Mike McWhertor sat down with John Koller, senior marketing manager for the Playstation Portable, at CES and extracted a lot of interesting information out of him. This GameTrailer video gives Koller a chance to pitch why he thinks 2008 is going to be the year of the PSP. Hmm, why does that sound familiar.
I do think the handheld is having quite a resurgence, though I hope that Sony continues to concentrate more on the games and less on the peripherals for the device.

















Comments
Are they going to make a PSP duffel-bag to carry the device and its many accessories?
looks like some cool shizzle..glad i bought my psp slim.
Come on. Make the LBP levels created on PS3 tweakable and playable on PSP, à la UT3.
less crap more games pl0x!
if it was smaller id use it for more stuff like a phone or mp3 player etc..
man, believe me, 2008 (and onwards) is the year of the playstations. good news over good news are pouring in and we're at the start of the year only!
@motorstorm: The PSP has games news we haven't heard about?
When the video finished, where GT usually puts link to other videos, mine said "MOVIE 1" and underneath it said "here's where the long ass description of the movie goes, so verbose and clever blah blah blah." So weird! Happen to anyone else or just me?
@Darkknight: GoW & FF are two major, AAA titles to hit this year, and I'm sure there are more unannounced titles to be announced. But I am talking about Playstation as a whole. I'm a gamer but I welcome all these great additions i.e. skype, remote play, etc. that add great values to the Playstation duo.
Incidentally, can't believe they can't make skype work on the PSP-1000. Not that I care, I use Skype on my mobile, but it's just another example of screwing launch customers. A game I'd like to buy would also be nice. I've only bought 2 games for it in the last 2 years...
You know what sells DS's games. you know what the psp dosnt have games. If the psp got some GAMES I might get one but as it stands there is nothing on the system I want to play. I go where the games are.
"I hope that Sony continues to concentrate more on the games and less on the peripherals for the device."
considering the way they've done things with the PS3 I wouldn't hold my breath on that.
@kennyd1: weird - all i got was links to 3 other videos - rainbow 6 vegas 2, soul calibur 4 and army of two
@Deadeyereborn: So I take you like brain training and classic game remakes a lot?
Saying the PSP has no games is like saying the DS has no games of merit outside of Nintendo owned franchises and remakes.
@Mr.Waffleton:
Strange, I thought the internet more or less in agreement that the "PS3 haz no gamez!" meme was pretty much dead for all except the most ardent of loyalists.
@Deadeyereborn: if you're into retro games and have a friend with a phat psp, get a slimline ;)
@Deadeyereborn: That used to be the case. But it isn't true any longer.
piracy kills psp software sales.
@PapaBear434: lol not to be a jerk PapaBear but I've only seen you, IrishNinja, and Witzbold make that statement. Oh....so yea, the whole Internet..sorry. :D
@DarkNight_DS:
The psp does have some really great games. Disgaea, jean d'arc, wipeout, tekken, final fantasy titles, etc. etc. I'd say it gets as much play time as my DS.
@Mr.Waffleton:
Oh boy, another "ps3 has no games" comment... man that's still funny! . . . really... still. *Goes back to uncharted*
I'm still surprised Sony can get away with dropping another PSP with actual differences in hardware spec. This isn't like changing the backlight and shell like with the DS Lite. There's no way in hell i'm buying another PSP at the asking price. What they are doing now with the old PSP is what MS did to the original xbox.
It's pretty insane actually.
End result is, count me out of this year-of-the-PSP. No, actually, Sony counted me out of it.
@Mpalm.: All 5 hours of Uncharted?
@rlh445: Not only is your post wrong but it's an insult to the rest of the Internet, as it says that only these three guys have brains.
@Sunjammer: Uncharted is 8-10 hours long my friend, like most Action/Adventure games out there. Why it feels so short is because it's so good, sort of like why American Gangster seems to be only one hour long. And it has Achievements!
An informal meta analysis study was done where they compared the number of quality titles for both systems, quality meaning scoreing an average of over 80% according to metacritic, and yes the psp had more quality titles on it than the ds. I have an r4 for my ds and trust me ive played almost everything and there really arent that many quality games on it.
Maybe Koller figures if he keeps saying it long enough, eventually it'll come true and that's all everyone will remember.
@Deadeyereborn: If you can't find games on the PSP to play then may I suggest you take up a new hobby because there are loads of decent titles to choose from, maybe you're just not into gaming.
@Sunjammer: It stilplay the same games. You're not going to whine for Skype are you? I'm sure you wouldn't buy it even if you had a 2000.
@vincentprice:
As the recent Gamespot fiasco suggests, those aggregated ratings may be based on bought-and-paid-for scores, not true reflections of what the reviewers actually thought. It also doesn't account for the janky design of the PSP controls, like how it _has_no_D-Pad_.
Besides, DS got LEGO Star Wars: Complete Saga and PSP got skipped, suggesting it might not ever see LEGO Indiana Jones or LEGO Batman either. Instant win.
PSP is an awesome little machine.
Those that ONLY want it for games (because you're anal retentive) can still choose from many great ones.
Just this past year saw Syphon Filter, FF: Tactics, Jeanne D'arc, Disgaea, Size Matters, Dracula X, Crush, Pirates! and many others.
2008 you'll see Patapon, Crisis Core, God of War, Flat Out, Agent Clank, WipeOut Pulse plus be able to go back in time and play ALL your PS1 games on your PSP.
Maybe those that bought the PSP and are now complaining about lack of games should have thought about your gaming likes BEFORE you bought the machine? No, you'll not get to play Mario or Zelda (oh...wait a minute, the PSP runs emulation software too...guess you could play Mario on your PSP if you wanted)
*Looks at his shelf of games where the number of PS3 titles are quickly catching up to the number of 360 titles* nope, no games at all.
For all the trolls, we will feed you again today: [en.wikipedia.org] , you can include in this list all the consoles below the PS1(included) even the amiga titles.
My PSP and I are looking forward to this year. The latter half of last year saw some good releases and I pray Sony keeps it's momentum intact.
I agree with those who are tired of all these peripherals coming out but it's really just a sign of the times, I suppose. Where a game system was once enough, a media center now is the bare minimum that people seem to expect(that or maybe it's what Sony thinks we want).
@Nascar: Woo! TACTICS! Awesome title.
The PSP is starting to have some pretty cool games. Some personal favorites of mine is Sid Meier's Pirates!; Madden 08; Ratchet and Clank: Size Matters; Vice City Stories, Liberty City Stories; and Killzone: Liberation. That keeps me occupied when I'm away from my PC or PS3.
@Nascar: Yeah I had totally forgotten about Wipeout Pulse. Since there hasnt been anything mentioned on that in quite a while. Along with the PSN wipeout. :x
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This is pretty cool news for me since Ill be getting a slim psp anyways. Will be looking foward to seeing how skype works on it. Since i hate having it on my pc thats why.
@Sunjammer:
Nice job saying something that you know absolutely nothing about. Try a good 10 hours or so. Nice try though, really, your fanboy skills are almost there. Maybe do a little research beforehand.
@Purple Dave: Don't take this the wrong way, but your logic was a bit strained there.
You can't call into question all review ratings because of that occurrence, then suggest that two unreleased games that we have very little info on are going to "instant win".
Nothing personal, but it does come off as a bit trollish, which I don't believe was the intent.
@Witzbold: Eurogamer had a review of Pulse up not that long ago.
[www.eurogamer.net]
They mentioned W HD in the Coming attractions article as well iirc. No new info thou.
@Krellie: Hey cool thanks for the info!
@motorstorm: you don't even know how rehearsed that sounds
Re: "...though I hope that Sony continues to concentrate more on the games..."
Yeh, I bought a PSP a couple of months after launch and I'm STILL waiting for Gran Turismo...
@Nascar: So people who want to use a gaming machine for games are... anal retentive?
I think I'm one of the last people left who really doesn't give a shit about multimedia devices. My PS3 plays games and, just because it is hooked up to my hi-def TV, my regular DVDs. But I don't plan on picking up my entire library on Blu-Ray now, just because I can. Because that's stupid and a waste of money.
However your list speaks for itself. It IS a good list. Can't say more than two or three of 'em interest me. Partially cuz I don't own (or want) and PSX games. But hopefully other people will like 'em more.
psp/ps3 are really nice for non-game functions. BD is winning for sure, ps3 will pick up because of that, how stupid is M$ not to 'commit' on HD-DVD.
Everyone knows the statement 'The PS3 has no games' is dead now.
The new statement is 'The PS3 only has 2 games.'
@Witzbold:
Wipeout Pulse was released in europe before christmas, great game.
I hadnt seen that PSN store layout in the video before. I presume a version for PS3 will appear soon enough.
@Revenge_of_Nekojin:
Keep on trollin'
Make it smaller! Smaller screen will do, ty.
Remote play with LBP will so make me buy a PSP or even 2!
@Mpalm.:
Its not that far off from the truth thou. Especially if you count system exclusives.
Uncharted
Ratchet & Clank
runner-ups:
Singstar
Warhawk
UT3
Motorstorm
Heavily Sword
Eye of Judgement
and thats it. Not trying to flame or anything. Its just the truth as I see it. (IMO!)
Year of the PSP? That was pretty funny, what will they do for an encore next? Were buying Microsoft and Nintendo? The DS sales have surpassed anything the PSP can ever possibly catch up to, and it's still selling like hotcakes. ;)
All kidding aside, I'm amazed that thing is still alive with the library it has, so I'll give it credit, but man there are some Sony loyalists who will believe anything.