Handheld Wars

I'm in London now - I brought a DS, to play *Canvas Curse* and *Fire Emblem*, but did not bring a PSP.  As I understand it, the PSP is outselling the DS in the states and the DS, mostly due to Nintendogs, is creaming the PSP in Japan.  I have a theory that the DS will overtake the PSP in the states. 

Why?

What's awesome about the PSP is its 3D.  Which raises the question:  what is 3D for?  It's usually for providing an immersive virtual experience.  Which a handheld simply cannot deliver, no matter how good its graphics are, because the screen is too small.  So if you have a handheld game, you want it to be a game-game-type-game, rather than the sort of funhouse thrillride game you'd want on your Xbox or PS2.

And that's where the DS is shining:  the stylus makes it great for games that engage you on that other dimension.  It's playing to the handheld strengths.

Of course, hindsight is 20 - 20.  Up until I heard the DS was creaming the PSP in Japan I thought Sony was going to win.

And I could easily be wrong.  With the success of the iPod it seems like sometimes style is a lot more important than substance, and the PSP has the DS beat hands down on style.

Going to practice my talk now.

Comments

[zachary j gamedesigner]

I think there is a niche for both consoles. I don't think the psp is something that you give to a child, but instead to, at the least, a teenager. This is kinda like people saying the GameCube is dead. Maybe the gamecube, the ds, the psp, maybe they succeed on a different scale. Obviously, I'm biased since I got my psp two days ago, and I'm playing lots of emulated games I own on other platforms, with only one actual PSP game so far. Metal Gear Ac!d. MGA is good, and uses the 3D pretty well to provide a compelling experience for the player. Also, this comment box is too tiny.

[SiW]

I dunno, this is exactly the sort of thing I was saying before I actually bought my PSP. I was of the opinion that I didn't want or need 3D on a portable system.

Then I actually played it, and you know? Racing through the tracks in a hovercraft is just as immersive in Wipeout Pure as it was in Wipeout XL. Heck, even an FPS works, in Coded Arms. In fact, I'd say playing on the PSP with headphones has been *more* immersive than sitting in front of a big TV and a console.

[zachary j gamedesigner]

I think I'm enjoying my old gameboy games more on the better screen, too. I'm also playing Metal Gear Solid (GBC) on an emulator, runs great, looks better than it ever has.

[Fran]

killer app: GTA Liberty Stories

[RegularX]

Personally, the PSP is a bit more attractive to me because of it's media capabilities. The Play-Yan isn't out here in the States and seems in some ways a less elegant solution.

Also, the dual screen approach still feels somewhat gimmicky to me, although games like Advance Wars DS are starting to win me over.

My prediction is that I'll eventually end up with both.

[Viridian]

Hey, Jamie - drop us a line and let us know you're okay.

[Quang]

Hi, I was at your talk at the NTI and found it very good. As for handheld wars, it’s hard to say how it will go (maybe because I very tired right now).

The NDS and PSP have different takes on how games are styled and how they are played.

Maybe in the end, it's all about who can sell their way of gaming, but I always say that the handheld with the most "good" games/experiences on its side will win.

But for now, I still don’t know which one to buy.....

[Tom Kidd]

I think the main reasons the DS is winning are:

1) The DS has a huge existing library thanks to GBA compatibility. Ironic I know since Sony parlayed reverse compatibility in the PS2 and Nintendo's never done it before.

2) The unit is durable enough to have demo units in stores. Not only does the PSP not have demo units in stores (that I've seen) but getting a unit without dead pixels out of the box is seen as an accomplishment

3) I think the UMD Movies thing is hurting since some people think the extra $$$ the PSP costs is to play movies, which they're not interested in.

[RodeoClown]

Nintendo had backwards compatibility in the Gameboy Colour (before GBA), plus they had a gameboy add-on for the SNES, so saying Sony was first to do backwards compatibility is incorrect.

[Anne]

I don't know if the two can necessarily be compared. They are completely different machines, with distinctively different game styles and marketing goals.

It's like forcing functional pottery and art pottery to compete in an art show -- the only thing the two media have in common is being essentially well-trained dirt . . .

In addition to Nintendo's standard Gameboy reverse-compatibility, the DS seems ideal for the simplistic, highly addictive flash and independent shareware games that are all over the web.

[zachary j gamedesigner]

I think the DS backwards compatability is worthless due to the multiplayer functionality being broken in all GBA games.

[SGGG2]

"What's awesome about the PSP is its 3D. Which raises the question: what is 3D for? It's usually for providing an immersive virtual experience. Which a handheld simply cannot deliver, no matter how good its graphics are, because the screen is too small."

I have to completely disagree with you here. At a distance of about 6~9 inches the PSP takes up all your central vision, and is very immersive.

[Jerry]

When you compare the DS and the PSP you have to be very logical. If you are a true gamer, you already admited that the DS has way better titles in its library then the PSP has. The PSP only has ports from the PS2 with a diffrent control interface (one joy stick, only 2 shoulder buttons). So really, why buy a game for the PSP that you may already have on your PS2? So at the least, the PSP does not do gaming very well, but it can store music, videos, pictures, etc. But there is an other gadget out there that already takes that role, and thats the iPod, and who hasnt got that these days? American gamers like the PSP over the DS because it has better graphics, but when it comes down to gaming, its all about the games, and thats where DS is ahead and since the DS is way more cheaper than PSP and offers you better games why bother with a PSP? I own a DS, and my brother bought a PSP and returned it beacuse it wanst worh it. The PSP is just an iPod with gaming capabilites. To come to think of it, PSP dosnt really do multimedia very well either, why? because unless you have a very expensive memory stick you can only store a few songs, and even less videos. American gamers (which i am) will never take the DS seriously, why? simply because it dosnt have outstanding graphics. I think thats pathetic.