David Carnoy, Executive Editor from Cnet wrote an article yesterday about how women prefer the DS over the PSP. While he doesn’t have any numbers, or polls, or analysis behind him, he’s relying on testimonies made by fellow co-workers at Cnet and by some arguments I (and many fanboys) think is true.
“Take the case of CNET assistant editor Matthew Moskovciak. This is his first job out of college. He works like a dog and doesn’t make a ton of money. And while he doesn’t like to admit it, his girlfriend keeps a gentle eye on his discretionary spending, particularly when it comes to items like game consoles. He recounts that her interest in the DS was piqued when she saw an ad somewhere online for a Mario Bros. game and “liked the concept of the touch screen,” he says. “She thought it was more interactive than what you had with the PSP.”
He also notes that the number of good titles for the DS is pretty thin, especially if you happen to be over 21 and don’t worship at the altar of Mario or Pokemon. “If you’re looking to play more “adult” games with any sort of backbone, the PSP is a far better choice with a much stronger game library”, he says, “The initial wave of PS2 ports has given way to a meaty list of games across a wide variety of genres: action/shooter titles (Metal Gear Solid,SOCOM, Syphon Filter, Grand Theft Auto, Killzone), platformers (Daxter, Ratchet & Clank), racing (Burnout, Ridge Racer, Need for Speed), fighting (Tekken, Def Jam, The Warriors), and sports (Madden, FIFA, Virtua Tennis, MLB 07). And all of them look and play better than most of what you’ll find on the DS”
He also says that if you’re looking for something a bit more cerebral, “The PSP even has a decent selection of addictive puzzle games (Lumines, Exit) and retro arcade titles, and even a couple of unique offerings that defy genre pigeonholing (LocoRoco, Katamari).”
Of course, he’s right abaout akk of this, however, I have to agree with the fact that “For some reason, the PSP just hasn’t found that warm spot in the female heart. I’m generalizing, of course–there are women out there who enjoy the PSP–but you just get the sense that women see the DS as a cute, fun toy, and not an evil game console that’s a mindless time suck. And then there’s the whole pick-up-and-play factor that people keep talking about, which also applies to the Wii in a big way.”
After making clear these points, he continues with ways Sony could improve the handheld, such as to increase the console’s pick-up-and-play quotient, and to move away from UMD when it comes to music and movies, scince “it’s become clear that few people want to pay $15 to 20 for a pocket-sized DVD [...] The sooner Sony gets to providing downloadable movie and TV episode rentals, the sooner it’s going to get the hoard of mobile professionals, men and women, to buy into the system. Imagine being at an airport and wirelessly downloading (via the PSP’s internal Wi-Fi connection) a movie or two and a maybe an old Seinfeld episode before boarding your flight. Ideally, of course, frequent travelers could opt for a monthly subscription service a la Netflix. If that includes a nice selection of downloadable games, so much the better.”
These solutions have already been discovered by the fanbase of the system a long time ago, and even if it doesn’t look like it, Sony knows what their clients want, they’re just slow at it. Take the Beats project, isn’t that the next step to getting movies and music over the air? I think so. Feel free to comment on this, I’d like to hear what other people think.
Read the full article.
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