Reeves: Sony needs to release PSP2
Sony must release portable within months of 3DS to stay relevant in the handheld space, says Capcom boss
David Reeves, 14-year veteran of Sony and now chief operating officer of Capcom Europe, has said that Sony needs to release a true sequel to the PSP quickly if it expects to compete in the handheld market.
Rival Nintendo has this week revealed the 3DS in detail, wowing the masses at the annual E3 conference with hands-on demonstrations of a 3D console, its software and potential to reinvigorate the handheld market.
"It's an exciting time and you could possibly have two handhelds coming out within months or a year of each other," Reeves told GamesIndustry.biz.
Asked whether he expects a PSP2 to be released in the next 12 months, he said: "I'd like to the think it would be for the publishers and developers and consumers.
"Sony tried to make the transition with PSPgo, I think that changed some consumers attitudes, but they need to come back with something on PSP pretty quickly to stay in the game because Nintendo are shit hot at getting these things right. And they always get these things right."
Reeves has always been frank about the PSP platform, and last year admitted there were problems with the system – while he was still at Sony he suggested Capcom was one of the publisher's that could help lift the flagging format.
The PSP2 has not been officially acknowledged by Sony, but reports are suggesting the system will be a "technological monster", with one of the main features of the system a touch screen interface.
The PSPgo, released only last year, has been a flop at retail, with Sony recently offering new users a massive ten free games for the download-only machine. As well as issues with the software delivery, the high price also hindered sales.
"It was hard and it was very, very expensive," said Reeves. "Now they're offering ten games and they have to try and revive it."
Support for various audio formats was nice, and I hope a wider support for videos will be taken into consideration. All this before a touch screen, that wouldn't add too much to the platform imo.
As for PSP2 hard to say what it should have, frankly I would not need touchscreen or 3D, but 2 analog sticks that would be great.
As of the touch screen - I agree, playing wipeout or tekken with fingers might feel awkward... not to mention I like to keep my screen shiny :) We will see.
I think it would be a mistake to go in at a high price point again, and I think they need to ensure that a raft of both in-house and third-party developers are busy making unique software. Unique being the key word, as I've always felt one of the problems with the PSP was that it was too busy trying to ape its home console brethren, and not concerned enough with games more suited to a portable format.
But also include a UMD drive in the pod that you can slot any games you already own into. The drive checks the disc ID to see what game it is. If it's available on the PSN store it gives you the option to swap your disc (which then vanishes into a secure hopper inside the pod) for a credit to download that game from the PSN store and use it on any device registered to your PSN account (just like any other PSN purchase). If it's not available it gives you an option to trade in the disc for credit on your PSN account. This allows a simple one-for-one trade-in scheme for existing PSP owners so they're not discouraged from upgrading if they already have a large library of games.
I'll expect a cheque in the post, Sony. ;)
Edited 1 times. Last edit by John Bye on 18th June 2010 4:09pm
Wow, a touch screen interface? Nintendo appears to be 3 steps ahead of them..
The formfactor of the PSP is a great one, especially for grownups with normal sized hands (the PSPGo on the otherhand is made for little hands, I can't use it without hurting my wrists), but IMHO it should at least have a bigger screen as the current PSP (also a problem with the Go, a smaller screen as the PSP? which moron at sony came up with that)..
I'll just wait and see what Sony will release as their new handheld, I won't be buying any soon anyway..
Nintendo must have taken product lessons from Apple and the iPhone.
As for PSP itself, it is more than ever difficult to place itself in the market with iPod Touch / iPhone and DS and the future 3DS flooding the market. If PSP provides a touch screen interface, it will be just criticised as an iPhone clone with Sony brand. How are they going to tackle and open up a new market is really an issue. UMD as a format is not a problem but the pricing as usual is, same for the whole memory stick issue.
Hopefully Sony has now learnt that the strength of the Sony brand name and PS brand names are not that strong and will redeem their past mistakes.
Edited 1 times. Last edit by Haven Tso on 19th June 2010 12:56am
Some kind of serious distinction needs to be made between PSP1 and PSP2 if they want to truly ditch UMD or at least aid us moving on from the format.