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Is the PSP in trouble? Yes. But it's at the end of it's lifespan anyways. TGS or E32011 will bring the PSP2, and Sony isn't stupid, they know what they need to build this time around.

Basically, at this point they're going to have to do 3D with the PSP2. Anything less than that is going to leave Nintendo way, way in the lead. The PSP was a stalled, almost dead platform before, now Nintendo's just about lapped them.

Maybe they could pull an Apple and just have the PSP2 have an iPad sized screen, but that would be incredibly expensive, I can't see them doing that.

Nintendo had a huge lead in handheld gaming. The PSP and PSPgo were supposed to close the gap, and all it did was inspire Nintendo to actually get off their asses and try for the first time in decades.

And for that, I myself thank Sony for being the sacrificial lamb.

As for the Wiihd? You do realize that would be competing with the Ps4/Xbox 720 right?

And what will the PS4/XBox720 bring to the table, other than a cheap Wiimote knockoff each and slightly tweaked graphics?

We're at the plateau here, guys. The Wii can do "good enough" graphics for most games. The PS3 and 360 can do better, granted, but as Yahtzee puts it -- that puts the development cost a few years and a few million bucks on the wrong side of uncomfortable.

The Wii2 or whatever will have good enough graphics -- probably PS3/360 level. But here's the important thing -- it will have them right around the time price that the development resources for the PS3/360 level of graphics drops like a brick, because the PS3/XBox3's development studios will drive the cost down of the older development tech.

And due to years of constant research and player testing, it will have vastly superior motion control than the other 2 -- Things like Motion+ or whatever will be built in to the Wiimote2.

You know all those gimmicky games that fat, neckbearded trolls on Kotaku and the like love to bitch about? Those are market research. Nintendo's figuring out what works and what doesn't, so they can perfect it. I have no doubt that there are helpful hints in the SDK and the various kits given to developers saying "This works best with X amount of leeway when reading the player's buttonpresses."

But lets step back to the graphics. At the PS3 point of graphics, well, are you really going to notice much of a difference between the PS3 and, well, anything that comes next?

On games that don't take 5 years to make and $100 to buy?

Even the poster child for graphical superiority this gen -- Final Fantasy 13 -- is the last of it's kind. SE has said flat out they aren't doing that mess again. FF13 being a festering pile of crap gameplay wise -- note a pattern -- probably has something to do with it.

And Dragon Quest 10, the other flagship series? Wii title. DQ9 was DS, of all things.
(Reminder: Dragon Quest 9 comes out July 11th in the US. Preorder today!)

I guess my point is an engaging experience is the new battlefield, that's why you are seeing Microsoft and Sony playing a desperate game of blatant catchup. If this wasn't important, they'd at least wait until next generation to do it. Instead they're honestly expecting people to spend hundreds of dollars to pick up their Wiimote ripoffs.

Nintendo shifted the game entirely, making the Microsoft and Sony advantages weigh them down.

You couldn't get away with a game that looked like Super Mario Galaxy on the PS3 or 360 no matter how fun it was -- certain genres like SRPG notwithstanding -- it'd be "too kiddy". There's an unspoken requirement for the 360 and PS3 games to hit a certain graphical complexity, at the cost of development time, gameplay, et cetera. Nintendo, the "kiddy console", doesn't have that albatross.

Nintendo has Sony and Microsoft by their graphics cards and is pushing the boot down.

Sony seems to hope that 3D

I came to the conclusion that the Wii-mote is really just an enhanced and repackaged Kenshin Dragon Quest sword some time ago. I believe that Nintendo and Square-Enix got into an agreement which gives Nintendo the rights to Square's patented technology for the Wii. This also allows for Square-Enix to exclusively develop for Nintendo too since they're using the Square technology in the Wii-mote.

This change from Sony to Nintendo seems to fit into the whole concept rather well.

By rought analogy: It's hard to access a poorly indexed 6 petabyte database over a 128 kilobit per second pipe using a 6 megahertz CPU with only a one kilobit cache and an 8 bit bus.

In other words: the vast amount in information, the inaccessible meta information, and individual human limits on percieving the available input forms, processing them, and storing information from them.

(Yes, humans are amazingly good at image processing. This however is mostly just support for a basic recognition routine that goes something like:

"Hm. Is it a saber tooth tiger? PANIC!
No? Is it something to eat? YUM!
No? Is it something to have sex with? WHEE!
No? Ignore it as unimportant."

If I recall correctly, the Dragon Quest/Warrior games actually do better in Japan than the FF games. There's apparently even a law that says they can't release a DQ game on a weekday, since so many people will skip school to get a copy.

http://www.dqshrine.com/dq/: Over the years, Dragon Quest has become extremely popular. When Dragon Quest III was released on a weekday, many kids skipped school to get their copy. Lines at game stores became several blocks long. Some people were even mugged by disgruntled customers desperate to get a copy. It got so out of hand that the problem was brought to the Japanese Diet. It's now a law that a Dragon Quest game can only be released on a weekend or holiday.

Dragon Quest Monsters: Caravan Heart is part three of the series. I know the links to the DQM:CH images on my page(s) are broken because I have to conserve server space because I have a quota.

Very good plug. I shall make you my Nae'blis for this. Also, as soon as we can find a translator, DraQue Star(the site we run) will post what the text says.

Hi, I maintain a Dragon Quest-related news website. Yes, this is a plug. But anyways here are some of DQVIII pictures. Gamefront's scanned one of the images. Also the Japanese website, Quiter has posted several images.