The Life of a Simple Gamer

Battle of the Portables

With each console cycle comes a new system war; the pattern began years ago when Nintendo's SNES was combating the Sega Genesis, and continues today between Sony's and Microsoft's consoles. But one conflict that has all but been forgotten is now beginning to reemerge - the battle of the handhelds.

For years, Nintendo has dominated the portable arena with its legendary Game Boy, easily besting its clueless competitors. Atari had the graphically superior Lynx handheld, but its high price tag, awkward size, and limited market penetration destined it for defeat. Sega was in a more advantageous position with its colorful Game Gear, but with its limited library of games and low battery life, the system had little chance of overtaking the Game Boy. And so, somewhat ironically, Nintendo's little machine with mediocre graphics and an ugly, non-lit screen, dominated the industry from 1989 to the start of the 21st century.

The Game Boy saw several iterations as the years passed, from a smaller design (Game Boy Pocket) to a color screen model with slightly improved hardware (Game Boy Color). Companies such as Bandai (Wonderswan), Tiger (Game.com) and SNK (NeoGeo Pocket) tried to break Nintendo's monopoly by releasing their own handhelds, but they all failed miserably. Thanks to the GB's low price, popular titles (think Pokemon), and long battery life, Nintendo had the market virtually locked. The introduction of the Game Boy Advance (2001) further cemented the company's grip on the portable scene.

That is, until Sony announced its Playstation Portable (PSP) at the 2003 Electronics Entertainment Exposition (E3). A slick, glossy device with a beautiful, high resolution wide-screen and impressive hardware, Sony claimed the PSP would provide gamers with a true console experience equal to that found on the PS2. The announcement caught Nintendo completely by surprise, for remember, it had been years since the Big N had had a serious competitor.

Nintendo's answer to the Sony problem was the Nintendo DS (Dual Screen). First announced in January 2004 and then demonstrated at E3 a few months later, the system sported a clamshell, dual screen design and could display 3-D graphics. Most interesting, however, was that its bottom screen was actually a touch screen similar to those found on PDAs (although not nearly as large). Sony scoffed, claiming the system was underpowered and would be unable to provide the realistic experiences gamers wanted. Nintendo countered this by explaining that the touch screen would allow developers to offer unique interactive experiences not possible on other consoles.

And the rest is history. Both systems are now battling it out for the number one position with Nintendo's DS currently ahead in total units sold, thanks in part to a significantly lower price and some titles cleverly aimed for the mass market (read: Nintendogs). Sony's PSP, however, is still doing respectably, far better than any other competitor has yet fared against the mighty Nintendo.

So which system is the best? Which one should win the war? That's a tough call, as neither system is perfect, but each also has its advantages. Both systems do/will offer on-line wireless play. But the DS is cheaper, and is geared more towards people who want to play games in short spurts. Games like Yoshi's Touch and Go, Castlevania Dawn of Sorrow and the upcoming Mario Kart DS can all be easily played for as little or as long as the player chooses. The PSP, on the other hand, takes a minute or two just to boot up and load a typical game. It's also expensive and suffers from poor battery life. Still, the PSP does offer web browsing, MP3 support and video playback, plus boasts the powerful hardware necessary to provide immersive gaming experiences. Believe it, many a gamer will be anxiously buying the graphically complex Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories later this week - a game the less powerful DS could never run successfully.

Being a Nintendo fan, I own a DS and am looking forward to titles such as Mario Kart DS, Super Princess Peach and Mario and Luigi: Partners in Time. With great titles like these on the horizon, I don't feel I need a PSP just yet. But there's no denying that the PSP is just now beginning to show its potential. Who knows, maybe a year from now, it'll be the DS that is lagging behind in the sales.

Until next time. . .

posted by GamerDan @ 10/24/2005 05:05:00 AM