Ben's 2004 picks #3 - Sony Playstation Portable vs. Nintendo DS
by Ben Zackheim 
{ Dec 30th 2004 at 1:27PM }
The introduction of the Nintendo DS has been a smashing international success, with millions of the things moving off the shelves within weeks. The Sony PSP's launch in Japan was surprisingly smooth, and the rest of the world awaits their chance to touch its sleek, black, plastic skin.
The portable gaming sector is an oddity. Common wisdom is that the big bosses at the big companies decided handheld consoles would be the Next Big Thing. Or did they? I think the big story here, and the biggest hidden story of 2004, is that Sony has fallen into a trap. Sony alone has decided that handheld consoles is the next big thing. Nintendo, on the other hand, knows that its already been the big thing for years; and, if anything, it may experience a drop-off soon. They see that Sony is trying to make a high-end niche in their market. Attacking from the skies, if you will.
My guess is that Nintendo doesnt think theres any room for that kind of niche.
Why do I say that? The DS, to Nintendo, is simply an experiment. Its not a follow-up to their bread-and-butter
Gameboy units. Theyve gone out of their way to make this clear. No, no, no, the DS is an attempt to bring the fun
back to gaming. Whatever that means. But, make no mistake, Nintendo isnt trying to make the best portable gaming
machine with the DS. They think they already have it in the GBA.
The fact is, Nintendo just needed a product to head off Sonys entry into the portable market. They knew Sonys attack
was inevitable and they planned well for it. They know that, as long as the DS competes with the PSP, the GBA can
continue to be the money-maker it is. The high-end DS and PSP can disappear for all Nintendo cares. Theyll still have
their little gem.
Meanwhile, Sony is betting the farm, taking a loss on every unit, and hoping to eat into Nintendos dominance from the
high-end. Sony has something to prove. Theyre desperate. That can be a good thing. That can be a bad thing. Its far
too early to tell. If they can produce a killer app soon, that will ensure Nintendos continued presence in the
high-end handheld gaming market. Many of you will accuse me of being a Sony-loving Nintendo-hater. No, I love
competition. If Sony fails, then there wont be any competition in this new high-end market, and all those millions
of DS players would then get stuck with the modern version of the Sega CD.
Now that would put the fun back into gaming!
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
bernie @ Dec 18th 2005 8:45PM
I totally disagree with your comment that Nintendo thinks it has the best handheld console in the GBA. I think you're ascribing incredibly myopic vision to Nintendo, and granted they havent been pioneers, but every platform grows in power (umm, Moore's law?) and handheld is no different. PSP might be forcing Nintendo to innovate faster than they wanted to, but the DS is essentially a N64 in your palm, which in my recollection, was home to 2 of the greatest games of all time (Ocarina and Mario).
RobTheBuilder @ Dec 18th 2005 8:45PM
Very well put.
I think Sony have have done a great job in the time, but they appear to be gambling so much on this, losing piles ofmoney in the hope for future profits. While Nintendo is making something new, that seems to be doing a good job of holding off the competition until GBA2time!
Chris_Michael @ Dec 18th 2005 8:45PM
Wait, are you saying that if Sony comes out with a killer-app (a really big game if you will), then Nintendo will lose the handheld market altogether? You want DS to fail? You think DS was just put out to face the PSP? If I do remember correctly, Nintendo repeatadly said that the DS will NOT compete with PSP, and that would be left for the GBE to do.
And you want Nintendo to fail? What kind of person are you?
Alex @ Dec 18th 2005 8:45PM
I agree fully with the previous 2 comments. You simply can't compare the 2. DS is too different from anything else.
Jim In Holland @ Dec 18th 2005 8:45PM
I don't get your logic - it's entirely Sony-centric. Since when did Nintendo give any intimation that the DS isn't anything than a parallel product to the GBA? I think of it as a step-up frankly, especially since the GBA is too popular to kill off - recent sales figures in Japan show that:
http://www.cubed3.com/viewnews.php?storyid=3159
Your logic is just bad and contrary to the facts. Both platforms raced to produce an advanced portable system, true, but it seems to gall you that Nintendo made a decent system - I won't argue who's better since you and I have clear differences in describing what makes a system system.
Why can't there be more than one good portable system? What do you have against Nintendo?
Ben @ Dec 18th 2005 8:45PM
I want both Nintendo and Sony to succeed. I want there to be intense competition between the two. But for that to happen Sony has to succeed, which will be tough if Nintendo manages to trounce them. There's no flaw in the logic. If Sony fails, there won't be any competition and the DS will be on its own. Nintendo will continue making Gameboys and their DS experiment will probably fade away (remember, that the DS is not a Gameboy and Nintendo has made that very clear).
Chris_Michael @ Dec 18th 2005 8:45PM
You know... tracing away from my previous post...
Nintendo also said that the DS wouldn't be able to play anything but games. Now look at it. It's going to be able to play movies and music, with rumored PDA functionality.
All I'm saying is, Nintendo just might turn around and say, "Yeah, we fooled you, DS is the next GB." There a small chance of that though.
But moving away from that theory, the DS is SUPPOSED to be on it's own. If there were another system that had 2 screens with touch screen, then the DS and that system could compete. But the DS is an entirely new system. It can't compete with anything else, let alone the PSP. That's what the GBE will do.
So if you really want competition that bad, wait for the GBE and PSP rivalry, because the DS was meant to be on it's own. Nintendo even said the GBE and PSP would compete.
Jim In Holland @ Dec 18th 2005 8:45PM
Ben, I disagree with your contention that just because it's not a Gameboy, that the DS will disappear. I do believe that's extremely narrow-sighted...Nintendo hasn't ever walked away from a successful platform, even if we go back as far as the Game and Watch format. If you remove that part of your argument, you really haven't anything to stand your theory on.
I do think that there does need to be competition, but the problem with this philosophy is that the companies do everything they can to remove competition by exclusivity in the titles: Mario on Nintendo, Jak & Dexter on the PSP, etc. That's what **I'd** like to see - games allowed platform independence, then we can a proper competition.
This is my first Nintendo, and frankly I've not had such good time with a game system in a LONG time - Super Mario 64 DS is excellent, a prime example of good touch screen usage - and I play it at every chance.
I don't want my gameplay turned into just a button-mashing exercise, and that's what I'm afraid of with the constant Sony fanboy news. It's not about what the DS is, it's about other things like the FUD you were pushing that Nintendo can't defend against.
You want to talk about a company having fun with formats? Beta? 8mm? MiniDisk? ATRAK? MemoryStick/Pro/Duo/Duo Pro? You want to consider all the consumers left behind when Sony develops something new?
Really - reconsider the basis of your argument. It REALLY doesn't reflect history or current reality.
James @ Dec 18th 2005 8:45PM
Sony PSP is for the older (less impressed my pretty colors) consumer whereas the DS and all the other nintendo consoles are for people who like to play the same games over and over with more colors and more pretty catoon graphics.
The ds looks like something from the time of the GB1 whereas the PSP looks like a peice of hi-tech machine.
As for the lame battery argument the nintedo lovers keep bitching about, its not really an issue when 90% of places ppl with a psp would go have power out puts, Maybe if you ask your moms nicely she will let you use the fag lighter in the back of her car.
nintendo are on their arse, sony have a product which ppl want, nintendo have a product nintendo fans want, diference is %30 of ppl may be nintendo fans while the other %70 are just after a good product. who will win, we will see xmas 2005.
Jin Ho Tan @ Dec 18th 2005 8:45PM
For similar price point (under US$200 ?), PSP and DS/GBA are heading for the same gamer market. I know people are arguing that DS is designed for gamers, and PSP for general, portable entertainment. But the fact is only gamers buy either (or both of them) right now.
I think the truth is both companies are still learning from the market and adjusting their strategies as they go. This is evident from their sub-par movie/music-related user experiences. PSP has multiple media functions built-in but its software support sucks (for now). Nintendo Play-yan is optional. And it still takes a long time to transfer a movie to the Play-yan/PSP.
The consumer market changes continuously and quickly... so it'd be foolish to assume that Nintendo has better experiences due to its past projects.
Ultimately besides gaming, I think both systems will contribute inevitably to the pr0n industry. 8^)
Luigidude @ Dec 18th 2005 8:45PM
...yet another stupid PSP vs.DS page...when will it end?
Luigidude @ Dec 18th 2005 8:45PM
I think that both handhelds own...nuff said
David @ Dec 18th 2005 8:45PM
That article was such a joke! And if it wasn't Why are you writing for a multi-format games site? Anyway, The DS is trouncing the PSP in the US and Japan AND Europe. The PSP is basically a GBA with a playan, better graphics, two extra buttons and a useless anolog stick! The PSP has yet to turn out a good game! While the DS has amazing and cheaper games! If you are planning on buying a PSP, why bother? Just buy a GBA and a lot of games! BTW: I'm not a ninty-only person, I have a PS2 and I play it more than anything else!
David @ Dec 18th 2005 8:45PM
sorry! don't know why I said Europe up there! lol