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DS vs PSP - Developers, Press Sound Off
Sean O'Neill writes "Over at GCAdvanced.com, we've got a large feature interviewing handheld developers and gaming press about the Sony PSP and Nintendo DS. Marc Nix of IGN says: 'I think a lot of system fans and game reporters are gearing up for a big Portable System War of 2005, but the problem is, gamers traditionally haven't cared all that much about handhelds.' However, it's also pointed out that 'incredible features for the new handhelds... will undoubtedly elevate their appeal' - the article then gets responses from more than 20 developers/press on their views of the conflict to come."
I think the winner will be the one who comes up with a new technology in handhelds actually worth noting - I, for one, would love to see massive multiplayer handheld combat over a small area in your neighborhood / town - but it's probably just going to be rehashes of old games, since all the new ideas are in the, well, newer fields.
I have been having some fun in the palm of my hand, err, developing for PDA's. I use several models daily, and they suck!
However the potential for a mobile PC with camera / peripherals, and more importantly, instant, fast, GPRS or local connectivity (WiFi) that can easily be built into games (and lets not forget GPS) will make a whole new breed of gaming.
This is already happening, and the whole of Tokyo is host to the first (?) real life MUD, where people can walk around the city using GPS to reposition themselves in the game, and taking different commutes to work to fight new monsters.
Pocket PC's are shockingly cheap now, and except for thier bland input keys, the stylus mode of input can be used as an analogue stick (by orbiting around a fixed center)
Quake2 plays nicely on my Axim30. Of course, this is about 'console' handhelds. As the price barriers blur between the two, it is hard to say what is what.
A sony and nintendo will have something that PPC will not have - a distribution chain. Even though we want digital distribution, cartidges will probably still be developed, or a mini dvd disc.
Perhaps games will come on SD cards in the near future, bringing their costs down for all other users.
The good thing about OTA distribution is the ability to on the fly encode some DRM (yuck!) that would disable the full game if copied onto another device, unless the person 'transfers' the license somehow....
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The DS is a guaranteed winner. In the very best situation it rocks, has a lot of games that rock and everything is awesome. At the very worst it ends up like virtual boy, and you get to be the cool kid on the block who has a virtual boy.
Remember back in the day gameboy vs. game gear? Even Nintendo admits openly the game gear was superior technically. But gameboy won because it had Tetris. It had portable games. The PSP is going to have console games. Taking PlayStation games and making them portable will fail for the same reason that taking PC games and putting them on console systems fails so miserably. Just because you can take a game with you in the car doesn't make it a portable game in the same way that playing Quake 2 on the N64 doesn't make Quake 2 a console game. You get it? Nintendo is the only company that seems to understand this. Look at advance wars, that's a portable game. It wouldn't work any other way. But it looks like Sony is just going to try to miniaturize the playstation, and it wont work for the same reason the game gear didn't work.
Nintendo knows this. Nintendo is making portable games. Sony is making a really small console.
You can read it here, straight from the horses mouth.
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As someone who goes alot of game development, I think the DS offers more for developers, and is MUCH more appealing to program on. At first all the stuff looked gimicky, but it's really starting to grow on me. It should also be easy to program on, it's based off the same architecture as the other gameboys, which is fully documented on the internet and very easy to understand. On the other hand, anything sony has made has been difficult to program for, ask ANYONE who has, you spend way too much time reinventing the wheel and doing more micromanagment then you would think possible. They haven't said if the architecture of the PSP is the same as the PS2 yet, but I'm willing to bet it is.
Interestingly, while there's a lot of focus on the PSP vs the DS, in my opinion it's a three-way fight. If the PSP is equivalent to a portable Playtation and the DS a portable NES, then the cell phone is your portable PC.
Like the PC, cell-phone games are a little trickier to build (for the same reasons: multiple platforms and standards) but also like the PC in the 90s, it has a major advantage over the "consoles": connectivity. You can play your buddies (even if they're not in the same room, which is as much as you get for connectivity with the PSP and DS. Add to that over-the-air delivery of games, and you've got something going on. And everybody will own a cell-phone anyway...
And sure, the first Ngage sucked hardcore, but they'll fix it. Unlike Nintendo or Sony, Nokia is used to changing and improving their products yearly, and you better believe the other cell-phone makers are working on gaming handsets too.
Just you watch, the major feature of the PSP2 and/or DS2 will be more robust online and over-the-air access, but by then they'll be playing catch-up (kind of like how the PS2 and XBox are trying to catch up to the PC in terms of connectivity).
Sure is an interesting time to be a gamer...
In all likelihood it will end up being the DS because they'll use the same model that Playstation itself used (and Gameboy for that matter). Backward compatability. This gets you the first months when new games are slim and all the early adopters pay prime dollar to get the latest and greatest. Out of the gate, PSP will only have the games available at launch.
Plus wouldn't you rather play something like WarrioWare rather than Madden 2005 on a portable? I'd rather view Madden on a big screen.
Also, who cares?
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The PSP won't be anything new. It won't be able to do anything that the PS2 can't, at least not game-wise. The DS on the other hand will be able to take games that can't be done on the normal consoles - not even the up-and-coming Revolution, PS3 and XB2 will be able to play certain DS games, because of the touchscreen. I don't care about two screens, that's just one screen at twice the size. With a bit of thought any games that use two screens could be done with just one. You may have to shrink each one a little, but it's nothing big. The touchscreen is going to be revolutionary. It may already be used in PDAs and things, but they aren't gaming platforms. The touchscreen will allow controls not possible with any other input system. The IPod's rotating disc thingy could be implemented with a touchscreen, but nothing else could do it. It brings your radio tuning slide, your speakers' volume knob, just about every input device ever devised can be shown off with a touchscreen. Think that Submarine game that was demoed at E3. That's what the DS is about, the two screens just gives it a cool name.
As a sidenote, although I said that two screens are no better than one, that's only theoretical. You could have two viewpoints of the same area with a single screen, but splitting one screen across the middle for single player hasn't been done before. I don't know why. With the DS you may effectively only have one screen twice as high, but it won't be used like a single screen much. There's nothing to stop developers putting a 'second screen' in console games, but on the DS they -will- do that. The two screens really just tells them, 'Hey! You know what would be cool? Instead of choosing between camera angles, if you could use both!' - whether or not they'll realise that any time soon remains to be seen.