Are people losing patience with the PSP?
Could it be that the handheld market is tougher than even Sony thought? A couple of pieces surfaced today, one from Kotaku with the playful title 'PSP:Just Die Already', which outlines a lot of the frustrations which seem to be very common among PSP owners.
It seems like Sony's drop-dead-gorgeous little device is just a pain when it comes to doing anything outside playing authorised PSP games or watching movies on UMD (and only those from your own region - naughty...)
For a device with a screamingly lovely screen, tons of processing power and upgradeable memory, it should be *the* platform of choice for people who want games, movies and music on the go.
However, it seems like Sony's paranoia over 'unauthorised' use, combined with the poor selection of officially available movies and the hoops people have to jump through to get any sort of media onto the machine are turning people off.
Ewan Spence, the man behind the Podcast Network's PSP show ran into this specific problem when he travelled to the states.
While it's unlikely to spell the end of the world for the sleek, black brick, it does seem like a growing number of people are becoming fed up with the barriers and boundaries the PSP is imposing upon them.
While a great many people are looking at the DS Lite as the ideal replacement, I think the GP2X, Linux-based handheld, might be the surprise hit of the next twelve months. It's open and anyone can develop for it. The first machine sold well and it supports games, media playback, etc.
While it's not going to get any mainstream media coverage - YET - it does provide exactly what the PSP promised, a converaged media device that lets the user play games, music or video on the go.
Of course, now I've written about it, looked at the site, etc. I find I want one very badly.
Damn.
