We certainly have no problem getting caught up in the
fun of playing games, but the people who create them have their pocketbooks to worry about, too. In this column, finance expert and GameSpy contributor Chris Morris guides you through the tricky corridors the gaming industry’s financial side, touching on big-time business decisions and how they matter to the common gamer.
If the latest whispers are correct, we should get our first official look at Sony’s PlayStation Portable 2 before the end of the month. Sony, it’s said, has scheduled a meeting with select press outlets in Japan for January 27, 2011 to make the announcement. Regardless of the veracity of these particular rumors, we can all agree on one thing: The PSP2 is coming, and probably before the end of the year. And while I’ll give Sony credit for timing this announcement so it’s not caught in the blast zone of the 3DS launch coverage, something about this product has me concerned.
If we’ve learned anything from the iPhone’s success, it’s that the days of single-function devices are rapidly coming to an end — and products that don’t evolve are doomed. We don’t know anything about the PSP2 yet, other than vague talk about performance and graphical improvements. But amidst all the chatter (much of which has been coming from developers working with the systems), we haven’t heard any talk about non-gaming functionality.
Chris Morris: Journalist 