Giving back some credit : PSP sales

February 9, 2007

With the recent global success of the Nintendo DS, there has been a very positive outlook put on the console from video game websites and community forums. Too many times will you read of the complete sales insanity in Japan or the non stop sell outs accross the globe. But with all of this going on, little light has been shon on the consoles competitor; the Sony Playstation Portable. It too deserves some credit for its success in the market place and hence this article shall highlight its success.

The facts

*NB: I have taken my sales data from Wikipedia

Theres no doubt about it the DS is taking the world by storm both in the hardware and software areas. Sales data from Wikipedia states that the Nintendo DS has sold 35.61 million as of December 31, 2006 and Sony have shipped 22.94 million units as of September 30, 2006. The 2 consoles have been the only real players in the handheld gaming market for the last 2/3 years.

You gotta say it the PSP is quite hawt baby

Now lets assume that over the Christmas break Sony sold the PSP that have been shipped and a few more in the past month or so and the same said for the DS in the past 2 months. So lets estimate the numbers at the current time to be something like DS : 36 million and the PSP : 24 million. Now this actually works out nicely for my market share estimate which I shall get to later.

We also need to take into account the release dates of the 2 consoles. Since there is at least a year difference in region releases for each console, I’ve roughly worked out average release dates for each console.

And to round off my collection of data I’ll throw in the best selling game for each console.

Console : Market Share : Average release date

DS : 60% Feburary 2005
PSP : 40% May 2005

Behind the facts

Now with the facts listed, lets take a closer look. The first obvious point is that the DS was released several months before the PSP therefore the DS got a little bit of a head start. Also when you look at the release dates the DS was released at more important times for the consumer, being just before Christmas in some countries. We all know that a good launch is important to get the ball rolling.

One of the biggest hurdles that the PSP has had to overcome is that before its released the general public perception of handheld videogames is that they are made for young children and teenagers. Now the Playstation audience is somewhere in the 18-30 year old market. Therefore when Sony release a portable console its inevitabal. They have two choices, fight public perception or change the perception. So there’s was no easy option for them.

Its been quality software like MGS PO selling PSPs and not the GPS or goggles

In addition to the stereotypes of portable consoles, Sony also have had to face a similar hurdle. Being that the the public relate handheld gaming to the Gameboy. This is because the Gameboy has never had any real competitors until now. Fortunately with the DS taking the Gameboy’s limelight this hasn’t been too bad.

Now despite these hurdles in which Sony has had to over come they have still managed to take 40% of the market share from Nintendo. This is what too many people seem to overlook. People tend to think that the PSP is failing because it isn’t level with the DS in sales. But this is not the case. 40% of the market for a new competitor is fantastic. This 40% market share certainly is a slap in the face for Nintendo and their whole “invading the market” stratergy. As Sony have come in and invaded some of their own market.

Well thats my spill on the whole situation. I hope that this restores some faith back into the PSP fans out there.

Sources

PSP Wikipedia
DS Wikipedia

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Template is Up

February 4, 2007

Yay! Chris has finally finished the template which was uploaded yesterday. It looks very snazzy. There are still a few small errors and tweaks that need to be done. Mainly a few confusing spacing issues.

Thats its really. I’ve made a few tweaks and additions to my deviantart and delicious acounts so I guess you can check them out. I’m gonna be busy over the next few days so I’d better get some sleep.

I also have another games write up which is on the way. Should be good.

Nighty Night ^_^

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Contradictory Confusion

February 2, 2007

Most listened : 10 and counting – Boysetsfire Most played : Sonic Adventure 2/FE SS

Current mood : Capable

February, I think that its a terrible month to have valentines day. It should be later in the year. Anyways, the last few days I have been busy figuring out my Uni timetable and enrolling. For the most of the last 4 days I have been figuring it out. But I am almost done.

I don’t wanna go into the details but I had to phone and email around to find out about enrolling for certain bits of the course. I am doing a language major, its at a different Uni to my ‘home’ campus. Because the 2 Universities in Adelaide don’t talk to one another I have a clashing timetable in which I had to figure out. There were 2 compulsory lectures at both campus’. So I go to 40 minutes out of a 2hr of a lecture and then catch a bus for 40minutes and walk to the other Uni to do my other lecture. Its my only option. I’ve also had to swap a 1st year linguistics course with a 2nd year free elective. If I’m having trouble with the 40minute lecture then the program supervisor is gonna try and figure something out.

Beyond that my course is great, for the 1st 2 years I get 4 free electives, so I can do any course from any program as long as I can get in. Since I get 3 free electives(see above) for the first year I chose to contradict myself and do a course on digital design, the follow up course to that and then a course in Adobe Illustrator. I would have wanted to do an interesting course called Media Literies but it clashed with my course from the other University. Maybe I an do it next year. I tried to apply for something communiation/journalist/cultural sorta course but they all had prerequisites or would clash.

My 3 electives only have a 2hr computer practical each, which is great. My timetable is working out nicely. I have about 6hrs of courses on Monday/Wednesday, a single 1/2hr course on 2 other days and then a free day, the second semester is a bit more spread out. I have about of the contact time that Chris has. He has an insane amount of work. Then again I do have to master Chinese. Despite that I feel like a bit of a bludger.

I’ve been thinking heaps about Uni life. I rekon that with my free time that I should be able to socialize more and also work more. Once were settled into Uni, Chris and I plan on finding a new job. I guess that I can work on my free day. I also want to make use of my creative talents and maybe make a small site to gain some income. Maybe a tutorial based site, I could work with Chris on the new Flash site as well. If I’m heading back into design then I may as well make use of it.

Anyways enough of my boring talk. Ummm, beyond the Uni stuff this week has been pretty dull. Chris’ mate Jake came over. Ummm Woonsys back from Perth so we’ll prolly have a retro games thing and a LAN before we go to Uni. Hopefully this damn template will be finished soon. Chris says that he is 95% of the way thru coding it. Till the next exciting episode.

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