Sony on DSi: Still for 12 Year-Olds

[Logan Frederick]

Sony on DSi: Still for 12 Year-Olds

Sony claims Nintendo's newest DS iteration isn't expanding the handheld market beyond kids, but admits it will sell well anyway.

John Koller, Sony's head of hardware sales, is surely busy at Sony studying the effects of the DSi's recent revealing [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/86590]. Two years since the DS Lite, the DSi's added camera and MP3 playing capabilities heat the competition between Nintendo's portables and Sony's PSP line, which has seen a couple of minor improvements to little fanfare.

"Nintendo has kind of a history of these [moderate] kinds of updates, and even with DS Lite, there was a lot of discussion, 'Is that enough?' And they seemed to do pretty well there," commented Koller, who acknowledges the DS franchise's implicit money-printing functionality for Nintendo.

Not content to resign the reinvigorated portable war, Koller questions the system's success outside of the stereotypical DS demographic.

He told Gizmodo [http://gizmodo.com/5058251/sony-fondles-new-ds-with-one-hand-bitchslaps-with-the-other], "I can see the DSi being successful. The DS lite was obviously very successful. Will DSi do well with [the DS's] demographic? It probably will. Will it be a product that expands their user base [beyond] under 12? I'm not sure."



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[thebobmaster_v1legacy]

I'm 19, and I play the DS. Maybe if Sony didn't just cater to the hardcore crowd, I'd be interested. (See what I did there? Hypocritical humor FTW!)

 

[TsunamiWombat]

Wow. That guy is clearly compensating for something.

So, his competition are stupid heads for making money while he produces crap that doesn't. And they're stupid heads that are only for kids anyway and only cool attractive people play the PSP.

Mature.

 

[Crunchy English]

19 years old and I play my DS lite. So does my 19 year old girlfriend, I think we should start a club.

I would really like to see the 12 year old interested in a Dragon Quest IV remake, or Chrono Trigger. "Man", says my 12 year old cousin, "Remember all the good times I had with Chrono Trigger 4 years before I was born?"

Or a 12 year old who wanted to play one of the, what?, 40? DS turn-based RPG titles? That's a lot of patience you got there, you hardcore little guy

 

[Wolvaroo]

I love my DS and can't wait for the DSi. (22)

It seems all of my friends my age have one aswell.

 

[meatloaf231]

I think he's just bitter because Sony's handheld is the captain of the failboat.

 

[Crunchy English]

Ha! Yeah, the S.S. WateryGrave!
Or U.S.S. Bankruptcy! the brave and noble U.M.D. EpicFail!

Edit- chirp chirp

 

[Jumplion]

He's saying it'll sell well anyway, but it's the stereotype that's the problem; little kids only play DS which is somewhat the same stereotype the Wii has. I'm not saying it's true, there are plenty of older DS users (as have been showed before) but just like how "all blacks are rappers" it's still a stereotype no matter how many exceptions there are.

I don't know if the DSi will "break" the "stereotype" it has or maybe just change it a little now that it has some multimedia features. All I know is it will sell like hotcakes.

 

[AceDiamond]

Yeah cause all of my 18-22 year old friends own and love their PSPs

oh wait that's not true at all in fact any who did own one got rid of their PSPs about a year ago. I wonder why that was...

 

[stompy]

I don't know if the DSi will "break" the "stereotype" it has or maybe just change it a little now that it has some multimedia features. All I know is it will sell like hotcakes.

In my experience actually, quite a few people, regardless of age, either show an interest in the hand-held, or have one. This statement is just Sony trying to rationalise why, regardless of sales, they have the better hand-held, not whether the DSi will sell.

Like you said, it will sell like hotcakes, regardless.

 

[TheGreatGonzo26]

I would totally get a DSi... if I wasn't a poor college student with no time (20)

 

[Jumplion]

I don't know if the DSi will "break" the "stereotype" it has or maybe just change it a little now that it has some multimedia features. All I know is it will sell like hotcakes.

In my experience actually, quite a few people, regardless of age, either show an interest in the hand-held, or have one. This statement is just Sony trying to rationalise why, regardless of sales, they have the better hand-held, not whether the DSi will sell.

Like you said, it will sell like hotcakes, regardless.

As I said though, many (many) exeptions don't break the stereotype. I'm sure there are plenty of youngin's that have PSPs, and since I'm not very impressed with my DS I'm going to get a PSP soon because guess what? It has the games I want.

Really, both Sony's and Nintendo's products very easily go hand in hand. [wierd analogy]They're like PB n' J that may be expired just a little bit (they don't fit perfectly).[/wierd analogy]

EDIT: Holy crap, I got a system message saying that you quoted me! That's bitching!!

 

[stompy]

As I said though, many (many) exceptions don't break the stereotype. I'm sure there are plenty of youngin's that have PSPs, and since I'm not very impressed with my DS I'm going to get a PSP soon because guess what? It has the games I want.

EDIT: Holy crap, I got a system message saying that you quoted me! That's bitching!!

Thing is, the DS doesn't target 12 year olds, but the casual market in its entirety. That's the difference; while many 12 year olds (and younger) make up this demographic, it goes beyond that, into adults who are enticed by the colourful games, and even the old-school gamers wanting some nostalgia.

All-in-all, what I'm trying to say is that this statement is just a generalisation of Nintendo's market. It's trying to belittle to competition, and trying to side-step the issue of sales.

PS: I also got the System Message when you quoted me. Good work techies!

 

[Crunchy English]

Is PSP the inferior system? I could probably create an argument to that effect, but then it would be a flawed one and it would be a really stupid thing to do.

But does it have an inferiority complex? I think this shows that it does. The addition of multimedia features to the DS take away one of the large advantages to a PSP. I think Mr. Koller isn't doing himself any favours, and doesn't look very confident, when he makes broad-brush smear statements like the one above.

Edit- Awww man, Ninja'd by Stompy, he said like, my exact point only better. How do I make this post stand out now...?

 

[Jumplion]

As I said though, many (many) exceptions don't break the stereotype. I'm sure there are plenty of youngin's that have PSPs, and since I'm not very impressed with my DS I'm going to get a PSP soon because guess what? It has the games I want.

EDIT: Holy crap, I got a system message saying that you quoted me! That's bitching!!

Thing is, the DS doesn't target 12 year olds, but the casual market in its entirety. That's the difference; while many 12 year olds (and younger) make up this demographic, it goes beyond that, into adults who are enticed by the colourful games, and even the old-school gamers wanting some nostalgia.

All-in-all, what I'm trying to say is that this statement is just a generalisation of Nintendo's market. It's trying to belittle to competition, and trying to side-step the issue of sales.

PS: I also got the System Message when you quoted me. Good work techies!

Problem with the "casual" market is that many people generalize the "casual" market as people who don't play games that often, otherwise known as the Grandmas/pas, babys, parents, and alot of other people. This is the stereotype that Nintendo has, no matter how many "hardcore" games there are for it. It's the exact opposite for the PSP ironically.

PS I'm just afraid that my message box will get overcrowded, but I could easily turn the option off.

@Crunch English: The problem is with the multimedia features the DSi has is that Nintendo is not a multimedia company. They are, first and foremost, a game/console company and they are not suited to make cameras and phones and mics and tvs and stuff. Though I don't care about built-in cameras and stuff, apparantly 0.3 Megapixels for a camera even a Phone camera is horrible and the DSi doesn't play MP3s but something else that escapes me at the moment.

That could be a problem with Nintendo, but basically the DSi is like the PSP-3000 made entierly for more sales.

 

[BleachedBlind]

Jealous of the mighty Nintendo's handheld outselling his? Yes
Right about it being a stupid update? Definitely

 

[Bored Tomatoe]

It sounds like hes saying...: "oh yeah well uhh...they suck and stuff....take that superior marketing and development team."

 

[stompy]

Problem with the "casual" market is that many people generalize the "casual" market as people who don't play games that often, otherwise known as the Grandmas/pas, babys, parents, and alot of other people. This is the stereotype that Nintendo has, no matter how many "hardcore" games there are for it. It's the exact opposite for the PSP ironically.

PS I'm just afraid that my message box will get overcrowded, but I could easily turn the option off.

Wait, wait... um, Jumplion, I think we've done something wrong here... I'm saying that Nintendo's target is the casual market (which is made up of parents, kiddies, grandparents, like you said) not just under-12s... and you seem to agree with me.

I'm not arguing that Nintendo has not got a stereotype for the casual market (which we seem to agree on), but that this statement is just this Sony rep trying to justify why the PSP is the better hand-held, regardless of sales.

PS: I generally delete my messages as soon as I get them, so I don't think that I'll b affected by this too much.

Edit:

Edit- Awww man, Ninja'd by Stompy, he said like, my exact point only better. How do I make this post stand out now...?

In my books, a post stands out if it gets quoted... I suggest you thank my narcissism.

Though, you raise an interesting point about Sony feeling the heat about a competitor with multimedia features, a selling point of the PSP.

 

[Jumplion]

Problem with the "casual" market is that many people generalize the "casual" market as people who don't play games that often, otherwise known as the Grandmas/pas, babys, parents, and alot of other people. This is the stereotype that Nintendo has, no matter how many "hardcore" games there are for it. It's the exact opposite for the PSP ironically.

PS I'm just afraid that my message box will get overcrowded, but I could easily turn the option off.

Wait, wait... um, Jumplion, I think we've done something wrong here... I'm saying that Nintendo's target is the casual market (which is made up of parents, kiddies, grandparents, like you said) not just under-12s... and you seem to agree with me.

I'm not arguing that Nintendo has not got a stereotype for the casual market (which we seem to agree one), but that this statement is just this Sony rep trying to justify why the PSP is the better hand-held, regardless of sales.

PS: I generally delete my messages as soon as I get them, so I don't think that I'll b affected by this too much.

Sooo....yeah, we're basically agreeing to agree? Lol, this reminds me when me and my friend were arguing intensely about something which turned out to be the same thing we were debating. It was an awkward moment.

It sounds like hes saying...: "oh yeah well uhh...they suck and stuff....take that superior marketing and development team."

Wait wait...um (see what I did there?) I don't see that. He's saying the DSi will sell well regardless of the stereotype, how is that saying "they suck!"?