Intersting article over on Joystiq, which talks about how powerful the Sony brand is.

According to a study by AlixPartners, Sony is the most poerwful brand based on consumer trust (as opposed to any brand power a product or company aquires based on short term actions such as mass marketing, price cutting etc).

Sony came in first place followed by Johnson & Johnson and Kraft. Dell and Hewlett-Packard were the only other consumer electronics in the top ten and they were way at the bottom. No word on Microsoft or Nintendo brand power.

There’s no arguing Sony’s brand power and it’s a good sign that in 5,000 consumer’s minds it’s the tops. Thing is with the PS3 nobody had issue with the brand power, just look at the sales of the PlayStation 2 — that thing is still a money making monster. Not to mention at $130 the PS2 is worth every penny for a family. A DVD player and an amazing game console in one small neat little package. Sony’s problem with the PS3 isn’t brand, it’s price. Forget us as gamers and techno-babble Blu-ray freaks who will fanboy flame-out and just spend money. Sony execs should talk to the single mother waiting at the bus stop in the morning, go to a neighborhood barbershop, find a sixth-grade elementary school teacher to talk to. Nobody will ever deny Sony’s brand power, but people are stuck at $600 as a jumping-off point for a game console.

I agree completely with the above. People are not so caught up in a brand that they are willing to spend money above and beyond what is rational, especially for a product that will become discounted at some point in the future.

While a company (any company, not just Sony) can often sell a product based on their brand alone, consumers are getting wise to the fact that they can often buy similar products at a lower price from less well known companies, at the same (or better) quality. While this doesn’t particularly apply to items such as the PSP or PS3, it does apply to consumer electronics such as TV’s, camera’s, video/DVD players etc.

For gaming electronics however, brand is an important to an extent, as is consumer loyalty (those who buy a PSone are more likely to buy a PS2, an person who buys a PS2 is more likely to buy a PS3 etc), but price is the critical factor.

GameSpot have got a review of the PSP Game ‘Pimp my Ride’. I don’t really want to spoil their review by giving away the final score the game gets, but I’ll give you a hint. Its more than 1.6 out of 10, and less than 1.8 out of 10.

Theres always something about a game being given a bad review that draws you in like a moth to a flame. While I never want to see a bad game on any system, as it seems its a waste of effort on the part of the developers, we need truely bad games every once in a while to balance out with the really good, and contray to popular belief, the PSP has had some outstanding games recently.

So, what is wrong with ‘Pimp my Ride’ on the PSP?

Mixing a lousy driving game with completely pointless minigames that barely tied everything together into something that vaguely resembled the concept of the show, it was a poor piece of work. Now the game has come to the PSP, and it is with no amount of exaggeration that we state that Pimp My Ride is, hands down, the worst console-to-PSP port to date. Think of every single issue that’s ever plagued a console game translated to the PSP, combine them all with a game that was already no fun to begin with, and you’ll have a pretty good idea of where this game stands.

The GameSpot review is quite long, which is amazing in itself, as it means the auother of the review had to actually sit and play the game for a reasonable length of time to get a true idea of whether it was any good or not. I advise anyone thinking of buying this game to read the review in full, to ensure you don’t waste your money.

While I’ll not condemn the game until I’ve seen it myself, I tend to use places like GameSpot to get some idea of whether I’ll like a game or not before buying it. If I had very deep pockets, I would possibly buy most PSP games and review them myself, but neither being rich in time or money, I need to be able to sort the good from the bad as easily as possible, without it costing me money.

After this review of Pimp my Ride on the PSP, I think I’ll add it to the ‘avoid at all costs’ list that I keep stored safely in my head.

If you have yet to purchase a Sony PSP here in the UK, or are looking to perhaps suppliment your exisitng PSP with a second unit, you’ll be pleased to hear that Sony are dropping the price of the PSP by £30 down to £129 (GBP) at the start of May 2007.

This can probably be seen as an attempt to stimulate the market during the slower selling spring and summer months. Its a tactic Sony are well used to using, making similar cuts to the price of the PSone and PS2 during their lifecycle.

“PSP is unique and is constantly evolving. It offers the widest palette of mobile entertainment, from gaming to video, music, photos and internet,” explained Ray Maguire, managing director of Sony Computer Entertainment UK.

“But now the exciting possibility of connecting remotely to PlayStation 3 makes PSP more relevant than ever. So what better time to offer a brand new price point, and the launch of five new Platinum titles?”

I’m not sure I buy this reasoning for the price cut – people buying PS3’s are hardly likely to buy a PSP at the same time, and I’m not sure many are in a position to afford one at whatever the price, given the slightly extortionate amount PS3’s are retailing for at the moment.

What is really pleasing for current PSP owners is the release of the first Platinum game titles for the device.

Platinum has always been Sony’s way of eeking out the lifespan of some classic games by re-releasing them at a bargin price. In this instance, the price is going to be £14.99 (GBP) and the titles available initially are:

• Ridge Racer 2
• Tekken
• Killzone
• Loco Roco
• Moto GP

To me that looks like a strong list of titles to be releasing on the budget label. I’ve either got or have played all five in that list, and apart from Moto GP, would have little difficulty in recommending all of them. My only reservation would be on Ridge Racer 2, but only if you own the first version.

I hope Sony keep up with this standard of budget releases, as there are plenty of PSP games that I’ve resisted buying because of the cost, but at £14.99 it might make them a reasonable proposition.