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Nintendo, Sony Start Handheld Gaming Battle At E3

Posted by simoniker on from the meeeeeeooww dept.

An anonymous reader writes "There's a Wired News article up discussing the fight for handheld game console supremacy starting at next week's E3 Expo. According to Wired News, 'Nintendo, the biggest seller of video-game consoles 15 years ago, once again faces a tough street fight against Sony, the upstart that stole much of the video-game business with its PlayStation. This time, the fight is over handheld video-game machines, and if Nintendo loses, it could be in serious trouble.' It explains: 'Nintendo is expected to give peeks at its next-generation handheld system -- code-named the DS -- while Sony will release more information about its PSP. Both companies will be vying for the hearts and minds of gamers and -- more importantly -- software developers.' Who's gonna win?" Slashdot Games recently ran a related story that has developers and journalists analyzing the showdown to come.

5 of 330 comments (clear)

  1. A little hard to compare by Painaxl · · Score: 4, Informative

    Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't the DS a side project, and NOT Nintendo's actual follow up to the GBA? Calling it Nintendo's "next generation handheld" implies that it's a replacement for the GBA, which I'm pretty sure is not what it is intended to be.

  2. Nintendo DS info: GB lib. will be included. by ITR81 · · Score: 3, Informative

    In EGM the May edition the Nintendo DS will play the entire GB lib. So no-one will be left out. In EGM the June edition Nintendo HQ admits the codename for the DS is the "Nitro". DS second screen is rumored to have a touch-sensitive pad, handle 3D graphics, a microphone input, and a wireless functionality(wireless connections to the next gen Cube?). Controls list: D-Pad, L, R, A, B, with additional X and Y buttons being considered.

  3. Re:Sony does this by Jerf · · Score: 2, Informative

    Mods, parent has it backwards. The PS2 has (well, had, I've heard better ones have come out since the launch) shitty programming interfaces and a wierd dual-co-processor design. The DreamCast just has a standard CPU/GPU/Audio chip design, looking like a modern computer (with a sound card that is more then a DSP interface to your speakers).

    Or he may have been thinking of the Saturn. But that doesn't match the DC's description at all. Sega learned from the Saturn and the DC is pretty straight-forward; certainly much more straight-forward then the PS2 or the supposed PS3 design (which I will believe when I see, frankly).

  4. Journalism errors by M.C.+Hampster · · Score: 4, Informative

    I'm not even past the first few paragraphs, and I've already found errors:

    In fact, the Game Boy Advance is carrying a lot of water for the company, since the GameCube, Nintendo's flagship gaming console, is rapidly falling behind the PlayStation and Microsoft Xbox in sales.

    Since when is the GameCube rapidly falling behind the XBox in sales?

    In case you haven't been in close proximity to any 12-year-olds in the past five years, the Nintendo Game Boy Advance is a $100 portable game device the size of a slice of bread.

    Wrong. The Game Boy Advance SP is $100, the normal Game Boy Advance runs around $70.

    I guess we've all just gotten so used to the mainstream media just getting their facts wrong that people don't even notice anymore.

    --
    Forget the whales - save the babies.
  5. Re:Well... by Torne · · Score: 2, Informative

    It's not even an extra physical chip; the GBC's not-quite-Z80 is on the same die as the GBA's ARM7. They are switched so that when one is running, the other is not, so there is not even any higher power consumption/heat dissipation, and the GBC core, including all the hardware to translate its IO into what the GBA's video/audio/etc controllers expect, is absolutely miniscule.