Chicks dig the DS, hate the PSP?

By David Carnoy on 11 April 2007

commentary Suspect marketing may have hurt Sony in the mobile gaming wars, but there's something a bit more subtle going on that it must contend with: Nintendo's DS is female-friendly.

Much has been made over Sony's struggles with the PSP. The company's first portable gaming system hasn't done as badly as some reports might lead you to believe, but it's nevertheless been a disappointment compared to Nintendo's success with the DS and the DS Lite. Blame it on the PSP's initial high price and suspect marketing, but there's something a bit more subtle going on that Sony must contend with: Chicks dig the DS, and that's a problem.

Do I have any hard numbers to prove this? Nah. How 'bout some sort of analysis I could quote? Sure, but why bother. This is a column, you go with your gut, and all the anecdotal evidence points to the simple fact the DS has a higher wife and girlfriend acceptance factor than the PSP.

Are women gamers driving the DS to victory over the PSP?

Take the case of CNET.com assistant editor Matthew Moskovciak. This is his first job out of college. He works like a dog and doesn't make a tonne of money. And while he doesn't like to admit it, his girlfriend keeps a gentle eye on his discretionary spending, particularly when it comes to items like game consoles. He recounts that her interest in the DS was piqued when she saw an ad somewhere online for a Mario Bros game and "liked the concept of the touch screen," he says. "She thought it was more interactive than what you had with the PSP." With that ringing endorsement, he did what any savvy dude would do: he bought the DS Lite for her as a gift. Now they "share" it.

This is by no means an isolated incident. As I said, Matt's on a budget, so he hasn't splurged yet on a second DS, but the more usual scenario seems to involve the purchasing of multiple DS Lites in different colours (Nintendo does offer some more girlish colours, but I won't get into that). The idea, of course, is to hook the girlfriend, and while she's busy wasting her life on silly games, you can, too! There are plenty of painfully adorable titles for the DS -- Cooking Mama, Nintendogs, and Animal Crossing, just to name a few. Oh, and then there's the whole Brain Age angle, "Look, honey, you can improve your memory and ward off Alzheimer's." Meanwhile, when you get a crack at the DS, it's time for Castlevania, Age of Empires, Resident Evil, Metroid, or Madden.

For some reason, the PSP just hasn't found that warm spot in the female heart. I'm generalising, of course -- there are women out there who enjoy the PSP -- but you just get the sense that women see the DS as a cute, fun toy, and not an evil game console that's a mindless time suck. And then there's the whole pick-up-and-play factor that people keep talking about, which also applies to the Wii in a big way. That only takes a guy so far, though.

Yeah, yeah, I know, it's all about the gameplay, and the DS rocks. But the fact is, the number of really good titles for the DS is actually pretty thin, especially if you happen to be over 21 and don't worship at the altar of Mario or Pokemon. If you're looking to play more "adult" games with any sort of backbone, the PSP is a far better choice with a much stronger game library. The initial wave of PS2 ports has given way to a meaty list of games across a wide variety of genres: action/shooter titles (Metal Gear Solid, SOCOM, Syphon Filter, Grand Theft Auto, Killzone), platformers (Daxter, Ratchet & Clank), racing (Burnout, Ridge Racer, Need for Speed), fighting (Tekken, Def Jam, The Warriors), and sports (Madden, FIFA, Virtua Tennis, MLB 07). And all of them look and play better than most of what you'll find on the DS. Prefer something a bit more cerebral? The PSP even has a decent selection of addictive puzzle games (Lumines, Exit) and retro arcade titles, and even a couple of unique offerings that defy genre pigeonholing (LocoRoco, Katamari). If you haven't got time to play something on the home console and can only snatch a half hour here and there of gaming, the PSP experience is the next best thing to being at home in front of your TV.

The funny thing about the DS is that Nintendo didn't consciously decide it was going after adult female gamers. Thanks to the Game Boy legacy, everybody knew the handheld was going to appeal to the kiddies, and that includes young girls. Unlike with the Wii -- where Nintendo's been actively trying to "widen the audience" for games -- I don't think the company went out looking for girlfriend acceptance with the DS. It just kind of happened.

I don't know how aware Sony is of this -- or if it cares. The company has acknowledged it did a poor job of marketing the PSP and it's launched a new campaign to reinvigorate sales (To date, Sony says it's shipped nearly 25 million units worldwide, with more than one million new PSP systems sold in North America in December 2006 alone). The truth is it's probably never going to appeal to women like the DS -- or the iPod -- does. But it could become a more "sensible" product. And the company's got to do a better job marketing to the people who should be buying this console -- males 15 to 45, who range from the casual gamer to would-be heavy gamers who have more time to play on the road than they do at home.

Sony needs to do two very important things. To increase the console's pick-up-and-play quotient, it needs to figure out a way to shorten load times on games, presumably through some sort of memory buffering system that's similar to that of the PlayStation 3. There's the whole concept of simple control schemes, but young and old alike are looking for immediate gratification. No one wants want to wait 45 to 60 seconds for a screen to load, and contrary to popular belief, you don't get more patient as you age (at least I haven't). Sony needs to allow you to store some game content on either a memory card or produce a new PSP with at least 4GB of built-in memory.

The second -- and most obvious -- thing Sony needs to do is move away from UMD when it comes to music and movies. It's been pushing the whole entertainment aspect of the console from the get-go, but it's become clear that few people want to pay AU$30 or more for a pocket-sized DVD, even if the PSP makes for an excellent portable movie watching device. The sooner Sony gets to providing downloadable movie and TV episode rentals, the sooner it's going to get the horde of mobile professionals, men and women, to buy into the system. Imagine being at an airport and wirelessly downloading (via the PSP's internal Wi-Fi connection) a movie or two and a maybe an old Seinfeld episode before boarding your flight. Ideally, of course, frequent travellers could opt for a monthly subscription service. If that includes a nice selection of downloadable games, so much the better.

I have a feeling this was -- and still is -- part of Sony's grand plan for the PSP. But the company had better hurry up, because Nintendo has shown it always has a little something up its sleeve. Heck, I wouldn't be surprised if I saw the DS Extra Lite before I saw the next iteration of the PSP.

What do you think?

Does the DS's chick-magnet quality hurt the PSP's appeal? TalkBack to me below.

Topics: ds lite, sony psp, nintendo ds, portable, playstation portable, console, pink, psp, sony, nintendo

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Comments (13)

  • dominique 14 commented on 01/09/2009 11:55 Report abuse

    62871540 69

  • Rumble_Chic9 commented on 29/12/2008 12:03 Report abuse

    I am a female athelete, but when I am traveling to a game I like to play games on the way back. (ipod on the way there) I have a DS and PSP I like the PSP better, but I want Animal Crossing for my PSP. I normally play war games, gory games, or GH, but once in a while I like a layed back game. I just wish they would make it for PSP. I wouldn't say true gamer girls like me, who when they have the time play hardcore like DS better though.

  • dx commented on 28/09/2007 20:11 Report abuse

    I have both a ds and a psp, the psp is far more powerfull. But the DS is something else! I have found the DS e alot more "fun" ,including serious games like Metroid Prime hunters

  • boradley commented on 26/07/2007 10:56 Report abuse

    Rukoko: i'm with you partially on the importing of games... but nowadays i buy more and more of them locally because basically i want to demonstrate that yes there is a market here, and the stronger the market the more games we will get.

    as regards the article, i'm really getting tired of people trying to tell me that because i own a DS and a wii i'm not a "hardcore" gamer.
    i play games minimum an hour a day, often more. i have been playing for nearly 25 years. i've owned systems from 2600, sms, nes, snes, psx, ps2, pc, amiga, c64.... a long time gaming you see, and in that time i've played every kind of game imaginable.

    in my experience, the DS is the best current console hands down, and i'm basing that on fun, innovation, and sheer hours of play i've put in to it.

    also tired of hearing how nintendo continually regurgitates IP only to them be shown a list of "great new psp games" that are almost all ports of games i've played before.. and often have no desire to play again.

    also re the article, when new super mario bros came out i bought it and my friends girlfriend really got into it.. so he bought 'her' a psp. the disappointment was palpable... i have also since noticed females around me purchasing ds's... possibly in part due to my animal crossing and pokemon addictions. plus there's the one i bought for my girlfriend. and the spare. then her brother got one. then her little sister....

    to my mind the psp strives too hard to be cool. it is, in fact, the complete lack of coolness about the DS that appeals to me. a certain honesty.. they don't seem so desperate to appeal to the 16-24 american male demographic.

    anyway, i'm off to perv on the great bounty of Square-Enix goodies the DS will be recieving over the next 12 months..

  • FireDitto commented on 25/06/2007 23:13 Report abuse

    Way back in the day, my mum used to play PS1; She bought it for us, along with Hurcules and Abe's Odessy<?>. She was a laugh to watch play AO, mostly because she was so damned good at it. And she'd swear like a fisher's wife everytime something slaughtered her or jumped out of no where -snickers-
    And my younger brother was a freak of nature with the Hurcules, Spyro and shooting games.

    Now, though, everyone has their own PC. My brother had a PS2, but he sold it, I believe. I think he wants a PS3, but he'll be waiting for a while to get it XD

    I've got a DS Lite, bought it a couple of months ago. But I'm a Pokemon fan. Going to get Diamond when I've got the cash to spare.

    Never been much of one for other games, oddly enough. I have Ramond DS, but I don't play it. Maybe I'm too used the pokemon set up, but anything else tends to either bore me or irritate me, so I don't buy them.

    I'm almost 19, and I find the PSPs intriguing, but they are also slightly scary looking. DS is easy to handle, easy to see where all the buttons are (there's only the 8 of them, a + pad and the on/off switch) And the touch-screen is awesome.

    It also comes in a sexy powder pink colour -laughs- What more could a girl want?

    As for buying games -shrugs- As said, I'm a pokemon girl. I wouldn't mind getting that brain game, but cooking and shooting people so don't appeal to me. Raymond irritates me and I dislike racing. So long as they keep up with the Pokemon, I'll be happy.

    XDD

  • The Rukuo commented on 23/04/2007 21:51 Report abuse

    I guess you are right. I don't want an argument. We all have our different types of tastes. PSP is good if you want a console game on the go. DS is good if you want pick up something but there is still for the hardcore gamer. I am just saying that DS gamers should import games instead of buying games here thats all. I would get a PSP for the extra features it has too (PS1 games on the go FTW). BTW My definition of a hardcore gamer, is someone that enjoys games as a passion.

  • Eagle357 commented on 20/04/2007 12:29 Report abuse

    Sorry, I guess our definitions of the hardcore gamer differs.

    As in the article :

    The initial wave of PS2 ports has given way to a meaty list of games across a wide variety of genres: action/shooter titles (Metal Gear Solid, SOCOM, Syphon Filter, Grand Theft Auto, Killzone), platformers (Daxter, Ratchet & Clank), racing (Burnout, Ridge Racer, Need for Speed), fighting (Tekken, Def Jam, The Warriors), and sports (Madden, FIFA, Virtua Tennis, MLB 07).

    None of the games you listed are what many in my generation would consider a decent game. They seem to be aimed at a younger generation? Megaman, now everyone knows Megaman, he is just so cool. But I still think Zero was cooler. You say that DS gamers look for games outside Australia? Huh not really sure what you're getting at there.

    There are HARDLY any GOOD games that are produced in Australia, its a sad fact of life. There are some, but they are far and few between.

    Hehe, remember the old computer games on Apple II ? Conan the Barbarian, Spyhunter, woah those were pretty intense back then. I never got past level 2 on Conan. Games have come a long long way.

    I played the original Syphon Filter on the PSX back in the day, maybe when I was in year 10/11. That was pretty cool back then. Bought Syphon Filter Dark Mirror for PSP October last year. It impressed me. It truly demonstrated how powerful the PSP was.

    Other than that, my frequent trips interstate have found me converting media files from TV episodes, like 24 & Heroes to watch in-flight. Pretty great hand-held entertainment centre right there.

    Sony's problem will always be how it sells its product. Its more a case of, people that use Sony, know its good stuff and will probably buy other products. They haven't really expanded their view of the market and haven't really attempted to market it to other people.

  • Yummygrubs commented on 20/04/2007 09:47 Report abuse

    I think you're right - I bought a DS Lite a couple of months before Xmas, while they were offerring a copy of Nintendogs free with every console. I also got Advance War: Dual Strike, which is an excellent game. But, it was Nintendogs that really got my girlfriend interested in playing - the idea that you could 'touch' and 'pat' your dog really appealed to her. I ended up buying one for her so that she doesn't use mine all the time - and now it's Cooking Mama every night.

    On the other hand, she looks at the PSP and says "Why? It's so ugly." I think Nintendo, partucularly with the Lite, really came up with a design that looks as though it won't bite your head off. So much as the PSP looks 'cool', has better graphics and can play movies and music, it doesn't look 'nice', feel nice or have a game where you can make crazt bolognese. I think that's where Sony needs to shift it's idea of where the gaming market it at - it's not just the 15+ male casual gamer anymore - we continue to see women becoming more interested in gaming and companies are only just beginning to realise the potential of the female market.

  • THE Rukuo commented on 19/04/2007 22:25 Report abuse

    Woah Woah did you just not read what I typed up. There are many games on the DS, ( I cannot say the same for the wii), for the hardcore gamer. While the Nintendo games on the ds are "reinventing", you have look out the of the Australia market. Compared to the DS, PSP itself is a failure. Have you played Elite Beat Agents? Bleach DS 2nd?, Jump Ultimate Stars? Megaman ZX? Both Castlevania games on the DS? or even Sonic Rush?

    Sorry about that but I been gaming since the Snes/Megadrive era to say I am not a true gamer since the PSP doesn't interests me except for the homebrew scene confuses me for a sec.

    Note: DS gamers look for games outside Australia.

  • Eagle357 commented on 19/04/2007 11:07 Report abuse

    Everything said in the article is excellent. Nintendo's marketing is very different to Sony's. Especially in terms of the Wii, people can easily pick up and play. The target audience is very different to that of Sony or Microsoft. Sony and Microsoft's true audience are the real gamers, the hardcore, the die-hard fans that want quality. Big awesome titles that utilise the latest and greatest technology is how Microsoft and Sony make their money. Nintendo's concept is to make fun happy games which delight all (not all however). Nintendo typically reinvents games over and over again, Mario has barely chaned, Link must save Zelda again and again, but people come back for more, its a winning formula. If you're trying to get someone into gaming, Nintendo's portable or the Wii is the way to go. Ask any true gamer, Sony, Microsoft or the Computer is the way to go.

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