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Nintendo Gives No Ground In Handheld Wars
TomO wrote to mention a news item on the site Pro-G reporting on a general consumer confidence in the DS, greater than that of the PSP. From the article: "Wavemetrix, a company that specialises in working out what customers think of products, has released a new report on the Nintendo DS and the Sony PSP. The report, rather shockingly, reveals that the 'DS is better than the PSP in every important area.' This includes games, quality, screen and value." Relatedly a Gamespy article states: "Few could have imagined it, but the DS is becoming the most significant new console in Japan since the PS2. What started as a rumbling -- with great novelty games such as Wario and XX/YY -- has recently turned into a full-scale dual-screen uprising led by Electroplankton and Nintendogs."
The DS has already been somewhat hacked: http://users.belgacom.net/bn967347/
wrongus againus
Why is this being reported as true? The linked Pro-G article basically describes the conclusions the study comes to as 'baffling', concluding with: 'I don't think that the general opinion on the two systems is as clear cut as the report suggests.' Joystiq agrees: 'A report like this is hard to take seriously.' Then again, so is /. these days...
~ Aero
I purchased a PSP first because of the initial draw of Metal Gear Acid (eh - not bad, but not that great really). Putting movies onto it lost its appeal, and right now I'm using it as an emulator with the 1.5 BIOS hacks. (Playing, oddly enough, my Game Boy Color games that I haven't finished, that I can't play on the DS).
But the DS has a ton of games. Between the Ace Phoenix, Advance Wars (drool), Castlevania (mega-drool), Animal Crossing (eh, but I know many geeks going ga-ga over it), the Coded Memories (or Another Code, whatever the name is, and I'm too damn lazy to look it up), and on throughout the year, the next six months look *very* nice between the GBA and the DS - and with my new blue DS I can play both of those.
If Sony wants the PSP to do better, it better stop focusing on the UMB movie announcements. Where are the friggin' games, Sony? The only one that looks interesting to me is "Ghost in the Shell", maybe Popocrolis and Medieval (probably not the latter). I look at the "upcoming games" list on ebworld.com, and it's looking good for the DS, and only good for the PSP if you don't plan on buying movies on DVD anymore (and transferring them to my Memory Stick Duo 512 MB).
52 Weeks, 52 Religions with John Hummel
way to put your "reputation" at work.
Seriously, is this a surprise to anyone?
First off, Nintendo KNOWS the portable market. Most portable videogame players look for games that can be played in short bursts, and are simple addictive fun; Nintendo has catered to this market while Sony has treated the PSP as a PS2 porting machine. Let's face it, people aren't all that interested in playing Metal Gear Solid in a portable format when it is readily available as a console game; this is why Lumines is so popular for the PSP.
Secondly, Nintendo KNOWS quality control. I have never purchaced a Nintendo product that didn't work out of the box and I have never seen a Nintendo made screen that had a dead pixel; on the other hand the PSP should be renamed the DPM (dead pixel machine). Even one or two dead pixels is horrible for the price you're spending on a PSP.
Finally, many portible videogame players are not in Sony's target demographic. I see a lot of people between the ages of 7-13 and 25-40 who own a Gameboy or DS that would never own a PS2 or XBox; these are people that Sony has ignored.
Is it any surprise that Sony has lower customer satisfaction.
The report itself is baffling, and the article is clearly biased towards the PSP. What the hell is this going on /.?
The PSP is a very nice system. I loved Lumines. I'm playing through Hot Shots Golf right now. But none of the games are the little pick-up-and-play-for-10-mins kind of games that really keep me going back. I plan to play some old SNES games after I'm done with HSG. I just don' think the PSP has a killer game yet. If Metal Gear Acid was a normal Metal Gear game and not a card game, I think that could have done it. I think the PSP was way over hyped by the gaming press (suprise). But once more (and better) games start to come out, the console will probably hit it's stride. Wait untill around Christmas this year. If GTA: Liberty City Stories is halfway decent, the PSPs will start flying off the shelves.
As for the DS, it's been a underdog. Many people thought it was gimmicky and wouldn't be around long. If you look at upcomming games, it's quite clear that Nintendo is pushing it HARD and the GBA well is drying up. The DS has had a few great games (XX/XY was interesting, if short; Kirby Canvas Curse really shows off the DS; as does Yoshi's Touch and Go). But the future is bright. As another poster mentioned there will be Animal Crossing (there go my grades again), Advanced Wars (the touch screen should be a REAL boon here), the new Mario game, Mario and Luigi 2 (the first was fantastic, I loved the Prince character from the Bean Bean kingdom), and much much more. The DS has been doing fine, but if they could have pushed up a few of those games (or even just Mario Kart) near launch then the DS would have been a MAJOR force. So far the games have been trickeling in, but the gates are opening and by Christmas it will hit a good flow (I hope).
I like 'em both. Right now I think that the DS is more solid, but the real battle will be this Christmas as they both get some great games and developers learn the system better.
But I agree with the basic idea of the article. I have played and enjoyed my DS quite a bit more than my PSP so far. The PSP has had decent games, but nothing great (for my tastes).
Comment forecast: Bits of genius surrounded by a sea of mediocrity.
Electroplankton was a straight flop, actually.
But you also need a strong line-up of "waste 10 minutes" games, which the PSP lacks (except for Lumines, which is best after you've been playing for a while so it gets hard).
Problem with "waste 10 minutes" on the PSP is that NOW LOADING will waste at least 2 of those 10 minutes. At least one high-profile racing game for the system takes a minimum of 1:50 to get through all the menus between booting and gameplay. And that's if the disc doesn't pop out while you're holding the system.
I got so fed up after reading all the reviews criticizing system defects and loading times, the cat-and-mouse game of anti-homebrew firmware updates, and all the notices of delays in Europe (essentially handing much of the English-language market over to Nintendo), that I decided to skip paying $250 for a PSP, instead making a GBA clone of the only notable PSP exclusive title. Luminesweeper is the alternative to Lumines for GBA.
I haven't seen a PSP. I don't know anyone who's got one, and none of the stores have 'em on display. They all have the DS, though.
It's not surprising Nintendo has the consumer confidence when most people will only have seen the DS as a real product.
GCHQ Quantum Insert installed. If only our tongues were made of glass, how much more careful we would be when we speak
Theyre both fine systems, but the DS is really the only one that has catered at all to the portable market.
Who is surprised?
On one hand we have a game system that plays homemade videos, a proprietary movie format, mp3s, and games.
On the other hand we have a game system that plays... games. And not even regular games, but weird new stuff that can literally only be done on this one system
People have gone on about the PSP's lack of quick games. The DS is perfect for this, and developers seem to be tailoring games to this philosophy. Dont have much time? How about a "2-Minute War" in Meteos? A quick time trial in Kirby? An attempt at a new high-score in the falling portion of Yoshi? Really the only game that I can use like this on the PSP is Lumines, but Lumines was meant to be played for a long period of time, not in short relays like Meteos.
I keep my PSP at home where it is safe and where I can sit down after work and play. I keep my DS in my briefcase where I can take it out during a break (or slow work day) and play (and then quickly hide if a customer comes through).
Everytime a PSP is sold, Nintendo is giving ground to Sony. Thats how it works when you're coming from ~100% marketshare, which the DS is down to about 66% vs PSPs 33%. And in japan its even closer. So stop with this nintendrone BS
As as been said, one of the many problems facing the PSP is its lack of viable "pick up and play" games. Those short wondrous games you can just power on, hit start, and do something. Exactly why this is so damaging hasn't been hit on the head yet.
While huge, involved games are the power houses of the home console, the environment there is rather different. While there are a significant portion of people who do not have time to plunk into Final Fantasy XXIXIIVICIXIVIXM, a larger number of home console gamers have hours to waste on RPGs, and involved action titles.
The handheld market is the opposite. You have games there that take time to complete, and ask for a greater time investment per session (any Legend of Zelda game for example). However, the most common use of a handheld fits into the "I need to kill a half hour as I wait for X" category.
When most of your titles for a handheld fit the home console demographic better than the handheld one, you've got a problem. This is what Sony is facing. Nintendo hasn't dominated the handheld market for no reason whatsoever, they understand the demographic and have used that knowledge to well.
The PSP has sold enough units to potentially bounce back. It just needs to rework the battle plan a bit. Unfortunately, things have been set up to be an uphill battle.
Like all other things, we'll have to wait and see what happens.
Thunderclone: ONE MAN ENTERS! TWO MEN LEAVE! ONE MAN ENTERS! TWO MEN LEAVE!
Honestly, it sounds like your mind was made up before the system ever came out.
Worse: It's not even out yet.
I mean, as amazing as the PSPninja video is, you have to deliberately contort the device to accomplish that goal.
And what kind of contortion might happen by accident when playing the PSP equivalent of WarioWare Twisted?
But then I recognize the name tepples and instantly realize that of course you're a fellow Nintendo fanboy.
True, I prefer affordability and pick-up-and-play gameplay, which I haven't seen Sony deliver consistently.
You forgot to point out..
No, I chose not to point out.
Nintendo is no longer producing the Game Boy or GB Color, nor are they making games for it.
Nintendo is still producing the GBA SP, which is officially compatible with 99 percent of GB and GBC games sold at independent stores and other secondary markets. How many titles is PSP 1.52 compatible with?
I also picked up Mawaru: Made in Wario (aka Wario: Touched!)
Nit: Wasn't Touched == Sawaru and Twisted == Mawaru?
The only games that I still have/play are RidgeRacers, Lumines (HOLY CRAP, GREAT GAME), and Minna no golf (Hot Shots Golf).
If your argument is that they are well-produced, then you're correct. But as for exclusivity, nyet.
but I've got the emulators on the PSP
The versions of the PSP that can run emulators are no longer for sale. All shipping units run 1.51 or 1.52 firmware, which have not yet been cracked, and given Sony's cat-and-mouse mentality, there will likely be 1.53 by the time a 1.51 crack appears.
they both have some serious advantages over the other, and I don't see a clear winner no matter how you look at it.
What about someone with $250 plus tax in his wallet? Spend it on a PSP and get no games, or spend it on a Nintendo DS and get three games.
When i originally started reading previews and press releases about the DS, i was curious. But i was quickly turned off by a couple things that were said, like when they said that the DS would be a seperate line from the gameboy, and would be completely different. This made me think of this as just an offshoot, possibly something not big. The dual screens seemed kinda useless to me, as they originally said something like "Well, if you are playing a soccer game, you can have the regular view on one screen and an overview of everything on the other..." Also, i didnt know about the touch screen. Or i just didnt pay attention. What won me over is when i played it. Was standing around at best buy, a working DS was on display. I had tried one of those before, played metroid. I didnt like it, so i forgot about it. Wasnt the DS's fault, i just think metroid for the DS sucks. Anyway, the DS i played had the pac man drawing game. The creative use of the touch screen was so awesome that i knew i had to have it. Now. Well, i didnt get it then, but after hard work and many hurdles, i got it soon. My friends were surprised (to say the least) that i got a DS. They thought it was crap or some sissy system. It is hard to explain how phat the ds is. Some things in this world can't be told in verse or prose. The Nintendo DS is one of those things.
As an employee of a major video games retailer, I can state that we sell far more PSP systems, games, and movies than we sell in DS. I don't have the actual numbers available here, but I'd wager it's almost a 10:1 ratio. Worldwide the DS might be on par with the PSP, but not in my local experience. I suspect that in North America, the PSP outsells the DS by a wide margin, just as the XBOX outsells the GameCube by quite a lot in NA.
My gf and I bought a DS a few weeks ago and we love it. DS graphics are amazing! I bought Goldeneye today and its graphics are at the same level as Quake III. I did not expect the graphics to be this good. The stylus is a great addition and is useful in many games, in goldeneye you use it like you would a mouse when playing a FPS on your computer. Even when playing a game that dosnt use the stylus it uses the extra screen to display something useful like a map. We originally looked at the PSP saw it has no games that we liked and very few if any in the future. Most of them are sports games and ports of PS2 games not to mention the price of it! What it comes down to is that Nintendo made sure the DS had good games and as others have said Sony just ported PS2 games.
... reads like it was written by a Sony apologist. The article spends more time looking for things to criticise about the DS than actually acknowledging where the DS has apparently got it right over Sony. But then most games reviewers have been pimping the PSP as the "best thing evar" and probably feel pretty stupid that people have ignored them and bought the DS.
I own both machines myself, I only use the PSP for emulators at the moment, and aside from GTA:LCS and Burnout Legends there aren't any games on the horizon that I'm interested in compared to the 10 or so for the DS.
I've played both the DS and the PSP, and frankly I much prefer the PSP. There's simply more options with the fact it plays movies on UMD or encoded on the memory card, views photos, and can play back music. If you crunch the numbers, the DS might have a lot more games, but that certainly doesn't mean they're all good.
;)
Friends of mine who have a DS constantly complain about the lack of more mature types of games for the platform. And from a hardware perspective, the PSP's screen is pretty impressive.
PSP or DS? A lot of it is personal preference. I picked the PSP because of the game lineup at launch and the stuff that was coming. I love the WipEout series, and with Rockstar's involvement on the platform the prospect of a handheld Grand Theft Auto is just too compelling.
"I'm a leaf on the wind. Watch how I soar."
-Hoban Washburn
I could just wait for the emulation scene to get around to it, but I wouldn't mind paying for a gamepack including a bunch of simple things like checkers, minesweeper, solitaire, bejeweled, bustamove, etc.
Prockcore helped you with most of those, except for Minesweeper. There is homebrew Minesweeper for GBA, which works on Nintendo DS as well but doesn't use the touch screen.
Time and time again, we've seen what goes into making a handheld sell:
1) Price
2) Baterry Life
3) Portability (size and protected screen are big factors here)
4) Games - particular ones that can be played in short bursts
It really is no surprise to me that DS is outperforming PSP in marketshare and apparently mindshare, given these factors. (Of course, given these factors, I still maintain that the GBA SP is the best portable system on the market).
library building takes time. but it will get there.
With all the power of the PSP, why couldn't Sony have made a PSP program that emulates a PS1 ISO stored on Memory Stick Duo media? That would surely increase the PSP's library. Before you kneejerk answer "piracy enabler", consider that Sony could require the ISO to be ripped from a genuine PS1 CD using Sony's tool and that the ISO could be encrypted to work with one PSP unit's serial number.
as for it shooting discs out, i would probably crack the screen if i twisted mine hard enough for the umd to pop out.
Then the PSP isn't as durable as the Nintendo DS, which handles WarioWare: Twisted! (in GBA mode) just fine.
You need to deform the frame enough
How can you guarantee that your 2-year-old cousin won't?
Consistantly, any game that is on both the PSP and the DS is loads and loads better on the PSP.
You mean "loading" and "loading" better on the PSP? If I have ten minutes to play a video game, can I get more action in on the DS or the PSP?
Goldeneye. Don't give me that Rogue Agent crap. Put the original Goldeneye for N64 on the DS. Multiplayer is a must. Single cart multiplayer for bonus points. Online optional (but encouraged if you can do it right).
Look, it's not hard. Cut-down Timesplitters engine + original Goldeneye textures, maps and models. It's super-optimized, plus the online multiplayer code is already there.
The US Army: promoting democracy through unquestioned obedience
You say PocketNES works great, but can I fit 900 games on the EZCart?
I don't think 900 NES games were ever commercially released in North America or in Europe. But if you get a 1 Gbit (128 MB) or larger flash card, or you get a SuperCard (adapter for CompactFlash or SD memory), then yes you can fit hundreds of NES ROMs and/or GBA multiboot games (such as Tetanus On Drugs) on one cart.
Is there a GBA SNES emulator? If so, how do I use the X and Y buttons?
SNES Advance has been ported with sound to the Nintendo DS. Details are in parallel threads at pocketheaven.com and gbadev.org.
Also, I can't say I've ever seen any lumines clones.
There's Luminesweeper for GBA, and that page lists four other Lumines clones (but only Kaikai's is any good).
Maybe you're one of those people that sees a game that involves blocks and thinks every one is tetris.
Can you name them all?
I guess you're forgetting that nintendo is re-releasing all of their old games in the NES classics series
Well at least the GBA SP and Nintendo DS can emulate Nintendo's classic systems. The same can't be said of the PSP to the PS1.
The PSP is probabally gonna have a heyday of a 3rd quarter this fall. The "Hax" have only been out for 3 weeks, and already the're deep into the WiFi controls, and about to make a big step into homebrew for the Graphics chip.
The biggest problem with the PSP right now is it's suffering the same fate the DS did last christmas. Shiny new console, NO GOOD GAMES (feel the magic = NOT A GOOD GAME!) Lumines is a killer app on its own, coded arms is the best multiplayer I've had in a while, and Grand Theft Auto will sell a bunch of PSPs by itself.
Let's all sit down, play another round of Meteos/Lumines, and wait for the end of year sales to roll in. And see how many people buy (another) GBA.
PS - Stop making tiny consoles!!! The Micro looks horrid - you have to have hands like a kid to play games on it - you want to improve your Teen-mature image? Design a console that people don't Physically outgrow after 6th grade.
Physics is nothing like religion. If it was, we'd have an easier time trying to raise money!
Why would a GBA be called NES Micro?
One reason, one reason only.
Grandparent: Playing, oddly enough, my Game Boy Color games that I haven't finished, that I can't play on the DS
Parent: You know, you can buy a flash linker that comes with emulators... to play GB games on the DS.
The Game Boy emulator you speak of is Goomba, and it's compatible only with monochrome (gray cart) and dual-mode (black cart) games. Specifically, it is not compatible with GBC exclusive (clear cart) games.
you can bet the designers wanted you to use full VGA.
"Full VGA" had a 320x200 color mode in 256 colors. There existed higher-resolution 256-color hacked modes (320 or 360 pixels wide and 240, 400, or 480 pixels tall), but Doom and Doom II weren't set up to use those. VGA had a 640x480 pixel mode, but it was 16-color, and Doom and Doom II couldn't use 16-color modes.
That said, I see PSPs demo units every time I walk into an EBGames.
In which city? There are two EBGames locations in Fort Wayne, Indiana, and neither has a PSP demo unit.
Goldeneye. Don't give me that Rogue Agent crap. Put the original Goldeneye for N64 on the DS.
Won't happen. That game was a collaboration among three entities: Nintendo, Rare (now a division of Microsoft), and Danjaq (the owner of copyright and trademark in James Bond). Danjaq has licensed the James Bond franchise to competitor Electronic Arse, and Rare's parent company now makes two machines, Xbox and Pocket PC, that compete with Nintendo's products.