[][][]

[Gemini-Phoenix]

The Ngage, Zodiac, GP32, and GameTrac will all falter miserably as we saw ten years ago in the 32bit wars.

It will be between Nintendo and Sony for sure - Nintendo having the upper hand as it A) Has two handheld consoles, and B) Has been in the handheld industry since the beginning and before!

But, Sony have a knack of winning the race from the back, and after they sort out their hardware problems could take on Nintendo with ease.


Define race? At what point do you announce a winner?


Nintendo being Nintendo though, will no doubt make a stupid mistake (Ie, piss off EA or something) and suffer because of it. We've seen it before (With online gaming, EA, and Squaresoft to name but a few) so it will be their undoing.

Sony being Sony have their universal connectability to virtually all other Sony products, which works in it's favour. It is also much more than just a gaming machine.

I think the GBA SP is still a contender too.

[zmweasel]

Define race? At what point do you announce a winner?

The race is the number of hardware units sold worldwide, and you declare a winner when either the PSP or the DS has achieved an insurmountable lead (as with the PS2 in the console market).

As for my pick, it's a no-brainer: the PSP is going to crush the DS. You only need to see the PSP live and in action to understand that the PSP's screen is a system seller all by itself.

Here's an entertaining rant by David Smith (doktorsmith.1up.com):

Have you played Ridge Racer on the DS? Ridge Racer on the DS is a shovelware port made by people who do not give a damn and published by people who give even less of a damn. It should have been subtitled "Ridge Racer DS: We Just Don't Give A Damn."

Ridge Racers on the PSP, by comparison, is like Reiko showing up on your doorstep asking to have sex on the hood of a Ferrari. It should have been subtitled "Ridge Racers: This Is What You're Gonna Get From A Next-Generation Handheld, And Screw That Other Guy."

People gather around in small crowds around this game, just to stare at the goddamned interface jumping out of the superlatively awesome PSP screen. Just to look at the menu designs and listen to the narrator chick yacking about exploring the world of Ridge Racer. That says something to me.

See, I noticed something a little while ago about the DS. Every time I said something about the DS, it was along the lines of "the games it has now kinda suck, but..." It was all wait a year and maybe developers will figure out what the hell to do with this mutant interface that Nintendo has shoved down their throats while insisting it's the future. And then you have the PSP, which right now has games that hook people within the space of about half a minute.

You don't have to explain the PSP. It's right there smacking you in the face. People will walk up to demo kiosks, look at super-rushed launch games, and say "Holy hell, you only want $200 for this thing?" Give someone a DS and you have to deliver a lecture on how the silly bastard is supposed to work. And then you have to hem and haw a bit when they ask "well, can I do anything with this second screen here besides play goofy mini-games?"

I look at the DS third-party software list and I think, why? If Koji Igarashi makes a new Castlevania for the DS instead of the PSP, he is a goddamned crack-smoking brain-dead moron. Widescreen high-res Symphony of the Night-style Castlevania on this thing would be like bloodsucking Jesus. What the hell am I going to do in a DS Castlevania? Rejigger my equipment inventory on the touchscreen? The mind reels. If Square Enix makes a new Seiken Densetsu on the DS instead of the PSP, they are dumber than they were when they thought people would pay $50 for Driving Emotion Type-S.

And I am saying this crazy stupid slanderous irresponsible nonsense about a launch game. When real games that people put effort into come out, I dunno what's gonna happen. Cerebral hemmorhages or something.

Incidentally, our PSP has not broken or exploded or started spontaneously vomiting up its innards on the floor. When the inevitable disc read error or whatever rears its ugly head, I reserve the right to act like all of the above never happened.

-- Z.

[goatdan]

I have no real idea. I put it something like this:

The DS has sold over 2 million units already on one of the worst launch line ups this side of the Jaguar. That is a pretty amazing act, and it is even stranger to me that nearly nothing is scheduled for a near-term release for it. They released this thing, had about 10 games come out for it and that has been the entire story so far. I can't think of one other console in recent history since the Jaguar that has had such a crappy and slow-to-market line-up. At the same time, I can't deny the fact that Nintendo has already sold a ton of consoles, and while the interface is different, it could present some unique titles... if Nintendo ever decides to bring them out.

Nintendo has really dropped the ball. Some simple touch games such as a all-card game (solitaire versions) or a Jawbreaker clone sold at really cheap prices would go a LONG way to making the touch screen a LOT more worthwhile. Those games may be on my PDA, but they are there because they are perfectly suited to being touch games. Hell, I could probably program a solid game of one of the above two in a couple weeks. Why Nintendo or anyone else hasn't thought of this is beyond me.

And why isn't there a version of Tetris out for it? Another simple game that they could've cranked out that would be great on the screen set up.

On the other hand, the PSP seems to look incredible, but I can't get over the price and the battery life. As much better as it looks, I can't find myself paying more for a handheld than a component console, and I can't find myself paying $40-$50 for a game. If / when a Greatest Hits series begins for it, I'll be very interested, but I think that $30.00 is the limit for me for a portable game.

The other thing that is just interesting to note is that the Lynx owned every hardware aspect over the GameBoy when it was released. It had a great color screen that displayed a ton of different colors, was backlit and all this other nifty stuff. It failed to catch on for a variety of reasons, but one of the biggest was battery life. Perhaps rechargables makes this a lot more of a moot point now, but a system with a two to four hour battery charge will be a bit of a hard sell.

Of course, unlike the Lynx the PSP has a strong brand name behind it (which Atari most certainly did not at the time). It also has at least a couple high profile launch titles, which the Lynx did not. Nintendo won because it had Tetris. I don't know if anything the PSP has is as strong as Tetris was (in fact, I would say that since you can get Tetris on a phone now, I don't know if _anything_ will ever be as strong as Tetris again), but I think that the games show a lot more potential than the DS launch has.

On the other hand, it seems like Japan has adapted to the DS a lot quicker than the PSP which was a little surprising to me. I think that the PSP is the perfect machine for the Asian market where commuting is very common and all-in-one devices rule. The PSP is that all-in-one device, and why it hasn't caught on quicker is a surprise to me. And I don't believe anyone who points to the fact that Sony can't manufacture them quick enough -- Nintendo brought up another factory when initial demand for the DS was super high, and I'm positive that Sony could do the same if they felt it was necessary.

That having been said, after all the hype of the new systems I'm pretty underwhelmed by both companies so far. I really expected Nintendo to take it to Sony in the way of games and Sony to take it to Nintendo in the way of price. So far, both companies have fallen well short of my hopes.

I think that this war is going to be much like the war of the Geni vs. SNES. It was a long war with some victoires on both sides, and after it was all said and done it was still hard to determine a clear cut winner.

I guess we'll all just have to wait and see.

[cr0n0]

I say GBA because it is a cheaper system. PSP is aimed at an older audience and is considered a more sophisitcated piece of machinery. The GBA is seen as a toy for kids, so parents will have no problem buying one for their kid. I don't see parents byuing multiple PSP's the way they do GB's. I see families with three or four kids and all have their own gameboy. that's the only reason I see Nintendo winning the "predicted" war.

[Porkchop]

PSP wins! The stores are full of DS's. If they were popular they would be hard to find right now.

[RCM]

The status quo will win. How many developers are really taking advantage of the DS? Not many. Most developers do not innovate for various reasons. The PSP will certainly compete if not totally dominate Nintendo. If we had more developers taking risks and developing new experiences only possible on DS that's one thing. That aint gonna happen. Plus the DS doesn't have the horse power that the PSP has. The Revolution could suffer the same fate. Developers will continue to develop the same old shite which is really sad. A majority, there are few exceptions.

THE ONE, THE ONLY- RCM

[GobopopRevisited]

Who is winning? Cats or Dogs?

Cats don't care about you (SCE...)
Dogs Smell like shit (DS graphics...)

Any winners?

Cats always look pretty damn cool (PSP graphics...)
Dogs will treat you like a god (Nintendo...)

Any winners?

[Promophile]

Personally I have played less and less handheld systems the older I've gotten. As it stands today I RARELY play handheld games, and if I do it's only for a few minutes every few months. The prices of the DS and PSP just disgust me. Spending 200-300 dollars on a top of the line CONSOLE SYSTEM is a big purchase for me, I can't see myself spending that much on a system with N64 / PS1ish graphics.

And while I'm on it I'd like to say I would personally rather own a DS. They seem like PORTABLE games, while the PSP games are portable console games. That and the fact that your getting like 2-3 freaking hours of battery life out of a PSP.

[Jive3D]

In my eyes both systems will see some very cool games - but which system will create the best community. IF they both go online via the net so that we can connect to other gamers and play with them, anywhere we want (or at hot spots) then the system that has the better multiplayer library will win.

The only reason that I enjoy my DS is because every once in a while I meet up with a bunch of rancom strangers at a bar, and we all play DS while throwing back a few beers - right there it has created a community of gamers that I would have never met otherwise, and I think that's very cool. No, I don't mean that gamers need a new way to meet friends, but what I have noticed is that as I have gotten older (I'm 25 now) - ALL of my friends, save for one, no longer care for gaming. If nintendo addresses this fact and let's me meet other gamers online via my DS (or my PSP) then power to them.

PSP looks nice, but I'm not buying at Lauch, it just seems foolish - then again there's wipeout pure (which has online content, but it's only game DLs and not online competition vs others. Once again - it's ALL going to be about community... Animal Crossing, Mario Kart and whatever else Nintendo has up it's plumbers sleeve... or the PSP with, well whatever the hell it's going to offer.

DemaSked needs to fade back into existance again, and SOON.

[le geek]

Here's my guess...

In terms of market share Sony will claim up to 50% of the portable market and Nintendo (with the GBA, DS, GBA2 combined) will keep at least 50% of the portable market.

This is still a big blow to Nintendo...

Cheers,
Ben