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Sony: iPhone "ain't built for big boy games"

Sony, obviously worried by the competition that its PSP platform is facing from Apple's iPhone and iPod touch, has gone of the offensive.
Written by Adrian Kingsley-Hughes, Contributing Writer

Sony, obviously worried by the competition that its PSP platform is facing from Apple's iPhone and iPod touch, has gone of the offensive.

Here's the ad:

 

In the video spot we have Josh "kidding himself" Rose showing off something that looks a lot like an iPhone playing something called "Lame Castle" to  Sony's kid spokesperson Marcus "Deputy of Great Game Deals" Rivers. On seeing this, Rivers says, "That ain't built for big boy games!  That's built for texting your grandma!"

A second kicker comes in the form of PSP game pricing. I'll hand you back to Rivers: "$9.99, sucka!"

Now, I'm pretty sure that I'm not the target demographic for this ad, so the fact that it leaves me a little confused is perfectly normal. But it does raise some good points.

First, games and prices. There are some really good games out there priced at $9.99 for PSP owners. OK, there are games that will cost you more, but that's not the point. Then there's game quality and playability (thanks to physical buttons rather than a touchscreen), both of which are far superior on the PSP (ultimately, this is going to be the problem facing Microsoft's gaming ambitions for the Windows Phone 7 platform, but I'll get to that later).

The biggest threat to the PSP is not that Apple has a better gaming platform, it's that the more iPhones there are out there, the less people want to buy another device that they'll have to carry around with them. Oh, and the ease with which people can buy and download a game. Instant gratification is a powerful sales tool.

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