Sony: Silly gamers, DSi is for kids!

07.10.2008
As part of a strange PR move Monday, Sony actively reached out to gadget blog to issue a statement on Nintendo's new portable, the DSi.

Remarks made in the interview by Sony director of hardware marketing John Koller both praised and criticized the DSi. On the one hand, Koller said the DSi was probably destined to sell just as well as its DS cousin. On the other, he lambasted the portable for its inability to sell to anyone older than 12 years old.

"Nintendo has kind of a history of these [moderate] kinds of updates, and even with DS Lite, there was a lot of discussion, 'Is that enough?' And they seemed to do pretty well there," Koller said. "I can see the DSi being successful. The DS lite was obviously very successful. Will DSi do well with [the DS's] demographic? It probably will. Will it be a product that expands their user base [beyond] under 12? I'm not sure."

If the comments seem out of left field, they aren't. Tuesday, as Koller's comments spread throughout the net, that the box art for the upcoming PSP 3000 ("Brite") refresh shows PSP-PlayStation Store (PSN) compatibility. This is the first time the PSP has been associated with the PSN, and signals an application store of sorts for the portable before the 3000 model bundle launches on November 30. One of the cornerstones of the DSi, if you'll remember, is that it will have the ability to download software (free and paid) via wifi and store it on SD cards.

The new PSN functionality with the PSP would be in direct competition with the DSi's new download service. Koller's comments could be seen as a preemptive strike of sorts to try and frame the DSi as a toy for children, while the PSP 3000, with its PSN connection, is for gaming adults.

Trouble is, there is a mountain of evidence out there today that says the DS is played by everyone from toddlers to the elderly. Nintendo may have very well scooped the PSP with a lower-powered portable once again.