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Famitsu Weighs In On Battle Between DS And PSP
Thanks to IGN Pocket for its discussion of a recent Famitsu-sourced Japanese magazine article quizzing readers and game creators about their impressions of the Nintendo DS and Sony PSP handheld consoles. In a reader survey, it's revealed that "14.8% checked that they'd like to purchase a PSP, compared to 11.8% who checked that they'd like to purchase DS... 7.1% stated that they think the PSP's design is cool while just 2.3% stated the same for the DS." It also polled developers and industry figures on questions such as "Which design do you like better?" ("PSP = 251, DS = 42"), and "Which do you want to be left standing in the end?" ("PSP = 84, DS = 156".) Which handheld do you want to be left standing?
I really am. But in reality, the thing should have been a surprise announcment. Giving Nintendo the heads up that a huge dick was heading striaght for their proverbial monopoly was not the best of things to do. Now I've got two portable systems coming out within a year that I'd be absolutley more than happy to buy if I just had the money.
However, the promise of graphics AND innovation beats the ability to buy movies I already own.
In reality the system that does the best in the next generation depends sqaurely upon which one appeals more to the people who drive sales: 12 year olds. That said, I hopefully i'll be proven compeletly and utterly wrong.
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... whichever one has an adapter available so you can play its games on your home system. Despite there being some really cool titles out (and more on the way) I'm not much of a pocket system fan.
Nono. You want the competitors to be left standing, with products winning and losing -- you want them to have a reason to try again with a new product, and want them to be around to do so. (Must fail only enough for them to try something different, but not fail so much they give up, or fail by so little they just don't care.)
Which PC games do you envision yourself having more fun playing with a stylus or chintzy control pad?
The DS stylus and touch screen doesn't excite me in ANY way. I didn't need a Palm Pilot or any kind of handheld computing device, and I never bought one.
In fact, most of the games I saw for the DS at E3 made very minimal use of the 2nd screen. Oh look, I have a menu permanently open.
What's going to make or break this handheld battle...is battery life, though. Sony made the Betamax...tapes weren't long enough to record baseball games on TV, though.
So they lost to the VHS standard made by an upstart company. (This by way of the informative airline video I had on my last trip to Japan.)
Early rumors had the PSP's battery life at a paltry 2 hours. Then Sony said, "Oh, when you play games, the battery life specs are different, it's more like 10 hours. We just meant 2 hours if you're watching a movie." To me, this sounds like Sony got caught with their pants down again, and are hastily trying to increase battery life before it ships.
Honestly, I could care less right about now. When some GAMES come out, and the whole handheld debate isn't essentially pointless, I'll start deciding which line I'm going to get into.
Netjak.com independent reviews of domestic & import video ga
It was of both gamers and developers, as was this one. Check Magic Box, June 7.
Gamers voted that DS would trounce PSP in every category, and were more excited about it. A majority of developers were more excited about PSP.
My take? Many developers see the innovative features of the DS and scratch their heads, wondering why they should go through all the work of coming up with new ideas to take advantage of them, when old ideas still sell. Gamers, being the ultimate reason for the technology in the first place, see the potential of the Nintendo DS hardware and drool. The disconnect between the two opinions here should be surprising, but somehow it isn't, considering the game sales slump that Japan's been going through recently. Seems like a solvable problem, however....
What you say makes sense, but we have been on this very road before. Sony launching a system comprised of a lot of simple design decisions, and Nintendo launching a system on which they were making some rather odd risky design decisions.
Right right this is not the same thing, the DS will be about half the price, Sony isn't getting the year head start and so on. But make no mistake, Sony isn't stupid, and they will do what they need to make the PSP a contender. What if Nobody wants to develop for the DS? Nintendo says that the DS isn't meant to compete with the PSP, but the fact that they will be sharing the market means that it will be directly competing whether they want to call it that or not.
Sony dethroned Nintendo once, it could happen again.
On Wall Street they say "buy low, sell high" On the pad we say, "buy high, sell high" Isn't that somehow better?
At first glance it seems like the PS1 vs N64 battle all over again but it really isn't. Nintendo clearly dominates the handheld gaming market with the Game Boy series. Backwards compatibility with Game Boy Advance (and possibly even GB Color?) games ensures that the DS won't be a total flop. Also, though I really do like the designs of the PSP and the DS, I don't think that the expected $300+ projected price range of the PSP will do so well. And finally lets not forget that only the DS will launch intime for the holiday season this year (atleast in America). I predict the DS being one of the hot sellers this December, with most people waiting for a PSP price drop when it does eventually arrive in America.
While everyone looks at the dimension, number of games, size, screen resolution.... the only number that really matters is PRICE.
Will Sony screw themselves with a whooping $300+ handheld. If DC is $150 then PSP will technically have to be twice as good to win.
It seems pretty clear that the DS will have the right combination of price, battery and decent games to be successful. Nintendo has that down cold. And the form factor is a good one. (Though, does it have a headphone jack?)
Those variables are still up in the air for the PSP, though. If it's more than $300, less than 10 hours, or has nothing to offer but more of the same from the PS1 and PS2, it will be dead on arrival. Also, the PSP is kind of a brick: it's nearly an inch thick. And the design doesn't protect the screen.
As for playing back movies and MP3s, without recordable PSP disks, that dog won't hunt.
Honestly, I think Sony took one look at the DS at E3 and said "It's good. We're so screwed." That's why they're cutting costs elsewhere like in the handhelds division.
Jon Acheson
All opinions expressed herein are my own, and not those of my employers, who are appalled.
I'm not terrribly fond of either, really. The PSP seems like it's doing too much to do one thing well. Speaking specifically of the DS though, graphic and processing power aside (which don't match the PSP), we're looking at three additions to the DS from the GB.
The stylus looks interesting, in that you can write messsages. And play variants of Wario-Ware. But beyond that, I'm having a hard time seeing any third party developer making a game that uses it. And I don't really see much beyond novelty - ala E-reader or power glove - for the stylus.
The best Nintendo had to demonstrate the Dual Screen functionality with were maps. I don't see how that fundamentally changes the gaming experience, or adds anything to the gaming experience the PSP can't do with a start button. Moreover, looking at the map means taking your eyes away from the main action of what's happening on screen 1. I can't see third parties supporting this beyond maps. Why? Because with two portable platforms they won't want to code platform specific games. They'll go with the lowest common denominator, which means the single screened PSP. And if the stylus works for gaming, why haven't PC stylus games taken off - at all?
The wireless multiplayer is pretty great, and perhaps is the DS's redeeming feature. Knowing Nintendo's track record with internet multiplayer (which is to say not having one), I wouldn't expect much more beyond being in the same room. You can do that now, even if it is wired. And if the PSP doesn't support it, why code it into the game enough that it dramatically improves/affects gameplay?
I think the DS will face the same problem that Nintendo has always faced. Nintendo comes up with these hardware ideas based on internal games, and then expects the third parties to follow along. The DS is closer to the e-reader, or the power glove, or the Gamecube - Gameboy interoperability. Novel, integrated with a few first party titles, but little more than that. Nintendo currently dominates the portable market, yet the e-reader and the GC-GBA connection are barely used among third party devs. It can only be harder when you have a team developing the same game for both the PSP and the DS.
I'm not saying the DS absolutely can't work, or that the PSP will bury it into the ground. I'm merely surprised at how overwhelmingly positive the response has been to something that hasn't really shown that it can do anything. Predicting the inevitable Nintendo fans who will retort simply with some accusation of trolling, I'm not an Xbox or PS2 fanboy. I love my Gamecube. I'm merely wondering why the DS is so great (or the PSP), and where the revolution in gaming is that Nintendo keeps promising everyone. I'm perfectly willing to change my viewpoint when someone tells me why the DS will be so great.
I might end up getting one. (Not at launch, though)
But it'll be more expensive, and most of the things you will do on it is music, movies and games.
It's probably only going to play music off of the Connect service and ATRAC files, not mp3s. (Sony's iTunes)
People will have to repurchase their DVDs to play as a UMD. Double purchases? I doubt it. It's not like Advent Children is going to be UMD only.
And the games right now look like PS1 and PS2 games that most people already own.
It's too recent to begin rehashing those titles as a franchise.
Repurchasing music, dvds and ps1/2 games on a console more expensive than the PS2 (Which already plays it all) isn't something a lot of people will look forward to.