Have minis been a hit or a miss?
With minis just starting to find their place in gaming after almost a year of being released by Sony, we want to know have the minis been a success or a flop.
Well in a recent interview by Gamasutra with SCEA Senior Vice President of publisher relations Rob Dyer he is unsure how successful it has been so far with concerns over the fact that many of the games have been rehashes of iPhone games. Dyer is also unsure as to whether PSP/PS3 owners want to play bite size games and if so is there enough of an audience who are willing to purchase and play these games?
Dyer also states “There have been a couple that have been really cool, but for the most part, a lot of it has been up-resed, recalibrated iPhone stuff.”He does how ever stress that “we’ve got to continue.”
Now the European market has had slightly more success then others so far due to the fact that Sony has been offering more help to developers. It would be good to know if this will cause Sony to offer more help to developers outside of Europe? Also in my opinion Sony haven’t really been helping with the quality of minis being released with games such as “Finger connection” and “Busy Sweets Factory.”
I for one would like to hear what your opinion is on how successful the minis have been since released and if you are happy with developers just porting iPhone games to minis or should developers try to be more original and focus on games that are not already on the iPhone.
For more on the interview visit http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/4709/the_sony_situation_sceas_rob_.php and please let me know on what you think.
I would say that they haven’t entirely been a hit, and they haven’t entirely been a miss. Tetris for example is the best version of the game in years — I’d gladly pay for a full featured version with an endless option for all the included modes — 40 lines simply isn’t enough. On the flip side, all those bite-sized minis turned out by Sony are horrid misses.
I don’t mind if the games originally appeared on the iPhone, as long as they are properly optimized for the PSP — screen, controls, etc. I think that Tetris, Fieldrunners and Age of Zombies all set the quality bar for minis, and it’s a shame to see so few of the others stand up to that level of quality.
I’m playing allot more with my psp lately. PSP Minis are just awesome. You take your psp, play for a short time and you go do something else. You don’t have to start a full game or have to follow a storyline, it is just pick up and play. Games like Fieldrunners, Tetris, Monsters (probably) stole my princess, Vempire, Dynogems, etc. are awesome to play in the train or in bed before you go to sleep. So i think that the minis are a succes. I LOVE MINIS!
What a strange view for Sony to have…
I have purchased about 25 minis so far from the EU PSN and they have all been exceptionally high quality, but then I’ve carefully avoided the shovelware that Sony themselves have published.
A scan through the forums here will show how much positive feedback the community has towards the minis platform.
In particular, check out these threads to get a sense of the positive feeling the community has:
- Do You Play Minis More Than Regular PSP Games (UMD/DLC)?
http://www.pspminis.com/forums/topic/do-you-play-minis-more-than-regular-psp-games-umddlc-3
- How old are you and what is your birthday?
http://www.pspminis.com/forums/topic/how-old-are-you-and-what-is-your-birthday
- Do gamers want simpler games?
http://www.pspminis.com/forums/topic/do-gamers-want-simpler-games
@JaXter608: My sentiments exactly dude!
It’ll never happen, but if Minis had some type of trophy system, they would sell like hotcakes. Gamers love collecting stuff and boosting their gamer rep. At the very least, Sony should consider adding online leaderboards, just to add some competitiveness and increase replay value.
Also, the PS3 Minis emulator desperately needs an option for custom controls. Certain Minis are screaming for dual-stick support on the PS3!
Neither a hit, nor a complete miss for me. The Minis have started out slower than I thought they would and I’m definitely not a fan of the selection as of yet, but I feel in the long run IF Sony gives them a chance they can end up being a really good thing.
Being a owner of an iPod Touch, I can’t recommend it enough to all these people that think the Minis are the best thing since sliced bread.
Dryer mentions the iPhone ports. Yet he needs to realize, it’s Sony who encouraged all those devs to port their iPhone games over at launch and such.
Start getting companies who are willing to make Minis exclusive (rather than port them to the iDevices like Age of Zombies, and Monsters (Probably) Stole My Princess are rumored to do), and get some big names. Heck, Pac-Man would do.
Another thing, they need to allow the dev kit to run some form of multiplayer. I realize that the infrastructure within the PSP is completely different than that in the PS3, but there must be a way to code both.
TBH, minis have been a miss in North America, and by that i mean in the eyes of the audience.
looking on the US playstation blog when there’s a post about some of the minis ive actually heard people say “I was really looking forward to this until I heard that it’s a mini”.
in EU theres a bit more spotlight on minis, and i think because of that they do better there.
in my opinion i think they’ve been more of a flop than a hit. i rarely see any mini’s getting coverage or even talked about in general. the quality of games is a huge factor, there hasnt been that “hit” mini that gets everyone talking. no one is going to pay 5-6 dollars for a mini they can get on the iphone for 1-2 dollars so they need to really cut prices (which i actually think they did while the last time i browsing the mini store, they seemed cheaper). what i think sony needs to do is get some franchise names on the minis. give daxter his own mini or something along those lines. i was really looking forward to minis but the only one ive actually bought so far was vempires, nothing else is really even making me want to consider buying them.
Geeze, I must be the only one that doesn’t own an iPhone. Personally, I don’t mind the iPhone ports at all, since I don’t. I just wish we got the good iPhone games, not stuff like Robin Hood
(I’d buy an ipod touch if they weren’t so expensive – $300 for a decent model is way too much for my blood)
My two cents of feedback as a Minis developer:
We’re not getting rich with Minis, but in terms of digital publishing, we are still more successful with Minis than with other platforms so far (the platform that will make us rich has yet to be found
). Therefore, overall, I am very glad that Sony launched this program and offered us to join.
So far, we get significantly more income from Minis in Europe than in North America. This is partly because our games were released in Europe a bit earlier.
I’m excited about the talk of a hit miniS game. I agree, what the platform needs is an awesome idea with awesome execution.
Coconut Dodge is no hit, as it is fairly unoriginal (despite having a unique combination of game play elements), and on the face of it, the look and feel doesn’t appeal to the large percentage of the demographic of PSP owners.
However, Coconut Dodge is a stepping stone for us – a way to enable us to finish our music puzzle game which, if we can get the capital together, will be a hit miniS game. There’s no doubt in my mind whatsoever.
I think the MINIS program has been great so far, (though I’d like it to get a little better) for the past year there has been nothing in my UMD drive, though I did put a movie in last week, just to see if it still worked. I always look forward to my next MINI. I think I’ll get Coconut Dodge.
I feel minis hav been a hit as without them my pspGo would have died of game malnutricion! Admitidly there have been quite a few flops, but jems like kahoots,dynogems,vempire,feildrunners,stand o food, age of zombies, tetris ect have been just a few of the hifhlights so far with many more on the way!
@Damian
Really?
You can’t find a good PSP game on PSN, but you’re happy with the Minis? Lots of good games for the PSP Go, just have to look.
@sid crazy…..yes theres lots of good games on psn…the vast majority of which i own or can get cheaper on umd to play on my psp fat! I meant download only exclusive stuff… So far only flow,go puzzle,everday sgooter, crystal defenders, super stardust and patchwork heros have made it onto my go,the system i use for download exclusive stuff…. So yes,the vast majority of my downloads have been minis…some 20+ or so sofar…..some miss,some great…. Without the minis id regret buying the go more than i already do! :-/
I see, well I wouldn’t of personally gotten a PSP Go to begin with if I already had a regular PSP. The PSP Go would just be a waste of time.
Did you not know that most games would not be avalaible and that the ones that were, were USUALLY going to be more expensive? Seems like a lack of research.
@sid crazy
no my friend,not a lack of reaserch,i did that,it was more due to an aging psp, gadget envy, impulse purchase and a large catalog limit…what can i say.i hoped the go would b better supported…only time will tell.still, the mini’s and download exclusives get alot of play on the go in. Also i agree with u on the ipod thing.i play casual stuff on that alot too,its the model psp should embrace via minis.
I can relate to that completely. I have a PSP Go as well, though I didn’t have a PSP 1000 or whatever before….welllll I did, but I though I had lost it and have only found it again not too long ago.
I was moving to another place, long story, I won’t bother you with the details
I do buy games on the PSP Go though and not just minis, I just like the controls on the Go better. Of course there are tons of games missing or are too expensive over their UMD counterparts to play on the Go.
I usually buy on the Go if the difference isn’t more than 5 or so dollars.
Speaking of the iPod, I wish Sony was as open as Apples App Store is, sure we’d get some crap games(not that there aren’t some already), but we’d also get the awesome games that blow away anything Sony has in it’s PSP Minis section.