With the immanent launch of the PSP at the end of this month, will Sony finally strip the last market Nintendo has dominated for so long?
Do you think the DS and Advance will hold their own, or do you think Nintendo will be forced to release a new handheld sooner than they they would have liked?
Will the PSP be the Game Boy killer it's designed to be?
Wed, 03/02/2005 - 01:23
#1
Will the PSP be the Game Boy killer it's designed to be?
It seems like the market for both is limited to kids not old enough to have and use cell phones.
With cell phone games improving, and at 1/10th of the cost per game, why would people want to carry a separate gaming device, even if it has better capabilities?
There is some interesting convergence with the PSP as a media player, but its Universal Media Disc (UMD) is anything but.
I underestimated the gaming market: Sony Sold $150 Mln in PSPs in First Week of US Sales.
I've finally had a few minutes to get my hands on one and mess with it for awhile. I hate to say this, but Nintendo's short-term future in portable gaming isn't looking good.
I doubt they're going to run away from it since they've been the portable leader for a very long time, but my initial thought may come true. The DS is doomed, and Nintendo may need to accelerate plans for a new portable console. I just don't think the dual screen approach and the touchpad is revolutionary enough to maintain DS. Sony made way more important evolutionary steps: fantastic widescreen, MP3 playback, compressed movie playback, 802.11 WiFi, optical disc system (though I'm still not a huge fan of UMD), and vastly superior power.
Sony has raised the bar from what to expect from a portable. In fact, I'm still blown away every time I pick it up. If Sony manages to put together library of good games, and maybe lower the price 50 bucks or so, the PSP will be unstoppable.
Let's hope Nintendo focuses on the fundamentals of gaming with whatever their next portable is, rather than focus on adding a gimmicky feature.