just as cheap as buying one... and now you see plenty of the hardcore with the exotic japanese colors (saw a champagne gold the other day, those are ugly)
Stef Geiger @ Mar 10th 2007 1:21PM
How is it that when a company releases a product that they "revise" two or three times with a feature that should have been included in the first version (Nintendo), everyone loves them?
Because when Sony releases a product like the PSP that's designed well enough to not NEED new features etc tacked on, it gets flack.
Shouldn't people be angry at Nintendo for essentially making them upgrade to a model that has a feature their original purchase should have had in the first place? Why does Sony get bashed because they're choosing to make some money off the idiots who want to spend another $250 to have a different COLOURED PSP?
No one needs to buy a new PSP to enjoy the system, but plenty of people did need to buy new GBAs when the SP came out because the screen made the system nearly unplayable.
Slaziman @ Mar 10th 2007 1:42PM
If the screen made the old GBA "unplayable" you have to wonder why they bought the original in the first place. I thought the old DS was fugly, so I didn't buy it. Then I saw the DS Lite and wet my pants, that's when I bought it.
sheppy @ Mar 10th 2007 1:57PM
Hate to play devil's advocate, but many people just were not told how dark the GBA screen was. Likewise, developers did not even know that several of their games would show up that badly. Granted, these issues started to become fixed with third gen and above GBA software but you KNOW it's pretty bad where, if I wasn't in the optimum lighting scenario, the only way I could see my character in Castlevania: Circle Of The Moon was by the little numbers that ticked up when I was poisoned. I left GBA alone for a while until GBA player came out and suddenly the graphics looked much better, screen was brighter, and I could finally see all those graphics on the back of those boxes.
6million in 6 months @ Mar 10th 2007 1:59PM
Nr 17 hvnlysoldr got it right.
Not new colors, but a price cut would do it for me.
Cut the price in Japan to 15000 Yen or less and I'll buy one.
6million in 6 months @ Mar 10th 2007 2:00PM
Stupid password system...
Why is my username now "6million in 6 months"??? I didn't choose that. :/
John Doe. @ Mar 10th 2007 3:33PM
And we all know how well staying the course works.
Slaziman @ Mar 10th 2007 2:23PM
You mean developers never test played their games on a GBA before releasing? But yeah the screen sucked, my little brother recently asked me to play Four Swords with him, but since we only have 1 GBA and 1 GBA SP I had to use the crap GBA, it was horrible!
Mr.Wednesday @ Mar 10th 2007 3:24PM
@Stef Geiger,
"when Sony releases a product like the PSP that's designed well enough to not NEED new features etc tacked on, it gets flack."
It doesnt need new features? How about a better battery-life, another analog stick and a little bit smaller... In fact, being a bit smaller and a better design made miracles to the DS... So why it wouldnt work on the PSP? Even if that means a smaller screen, I wouldnt mind! That screen eats more battery than I drink beer!
sheppy @ Mar 10th 2007 3:55PM
"How about a better battery-life, another analog stick and a little bit smaller... In fact, being a bit smaller and a better design made miracles to the DS... So why it wouldnt work on the PSP? Even if that means a smaller screen, I wouldnt mind! That screen eats more battery than I drink beer!"
The analog stick, I could almost agree with. Except for the fact that the current location of the analog stick is uncomfortable for me and according to krazy ken, when they were early testing concepts, people tended to drop the dual analog consoles. That could be bullshit but the analog being uncomfortable for me is not.
A little bit smaller? The thing is dink to begin with. It's size sits comfortably between DS Phat and DS Lite size.
As for the screen, you must be drunk if you think the battery is drained by the screen. Let me put it this way, FFVII, I can get 6-7 hours on the standard battery. Field Commander, 4-5, including wireless being used. Hot Shots Golf, 2-3. Differences? Hot Shots uses the UMD the most of the three above, note the huge hit on the battery life. Now this is just with the standard battery, not the higher capacity battery (which holds about 40% more charge from what I heard). Truth be told, without the UMD functionality, the battery life is comparable to the DS. DS still beats it, but it's at least comparable. After all, I get 6-8 hours per charge on my DS Lite.
SaraAB87 @ Mar 10th 2007 8:00PM
Battery life on the DS lite on the lowest brightness is around 15-17 hours, and of course if you were playing only gba games on the one screen then it would be a lot more. Battery life on the phat DS wasn't so good. Battery life on the GBA SP (new backlit version) is also very very good!
Pretty much every company is stepping on the upgrade wagon nowdays, simply because its an easy way to cash in on a product you already have. Look at how many times apple upgraded the ipod, the Nintendo DS is the same way, so not a surprise that the PSP is going in the same direction.
ZeroCorpse @ Mar 11th 2007 7:28PM
I don't care what color it is; Sony needs to drop the PSP price already! $199 for the gimp pack or $249 for the halfway-useful pack is NOT a good value. I wouldn't pay any more than $149 for the thing, and that's with all the basic accessories included.
It's too big to be a portable. I have a laptop that's not much bigger than a PSP, and it does a ton more and costs only twice as much.
mj @ Mar 12th 2007 5:17PM
The psp is easily the most offered console on our craigslist. Too much money for too little good games.
MeltedGeneral @ Mar 12th 2007 9:00PM
You do realize that if there is a new redesign of a PSP that has 2 analog sticks, everyone gets shafted. Then other people will bitch about it that were just fine with the single stick.
I'd be fine with internal memory along with mem stick. and a better web browser, Flash 6 doesnt cut it. I want white PSP in the US. Saw one in the Philippines, but didnt have enough money despite it being partialy cheap due to conversion rates. :/