I actually agree and was thinking this the other day. Many casuals dismiss the PSP as having no good games (just like the Dreamcast). I made a lengthy list of good PSP games on a few forums, and many people had to say it was the greatest PSP list ever.
I think they are both similar because:
-Except same control setup basically (PSP has no triggers, but basically similar controls)
-Too much piracy.
-Game sales were low.
-Games that sold, are crappy games that people shouldn't buy or sports (like Need for Speed Most Wanted 5.1.0 or whatever it's called, licensed games, EA sports, etc. On Dreamcast, people would buy Sega Sports or PS1 ports).
-Both had really awesome launch lineups IMO (that no other platforms compare to)
-Has fans that really love it (I love the Dreamcast and PSP big time), but it gets hated on by the mass for having no games they say.
-Like Dreamcast, has some truly unique games, which will probably be ported eventually or already have (like PQ, Crush, Lumines, etc.).
-Suffered from a lot of ports (Dreamcast got a bunch of PS1 ports in higher resolution, like Test Drive 6, GTA 2).
And there's probably more (they also share some same games). Big difference is that Sony makes a little profit on every PSP sold, while Sega lost money, and Sony can keep PSP going. When compared to its competition (like comparing Dreamcast to PS1 or PS2), the competition may have good games, but have so much crap mixed in the good stuff it gets a little annoying (DS has some good games, but there are too many weird non-gaming simulations mixed in).
Personally, I don't care. I really liked the Dreamcast, and I really like my PSP.
Yeah but if games arent selling, what makes you think Sony will be able to pull in devs to develop for the platform?
they are going to have to determine why they aren't selling and adjust. i mean, especially in jappa, games ARE selling...and well. like mgo, mhp2...etc.
if piracy is truly the root of the problem, then perhaps the psp slim will fix it.
i really find it hard to blame piracy. wii/360/ds are similarly exploitable without much work (and the new psp hack even requires new hardware [battery]) and the software sales there are excellent. piracy kind of grows symbiotically with consoles that have successful software sales...more people paying attention, more games, bigger rewards, etc.
to be frank, look at ps3. now i could be totally off base and it could be a matter of some great security by sony, but so far....nothing.
it's more a problem like this:
--the games are largely overpriced
--they are ps2 hand me downs that nobody wants
--if they aren't ps2 hand me downs, they're niche titles
There are some very high profile bombs on the PSP, without a doubt. Stuff like GTA VCS completely bomba'd...but it was also 50 dollars when it released.
I think part of the problem with PSP is marketing the games. I've been seeing several PSP commercials pop up, but Sony themselves hasn't really advertised the games. But when they do release a new first party game, like Ratchet, Daxter, Syphon Filter, Socom, etc., they do advertise it and it sells good (not PS2 level, but good). The problem is I have yet to see a third party PSP advertisement on TV, other than GTA Liberty Stories before. I think if devs pushed more marketing into PSP games to the casuals, they might buy, instead of picking up crappy licensed games, multi-platform sports games, or some PS2 port that doesn't suit PSP well (Midnight Club 3 for an example).