Back from E3...

[zmeston]

and what a bleak show it was, dominated by sequels, movie/TV-show/comic-book tie-ins, and Devil May Cry clones. (What has IGA done to Castlevania?! Noooo!!) Even the best games of the show were sequels and remakes: Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, Secret Weapons over Normandy, Metal Gear Solid 3, Half-Life II.

Nintendo's booth was just sad, and Microsoft's booth wasn't much better; Sony unquestionably had the best first-party AND third-party stuff, and anyone who tells you otherwise must have attended E3 in an alternate universe.

I left the show trying to determine if I've become hopelessly jaded, or if the show really was as depressing as it seemed. Have we reached the point where innovation is simply too expensive to pursue, where every American videogame must reuse and recycle what's come before?

The announcement of the PSP was an incredible moment, and a double deathblow to Nokia and Nintendo. I can't wait for "the Walkman of the 21st century" to revitalize the moribund portable-gaming industry -- presuming it doesn't become for PS1 ports what the GBA became for SNES ports.

-- Z.

[hydr0x]

mhh i think u r not really realistic here

eg Half-Life 2, of course it is a sequel, but it will be innovative in many many ways, you can't blame them for using the well-known name if the game gets that good

same goes for prince of persia, come on prince of persia 3d wasn't really good and 1&2 are really really old

as long as they do not ONLY recycle recycling is not a bad thing, just look at recycled concepts:

Zelda 3 (SNES) --> Zelda WW
Metroid --> Metroid Prime
Marble Madness --> Super Monkey Ball

and btw i like the fact that gba has all those old snes games, as long as they also make new games it's not a bad thing

[zmeston]

mhh i think u r not really realistic here

eg Half-Life 2, of course it is a sequel, but it will be innovative in many many ways, you can't blame them for using the well-known name if the game gets that good

same goes for prince of persia, come on prince of persia 3d wasn't really good and 1&2 are really really old

as long as they do not ONLY recycle recycling is not a bad thing, just look at recycled concepts:

Zelda 3 (SNES) --> Zelda WW
Metroid --> Metroid Prime
Marble Madness --> Super Monkey Ball

and btw i like the fact that gba has all those old snes games, as long as they also make new games it's not a bad thing

I mentioned that Half-Life II was one of the best games at the show; it was E3's overall dearth of originality that made me weep. There wasn't the next Devil May Cry, but there were a half-dozen DMC imitators.

As for Prince of Persia, I completely agree that 3D was shite, and that 1 and 2 are old. (Not "really really" old, but certainly vintage.) I'm not sure what your point is by mentioning these facts, since my point was that the new PoP, while a gorgeous and very playable game, was a sequel/remake.

About what am I not being "realistic"? That it costs so much money to develop a modern game that developers and publishers can no longer afford to invest in original, untested ideas? Unfortunately, E3 '03 made that abundantly clear.

-- Z.

[digitalpress]

Sounds like I picked a good E3 to sit out :)

I'm waiting for the pics from the DP representatives - got any pictures to share with us Zach?

[zmeston]

Sounds like I picked a good E3 to sit out :)

I'm waiting for the pics from the DP representatives - got any pictures to share with us Zach?

You picked the perfect E3 to sit out, Joe. I wish I'd sat this one out myself, but freelancers gotta go where the money is, y'know? At least next year's E3 will have the PSP to check out, and even the most jaded gamer gets a buzz from new hardware.

No pictures to share, alas, only anecdotes -- such as the already-infamous Jennifer Love Hewitt appearance at Konami's E3 conference to promote Karaoke Revolution (a really neat idea, and one of my fave games at the show). Also, the only pictures really worth taking at E3 are of booth babes and mascots, but I'd rather just savor the babes in person. Like, I weaseled VIP seating at the Tecmo "Girls of Dead or Alive Live-Action Fashion Show," during which I saw eight fake breasts and four real ones in various configurations. I've never been to a strip club, but now I feel like I have.

-- Z.

[swlovinist]

Zach, I agree, the industry I believe has been milking sequels TOO much. I am sick off all the crap that is out there just filling the market up. I believe that there is a recession coming, and I think it will be the best thing for the market. Athough I feel that there wont be another game crash(to the extent of 1983) I dont see games embracing sequel after sequel with open arms.........I see them returning their games and getting their money back.

[jaybird]

The announcement of the PSP was an incredible moment, and a double deathblow to Nokia and Nintendo.
-- Z.

There's no doubt in my mind Nokia is depressed after the PSP announcement, but Nintendo has nothing to fear from Sony getting in the handheld market. They're probably looking forward to actually putting the shank to Sony for once.

[hezeuschrist]

I don't know why anyone thinks the PSP will be the end of Nintendo... I mean christ. Nintendo has dominated the handheld market forever, they have an incredibly strong fanbase and already a huge installment. Kinda like how Sony owns the console market for being out a year ahead of the other 2 contenders. Same with Nintendo. I wouldn't ever expect to see the PSP's numbers get anywhere close to the GBA SP numbers.

[zmeston]

The announcement of the PSP was an incredible moment, and a double deathblow to Nokia and Nintendo.
-- Z.

There's no doubt in my mind Nokia is depressed after the PSP announcement, but Nintendo has nothing to fear from Sony getting in the handheld market. They're probably looking forward to actually putting the shank to Sony for once.

Are you kidding? Sony has chosen the PERFECT time to enter the portable market, which is suffering from consumer and developer malaise. The PSP, on paper, is orders of magnitude more powerful than the GBA, and I have no reason to doubt that the final result won't reflect all of the announced specs. With roughly 18 months of devtime remaining, the PSP might well become MORE powerful before launch.

Nintendo has EVERYTHING to fear about Sony getting into the portable market. It's thanks to Sony that Nintendo's share of the console market has dwindled from roughly 50% to roughly 15%. Nintendo is a company whose overall market share has been steadily decreasing for almost a decade and a half. (They had a virtual headlock on the videogame world in the late '80s; now they're struggling to stay out of third place.) What happens when Sony steals at least half of the portable market away from them? Nintendo goes software-only or keeps up the futile fight until it exhausts its cash reserves.

-- Z.

[hezeuschrist]

Nintendo won't go software only.

[Bratwurst]

Could care less if the PSP flops or succeeds- all it means to me is it's giving or going to give Nintendo a swift kick in the pants, which they desperately need.

Rather I was wondering your thoughts on the long awaited Half Life 2, Mr. Z. :D

[zmeston]

I don't know why anyone thinks the PSP will be the end of Nintendo... I mean christ. Nintendo has dominated the handheld market forever, they have an incredibly strong fanbase and already a huge installment. Kinda like how Sony owns the console market for being out a year ahead of the other 2 contenders. Same with Nintendo. I wouldn't ever expect to see the PSP's numbers get anywhere close to the GBA SP numbers.

The PSP will likely be the end of Nintendo as a hardware manufacturer, not as a company. Nintendo dominated the videogame world in the mid- and late '80s, but Sega demonstrated that Nintendo was vulnerable, and Sony has trounced them in the home-console market for a decade and counting. The PS2 isn't destroying the Xbox and GCN because it launched a year earlier; it's destroying them because of superior games and marketing. Those same factors will apply to the PSP/GBA battle. Sony can't take over the portable market right away, but they'll make an immediate and lasting impact, and within two or three years, they'll move ahead.

-- Z.

[zmeston]

Nintendo won't go software only.

Not until it's in the position of having no other choice, and even then, it might continue to fiddle while Rome burns. Perhaps it's afraid of what happened to Sega, which sold more software on the Dreamcast than on the PS2/Xbox/GCN combined. Nintendo is a big fish in its own small pond, and won't leave until Sony's sucked out all the water in the form of the PSP.

-- Z.

[zmeston]

Rather I was wondering your thoughts on the long awaited Half Life 2, Mr. Z. :D

It was the PC game of the show, without question -- not that there are many triple-A PC games anymore. (Any modern gamer who limits himself to the PC is being willfully ignorant.) Stupid-cool physics and special effects. One of my editors at PSE2, a PS2 magazine (!), couldn't stop raving about it. Thank God it ships in a few months, because it would be tortuous to wait any longer than that.

-- Z.

[hezeuschrist]

Nintendo has stated many times over that they refuse to develop for non-nintendo consoles. If the PSP kills them, it'll kill Mario, Zelda, Metroid, StarFox, and all the rest.

[RetroYoungen]

I remember reading that Sega was suppost to have a good lineup this year, and that title "Billy Hatcher and the Giant Egg" sounded interesting. How was the Sega booth?

[ubersaurus]

the PSP willg o the route of the game gear, the lynx, the neo geo pocket, and any other system that tried to take a part ofthe handheld market. Sure, it may be a more powerful system, but nintendo has the games, Nintendo has the user base, it has the backwards compatibility. Basically, the GBA is the PS2 of the handheld market. PSP won't crash and burn, but it ain't gonna usurp that throne.

[zmeston]

Nintendo has stated many times over that they refuse to develop for non-nintendo consoles. If the PSP kills them, it'll kill Mario, Zelda, Metroid, StarFox, and all the rest.

Nintendo also refused to allow objectionable content in games with the "Seal of Approval" -- until Mortal Kombat for the Sega Genesis destroyed the censored SNES version at retail, and forced Nintendo to relent. We'll see how Nintendo feels about its development policy when the PSP starts outselling the GBA. I'm sure Sega wanted to die when it was forced to start developing for Nintendo platforms, but it had no choice. In three or four years, Nintendo will likely be in the same situation.

Oh, I forgot another very important point: the PSP's mini-DVDs will be cheaper to manufacture than GBA carts, and thus more appealing to third-party publishers. (Cheaper cost of goods = more profit, and mini-DVDs = smaller/multiple print runs = less money invested in inventory.) Once again, Nintendo's insistence on the obsolete cartridge format comes back to haunt it.

-- Z.

[digitalpress]

PSP won't crash and burn, but it ain't gonna usurp that throne.

I disagree. It's the same "throne" Nintendo sat on when their NES was the only game in town and along came Sega. And if that wasn't enough of a de-thronement I think you can safely say Sony knocked them down a few notches.

So why NOT a de-thronement? Everyone falls from the top eventually.

[zmeston]

the PSP willg o the route of the game gear, the lynx, the neo geo pocket, and any other system that tried to take a part ofthe handheld market. Sure, it may be a more powerful system, but nintendo has the games, Nintendo has the user base, it has the backwards compatibility. Basically, the GBA is the PS2 of the handheld market. PSP won't crash and burn, but it ain't gonna usurp that throne.

PSP will most definitely have the games, as Sony has many more third parties in its lineup than Nintendo. Also, the PSP's cheaper media will attract third parties frightened away by the financial risk of cartridge manufacturing.

PSP will rapidly build an installed base. Also, Nintendo had a huge installed base of Super NESes when Sony launched the PlayStation, and it certainly didn't help them any. (The technical differences between the GBA and PSP are even greater than the SNES and PSX.)

The backwards compatibility is a non-factor for anyone but collectors and retro-gamers, since casual/mainstream consumers want to buy and play the latest and greatest. Also, this factor isn't especially relevant, since the PSP obviously doesn't have a predecessor to be backward-compatible with.

I know that the Nintendo faithful want to believe with all their hearts that the GBA will triumph, but literally everyone I spoke with at E3 -- industry insiders, jaded journalists, people who've been following this industry since the beginning -- saw the PSP as a crushing blow to Nintendo. By 2006, 2007 at the latest, the throne will be usurped.

-- Z.

[zmeston]

I remember reading that Sega was suppost to have a good lineup this year, and that title "Billy Hatcher and the Giant Egg" sounded interesting. How was the Sega booth?

It was, like so much else at E3, ehhh. Otogi was a DMC rip-off. Vectorman was so far removed from the original that I don't even understand why it's using the same name. The Headhunter sequel was an incremental improvement. Billy Hatcher was about the best thing at the booth, simply because it dared to be original.

Of course. I can't blame Sega for its conservatism. Original games like Rez and Gungrave haven't sold worth a damn, and the company is teetering on the brink. As someone pointed out to me at the show, Sega will probably never find someone to take on its debt load; the company will eventually go under, and its best devteams will be snatched up by savvy publishers.

-- Z.

[Daniel Thomas]

Great comments about E3, Z. It's depressing as hell that the enourmous success of the videogame is crippling their ability to come up with original ideas. Maybe we're just overlooking history -- the 16-bit era was drowning in Street Fighter, Final Fight, and mascot platformer clones. But today, with game budgets in the millions, and the market dominated by "casual" gamers who only buy the handful of easily-recognizable brand-names, the pressure to conform must be enourmous.

Hell, when Miyamoto can't get enough attention for Mario and Zelda, something is terribly wrong. Jimmy from the frat house is too busy running over hookers in Vice City to care. Not that he knows what he's doing, anyway.

On the handheld front, I'm looking forward to Sony's PSP. I don't necessarily buy into the notion that there's only room for one portable; indeed, this market desperately needs some competition. How much better would the GBA have been if Nintendo didn't have the whole playfield to itself? As good as that machine is, it should have been much better.

Is it really a bad thing that the console wars will someday end? Nobody is mourning the loss of all the home computers like the Commodore 64 and the Amiga and the Atari 800 and the Apple. Now. it's just the PC, and the focus is on the games themselves. I think that would work in the console world as well, provided that there are two platforms -- certainly the Playstation, and possibly the Xbox. It's too bad that GameCube is getting shafted, but it's Nintendo's fault; all those years of being brutal dictators are being paid back. Why are they still trying to control everything? Mini disks? Carts? To me, it's only a matter of time before Nintendo exits the console business completely -- keep its Gameboy brand, and make games for the consoles. Certainly they could name their price for an exclusive deal with either Sony or Microsoft.

I hope the PSP turns out right, but if this is just going to be a portable PSX, count me out. I don't want another handheld with nothing but reruns, and I don't want 2D gaming to go away again. It seems the Advance is the last remaining stronghold for the oldskool games.

Overall, E3 sounds a little underwhelming. I'm still waiting for the Next Big Thing that really takes games to the next level, instead of sequels, reruns, and Rag Doll Theatre.

[NvrMore]

I'm sorry but anyone who is buying into the PSP hype that's running around at the moment is really kidding themselves.

Firstly, the published intended specs are not realistically feasible and will no doubt be stripped down by the time the machine arrives. It's exactly the same as the PS2 when it was first announced, Sony provided unrealistic specs and as a result the PS2 ended up being released with specs far from the announced specification, to say the least it was stripped down. But of course Sony wants to build hype and it knows there are many who will immediately buy into whatever info they put out, regardless.

Secondly, even the specs released feature two of the biggest battery eating features, backlighting and a motorised drive. Even with a top of the line battery, with it's current specs, the machine would be looking at a battery life to rival the Lynx.

I also find it fantastically ironic that so many attack Nintendo for the monopoly they held, or the notion of MS monopolising the gaming market, yet they openly welcome the prospect of another company, Sony, gaining a monopoly.. I guess it's not if you're willing to bend over and take it, it's just who it's from right?

Finally, PS2 destroyng competition because of superior games LOL , please, that's a matter of opinion at best, it really comes far more down to marketing and hype where the machine is popular ir "in" on a fasionable note in the same vein as "mature gaming" is, rather than for the comparative consideration of it's gaming quality.

[zmeston]

I'm sorry but anyone who is buying into the PSP hype that's running around at the moment is really kidding themselves.

So the entire game industry is kidding itself? Because there was more buzz about the PSP than there was about 90% of the games on display at this year's E3. Everyone is buying into the hype because it's from Sony, the market leader for a decade, and because the portable market desperately needs something fresh and new.


Firstly, the published intended specs are not realistically feasible and will no doubt be stripped down by the time the machine arrives. It's exactly the same as the PS2 when it was first announced, Sony provided unrealistic specs and as a result the PS2 ended up being released with specs far from the announced specification, to say the least it was stripped down. But of course Sony wants to build hype and it knows there are many who will immediately buy into whatever info they put out, regardless.

If you can point out legitimate sources with the "intended" PS2 specs as compared to the final specs, that would be great. I don't recall any major discrepancy or outcry when the PS2 shipped, however.

And I certainly wouldn't expect Sony to ditch the coolest specs -- 16:9 widescreen display, mini-DVD storage medium, USB port. The PSP should clock in somewhere between the PS1 and PS2 in terms of power, whereas the GBA is a souped-up SNES.


Secondly, even the specs released feature two of the biggest battery eating features, backlighting and a motorised drive. Even with a top of the line battery, with it's current specs, the machine would be looking at a battery life to rival the Lynx.

This was the #1 concern of everyone at E3, and there's no question this could be a genuine issue -- but if anyone can lick the problem, it's Sony. There's no way they'll ship the PSP with a three-hour battery life. (I wouldn't be entirely shocked if it shipped with a six-hour battery life, but I could tolerate that.)


I also find it fantastically ironic that so many attack Nintendo for the monopoly they held, or the notion of MS monopolising the gaming market, yet they openly welcome the prospect of another company, Sony, gaining a monopoly.. I guess it's not if you're willing to bend over and take it, it's just who it's from right?

I respect Nintendo for essentially rebuilding the videogame industry in the '80s; I'm just looking at the situation from a financial/business perspective, which is very different from a gamer's perspective.

Nintendo takes heat, I think, because when it had its iron grip on the industry, it tightly controlled and censored third-party content. That's not to say Sony hasn't done the same thing (i.e., BMX XXX), but in far fewer and less public instances.


Finally, PS2 destroyng competition because of superior games LOL , please, that's a matter of opinion at best, it really comes far more down to marketing and hype where the machine is popular ir "in" on a fasionable note in the same vein as "mature gaming" is, rather than for the comparative consideration of it's gaming quality.

The quality of the PS2's games is indeed a matter of opinion, but if we cite sales figures -- and those are the numbers that matter in the end -- the PS2 rules. Marketing and hype surely plays a role, but GTA3/VC and Gran Turismo 3 and the latest/greatest version of Madden are games that many millions of Americans love to play. Sony hasn't succeeded for a decade on hype alone.

-- Z.

[RetroYoungen]

Wow, such a lackluster event then (and the discussion thereafter) really makes you look forward to CGE, don't it?

[zmeston]

Maybe we're just overlooking history -- the 16-bit era was drowning in Street Fighter, Final Fight, and mascot platformer clones.

Yeah, I thought that too, but this is the first E3 I've ever come away from where I didn't see at least one game that left me breathless. A friend of mine explained to me that after the collective beating that the industry took in 2002, leaving retailers clogged with unsold product, everyone is playing it safe -- and it shows.


Hell, when Miyamoto can't get enough attention for Mario and Zelda, something is terribly wrong. Jimmy from the frat house is too busy running over hookers in Vice City to care. Not that he knows what he's doing, anyway.

That was another incredibly depressing lowlight of the show. Miyamoto and Kojima working together, and the best idea these two legends can come up with is a remake of MGS1 with the game engine of MGS2? Christ.

I also noted at the Konami press conference that Kojima seemed more interested in talking about Boktai, his solar-powered GBA game (something original!!), than about MGS3. At one point, he even admonished the crowd for not asking more questions about his pet project.


Is it really a bad thing that the console wars will someday end?

Not from a perspective of profitability, as the videogame industry's income has grown in direct proportion with the increased dominance of Sony. As you say, one dominant console allows developers to entirely focus on the games instead of worrying about which console(s) to support. But there's no question that the console industry is slowly going down the same path as the PC industry, with a few dozen triple-A titles from the high-profile publishers, and a bunch of budget crap from everyone else. Games are so expensive to make anymore that publishers can't survive by simply appealing to the hardcore; they have to go with what works, with imitation instead of innovation.

Insomniac Games has a piece in the latest Game Developer about how it killed a project six months into development because it wasn't working, deciding instead to retreat to the action/platform genre with Ratchet & Clank. A fine choice, as R&C was a very good game, but a depressing example of the modern game-development mindset. Insomniac was almost boastful of having killed its original project in favor of the tried and true, calling it "the will to kill." I wonder how many more potentially great games have been slain in the current environment.


Overall, E3 sounds a little underwhelming. I'm still waiting for the Next Big Thing that really takes games to the next level, instead of sequels, reruns, and Rag Doll Theatre.

PSP is the NBT, from my POV.

-- Z.

[Daniel Thomas]

You've got some good insights there. Perhaps at some point, the finger has to be pointed at the consumer. When a Playstation version of "The Dukes of Hazzard" sells over a million copies, there's something wrong. The average guy on the street doesn't really know much of anything about games, and seems happy as long as everything looks pretty or the name on the box is recognizable (Lord of the Rings, Madden, etc.).

Maybe things are just getting too complicated. I miss the simple thrills of the arcade games of the 1980s and '90s; those games that are easy to grasp and promise nothing more than a few moments of fun. Sega really hit the mark with Crazy Taxi -- it's a perfect game for short, 30-minute bursts. Maybe that's why the Advance has stuck with me recently, with titles like Kelly Slater, Virtual Kasparov, Hikaru No Go 2, Moto GP, and Motoracer Advance (more games no one buys).

Where's the next Tetris? Where's the next Bomberman? Everything now is trying to simulate the typical Hollywood summer blockbuster, right down to the million explosions and lousy dialog. It's all a cross-breeding commercial now; the games are selling the movies, and the movies are selling the games (this is a major problem I had with "The Matrix Reloded"). I don't understand why something more, um, oldskool, and sold for a dirt-cheap price, couldn't make a decent profit. After all, there are more consoles out there, and one doesn't have to chase the blockbusters to make money.

The trick, of course, is to get consumers to cough up the cash. And if I knew how to do that, hell, I'd be selling a lot more paintings.

[zmeston]

Wow, such a lackluster event then (and the discussion thereafter) really makes you look forward to CGE, don't it?

OH HELL YES. That was the first thing I said to fellow attendee Mark Androvich on the long ride from L.A. to the Bay Area. It'll be the first time in 14 years that I attend a videogame convention to chill out and have fun, instead of running around like a maniac and getting in trouble with all my editors and having my laptop stolen and having a PR person ask, in front of four other journalists, "I know who they are, but who the heck are YOU?"

I should probably mention a few things at E3 '03 that were cool, to balance out the negative vibeage I've been putting out, so:

* Meeting and speaking with David Braben, the designer/programmer of Elite. It was 30 minutes of unabashed hero worship.

* The Girls of DOA Live-Action Fashion Show. So blatant, I was laughing out loud for about half of it. I even walked away with a free volleyball, kissed and signed by "Hatomi" [sic].

* The Jennifer Love Hewitt mini-concert at the Konami press conference. (Okay, this was more amusing than cool.) She's very short in person, and with much smaller boobs than you'd expect from seeing her on TV and in movies.

* Square Enix's entire lineup, although one of my editors hates the painful drop in quality when the CG sequences give way to real-time graphics.

* Steel Battalion: Line of Contact, which will allow stupidly rich people to play online and revel in their wealth. Capcom also receives props for its defiantly 2D Viewtiful Joe and Mega Man.

* The new Need for Speed. Killer special effects, and much more visually stimulating than GT4.

-- Z.

[Ed Oscuro]

I also noted at the Konami press conference that Kojima seemed more interested in talking about Boktai, his solar-powered GBA game (something original!!), than about MGS3. At one point, he even admonished the crowd for not asking more questions about his pet project.

Wow, Everybody's Sun is still alive? Well...

[hezeuschrist]

* Square Enix's entire lineup, although one of my editors hates the painful drop in quality when the CG sequences give way to real-time graphics.

So, he's mad that they won't be spending time on massive CG movie like scenes and might actually spend some time to make the games better? While I love what Square has done with the cutscenes with the PSX titles they released, I know that crap takes a whole lotta time to make. Less time on that, more time on story/gameplay. Excellent.

[zmeston]

* Square Enix's entire lineup, although one of my editors hates the painful drop in quality when the CG sequences give way to real-time graphics.

So, he's mad that they won't be spending time on massive CG movie like scenes and might actually spend some time to make the games better? While I love what Square has done with the cutscenes with the PSX titles they released, I know that crap takes a whole lotta time to make. Less time on that, more time on story/gameplay. Excellent.

He wishes that Square would do the non-interactive scenes with the real-time engine, to create a visual consistency, and I agree. FFXI Online is particularly jarring in this regard; its CG sequence is so flippin' amazing that it's impossible not to be a little disappointed when the real-time graphics kick in. (There's a graphic whore in all of us.)

-- Z.

[swlovinist]

Being a friend of ya, Zach, I agree that Sony does market themself well and dominate the market.....but I am not all that excited about Sony in the handheld market. I will be open minded and try their new little gadget, but there are many factors that make me think it will fail. 1)Disc format. Sure it will be cheaper to produce, but we can already see how people treat thieir PS1 discs and PS2 discs. Alot of the GBA population is geared for children. I dont see children treating portable discs friendly unless they are protected some how :) 2. Sony would have to heavily rely on other companies to produce software. If they have to rely on previous PS1 technology, then no thanks, Ill pass. 3. Cost. The GBA has always been affordable system, and to be competitive, they will have to possibly trim their profits. This was the problem with many previous attempts to trump Nintendo. 4. Too little, too late. The GBA library of games and backwards play of almost 14 years of games gives the GBA a HUGE advantage. Sony would have to sell peple on a portable game system that could not play franchise icons children and others have grown accustomed to for over a decade. I see Sony in a position Nintendo was in at the height of the SNES. If they continue to have an attitude that they can make anything and have people buy it, then I feel(espically in the hanheld market) that Sony is overdue for a failure.

[Ed Oscuro]

Well, this latest Sony CD-based system can't do any worse than the Sony handheld CD-i player. And that reminds me...

...that's the CD-i unit you want, if you want one. Here, donate to your local charity instead...</offtopic>

Anyways, I'm pretty interested in the idea of handheld Metal Gear Solid (and NOT of the Ghost Babel/MGS for GBC sort) or...well, everything right up to Legend of Legaia if there's gonna be a Memory Card port.

I know there's the competition angle again, but this isn't the same deal as with the main console wars. This area could use a bit of competiton, and I wonder how Nintendo can sit and take this in stride (at the moment, they're saying, they don't see anything here to be worried about...)

[zmeston]

Being a friend of ya, Zach, I agree that Sony does market themself well and dominate the market.....but I am not all that excited about Sony in the handheld market. I will be open minded and try their new little gadget, but there are many factors that make me think it will fail. 1)Disc format. Sure it will be cheaper to produce, but we can already see how people treat thieir PS1 discs and PS2 discs. Alot of the GBA population is geared for children. I dont see children treating portable discs friendly unless they are protected some how :) 2. Sony would have to heavily rely on other companies to produce software. If they have to rely on previous PS1 technology, then no thanks, Ill pass. 3. Cost. The GBA has always been affordable system, and to be competitive, they will have to possibly trim their profits. This was the problem with many previous attempts to trump Nintendo. 4. Too little, too late. The GBA library of games and backwards play of almost 14 years of games gives the GBA a HUGE advantage. Sony would have to sell peple on a portable game system that could not play franchise icons children and others have grown accustomed to for over a decade. I see Sony in a position Nintendo was in at the height of the SNES. If they continue to have an attitude that they can make anything and have people buy it, then I feel(espically in the hanheld market) that Sony is overdue for a failure.

Friends can agree to disagree, can't they? :)

1) The sample disc Kutaragi showed at the press conference was enclosed within a protective casing, which I presume will apply to the final product. Also, Sony won't be marketing the PSP at kids, but at grown-ups, so the concerns over care and feeding won't apply as much. I agree, though, that the unwashed masses treat discs like hell; if PSP discs are naked, there could be issues. Then again, people are happily using millions of portable CD players without issues...

2) From the specs, the PSP falls somewhere between a PS1 and PS2 in terms of power. Will there be quick-and-dirty PSX ports in the PSP library? Absolutely, unless Sony has the wisdom to force developers to release multi-game compilations or widescreen-enhanced versions of older stuff. Will Sony rely on third parties for the majority of the library? Absolutely. But I think they'll also have some great first-party AND third-party stuff ready for launch. (The rumor is that PSP devkits are going out to developers within a month or two, to give them plenty of time.)

3) I'm confident that Sony will launch the PSP at a very competitive price point, and people in the know virtually guarantee it. Sony has studied the many mistakes of others, and they know that price point is a crucial issue. (They're also aware of the battery-life issue, so I'm not as concerned about it as others.) Sony can even afford to take a mild bath on the PSP for a while, a la Microsoft and the Xbox, if it helps them to build market share and sell more software to offset the losses.

Remember that Sony has vast experience in every category of consumer electronics: camcorders, stereos, DVD players, et cetera. They've already encountered all the potential pitfalls of the PSP, and already addressed them. That's why I'm so excited about the PSP -- it's a portable convergence of all Sony's technological experience. It's a game system, but it can (and will) do much more.

4) It's very true that Nintendo has ruled the portable world, but I don't see the pre-GBA library/backward compatibility as much of a factor; new games drive the industry, not back-catalog/used sales. The GBA's sizable library is definitely a factor, although all the PSP needs is one equivalent of Grand Theft Auto to catch the attention of the masses.

Is Sony arrogant enough to fail? Absolutely. And if the PSP becomes a PS1-port machine, no one will be rooting harder for it to fail than me. Judging from the buzz PSP created at E3, though, it's going to be a rousing success.

As for the N-Gage, more people were talking about Nokia's horrendous press conference than about the device itself, which says it all.

-- Z.

[hezeuschrist]

I see Sony in a position Nintendo was in at the height of the SNES.

Virtual Boy anyone? LOL

[zmeston]

I see Sony in a position Nintendo was in at the height of the SNES.

Virtual Boy anyone? LOL

Nintendo knew the VB sucked, and gave it just enough of a release to humor Gumpei Yokoi. The PSP will most definitely not suck, and Sony will bring their gargantuan resources to bear upon making it succeed. But while there's no legitimate comparison between the two, it is interesting to recall that Nintendo has failed in the portable market (if the VB can be defined as such).

-- Z.

[YoshiM]

While I'm not a big fan of the video game arm of Sony, I think the PSP will make a big splash with the adult crowd and the handheld gaming market. With the big push in mobile gaming (like cell phones and such) towards the teen/young adult/adult audience, the name Sony with a mobile video game system would probably have the same effect that launched the Playstation into orbit.

As for graphic capability: who cares if it's PS1 like in graphics? People will be more forgiving with a portable system than a home console. When it comes to titles, I don't think a lot of people will overly care if there are PS1 conversions as long as the game is improved (in either play or with added features or both). No one really complains about 16 bit rehashes on the GBA.

No matter what, the handheld industry is going to get veddy interestink...

[WiseSalesman]

For a minute, let's calm down and stop worrying about who's going to come out on top. I just want to point out one thing that everyone seems to keep overlooking.

Zmeston said:

[We see the] PSP as a crushing blow to Nintendo. By 2006, 2007 at the latest, the throne will be usurped.

While you may end up being right, we are talking about three to four years here. I'd say a better bet might be that "the throne will be usurped" if

a) Sony doesn't make any mistakes, in marketing, licensing, pricing etc. and b) Nintendo sits on its ass and does nothing.

None of us are here are really involved in the production of videogames, and the PSP has us all hot and bothered. Imagine what the folks at Nintendo must be thinking. Were it me, I'd be looking at the handheld market as my last life line, the only thing between me and a fatal stock market plunge, and I'd be working on a new handheld NOW. I'd put a good portion of my resources into it, and not worry so much about the conosle market for awhile. I'd secure important handheld franchises (maybe YuGiOh, for example) as best I could. Wouldn't surprise me at ALL if, by right about the time you predict sony will be ready to "usurp the throne", Nintendo has another new handheld of its own, ready to counter.[/quote]

[Anonymous]

Getting back on topic, I had a great time at E3 this year. Although this year I actually had some business to take care of in Kentia hall, so it was a little more exciting to me. I think I'll leave the business side of game reporting to Mr. Z, but I really enjoyed several of the rehashed ideas being presented this year:

Here is my list of cool/fun looking games. Keep in mind that these aren't all innovative titles, just games that I'm looking forward to playing, even if it's just the same game with new levels.

Viewtiful Joe NGC - A really original looking and fun game (another take on bullet-time in a game)

Pacman NGC - interesting concept that turns out being more fun than you think

Metroid GBA - Just on one or two screens, this one looks like a throwback to the original with snes style graphics

F Zero NGC - This one looks great, it plays just the way you'd expect F zero to play, and the track design doesn't feel generic

FF: Crystal Chronicles NGC - Looks fun and interesting, but all I saw was overworld stuff. One cool thing is each person (if they're using a GBA as a controller) has different stuff (map, stats, objectives, etc) on their screen

MGS: Twin Snakes NGC - Don't tell any of the developers, but I can't wait to play this. Shhh.

Mario and Luigi NGC - Paper Mario redux. New storyline though, and it's cool. As you run around in the overworld, A button makes Mario jump and B button makes luligi jump.

The Suffering PS2 - Best looking survival horror story so far. I like the premise (Silent Hill inside a prison), let's hope Surreal takes full advantage of the potential here.

GT4 PS2 - Looks pretty good, a lot of little details were added like reflections on the windows in the buildings, but still no true environment mapping. And the levels look a little fuzzy thanks to an attempt to simulate AA by fuzzing up the picture. The New York level they debuted looked awesome, and online is another exciting prospect.

Sonic Hero XBX - Just another Sonic Game. Nothing new, nothing wrong. Bring it on, IMO

MGS3 PS2 - If you like the game, this one looks fun. If you don't like the game, keep on moving.

HL2 PC - duh.

Project Gotham 2 XBX - more networked/online stuff, and although it's basically just more of the same, I've no problem with that. (Don't tell the developers that, though)

Steel Battalion 2 XBX - Looking good as always. I'm a little worried though, I don't know if I'm going to fit in with all the rich people I'll be playing against, being a poor college student with messed up financial priorities and all.

Second Life PC - My friend won't shut up about this game, but I'm a little skeptical. Good idea though, sounds kind of like there (www.there.com)

DDR ultramix XBX - only the game mode was available so I wasn't able to confirm any of the many cool possibilities the Xbox opens up to DDR, but I'm sure you can find that info elsewhere. The only thing that matters is that it plays exactly the same, timing wise.


As for the PSP, I for one will be buying it just for it's MP4 playback (please please don't be proprietary, and please support divx). I think it'll do fine, but the GBA will not go away, at least until it's life cycle is complete. Also, am I the only one that thinks MiniDiscs should have taken the video game world by storm years ago? The DVD MiniDisc thing makes my heart flutter.

It's too bad Sony and Nintendo will be taken down by the nGage and the FreeOn.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA.

Seriously, though, the other thing that got me excited was the GBA media player being released by am3 (www.am3.co.jp). It looks really neat, and if they make the right moves, I can see it doing really well here in the US. It's way better than the other two knock offs they had at the show, so I hope the guys do well here.

That's all I can think of at the moment.

[zmeston]

For a minute, let's calm down and stop worrying about who's going to come out on top. I just want to point out one thing that everyone seems to keep overlooking.

Zmeston said:

[We see the] PSP as a crushing blow to Nintendo. By 2006, 2007 at the latest, the throne will be usurped.

While you may end up being right, we are talking about three to four years here. I'd say a better bet might be that "the throne will be usurped" if

a) Sony doesn't make any mistakes, in marketing, licensing, pricing etc. and b) Nintendo sits on its ass and does nothing.

None of us are here are really involved in the production of videogames, and the PSP has us all hot and bothered. Imagine what the folks at Nintendo must be thinking. Were it me, I'd be looking at the handheld market as my last life line, the only thing between me and a fatal stock market plunge, and I'd be working on a new handheld NOW. I'd put a good portion of my resources into it, and not worry so much about the conosle market for awhile. I'd secure important handheld franchises (maybe YuGiOh, for example) as best I could. Wouldn't surprise me at ALL if, by right about the time you predict sony will be ready to "usurp the throne", Nintendo has another new handheld of its own, ready to counter.

Nintendo has always taken its own sweet time when it comes to hardware, so I can't envision the company rushing to market with a new portable in response to the PSP. Then again, Nintendo claimed at its E3 press conference that it wouldn't be last to market with the next generation of hardware. Being first to market with new tech doesn't necessarily matter, of course, as Sega proved with the Saturn and the Dreamcast.

At the E3 conference, Nintendo played it cool; behind closed doors, it's freaking out. But even if it starts working on a new portable today, it's hard to imagine that the end result will be any more powerful than the PSP. And if by some miracle it is, by the time it launches in '06/'07, Sony will have already stolen away precious market- and mind-share. The GCN is more powerful than the PS2, and that's not preventing the latter from outselling the former.

Quite frankly, it's not Nintendo's race to win; it's Sony's race to lose, and that won't happen. Their marketing is too good, their third-party support too strong, their tech too powerful. They haven't made a major mistake in a decade, and they've been on top longer than Nintendo ever was. (Nintendo had a six-year run with the NES before the Genesis came along and chopped its market in half; Sony's at nine years and counting.)

I know it's tempting to root for the underdog, but the fact is that the PSP has the industry's movers and shakers -- the people who make and sell the games -- totally energized. One marketing manager told me at E3 that Sony's marketing division hasn't been this pumped up since the PS1's launch in '95.

There's simply no reason why Sony can't defeat Nintendo in the portable market as it has (twice) in the home-console market, especially since Nintendo is notably more vulnerable now than it was in '95.

I can't stop wondering what the videogame industry would be like today if Nintendo hadn't scorned Sony in the early '90s...

-- Z.

[brandver3]

I think everyone here is missing the big picture here.

Sure, all of us are excited about the PSP (well, most everyone (not I)), but we are NOT the driving force of this industry.

We are all going to by one because we're hardcore gamers. Its what we do. Hell, I know a couple of you got all hot and bothered when the Jaguar was annonced way back when.

But we don't matter. We are not what drives this industry. The casual gamer drives this market. The guy that walks into EB and says "Which is better, Gungrave or Devil May Cry?" because he doesn't know any better, he doesn't read the game mags or websites, and just wants something to play.

These people aren't like us. Sure the spec sheet is nice right now (and in true Sony fashion it will be brought down by production time), but it is still vaporwear. The spec sheet is exactly that, a sheet of paper, nothing more.

There are a few big handheld market factors no one is taking into account. One big one is poratable ness. Judging from the sheet, this is going to be the least portable handheld gaming system rivaled only by the Lynx.

Battery comsumption will be un godly. As stated earlier, backlight and motors for disc drives huge power consumers, which I imagine would be the awnser to that question. Mini-disc haven't taken the industry by storm because there isn't really a cost effective way to do it.

And pricing is one of the biggest killers in the portabel industry. I don't know how many people I heard bitch about the GBA and the GBA SP being almost 100 dollars. With a spec sheet like that, the PSP will be no where near $100 and that will hurt it.

The portable industry is still a kid industry. Sorry to say it but deal with it. We are a big minority. Most poeple over 15 are past portables. If they are away from the house they don't have the time to play games mostly. And almost any person 18 years of age or older will look at a PSP (and i say this price very conservativly) with a $200 price tag and spring for the home counsol for $100 and buy 2 games for the same amount.

Its just seems alot of people here think that ourbuying habits and opinions of the game industry make a difference. They don't. While hardcore gamers seem to think its a cool idea, most the general gaming populace doesn't really care. Portable gaming isn't an adult industry, and with the time restraints of managing life the adults are faced with today, it never will be.

[brandver3]

Double post....


um....I like kittens......

[buttasuperb]

Metroid GBA - Just on one or two screens, this one looks like a throwback to the original with snes style graphics

Sweet, I didn't even realize there was another GBA Metroid in the works. The series belongs in 2D. Same with Castlevania, and I feel Konami is making a big mistake with the new version.

Anyone get any impressions about Gradius V? From screen shots, it looks really good.

Anyways, I would have loved to have been at E3 just to check out all the SNK stuff. SNK vs Capcom Chaos looked awesome, and Metal Slug 3 and 4 hitting US shores for the PS2 is great news. I can only hope for an xbox live port of SvC.

[Anonymous]

Gradius V looked cool, but it really doesn't belong in 3D. I'll probably still buy it, though. It controlled and handled more like a treasure shooter than gradius. Not a bad thing by any means, but I'd prefer a more einhander-ish title m'self.

[Bratwurst]

Another Metroid so soon? What could be construed from this behavior on Nintendo's part? :D

[brandver3]

Another Metroid so soon? What could be construed from this behavior on Nintendo's part? :D

That it was good and they are making another one because there is alot of clamoring for it....? :hmm:

[zmeston]

These people aren't like us. Sure the spec sheet is nice right now (and in true Sony fashion it will be brought down by production time), but it is still vaporwear. The spec sheet is exactly that, a sheet of paper, nothing more.

Once again, if anyone can point out a legit source with the PS2's "intended" specs as opposed to what it shipped with, I'd love to see it. I don't recall any outcry or concern about the PS2's final specs.


There are a few big handheld market factors no one is taking into account. One big one is poratable ness. Judging from the sheet, this is going to be the least portable handheld gaming system rivaled only by the Lynx.

Until we see an actual prototype, it's impossible to know for certain, but Sony produces startlingly compact home electronics in other categories; why can't they accomplish the same with the PSP?


Battery comsumption will be un godly. As stated earlier, backlight and motors for disc drives huge power consumers, which I imagine would be the awnser to that question. Mini-disc haven't taken the industry by storm because there isn't really a cost effective way to do it.

I would blame the MiniDisc's lack of success on many factors other than battery life of MD players.


And pricing is one of the biggest killers in the portabel industry. I don't know how many people I heard bitch about the GBA and the GBA SP being almost 100 dollars. With a spec sheet like that, the PSP will be no where near $100 and that will hurt it.

Sony plans to be extremely competitive with price point, according to folks on the inside. (Hanging with the editors of a PS2 magazine has its advantages. Heh.) It'll definitely be near $100. Sony knows this is perhaps the most important aspect of the PSP.


The portable industry is still a kid industry. Sorry to say it but deal with it. We are a big minority. Most poeple over 15 are past portables. If they are away from the house they don't have the time to play games mostly. And almost any person 18 years of age or older will look at a PSP (and i say this price very conservativly) with a $200 price tag and spring for the home counsol for $100 and buy 2 games for the same amount.

The console industry was just for kids, too, until Sega and then Sony put the lie to that concept. And the burgeoning mobile-phone gaming genre is very much an all-ages phenomenon.


Its just seems alot of people here think that ourbuying habits and opinions of the game industry make a difference. They don't. While hardcore gamers seem to think its a cool idea, most the general gaming populace doesn't really care. Portable gaming isn't an adult industry, and with the time restraints of managing life the adults are faced with today, it never will be.

I've already stated in this thread that E3's overload of sequels and copycats was because the game industry is forced to appeal to the mainstream. There was a time when full-price games could target just the hardcore audience, but that time is long over. Now the hardcore audience gets horribly localized $10 shooters.

Believe me, over 14 years of writing reviews, I've learned hundreds of times over that my opinion won't influence the game industry or the trends within it.

-- Z.

[scooterb23]

I would blame the MiniDisc's lack of success on many factors other than battery life of MD players

I'll second that, as I seem to be about the only North American who prefers mini-discs to other formats...my mini-disc player gets 54 hours of play on one AA battery...its failure (in my mind) was due to crummy advertising in the early years...they didn't fight for it hard enough. I know if I would have known about all the advantages to the format 3 years before I did, I would never have wasted all that money on blank cds...and cd-burners...


The sample disc Kutaragi showed at the press conference was enclosed within a protective casing, which I presume will apply to the final product.

just like a mini-disc!! *swoons*

*stares at stack of 150 burned cds I can't stand listening to anymore*
*looks at box of 10 minidiscs that I can change whenever I get tired of the stuff on it and smiles*

sorry for the off-topic rant there...:embarrased:

I really like the idea of a Sony portable system...I don't care if it beats the GBA...I just like having more cool gadgets around...and the encased discs...aaaaaaahhhhhh

BTW, great coverage Z...I'd love to go to one of these kinds of events someday :)

[brandver3]

A 4.5 inch screen lends to not compact.

And cell phone gaming is because people carry cell phones. They don't carry them to play games on them. People carry cell phone to talk when they are running around. Cell games are just a side thing.

Cellular games and Handhelds are on completly different levels, you can't compare them.

[zmeston]

BTW, great coverage Z...I'd love to go to one of these kinds of events someday :)

I dunno -- I think my initial post was much too grumpy. I erroneously applied that everything at E3 was crap, which isn't true, and that I hated all the sequels/remakes, which isn't true either; Prince of Persia was my game of the show, I was thrilled about the online Steel Battalion (although I wonder how it'll actually PLAY onlne, since it was System Linked at the show), I was very happy to see that Capcom had picked up Defender of the Crown, I would've wet myself had Ico 2 been on display, et cetera.

I was just saddened by the lack of new ideas, i.e., The Twin Snakes. When I think of Miyamoto -- whom I'm confident will soon pull out of his Pikmin spiral -- and Kojima collaborating on a game, I think of Spielberg and Lucas collaborating on Raiders of the Lost Ark -- not of them saying "Hey, let's remake Jaws with better special effects." (Okay, maybe Lucas.)

-- Z.

[zmeston]

A 4.5 inch screen lends to not compact.

And cell phone gaming is because people carry cell phones. They don't carry them to play games on them. People carry cell phone to talk when they are running around. Cell games are just a side thing.

Cellular games and Handhelds are on completly different levels, you can't compare them.

You might want to inform Nokia of this, since they're spending millions of dollars to launch a cellular/handheld hybrid called the N-Gage. You might also want to inform game developers of this, since they're directly comparing the two markets, such as in a recent Game Developer article with a very interesting passage.

"I wanted to know if [an 18-year-old focus tester] played [cell-phone games] during any of the many bored moments we have in life. Sheepishly he admitted that he played mostly during class, the size of the phone making it easy to hide behind a leg or a desk. I asked him if it was easier to hide than a Game Boy Advance. 'Yeah. Besides, I'm not a nine-year-old boy!' The easy distaste with which he made this statement was chilling, or at least it should be to Nintendo.

"Has Nintendo's longtime success in its bread-and-butter eight-to-12 market banished the Game Boy Advance to the land of little kids? There is an older generation who grew up playing videogames who are playing with their GBAs in blissful ignorance of the hipness factor, but for those in the beloved 12-to-24 market, the battle isn't between the quality of games on cell phones versus GBA, because the GBA is, well, uncool if you are old enough to carry a cell phone."

This is one reason why the PSP will succeed: it's going to target an older, hipper crowd than Nintendo's hardware, just as Sony has done with the PS1/PS2.

As for the screen not being compact, have you actually seen some of Sony's camcorders and portable DVD players? They're remarkably tight designs.

-- Z.

[Anonymous]

I totally agree with you Zach re: the miyamoto / kojima thing. I'm sure that the only reason they are collaborating is because Nintendo begged and pleaded with Konami to do something (anything) with the Gamecube that would be exclusive, and this was all Kojima had time for. I think we will eventually see some wonderful collaborations between the golden three (miyamoto, naka, kojima), but not at the moment. Maybe when things have died down a bit.

[Daniel Thomas]

That's funny when you talk about the 18-year-old kid who won't be caught dead with a Game Boy. I remember I was the same way when I was 18. Who wants to be seen with something called a "Game Boy?" Yuck! If my girlfriend sees me with this thing, she'll laugh at me! I won't get any! LOL

Nintendo's age problem has been brewing for a number of years now, and now it seems to be boiling over. Why is it that the Cube doesn't sell? Because it's a "kids" thing. Sony captured the hip, cool thing almost from the start, and they never stopped running with it. And it wasn't just marketing; there were a lot of cool PSX games that just oozed their own sense of style. Of course, that was when Sony seemed to encourage a lot of creative games for its platform; the money now may be too high.

It's too bad for Nintendo. Part of me is disappointed that they are planning to continue with another games console. It's only a matter of time before it's simply better for them to quit the hardware rat-race altogether. Given that there's hardly any real difference between consoles anymore (certainly not like the 16-bit era), what's the point?

I really like that Sony's handheld will have a decent-sized screen. The GBA's screen is just too damned small for its own good. Of course, it all comes down to the games, so I'm curious to see what will appear on the Advance over the next year. Will the whole thing just drizzle out once the well of SNES hits is gone? How eager are developers to push the GBA's 3D abilities? How long would Nintendo last if there was real competition?

Granted, this whole mess is a year and a half away, but it's gonna be real interesting. Again, great stuff, Z. You've got the best running E3 commentary anywhere, period. Must be the loss of the mullet.

[brandver3]

You know, I had a nice big post all written up, but really, this is stupid.

Anything I say your going to come up with 5 million reasona that I'm wrong and the PSP will dominate when it actually gets made. So whatever, believe what you want.

[scooterb23]

I think of Spielberg and Lucas collaborating on Raiders of the Lost Ark

GAH!!! Don't say that!!! Next thing you know, there will be Ewoks in the movie and Indy's whip will be turned into a walkie talkie!!! GAHHHHHNOOOOOOOOO!!!

[zmeston]

You know, I had a nice big post all written up, but really, this is stupid.

Anything I say your going to come up with 5 million reasona that I'm wrong and the PSP will dominate when it actually gets made. So whatever, believe what you want.

Please don't be offended by my rambling, BV. I've just yet to hear a convincing argument as to why the PSP will fail, although I welcome the debate. It's always good to have my opinions challenged; if I can't defend them, it's time to rethink them.

If I'm coming off like a Sony fanboy, I apologize. I was just surprised at the first couple of posters who said that Nintendo would "stick it" to Sony, so I've explained (too much) why I feel the PSP is going to succeed. I've been wrong many times before, and I'll be surely be wrong again. And, yes, Sony could bungle the PSP in any of a dozen ways, or Nintendo could get off its duff and fight the good fight. It will be a fascinating battle, to say the least.

-- Z.

[nesman85]

it seems like nintendo is finally realizing that the older gamers don't want to carry the gba because its "not cool". the sp is definitely much cooler than the other gba, and i've actually seen a couple older gamer's playing them in public. hopefully nintendo will make their next handheld to appeal to older gamers more, then they would stand a much better chance against sony. i hope they learned enough when they lost the last battle to sony that the won't make the same mistakes again in this battle. if they decide to use carts instead of discs again in their next handheld i don't think they'll stand a chance.

[zmeston]

That's funny when you talk about the 18-year-old kid who won't be caught dead with a Game Boy. I remember I was the same way when I was 18. Who wants to be seen with something called a "Game Boy?" Yuck! If my girlfriend sees me with this thing, she'll laugh at me! I won't get any! LOL

Nintendo's age problem has been brewing for a number of years now, and now it seems to be boiling over. Why is it that the Cube doesn't sell? Because it's a "kids" thing. Sony captured the hip, cool thing almost from the start, and they never stopped running with it. And it wasn't just marketing; there were a lot of cool PSX games that just oozed their own sense of style. Of course, that was when Sony seemed to encourage a lot of creative games for its platform; the money now may be too high.

It's too bad for Nintendo. Part of me is disappointed that they are planning to continue with another games console. It's only a matter of time before it's simply better for them to quit the hardware rat-race altogether. Given that there's hardly any real difference between consoles anymore (certainly not like the 16-bit era), what's the point?

I really like that Sony's handheld will have a decent-sized screen. The GBA's screen is just too damned small for its own good. Of course, it all comes down to the games, so I'm curious to see what will appear on the Advance over the next year. Will the whole thing just drizzle out once the well of SNES hits is gone? How eager are developers to push the GBA's 3D abilities? How long would Nintendo last if there was real competition?

Granted, this whole mess is a year and a half away, but it's gonna be real interesting. Again, great stuff, Z. You've got the best running E3 commentary anywhere, period. Must be the loss of the mullet.

Heh! Losing the mullet (although it was closer to a "fro-let") was the best thing that ever happened to me.

I apologize for being obsessed with the PSP/GBA topic. It's just that it was, from a bid-ness perspective, the most interesting development of the show. After all, this could be one of the final legitimate battles in the history of the Hardware Wars. If Nintendo wins, Sony loses major face and has to rethink its entire strategy; if Sony wins, it gains even more of a monopoly on the console business than Nintendo ever had. Either way, the outcome will have enormous repercussions on what we play and how we're playing it in the latter half of the decade.

-- Z.

[IntvGene]

Sorry to beat a dead cat, horse or whatever, but just following up that last point...

Gamefront (http://www.gamefront.de) posted a news item stating that Sony plans on shipping 10 million PSP units by the end of 2004.

Regardless of anything else, it seems like Sony is serious about getting into this market.

[hezeuschrist]

You know, I had a nice big post all written up, but really, this is stupid.

Anything I say your going to come up with 5 million reasona that I'm wrong and the PSP will dominate when it actually gets made. So whatever, believe what you want.

That's right! This is stupid. Why? Because the thing is well over a year away from launch, no one has even seen the thing. It doesn't even exist yet, and everyone is right, right now this is just the Sony hype machine doing its job, and from the rants of Zach, I'd say it's doing quite well.

The fact is, no one knows what it's going to be, how it's going to turn out, the price point, or what kind of game are going to be dominant on it. I'd guess it'll capture the older audience if this: It accuarately portrays the EA Sport's franchises. If they are decent and graphically acceptable ports, it'll crush the GBA. If not, it wont.

[zmeston]

You know, I had a nice big post all written up, but really, this is stupid.

Anything I say your going to come up with 5 million reasona that I'm wrong and the PSP will dominate when it actually gets made. So whatever, believe what you want.

That's right! This is stupid. Why? Because the thing is well over a year away from launch, no one has even seen the thing. It doesn't even exist yet, and everyone is right, right now this is just the Sony hype machine doing its job, and from the rants of Zach, I'd say it's doing quite well.

The fact is, no one knows what it's going to be, how it's going to turn out, the price point, or what kind of game are going to be dominant on it. I'd guess it'll capture the older audience if this: It accuarately portrays the EA Sport's franchises. If they are decent and graphically acceptable ports, it'll crush the GBA. If not, it wont.

Trust me, if I thought this was merely hype, I'd be saying so. I've been writing about the game biz for 14 years. I've seen and heard enough hype to choke an elephant. But this ISN'T hype: this is Sony, the leader of the videogame industry for a decade, moving into the only category of console gaming it doesn't own, at a time when the leader of that category is ailing, with not even a million systems sold as of E3 (950,000 GBAs sold through to date, says Nintendo). The PSP is an exciting and fascinating development in the game industry, for a host of reasons, and certainly worth ranting about.

-- Z.

[zmeston]

I totally agree with you Zach re: the miyamoto / kojima thing. I'm sure that the only reason they are collaborating is because Nintendo begged and pleaded with Konami to do something (anything) with the Gamecube that would be exclusive, and this was all Kojima had time for. I think we will eventually see some wonderful collaborations between the golden three (miyamoto, naka, kojima), but not at the moment. Maybe when things have died down a bit.

Man, I hadn't even included Naka in the equation. Now that's an all-star team. I'd call 'em the Triforce.

-- Z.

[Daniel Thomas]

Don't forget, Z, that Nintendo has sold something like 30 million Gameboy Advances worldwide. The SP just came out, and it still has one full Christmas season all to itself. From a business standpoint, the Advance will still be around for at least the next year or two. After that, who knows?

I'd be interested to hear how profitable the Advance has been to the third parties. That's really where the life blood is, anyway. Check their pulse, and you'll see where the business is headed.

[zmeston]

Don't forget, Z, that Nintendo has sold something like 30 million Gameboy Advances worldwide. The SP just came out, and it still has one full Christmas season all to itself. From a business standpoint, the Advance will still be around for at least the next year or two. After that, who knows?

I'd be interested to hear how profitable the Advance has been to the third parties. That's really where the life blood is, anyway. Check their pulse, and you'll see where the business is headed.

30 million GBAs worldwide?! Where's that number from? I hadn't heard anything that high.

Third parties haven't taken as much of a beating on the GBA as they have on the GCN, but I don't recall seeing any third-party GBA title on the best-seller lists. Did I miss one?

-- Z.

[Kid Fenris]

Third parties haven't taken as much of a beating on the GBA as they have on the GCN, but I don't recall seeing any third-party GBA title on the best-seller lists. Did I miss one?

-- Z.

Does Yu-Gi-Oh count?

Anyway, all this excitement over the PSP seems a bit premature, even if Sony's past success justifies some faith in their systems. Did Sony even mention any games planned for the unit, or show a technical demo of its capabilities? It's hard to judge the PSP's chances when we don't even know what it looks like. Still, it's big news that bears thinking about. If Sony takes over the handheld market, it'll be like Nintendo-dominated 1989 all over again.

All the same, I'm more excited about Metroid: Zero Mission. Fusion was my favorite game of 2002, believe it or not, and I'm eager to see what Intelligent Systems will do with Samus next. Even if Zero Mission is just a remake of the original Metroid, it should be amazing, and it just might show us Adam Malkovich before he became you-know-what.

[Zaxxon]

Sony doesn't exaggerate their specs? What was that PS2 50 million polys a second vs. DC's 3 million polys hype about? Did any PS2 game look THAT much better than it's DC version? No. Some looked worse.

Everyone seems to be forgetting that the N-Gage is a cell phone/game system/mp3player. It's price point is much higher than typical handhelds yet will probably be somewhere between free to $50 depending on which cell phone service contract you sign. I don't see the PSP as a deathblow to the ngage anymore than the GBA is unless Sony comes out with a cell phone add on for it. Why would Nokia's press conference be flashy and exciting? They're a cell phone company, not a game company.

I agree with what brandver3 said about adults not carrying portables. I think the GBA SP is neat but I doubt I'll buy one. When would I ever play it. Not at home and I don't ride the school bus. The NGage makes more sense since I'm already carrying a cell phone whenever I leave the house. Games built into cell phones is a good idea and the ngage is more suited to them, graphics hardware and ergonomics-wise. They aren't even going after the GBA market with it. If they were they would've aimed at a $69 price, not $299. No one seems to understand this and still want to compare it to GBA, PSP, whatever. :roll:

The Lynx didn't die because of it's size or battery life. It died because it had Atari promoting it. The GBA SP screen may be too small but at least it'll fit into a shirt pocket. It needs to be able to fit into your pocket if kids are going to be carrying it around.

The backlit screen and motor of the PSP don't neccesarily mean it'll have short battery life. They could front-light it like the GB SP. They could give the system plenty of RAM and only have the cd drive spin once, to load the entire game into system memory and not have cd soundtracks.

[zmeston]

Third parties haven't taken as much of a beating on the GBA as they have on the GCN, but I don't recall seeing any third-party GBA title on the best-seller lists. Did I miss one?

-- Z.

Does Yu-Gi-Oh count?

Yep, it surely does. Thanks for the reminder. I don't recall that Konami mentioned Yu-Gi-Oh! even once at the E3 conference -- strange, considering it's their biggest franchise of the moment. (On an unrelated franchise note, I felt sorry for the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles producer, as his game received the most apathetic reaction of the day, prompting a single question from the audience and ten seconds of utter silence.)

-- Z.

[zmeston]

Sony doesn't exaggerate their specs? What was that PS2 50 million polys a second vs. DC's 3 million polys hype about? Did any PS2 game look THAT much better than it's DC version? No. Some looked worse.

I'm asking for someone to guide me toward a document that shows what Sony claimed would be the PS2's tech specs, versus what they ended up being, since several posters in this thread have doubted that the final version of the PSP will include all the features that Sony announced at E3.

You touch on a point that my PSE2 editor talked about in a recent column: how this generation of hardware has been a tougher sell, since the PS1 and N64 could tout "Now your games are in 3D!", whereas the PS2/NGC/Xbox can only claim, "Now your games are in, um, prettier 3D!"


Everyone seems to be forgetting that the N-Gage is a cell phone/game system/mp3player. It's price point is much higher than typical handhelds yet will probably be somewhere between free to $50 depending on which cell phone service contract you sign. I don't see the PSP as a deathblow to the ngage anymore than the GBA is unless Sony comes out with a cell phone add on for it. Why would Nokia's press conference be flashy and exciting? They're a cell phone company, not a game company.

The PSP won't be a cell phone, but it'll certainly have MP3 capabilities, being the Walkman of the 21st century and all. The PSP was a deathblow to the N-Gage because 1) it stole Nokia's thunder, and 2) many developers who might've considered supporting the N-Gage will likely throw their resources behind a decade-long industry leader instead.

You can read more about the disastrous Nokia press conference in GameSpy's latest Biz Buzz column, written by Andy Eddy. Why would it be flashy and exciting? Because, well, that's the entire point of an E3 press conference -- to be flashy and exciting and get the crowd buzzing about your product. Nokia got buzz, alright, but all of it negative. They're NOT just a cell-phone company anymore -- they're now trying to be a game company too, and they proved at E3 that they have much to learn about the industry.


No one seems to understand this and still want to compare it to GBA, PSP, whatever. :roll:

Again, the entire videogame industry is comparing the phone-gaming and portable-gaming fields, and the N-Gage is a combination of the two -- at least, that's how Nokia is promoting it.

-- Z.

[Zaxxon]

The PSP was a deathblow to the N-Gage because 1) it stole Nokia's thunder, and 2) many developers who might've considered supporting the N-Gage will likely throw their resources behind a decade-long industry leader instead.
-- Z.

I didn't think Nokia had any thunder to steal. If any dev. wanted to throw their resources behind an industry leader they could've already done it with Nintendo, yet I still see games developed for the Ngage and other cell phones. I didn't see the Ngage ever becoming a huge force or having a game library to rival GBA but it still seems like there's a market for it.

[zmeston]

The PSP was a deathblow to the N-Gage because 1) it stole Nokia's thunder, and 2) many developers who might've considered supporting the N-Gage will likely throw their resources behind a decade-long industry leader instead.
-- Z.

I didn't think Nokia had any thunder to steal. If any dev. wanted to throw their resources behind an industry leader they could've already done it with Nintendo, yet I still see games developed for the Ngage and other cell phones. I didn't see the Ngage ever becoming a huge force or having a game library to rival GBA but it still seems like there's a market for it.

Many of the games being developed for N-Gage are due to straight-up cash deals: "Hi, Nokia calling -- if we give you a big pile of money, will you make games for our new doohickey?" Very common in the game industry, as with the Sony/Rockstar exclusivity deal. Whereas Nintendo's third parties lined up without cash coercion. You're right, though -- Nokia didn't really have any thunder to steal. Mobile gaming is still in its infancy, and N-Gage is a baby step.

And I'll shut up now, as I've managed to turn a grumpy diatribe about the lack of originality at E3 into a grumpy diatribe about the PSP, and alienate about a half-dozen forum members in the process. Doh!

-- Z.

[Charlie]

My friends brought me tons of promotional stuff from the show. Great guys :) They brought me the Prima Guide to E3, about 100 demos it seems. And a ton of little nick-nacks. I've got cool friends :)

[Anonymous]

If I may jump in for a second on the PSP thing, this isn't a new tactic. I wish I could think of specific examples (Perhaps Zmeston can chime in with some), but I seem to recall that whenever a company has a big announcement to make, and hasn't been very good about concealing its intentions, another company (usually the company that is being challenged) will swoop in and steal its thunder by anouncing something bigger and better even if the announcement is premature, the company has nothing to show, or no progress has been made. This tactic alone is half the reason the word 'vaporware' exists at all.