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Sony To Release PSP Handheld Console In 2004
JayBonci writes "According to News.com, in a news conference before this year's E3, Sony announced its plans to release a new gaming handheld called PSP, slated for release late next year. Presumably, this would be to compete against Nintendo's Gameboy Advance, a clear winner in the handhelds department for years now. The games come on a new media format, half the size of a CD or DVD, holding 1.8 gigs. Other Gameboy competitors such as the Neo-Geo Pocket Color have suffered from small game libraries and the inability to get over the GBC/GBA's entrenched marketshare. Despite all of this, Sony isn't SNK, and obviously has a lot of muscle to push its way to where it wants to be. It will be an interesting fight."
At least this will force Nintendo to compete with better technology rather than sticking us with ten year old graphics and sound.
Well, if I can't easily change/recharge batteries on a road trip/flight/train/etc, it damn well better last longer than a couple of hours. AAs are much easier to find and more portable than AC sockets.
"Zelda isn't _that_ good."
Um... yes, it is. Zelda is one of the reasons that Nintendo is still in the hardware business instead of going the way of Sega. It's the strength of a handful of games like Zelda that kept the N64 afloat. After all, you didn't see the original GTA or MGS on the N64, either.
And while his motives may be questionable, he does have a point: Sony's main customer base are a completely different breed of people than Nintendo's die-hard customer base. They tend to be the people with a teenager mentality that will pay $$$ just to see some blood, tits and ass. In other words, most of the games on Sony's platforms have gone Hollywood.
I wonder what companies they will team with to create new games. In order to beat Nintendo, they're really gonna need an awesome initial lineup of games. I'm thinking at least 25 or so. And they'll need some big named games as well, like Castlevania and whatnot.
Most likely the usual players. Sony has what I would consider to be as strong of a lineup of 3rd party developers (Square, Enix, Konami, EA, Rockstar) with big-name games (Final Fantasy, Dragon Quest, Metal Gear, SSX, Grand Theft Auto) as any company out there. And that's not even mentioning in-house titles like Gran Turismo.
Also, what are they going to do to entice developers
16:9. 3d audio. 1.8 GB storage on 60mm discs. Real-time NURBS rendering. USB 2.0. Not to mention the 50 million+ PS2's already sold worldwide.
How many MEGAbytes are GBA cartridges again?
I think this new system is plenty enticing. Development kits are coming out in June, which gives developers 1.5 years to work with the architecture before release in Dec. 2004, at which point Nintendo will still have the GBA at the forefront of their portable lineup (remember, the original GB went virtually unmodified for almost 10 years).
"How did Sony with with the PS2?"
Discounting Sega, they were first to market.
"They got into the market far later than all except Microsoft;"
You forget the generational cycles in the video game industry. To an extent, all bets are off when the next generation of console rolls out, which means (discounting the Dreamcast) Sony had the first-mover advantage.
"their hardware is far behind the XBox,"
Debatable. We're not exactly comparing a Genesis with an SNES.
"Sega, who's technology was often cutting edge and who had a long history in the industry, is now defunct in the hardware market."
Sega's problems were never because of either hardware or software. Their main pitfall was marketing. In my opinion, if the Sega Saturn had been backwards-compatible, Sony would be the one out of the hardware business.
"Nintendo, the oldest of the current crop, has true market force only among young children,"
Never underestimate the spending power of young children in large numbers.
While the PS2 may be outselling the Xbox and GameCube, the GBA is outselling the PS2 hands down. Perhaps even the PS2 and Xbox combined. Why do you think Nintendo is so keen to push GBA link-up with the GameCube?
"relying on their classic intellectual property like Mario."
You seem to believe that's a liability.