The Stuff of Which PSP2 Nightmares Are Made

NINTENDO: ALL YOUR CORE GAMERS ARE BELONG TO US

Nintendo’s been running the Disruption 101 and Blue Ocean playbooks since the introduction of the DS, and now that they’ve completely devoured the low-end, they’re going to be reaching out with a white-gloved, hammer-wielding, hand for the core gamer:

The Nintendo executive suggested in the interview that the DS primarily attracts consumers who don’t play games that often, but hopes that the 3DS’ graphical capabilities and gameplay will appeal more to the core demographic. Its line-up at E3 and the announcement of classic Nintendo 64 remakes would seem to support that aim.

In order to “expand into elaborate games targeting serious gamers,” Iwata says that he intends to work more closely with developers, and that third party support is of utmost importance to the platform. The 3DS was, apparently, created with external developers’ requests in mind.

I would not want to be Kaz Hirai (or a Sony shareholder¹) today, tomorrow, or any time in the next five years. (And don’t think MS is going to get off easy: the Wii2 will trod the same path as the 3DS just like its forebear followed the path the DS blazed.)

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^{1 Though there is a massive list of reasons why you wouldn’t want to be one of those already.}

So No 3D (Or Marketshare) For PSP2, Then?

THEY CALL ME KAZ

Oh Kaz, you silly little man:

“A portable with naked eye 3D does not have high precision, according to internal research,” Hirai said in an interview with Sankei Biz. “Presently, there are limits.”

Yes, limits on Sony’s imagination that has, already I’d wager, put the PSP2 6′ under while banking on glasses-based 3D tech (at some small¹ cost) for the PS3 which will be dead and gone within 5 years–even on large displays.²

Seriously: did Hirai actually think for a minute that the tech incorporated into the 3DS would be gimmicky crap? We’re talking about the follow-up console to what will soon be the best-selling game machine of all time and to believe Nintendo would do anything but get it right you’d have to be either a raving fanboy, the current president of Sony Computer Entertainment or Ken Kataragi.⁴

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^{1 And by “small” I mean in the ‘mere’ four figures…during a crippling, worldwide, recession. Oh, who am I kidding: even in 2005′s economy (when everyone was using their house to finance a fleet of Ferraris) that price would have painted Sony as completely insane and, once again, using their game biz to try to shore up their other units3–in this case 3D TVs–is borderline suicidal.)
2 I can remember when Sony was actually capable of innovation: when they brought out stuff like the Walkman and PlayStation. Now they’re reduced to hocking their wares to the very affluent/rich which guarantees they’ll never soar to the heights of PS1/2 ever again.
3 Blu-ray really worked out well for them, as they claw and scrape for a distant, second, place, right?
4 Then again, Sony completely fubared the PS3, so maybe he’s just working from experience on this score.}