Why the PSP could be the beginning of Sony's end

I remember nearly two years ago, when Sony launched their shiny little PSP. The handheld gaming system had nearly everything going for it: the sleek look, the Dreamcast level graphics, and solid launch games from Lumines and Wipeout. When the PSP launched, it seemed to blow it's main competitor, the Nintendo DS (I pray to god that you weren't thinking the N-gage), with a six month lead and still no killer app, out of the water. There was no competition - or so we thought.

Fast forward to the fall of 2005, and the floodgate of Q3-Q4 games begin to rush in. The Nintendo DS first saw Nintendogs - a quirky sims-like game where you raise your own puppy. First seeing release in Japan, the game sold in the millions, and pushing systems with equal fervor. Followed by a solid stream of killer app-level titles in Advanced Wars, Castlevania, Sonic, Mario and Luigi 2, and the big wi-fi titles: Mario Kart DS and Animal Crossing. With all the successful titles on the DS, Sony would surely pump out more great titles for their PSP. Right? Well not exactly. The PSP only saw sloppy ports of what were great games on the PS2. But Sony still didn't fear - touting the PSP as an awesome multi-media device, the system itself still sold well into 2006.

That was something that Sony's PSP always had over Nintendo's DS - it was a sexy device. Nintendo's systems always had a very "kiddy" look to them (culminating in the purple lunchbox that was the Gamecube).

That all changed in June of 2006, when Nintendo launched the DS lite. The system itself - a shiny haven of sexiness - appealed to gamers of all ages, who were too embarrassed to be seen in public playing the clam shell of the former DS. The DS lite indeed, seemed to be the last nail in the PSP's coffin.

In my opinion, the PSP could potentially be the downfall of Sony's gaming empire. Their philosophy of packing every multi-media bull crap into their systems proceeded into their PS3. I see this as a selfish attempt to paste all their products into one, hoping it will appeal to most everyone. It would be a novel idea, if was actually done well. Back to the PS3 - Sony's last hope for a profitable gaming department. The problems continued with the sky-high price point of 600 dollars, and Sony's forgetting that this is actually a gaming device, with the lack of good games to warrant the high price.

Does Sony really have any hope? There is a lot of damage control, but it's possible. They have to realize that their systems are directed toward the core gamer, and they don't give a flying shit about a UMD or Blu-ray, all they care about are games, and good ones at that. Focus on getting good developers to develop great exclusive games, whose licenses won't be sold over to Microsoft six months later. Start off by pampering the gamer, because no casual consumer will ever spend 600 dollars on a gaming system. Ever.