Reggie Fils-Aime on PSP Go: 'What's the benefit?'
by JC Fletcher 
{ Oct 12th 2009 at 11:30AM } 
He said that the newly launched, download-only PSP Go has a "fundamental concept problem in terms of 'Who's it for?' and 'What's the benefit?'" He added that he has the "utmost respect for all our competitors, but it's interesting to try and answer the consumer question of 'What's in it for me?' in that product."
As for the other major competition in the handheld space? When discussing the DS's advantages over the iPhone/iPod Touch platform, Fils-Aime made the surprising move of referring to a third-party game, namely Scribblenauts. "That's a fabulous experience that can only be brought to life on the DS." Honestly, it probably could be done on iPhone, but it hasn't and probably won't, which is just as good for Nintendo.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
WINterfang ( Now with the power to piss you off ) @ Oct 12th 2009 11:34AM
It can be done in PSP also, except the writing with take more time but you will have fully control of your character.
SoshiKitai @ Oct 12th 2009 11:48AM
Well, in the same way: You could revise the DS version where you CAN control the character.
... it's just that for some odd reason, the devs didn't want you to control the character with the normal buttons.
... I mean, L&R buttons would've been fine for scrolling, and Y&B for scrolling up and down.
But nope. :P
pax copia @ Oct 12th 2009 1:58PM
I've heard that Scribblenauts is coming to the psp with voice recognition
CheeziePotato [Has finally become a Super Saiyan] @ Oct 12th 2009 11:35AM
The PSPgo can't defeat the almighty Reggie.
CheeziePotato [Has finally become a Super Saiyan] @ Oct 12th 2009 11:36AM
But there is one thing that Reggie fails at, E3.
LaughingTarget @ Oct 12th 2009 11:46AM
Reggie and the DSi, in tandem: "Fuuu...sion...HA!"
And thus is formed Reggie DSi, who can now easily defeat the horrors of E3 2010.
Chris D.(PSN: Aggie_CEO | XBL:The Aggie CEO | Steam: Aggie_CEO @ Oct 12th 2009 12:06PM
@LaughingTarget....
Really?? they did the Fusion Dance??? I can see Reggie doing htat....but the DSi is FAAAAAAAAAAAAR to Manly to do that dance..too much of a Warrior to be seen doing such things
LaughingTarget @ Oct 12th 2009 12:17PM
Well, the earrings are permanent and Reggie would have a hard time exlaining to the missus why there's a touch screen in his chest and his dingle is detachible and used as a stylus. This was the only way.
CheeziePotato [Has finally become a Super Saiyan] @ Oct 12th 2009 12:19PM
The Reggie DSi is our only hope of defeating Bobby Kotick.
Matt @ Oct 12th 2009 2:56PM
It also can't defeat the almighty Has Games To Play On It PSP-3000.
Orchard Pear @ Oct 12th 2009 11:36AM
The benefit to owning any PSP over a DS is..
Better games.
wii60dsgamer @ Oct 12th 2009 11:40AM
Sorry buddy, but you're definitely in the minority there. Try telling that to 115 million DS owners.
Chris D.(PSN: Aggie_CEO | XBL:The Aggie CEO | Steam: Aggie_CEO @ Oct 12th 2009 11:40AM
ummmmm...Scribblenauts....thats a good fuckin DS game right there...and it will be one of the first ones I buy when I get a DSi next year
Dr. Bradwart [100% Reagan Conservative!] @ Oct 12th 2009 11:41AM
I suspect cost has something to do with that.
Zerokku @ Oct 12th 2009 11:41AM
The DS has the Ace Attorney games. It wins by default.
CheeziePotato [Has finally become a Super Saiyan] @ Oct 12th 2009 11:45AM
I have a DS and a PSP. The DS has tons more better games. I just got Pokemon Soul Silver and that game is better than any game I've played on the DS or PSP.
copa @ Oct 12th 2009 11:45AM
"The benefit to owning any PSP over a DS is Better games."
If you feel that way (and sales numbers indicate a lot of people do not), then the PSP-3000 makes a lot of sense.
What Reggie is saying is that there's no clear market for the PSP GO, and he's correct.
The target audience is people who have never owned a PSP, who want less gaming functionality than a PSP-3000, less media/app functionality than an iPod Touch, yet are willing to pay more than the cost of either device. They don't have friends with PSPs, and they don't ever buy games second-hand, so they don't mind that games can't be shared or resold. They like games, but they don't like a whole lot of games, so they don't mind that they can only store a limited number of total games on the device.
In short, a very small target audience.
Captain Planet [Planeteer | Power of Captain Planet] @ Oct 12th 2009 12:01PM
Very rarely do I agree with 'The Reg', but he hit the nail on the head with this one. The PSPGo is absolute FAIL.
Space @ Oct 12th 2009 12:03PM
can't share games?! huh, I have a about 25 PSP games on PS3 that I didn't pay for that say otherwise!
Reuben @ Oct 12th 2009 12:12PM
You know what, I'm going to risk the down-vote and agree with you, Orchard Pear. I have twice as many games for my PSP than I do for my DS. Pokemon no longer does anything for me. I haven't played one since the days of the gameboy color.
CheeziePotato [Has finally become a Super Saiyan] @ Oct 12th 2009 12:22PM
@Rueben
I haven't played a Pokemon game since the Game Boy Color ones, but had to play Soul Silver, because it was a remake of Pokemon Gold and Silver, two of the best GBC games. It was an amazing remake.
CheeziePotato [Has finally become a Super Saiyan] @ Oct 12th 2009 12:29PM
Now all we need is a Link's Awakening DX remake.
KeegdnaB @ Oct 12th 2009 1:09PM
@CheeziePotato
Read my mind. A next-gen Link's Awakening remake would kick ass, although I would settle for at the very least a rerelease on the oft wished for Virtual Gameboy
sony boy (6 years til sony man child!) @ Oct 12th 2009 1:10PM
the pspgo is for rich bastards and stupid consumers who buys anything sexy.
vask @ Oct 12th 2009 1:13PM
well i wouldnt say it has less features id say it has more it just replaced the umd drive for a smaller 16gb hdd(which u only see 14gb ) but thats about the about the only difference. I think their target might have been a smaller more convenient handheld console that eliminates the hassle of carrying games around. they were alsoprobably hoping that because of its "sleek new design" would wow people into buying one as well. Generally what nintendo always does in each generation of their gameboys.
That doesnt mean im siding with sony with this ridiculously high priced item. When nintendo does release its iteration its usually like 20 bucks more if not the same while the older version goes down in price. sony just stupidly tacked on 50 bucks and took away and add ons like a umd game and movie.
and im sure they must have wanted to sneak in the fact that now everyone has to pay full retail price for their games and never sell them as well as having to rebuy all of their umd games and perhipherals. nice little system to have but you would have to be a retard to pick this one up even if you were a first time buyer.
Meh @ Oct 12th 2009 1:22PM
The benefit to owning any DS over a PSP is..
Better graphics.
Seriously. Nobody cares about the polycount now, and PSP loses by default with its horrible aliasing. Compare screens from Chinatown Wars DS and PSP.
CheeziePotato [Has finally become a Super Saiyan] @ Oct 12th 2009 1:33PM
@sony boy
The PSPgo is something for someone who likes to play games and likes an all-digital and very portable device. Please get off Joystiq, sony boy, you'll be doing all of us a favor.
CheeziePotato [Has finally become a Super Saiyan] @ Oct 12th 2009 1:38PM
But, yeah PSPgo is FAIL.
eNrique @ Oct 12th 2009 1:57PM
So, do you guys think that more sales indicate better games?
¬¬
finnith @ Oct 12th 2009 2:09PM
Are you TRYING to piss off all the other Joystiq commenters FF?
eNrique @ Oct 12th 2009 2:29PM
"Great" games like halo odst sell amzingly wel, while shitty games like Uncharted perform poorly said sprinkles.
You just proved my point.
Sales =/= Quality
Shoyz @ Oct 12th 2009 2:58PM
"who want less gaming functionality than a PSP-3000, less media/app functionality than an iPod Touch, yet are willing to pay more than the cost of either device"
The funny thing is that this applies to the DSi as well.
CheeziePotato [Has finally become a Super Saiyan] @ Oct 12th 2009 3:19PM
@finnith
FFAngelLightning13 is just mad, because all those games he mentioned are coming out before his precious Final Fantasy 13.
Peter R. @ Oct 12th 2009 4:58PM
@Orchard Pear
Better games?! Are you kidding me?! Both the PSP & DS have great selection of quality games, that statement has been proven wrong, and is now only the opinion of a "small" minority. So to support my claim here is a short list of quality DS games:
1. Ace Attorney Series 16. Ninja Gaiden
2. Professor Layton Series 17. GTA: Chinatown Wars
3. Pokemon Series 18. The Legend of Zelda
4. Scribblenauts 19. Metroid Prime: Hunters
5. Final Fantasy III & IV 20. Trauma Center Series
6. Dragon Quest IV & V 21. Retro Game Challenge
7. Hotel Dusk: Room 215 22. Dementium: The Ward
8. Broken Sword DS 23. FF Tactics
9. Mario & Luigi Series 24. Knights in the Nightmare
10. The World Ends With You 25. Lock's Quest
11. Lunar Knights 26. Castlevania Series
12. Chrono Trigger 27. Advance Wars Series
13. Etrian Odyssey Series 28. Sonic Rush Series
14 Shin Megami Tensei 29. Mario Kart DS
15. Rune Factory Series 30. Little Red Riding Hood's Zombie BBQ
And the list goes on! So if you don't like the DS, say it, but don't start spouting BS like one handheld has better games than another. It's been too long since their launch dates to still be saying crap like that.
Chris D.(PSN: Aggie_CEO | XBL:The Aggie CEO | Steam: Aggie_CEO @ Oct 12th 2009 11:39AM
of course he isn't scared of the Go....why?? the damn DS/DSi is a fucking BEAST....nigh unmatchable in terms of sales....hell you would think that they gave those things out with every birth certificate in Japan....
As for the iPhone/Touch....well he looks at is as "My DS/DSi cost $130-180 an iPhone/Touch is $100(with monthly fee)-$400....who is going to buy THAT damn thing JUST to play games!?!? What parent is going to trust their 5 year old child with a $300 iPod Touch??"
Dummy00001 @ Oct 12th 2009 12:50PM
iPhone v. DS. What you are saying is very true.
Yet from business prospective, number of mobile phone owners greatly outweighs number of portable console owners.
Nintendo has nothing to fear in short term, but for long term they better have a strategy. Though unlikely, rising number of games for iPhone might prompt Apple to add real buttons after all. And that would hurt Nintendo. Especially considering that literally all operators offer upgrade plans for mobile phones - iPhone included - that might happen rather quickly. That would suddenly make DS platform exclusive to kids. Not a possibility Nintendo wants to wake up to. It is a business risk they should be aware of.
Chris D.(PSN: Aggie_CEO | XBL:The Aggie CEO | Steam: Aggie_CEO @ Oct 12th 2009 1:16PM
yea mobile phone owners outweighs DS owners A LOT....but not EVERYONE wants an iPhone, there are MILLIONS of BB Users that do nothing but talk SHIT about the iPhone....then like I already said no 5 year old is going to be using an iPhone to play games....Nintendo doesn't have ANYTHING to worry about in the handheld side of things for at LEAST 10 years...
Sordid State of Eclairs @ Oct 12th 2009 1:34PM
I have to say you hit the nail on the head Aggie and brought up a lot I had never even related to the psp go.
It's nice to break new ground once in a while, probably one of Sony's strong points, it's their implementation and execution that sucks ass the majority of the time.
I would get a psp-3000 before I bought a go, I'd get a ds before I bought a dsi, but I'd probably play my ds a lot more than my psp had I owned both.
Figure the ds also has that bit of a nostalgia factor going for it too.
Mr Khan @ Oct 12th 2009 3:50PM
I think Nintendo has already started to move in that direction. You can see it with the "My Language Coach" titles from Ubisoft, and the DSiWare's non-gaming applications, as well as Nintendo's more experimental ventures, like using your DS to order stuff for you at Safeco field in Seattle
Louis @ Oct 12th 2009 11:40AM
I like the PSPGo, but I also can't come up with a reason why I would want to buy one. It costs more money and it doesn't play UMDs.
It is a strange strategy to strip down the features and raise the price in a market that is dominated by the DS/DSi, which is feature rich and ultra cheap.
BigD145 @ Oct 12th 2009 2:05PM
If you want to play filthy used UMD's, buy a PSP 3000. If you want to play pristine downloadable games that don't have swine flu all over them, buy a PSP Go.
**This announcement is endorsed by Sony**
[ArchiGamer] [80% ENTERTAINMENT BY VOLUME] @ Oct 12th 2009 3:50PM
I honestly would buy one. Why? Because I really don't like carrying too many UMD, there kind of big and in the way, and when carrying a DS as well, I wouldn't mind a handheld that was digital. Also, I really don't have many titles I actually want to own, if not a quite few. Thinking of it I would probably use about 12 GB of the 16, and if I need to add more space, I can just get a memory stick for that, a bit of a hassle but, if possible, I can just switch memory sticks for other games.
I like almost everything about the PSPGo, except the price and the risk that comes with. I will take though, and hope it works.
hammerclawpc @ Oct 13th 2009 8:14PM
Yeah, slimmer LESS capable seems to be Sony's mantra these days. Go figure.
Dr. Bradwart [100% Reagan Conservative!] @ Oct 12th 2009 11:40AM
So when the DS2 is download only what will Reggie say?
This is almost as bad as his E3 performances.
Chris D.(PSN: Aggie_CEO | XBL:The Aggie CEO | Steam: Aggie_CEO @ Oct 12th 2009 12:04PM
Trust and believe Nintendo is watching how the PSPGo performs as well. If anything they will at LEAST release a Download only handheld in Japan....it may not make it to the US tho
CheeziePotato [Has finally become a Super Saiyan] @ Oct 12th 2009 3:46PM
His E3 performances are worse.
tmacairjordan87 @ Oct 12th 2009 11:41AM
I'm gonna reach into my Joystiq past for this one....
"What's the benefit"
One could say the same thing about the Wii and DSi.
Damn that felt good.
CheeziePotato [Has finally become a Super Saiyan] @ Oct 12th 2009 11:46AM
Excellent, tmac
Reuben @ Oct 12th 2009 12:14PM
I want to up-vote you for your DSI comment, but your Wii comment negates that.
I'll just leave you be.
CheeziePotato [Has finally become a Super Saiyan] @ Oct 12th 2009 12:17PM
That was sarcasm. It was very bad sarcasm, wasn't it. I FAILED :(
But so did tmac.