R.I.P. PSP - Page 2 of 5 - Gameworld Network.

R.I.P. PSP

Home : Games : Articles

The Games

To date there are currently only three PSP titles that have sold over one million units. They include Grand Theft Auto: Liberty Stories with 2.84 million, Ridge Racer with 1.04 million, and Hot Shots Golf: Open Tee at 1 million. For a system that is almost a year and a half old this is yet another sign of how poorly the PSP is doing. The Xbox 360 already has three different million sellers and is less than a year old, while the DS has thirteen with only a 4 month head start (not too many games were released in that four month period either!)

There simply doesn’t seem to be any “killer app” in the future for the PSP besides maybe Gran Turismo; however, who knows when that is coming out since it has been delayed several times with still no official release date.

UMD Movies

UMD movies seemed huge at first with every major movie studio supporting the format. At the beginning of this year there were 330 different movies available for the PSP while there were only 100 games. Also at the beginning of the year there have been 9 million games sold and 8 million UMD movies sold. With sale numbers that high for UMD movies clearly some people are buying the PSP for movie playback first and games second, if at all.

A combination of poor UMD sales recently and HD-DVD and Blu-ray DVD formats now on the market movie studios have either scaled back or discontinued bringing movies out for the UMD format. Last week a further blow to the UMD movie format was made when Target announced that it will no longer carry UMD movies. Also Wal-Mart along with Best Buy are rumored to be making their UMD displays much smaller possibly killing any hopes of future UMD movies being produced.

Perhaps in response to the declining sales of UMDs recently Sony has announced MemoryStick Entertainment Packs which will sell for $60 - $100 dollars. These packs work by loading the enclosed DVD into your computer and choosing only one of four movies that you can then download to your MemoryStick and watch on your PSP. Sony claims that this has been in the works for a while but it’s hard not to see the declining sales and movie studios scaling back production for UMDs not playing a factor in this decision.

<< Previous 1 23 4 5 Next >>

Recently added articles:

September 30, 2008

Nicholas DePalmer Interview
We interview Pro-Gamer and Razer employee Nicholas DePalmer.

4 More Games We Want Remade
It's round two in for games the we want to see remade.

September 27, 2008

EA Makes ESPN Stars Virtual
You've seen the stars of ESPN pre-game shows and other TV spots deliver their entertaining analysis. Now, because of EA Sports, you'll see them in the virtual world with players doing the same thing.

Four Shooters That Made the Dreamcast Awesome
In keeping on with our Dreamcast love, we take a look at four shooters that made the system an arcade shooting powerhouse.

September 26, 2008

Why Comic Book Video Games Suck
Comic book characters have often come to life on the big screen in very successful adaptations. However, turning comic book stories into video games often ends in disaster.