Kutaragi speaks on PSP’s loss-leading price point

This is where Nik the Dreamcast fan comes in and whispers: "Quickly, use DreamKey 3.0! IT'LL SAVE YOUR SOUL!", whilst simultaneously ignoring the fact that there's a Windows CE logo stamped on the front of the DC he'd be using it on.

Meanwhile, this thread fills me with that magical "LOL" feeling. Something tells me that bynight wasn't so worried when Nintendo announced it's pre-launch Gamecube price cut of £40, even though there's quite an established home console market. I always like it when Nintendo fans complain about unfair business practices, given Nintendo's history of illegally restrictive developer contracts and price-fixing.

Though, this being said, bynight did appear to be more of a PDA fan. Disgruntled Tapwave employee?

With Playstation 2, Sony have been widely critisised for selling at too high a price. The price they charge is diabolical when measured against the vastly superior Xbox. But they have market leadership because of the name. Everyone has heard of Playstation. Therefore they can get away with it. PSP is the first Sony foray into the handheld market. They cannot afford to get it wrong. Everyone started by predicting the battery life would be very short and the price would be way too high. Everyone moaning saying that DS was the only way to go.
Then, Sony do something unexpected - they anounce a really competetive price. Guess What ??
Everyone starts moaning that they are Dumping!!
Fair enough, complain if you think prices are too high or we are getting a bad deal, but lets at least give Sony credit for doing something good. I was not in the least interested in a PSP.... until now.

This is exactly the position Sony is in now, XBox is the underdog and MS need to cut the price to sell it. People see the PSP in the same light against the GBA.



There's an amount of "Sony suxx, Ninty rulez" about a lot of the comments regarding the PSP and DS.

I do see the humour in the fact that the rumour mill came up with a totally unsubstantiated price point, then complained that it was too high and Sony didn't know what they were doing. Now when a solid price point comes out, the same rumour-mongers are complaining that Sony will be taking a 60% hit on every PSP and accuse them of illegal "dumping".



I believe there are a lot of people who love Nintendo, for all the right reasons, and don't want to see them fail in the handheld market like they seem to have done in the living room. They see the PSP as the ultimate wolf at the door, and they are scared for their beloved Nintendo. Some react by making s**t up, inventing reasons why the PSP will fail and dissing Sony for its "inept" entry into the handheld market.

There is another set of people who believe that the handheld market is immune to the advances of any company other than Nintendo, just because history seems to back up that opinion. This is a real head in the sand attitude, one they should have been shaken out of by the inroads Sony and Microsoft have made in the console market.

Lets not forget how niche and small the world console market was before Sony entered it. Now look at how niche and small the handheld market is today. The drawing of comparisons is left as an exercise for the reader.