Video Interview: Sony's John Koller, on PSP Go, PSN and PS3
by Andrew Yoon 
on Jun 18th 2010 1:41PM
50
Reader Comments (50)
Posted: Jun 18th 2010 1:47PM Blkant said
Video interview! Because I'm too lazy to read :)
Posted: Jun 18th 2010 1:48PM SuMtOnE said
MORE RPG Ps1 games =)
Posted: Jun 18th 2010 1:50PM TraceurRyuk Prepping for LBP2 said
@Walkdiesel
We do? I think there's really only a couple major titles that aren't there.
We do? I think there's really only a couple major titles that aren't there.
Posted: Jun 18th 2010 3:49PM Extinction said
I dont care if the major titles are up. There's more to gaming than just major releases
Reply
Posted: Jun 18th 2010 1:50PM mikelee1989 said
Hey -- sorry this is off topic, but why can't I change my picture? All I've managed to do so far is make a broken image.
I've tried waiting, refreshing, different images... Nothing's working. :(
I've tried waiting, refreshing, different images... Nothing's working. :(
Posted: Jun 18th 2010 2:03PM TraceurRyuk Prepping for LBP2 said
@Walkdiesel
Ahh, yeah, forgot about those. I was never a big PS1 gamer. I was all about the N64
Ahh, yeah, forgot about those. I was never a big PS1 gamer. I was all about the N64
Posted: Jun 18th 2010 4:54PM Got Horchata said
Posted: Jun 18th 2010 2:04PM (Unverified) said
Front Mission 3 on PSN! Make it happen! :)
Posted: Jun 18th 2010 2:05PM m0c3 said
Cool, interesting interview
Posted: Jun 18th 2010 2:10PM LordHumongous said
Where can I access Part Two? Or isn't it uploaded yet?
Posted: Jun 18th 2010 7:54PM MaliceMajorE15 said
@LordHumongous
http://www.viddler.com/explore/Joystiq/videos/3623/ thats part 2. i dunno why its not on this page
Reply
http://www.viddler.com/explore/Joystiq/videos/3623/ thats part 2. i dunno why its not on this page
Posted: Jun 18th 2010 2:42PM Mortegro said
This guy looks a lot like Keanu Reeves.
Posted: Jun 18th 2010 2:42PM HTCEVO said
Here's some questions, Koller:
Why did my Go cost more when it should be cheaper to produce?
Why haven't I gotten many games for my Go? I sold me 2000 PSP, and now I can't get several retail games!
Why are there no sales on games, really? All I have are absurdly expensive digital games that cost YOU LESS MONEY TO PRODUCE and yet you are NOT competitive to store prices!
Where are the old games like Wipeout? I STILL WANT TO PLAY THESE TOO! And they shouldn't be 30 bucks btw.
I have to say, especially with the fact many games are either very late or non-existent, I'm horribly disappointed with my GO. Honestly, I don't know if I'd ever get another PSP again because of this. FIX IT.
Come on joystiq, you know the REAL questions for the GO.. why didn't you ask them?
Why did my Go cost more when it should be cheaper to produce?
Why haven't I gotten many games for my Go? I sold me 2000 PSP, and now I can't get several retail games!
Why are there no sales on games, really? All I have are absurdly expensive digital games that cost YOU LESS MONEY TO PRODUCE and yet you are NOT competitive to store prices!
Where are the old games like Wipeout? I STILL WANT TO PLAY THESE TOO! And they shouldn't be 30 bucks btw.
I have to say, especially with the fact many games are either very late or non-existent, I'm horribly disappointed with my GO. Honestly, I don't know if I'd ever get another PSP again because of this. FIX IT.
Come on joystiq, you know the REAL questions for the GO.. why didn't you ask them?
Posted: Jun 18th 2010 3:10PM Meteor Freak said
@HTCEVO
there have been many sales on PSP download games, and price drops... pay attention a little and you will notice them. Most of the games I have on my go I got on sale from the PSN. Also watch Amazon, they put PSN games on sale from time to time also.
but yes the price of the go needs to drop, and I think it will at Gamescon. Also you are right that the digital library for the PSP is lacking... but they have most of the major sellers represented. Hopefully more to come. I like buying digital for the PSP because I can put the game on all of my PSP's for ad-hoc fun... with a UMD you usually have to buy the game more than once.
Reply
there have been many sales on PSP download games, and price drops... pay attention a little and you will notice them. Most of the games I have on my go I got on sale from the PSN. Also watch Amazon, they put PSN games on sale from time to time also.
but yes the price of the go needs to drop, and I think it will at Gamescon. Also you are right that the digital library for the PSP is lacking... but they have most of the major sellers represented. Hopefully more to come. I like buying digital for the PSP because I can put the game on all of my PSP's for ad-hoc fun... with a UMD you usually have to buy the game more than once.
Posted: Jun 18th 2010 3:44PM golfs4panzys said
@HTCEVO
Many products cost more to the consumer that are less expensive to the manufacturer to produce than the previous model. The PSP Go is the premium product in the lineup of PlayStation Portables so you pay a premium price.
What did you get for that premium price? Bluetooth with the ability to connect a PS3 controller, 16gb of built-in memory, a "Pause" save state feature and a new, smaller and more ergonomic design. You paid a premium price and gave up the ability to play UMD games which meant being reliant on the PlayStation Network. If you want to play older games and don't like the idea of only being able to play what you can get off the PSN you shouldn't have bought a Go and/or kept your 2000.
How about you just sell your Go and buy a new 3000 if you are so dissatisfied? You shouldn't be out of pocket much money to do so seeing the price Go's are going for used.
You could sit on these forums and complain and talk about what somebody else needs to do to make your experiences better or you could take action and make those experiences better yourself...
Reply
Many products cost more to the consumer that are less expensive to the manufacturer to produce than the previous model. The PSP Go is the premium product in the lineup of PlayStation Portables so you pay a premium price.
What did you get for that premium price? Bluetooth with the ability to connect a PS3 controller, 16gb of built-in memory, a "Pause" save state feature and a new, smaller and more ergonomic design. You paid a premium price and gave up the ability to play UMD games which meant being reliant on the PlayStation Network. If you want to play older games and don't like the idea of only being able to play what you can get off the PSN you shouldn't have bought a Go and/or kept your 2000.
How about you just sell your Go and buy a new 3000 if you are so dissatisfied? You shouldn't be out of pocket much money to do so seeing the price Go's are going for used.
You could sit on these forums and complain and talk about what somebody else needs to do to make your experiences better or you could take action and make those experiences better yourself...
Posted: Jun 18th 2010 3:47PM Extinction said
@HTCEVO "Why did my Go cost more when it should be cheaper to produce?"
Because it wasnt cheaper to produce. Whole new designs involve a lot of R&D, that's not free. And new machinery to make it all.
And, because it has no UMD they had to cut retailers in on a larger cut of the profit to entice them not to boycott it for cutting them out of used game sales (which didnt work for many retailers)
"Why haven't I gotten many games for my Go? I sold me 2000 PSP, and now I can't get several retail games!"
Because in many cases, rights have passed hands/expired. Devs cant post their games to PSN even if they wanted to. Sometimes they've even been pulled from PSN because of this
"Why are there no sales on games, really?"
There have been.
"All I have are absurdly expensive digital games that cost YOU LESS MONEY TO PRODUCE and yet you are NOT competitive to store prices!"
Because it's illegal for Sony to undercut retailers. And retailers are free to drop pricing at will.
"FIX IT."
Not possible. These are flaws inherent with going download-only.
The only real fix is adding a UMD drive.
Reply
Because it wasnt cheaper to produce. Whole new designs involve a lot of R&D, that's not free. And new machinery to make it all.
And, because it has no UMD they had to cut retailers in on a larger cut of the profit to entice them not to boycott it for cutting them out of used game sales (which didnt work for many retailers)
"Why haven't I gotten many games for my Go? I sold me 2000 PSP, and now I can't get several retail games!"
Because in many cases, rights have passed hands/expired. Devs cant post their games to PSN even if they wanted to. Sometimes they've even been pulled from PSN because of this
"Why are there no sales on games, really?"
There have been.
"All I have are absurdly expensive digital games that cost YOU LESS MONEY TO PRODUCE and yet you are NOT competitive to store prices!"
Because it's illegal for Sony to undercut retailers. And retailers are free to drop pricing at will.
"FIX IT."
Not possible. These are flaws inherent with going download-only.
The only real fix is adding a UMD drive.
Posted: Jun 18th 2010 5:21PM golfs4panzys said
@HTCEVO
I love how my comment got down voted, so typical of the joystiq community. Heaven forbid somebody actually take initiative rather than just complaining on the joystiq.com comments page and waiting for somebody else to fix it for you.
Reply
I love how my comment got down voted, so typical of the joystiq community. Heaven forbid somebody actually take initiative rather than just complaining on the joystiq.com comments page and waiting for somebody else to fix it for you.
Posted: Jun 18th 2010 11:29PM McDuckScrooged said
@HTCEVO -- Man I completely agree with that..
Also notice this guy doesnt answer 1 question he is like a politician Chris Grant asks aboutnewer psp hardware about upgrading the now old shitty psp hardware.. The guy instead twists the question and starts talking about the psp hardware generally.. He hasnt answered 1 question correclty the more I listen to him the more I get annoyed..
Answer the questions asked, dont waffle on about bullshit not asked
Reply
Also notice this guy doesnt answer 1 question he is like a politician Chris Grant asks aboutnewer psp hardware about upgrading the now old shitty psp hardware.. The guy instead twists the question and starts talking about the psp hardware generally.. He hasnt answered 1 question correclty the more I listen to him the more I get annoyed..
Answer the questions asked, dont waffle on about bullshit not asked
Posted: Jun 18th 2010 2:44PM psyXcho said
notice how he immediately goes to "physical" whenever the question is focused on the PSPGO?
Sony could give a shit less about the GO or digital content. Otherwise they'd be supporting it.
Sony could give a shit less about the GO or digital content. Otherwise they'd be supporting it.
Posted: Jun 18th 2010 2:44PM Marco le Polo said
When I'm done working, Ima watch this.
Posted: Jun 18th 2010 2:54PM Pure Black World Tendency said
@Walkdiesel
I'd like to see Micro machines V3 on there. Too bad they never managed to make a good micro machines game after that one.
I'd like to see Micro machines V3 on there. Too bad they never managed to make a good micro machines game after that one.
Posted: Jun 18th 2010 2:58PM MillsAnimation said
How exactly is 3 free games a "better opportunity" for the consumer then the 10 free games? I don't follow you.
Posted: Jun 18th 2010 3:00PM Mortegro said
@MillsAnimation I was wondering that myself. All he was saying was "We want you to buy those other 7 games because we know you will in the US but we want to make most of our money on hardware sales over in Europe. They will not buy as many games over the life of the console."
He IS a PR guy after all.
Reply
He IS a PR guy after all.
Posted: Jun 18th 2010 7:12PM SolidSnakeEyes said
@MillsAnimation I was thinking the same thing.
Reply
Posted: Jun 18th 2010 2:58PM Mortegro said
Also, the video interviews are really informative. It's nice to be able to read facial expressions from industry execs when they sell us a bill of goods.
In other words, more video blog entries! :)
In other words, more video blog entries! :)
Posted: Jun 18th 2010 3:02PM irotmx said
Both parasites eves would be nice.
A remake of the first one would be awesome.
A remake of the first one would be awesome.
Posted: Jun 18th 2010 3:22PM Mazrael said
@Walkdiesel
Heart of Darkness was evil.. you couln't touch anything with out dying.. I got near the end, stuck on a room with 1 guy in the middle, the only way past was to jump over, said so in the guide.., but I always touched a pixel & died
Heart of Darkness was evil.. you couln't touch anything with out dying.. I got near the end, stuck on a room with 1 guy in the middle, the only way past was to jump over, said so in the guide.., but I always touched a pixel & died
Posted: Jun 18th 2010 3:23PM SpaceFox said
Man, I'm pissed. I heard them mention this "3 free PSP games" thing for PSP Go, looked it up, and found out it's only for people who bought it June 2010 - March 2011.
I bought my PSP Go in December 09... I'm so pissed. Huge ass kick in the face to early adopters.
I bought my PSP Go in December 09... I'm so pissed. Huge ass kick in the face to early adopters.
Posted: Jun 18th 2010 3:48PM Extinction said
@SpaceFox I bought mine the freaking day before it started!
Reply
Posted: Jun 18th 2010 3:26PM paper said
Stick with the psp3000 if you buy one and ignore marcus and the awful promotions to come and your life will be alot happier.
Posted: Jun 18th 2010 3:35PM golfs4panzys said
I liked this a lot! Please keep these up Joystiq!
Posted: Jun 18th 2010 4:42PM Special Agent Bob said
@Walkdiesel
we need more cowbell!
we need more cowbell!
Posted: Jun 18th 2010 4:47PM AnimaOnline said
It's fantastic to see video interviews on Joystiq but that camera work was terrible.
Posted: Jun 18th 2010 5:18PM phinn said
@Walkdiesel I've completely lost faith in PSN+, total waste of time and money without party chat. Not to mention extras like built-in Netflix, and ESPN like MS is putting in Live.
I'm a big PS3 fan, but PSN+ is a complete joke.
I'm a big PS3 fan, but PSN+ is a complete joke.
Posted: Jun 18th 2010 5:24PM phosfiend said
Wow,
Cheers on not pulling any punches but being diplomatic - a tough balance to achieve!
I was just hunting for more PSN details and was expecting another canned marketing spiel, but you lot managed to pry some good responses out of him.
Keep it up dude-units.
Cheers on not pulling any punches but being diplomatic - a tough balance to achieve!
I was just hunting for more PSN details and was expecting another canned marketing spiel, but you lot managed to pry some good responses out of him.
Keep it up dude-units.
Posted: Jun 18th 2010 5:58PM Richard S said
After watching this interview, I am confident that I could do Koller's job better than he can. He simply did not conduct himself well under questioning and could not provide meaningful answers.
Posted: Jun 18th 2010 6:47PM Marco le Polo said
Superb .5 interview!
You asked a ton of questions I had on my mind. Some of them I didn't think you were going to and got kind of frustrated and then you did.
Thanks! Looking forward to the other .5.
You asked a ton of questions I had on my mind. Some of them I didn't think you were going to and got kind of frustrated and then you did.
Thanks! Looking forward to the other .5.
Posted: Jun 18th 2010 7:15PM SolidSnakeEyes said
@Marco le Polo They didn't push the guy very hard tho, like Eurogamer did with the SCEE guy recently. Several times this guy came up with a poor excuse and then Joystiq would move on to the next question.
Reply
Posted: Jun 18th 2010 7:01PM SolidSnakeEyes said
He argued against the PSP on PS3 cause of the screen size/resolution, but they have the Minis playable on PS3 so that excuse is BS.
Posted: Jun 18th 2010 8:06PM BiggRapp313 said
where's part 2?
Posted: Jun 18th 2010 9:09PM (Unverified) said
I wish they would release PSP2 already. Honestly, once the 3DS is released no one is going to care about PSP anymore except for the exclusives.......
Posted: Jun 18th 2010 10:44PM TheBrainninja said
HANG ON A SEC
10:50 "Youcan touch ... younger children." - John "Pedobear" Koller
That is all.
10:50 "Youcan touch ... younger children." - John "Pedobear" Koller
That is all.
Posted: Jun 19th 2010 9:47AM Nobledevil Gaming Optimist said
People expecting someone in an important position in a profit-making company to answer questions with 100% complete honesty like some of the commenters want is silly as hell. He'd be out of a job in a week and most of that time would be because of paperwork
He sometimes didn't give full answers, but he also wasn't spouting total bullsh*t the whole time (only part of it).
JS: "So, are you gonna have a price drop on PSP to help with your relaunch campaign?"
Koller: "Yes, but in five months - we need to sucker as many people into buying it right now as possible, though, so we can look better on our year-end profit analysis. After that we'll drop the price and act like it was because we felt the time was right."
He sometimes didn't give full answers, but he also wasn't spouting total bullsh*t the whole time (only part of it).
JS: "So, are you gonna have a price drop on PSP to help with your relaunch campaign?"
Koller: "Yes, but in five months - we need to sucker as many people into buying it right now as possible, though, so we can look better on our year-end profit analysis. After that we'll drop the price and act like it was because we felt the time was right."
Posted: Jun 20th 2010 5:46PM Jackal888 said
@Walkdiesel We need more good PSONE games on PSN. We (North America) do not get the quality titles. In Japan they get the classics. We get JetMoto Collection? I liked JetMoto but a classic it is not. Where is "Vagrant Story" and "Einhander" , "Silent Bomber" and other classics that are going for hundreds on Ebay and are already released overseas?
Posted: Jun 21st 2010 4:19PM HandheldAddictblogspotcom said
Awesome. According to Koller, I'm getting YOUNGER each year 'cause I love my PSPs so much. John Koller, the Tariq Azizz of the video game industry.
Would it have been too much to ask for a LIST of WHAT those "70 PSP games" are???
Would it have been too much to ask for a LIST of WHAT those "70 PSP games" are???
