Sony Takes on iPhone's Growing Mobile Gaming Popularity in New Ad

[jimbobb24]

Sold PSP

The PSP is great but we sold ours after we had an iPod touch and then iPhone. No one was using the PSP anymore, it was a hassle and the games were expensive. For big production games the PSP is great, but I found that if I wanted to sit and play a game like that I was likely home, so I just turned on the PS3. Over the life of the PSP for us we probably spent $120 in games. We have probably spent $50 for the iOS and played many more varied and fun simple portable games.

 

[tadad1]

Where in the ad does it say iPhone? From what I could tell it was simply a comparison of iPod Touch vs. PSP.

I think "Texting your Grandma and calling your girl" would be more aimed at the iPhone than Touch.

 

[wreckshop]

And with one advert, Sony confirm that they are worried and taking Apple seriously as a competitor.

Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars is identical on the iPhone and iPod touch and costs just £6 here in the UK on the App Store.

You can also get PSP comparable games like PES 2010 (£6) and Madden NFL 11 (£5), which is one of many games offering Retina Display support to give visuals on par with the PSP.

Other games like Street Fighter 4, Geometry Wars, N.O.V.A, Ridge Racer, Let's Golf 2 (Gameloft's take on Everybody's Golf), Need For Speed Shift are all on par with PSP games and cost a fraction of the cost of a UMD or download.

Im sorry, but have you actually tried playing any of those games on an iphone? The reason they cost so little compared to the PSP versions is because they are 2nd rate cut down versions that control like CRAP. Streetfighter especially is a disaster. It's been dumbed down so its not even streetfighter anymore and the virtual controls cover half the screen!

Sorry, but the PSP Go is an unmitigated flop, confirmed by the fact Sony are throwing 10 free downloadable games at buyers that include top titles like MotorStorm, Assassins Creed, Gran Turismo, and WipEout.

PSP go is a flop because of one thing - it's price. The damn thing costs $250. When you can get cellphones that do a whole lot more for $200, the value proposition looks very bad. If PSP go launched at $99, then it would be success.

 

[Liquorpuki]

You cant honestly say that the actual gaming experience is better on an iphone vs PSP. PSP has better games and actual buttons. Plus playing games that use tilt controls looks really goofy on a train. The only games that iphones are better at are solitaire type games.

I agree. But the argument is predicated on the assumption the PSP actually HAS games to play... which it doesn't.

 

[lilcosco08]

2/3 of those were bought by me at the ORIGINAL psp launch
>.>

 

[FrankySavvy]

Funny commerical, however I think the Smartphone will cause the extinction of portable gaming systems (eventually). A smartphone will be more of a SMART DEVICE that will make phone calls, browse the internet, play music, watch movies, play games, take pictures, high def video and have GPS.

Just like the GPS and mp3 players, portable devices that are only capable of doing one thing are becoming extinct.

 

[ellsworth]

Mah'cus iz Dope..... SUCKA!

it's like a midget Mr. T.

Um... not sure what'else to say

Until SmartPhones come with a way to use a joystick, they will NEVER take over the portable gaming world. Touch is great, but it's nothing compared to a hardware-based controller.

 

[vaiol123]

But you can't play Project Diva 2nd on an iPhone!!!

 

[Andronicus]

I remember seeing this ad months ago on hulu. It's hilarious, but sad at the same time…

 

[HLdan]

So many tech companies are so threatened by Apple these days. . Sony is a on a losing ground with the PSP and they know that the iPad Apple will grab even a larger portable gaming market share. The iPhone 4 has proven to be quite successful despite the idiots who tried to bring Apple down over the issues and Sony can't handle it so they put up this ghetto ad that will do nothing but make them look desperate.

 

[shadygrove]

What a horrible ad. That seriously made the PSP look bad (I am big sony fan and love my PS3 btw, so I am not biased.) But seriously the whole commercial is really behind the times... Seriously, who would rather have a PSP over a smart phone? Kids... Which is exactly what the PSP is targeting... PSP is how many years old now?

 

[womble2k2]

Where in the ad does it say iPhone? From what I could tell it was simply a comparison of iPod Touch vs. PSP.

The point where the kid says "that is built for texting your grandmother and calling your girl"!!

 

[Torrijos]

Plus smartphone generations cycle are shorter, improving hardware at a faster rate, while maintaining compatibility with older software. (therefor improving your experience if the dev took the time to create his software scalable)

And like a lot of people said big boys don't carry around game consoles but always their phones ^^.

 

[pooryou]

Sagging PSP sales? LOL PSP was a non-starter out the gate.

Wake me up when Nintendo start running iPhone attack ads (they just might).

 

[wreckshop]

I agree. But the argument is predicated on the assumption the PSP actually HAS games to play... which it doesn't.

Of course it does have games. These are the 10 games they were giving away at launch for PSP go:

Assassin’s Creed: Bloodlines
Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories
Gran Turismo
James Cameron’s AVATAR
LittleBigPlanet
MotorStorm Arctic Edge
Need for Speed SHIFT
Pursuit Force: Extreme Justice
2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa
WipEout Pure

Those 10 games alone would provide a far more diverse and enjoyable GAMING experience than pretty much anything you can get on an iphone. The problem with PSP isnt the games. Its that everything costs too damn much.

 

[Major Reeves]

the iphone and ipad have almost completely replaced my gaming on the console/pc

Pedobear !!!

Sound the ALARM!!!

*alarm*
*alarm*
(...)
*alarm*

 

[SockRolid]

Remember the Sony Walkman?

Sony does not understand that everyone carries around a cell phone. ...

I think they do understand that everyone carries around a cell phone. And that those cell phones are not made by Sony and never will be.

Back in the mid-1990s, Sony had the first really small "flip phone" in the U.S. It was somewhat like a small black cube with a short arm that you flipped down that contained the microphone. I saw it in a few TV commercials and maybe one or two movies because it was shockingly small for the time. But just a few months later the Motorola StarTAC was released (the first really small clamshell-style phone) and the Sony phone instantly disappeared. I can't even find any Google hits for it, especially I don't even know its model number.

Sony withdrew from the U.S. cellphone market in 1999, later teamed up with another desperate company trying to succeed in the U.S. market (Ericsson), and that's not going so well either.

In more recent history, do you remember when the PSP was the coolest portable electronics gizmo? That was just a few years ago, but it looks like Sony has dropped the ball again. If they had a successful line of cell phones and if they had merged cell phone functionality into their pretty impressive Clie PDA line, they might have had an iPhone competitor by now. And that device could have also integrated PSP-style gaming too.

But really, iTunes is the reason for iPod, iPhone, and iPad success. Sure, iOS and the hardware are slick. But adding iTunes' music, video, and App delivery mechanisms to a slick mobile OS and slick hardware makes Apple's ecosystem unbeatable. And that's why nobody has much of a chance against Apple. iTunes has existed for 9 years, Apple has been relentlessly developing its mobile hardware and iOS around it, and thousands of app developers are too. So Apple has just about a 9 year lead on everyone else.

 

[Xavier]

"Dat ain't built for big boyz." Big boys don't carry PSP's around.

Big boys meaning 14. This is the "gameboy" market.

 

[ChrisGonzales90]

someone needs to shut that kid up. Plus why did sony use the older PSP and not the PSP go?

"Phones are for texting your grandma and talking to your girl"

sure it isnt the other way around? and I see a girl near you.

 

[stainlessliquid]

I agree. But the argument is predicated on the assumption the PSP actually HAS games to play... which it doesn't.

And the iphone does? The PSP does actually have a number of decent games, when it first came out there were a lot of good games, GTA: Vice City Stories is the best portable game Ive ever played and would even make a great home console game.

The PSP just doesnt have many NEW games coming out that are any good, but it does have its past library going for it, which is more than Apple can say as they have yet to get a single good game.

You will notice that all the supporters for gaming on the iphone only talk about convenience, how many people are actually talking about the GAMES themselves? The PSP and DS will always have the iphone beat in the game quality category, which is what gamers care about.

 

[ChrisGonzales90]

Not to menton the PSP go hasnt really taken off like the original PSP did.

 

[teenwith3i]

You also have to carry around those little discs with the games on it. PSPs just aren't as convenient as they were 4 years ago. But I like this commercial.

 

[SockRolid]

Sagging PSP sales? LOL PSP was a non-starter out the gate.

Wake me up when Nintendo start running iPhone attack ads (they just might).

LOL. Nintendo doesn't need to attack Apple just yet. They can save their money until the PSP is dead...

 

[ChrisGonzales90]

You also have to carry around those little discs with the games on it. PSPs just aren't as convenient as they were 4 years ago. But I like this commercial.

The old PSPS were like that. The PSP go uses a small 16GB sony card.

 

[ChrisGonzales90]

LOL. Nintendo doesn't need to attack Apple just yet. They can save their money until the PSP is dead...

Remember when Nintendo was the lead? The 64 was the highlight of my childhood. (and the NES and super nintendo for those born in the late 70s and early 80s)