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DS Claims EU Dominance

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the winning-the-war dept.

Gamasutra reports that, at least in the EU, the Nintendo DS has the portable war pretty much locked up for the time being. 200,000 units of the DS Lite were sold in the ten days after its launch. From the article: "According to Nintendo of Europe, the Nintendo DS has now secured the lead in the handheld market in Europe, with sales of the format exceeding 5 million. No sales figures from Sony are available to compare directly, with only a "shipped" figure of almost 6 million for all territories bar North America and Japan." Interestingly, 136,500 units were sold in the United States in just the first two days after the handheld console's launch.

5 of 172 comments (clear)

  1. Hmm... by another_fanboy · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Didn't Sony claimed the PSP would destroy the DS? I wonder if this is a sign of their upcoming ill fate...

    1. Re:Hmm... by Yvan256 · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Nintendo is to the gaming world what Apple is to the computer world. Always seen as the "underdog" even though they're profitable, have excellent products, and really innovate.

    2. Re:Hmm... by oahazmatt · · Score: 4, Insightful

      I wouldn't say it's so much of a sign of an ill fate for Sony so much as it appears to be poor planning.

      Firstly, there is a difference in the two portable units, which is emphasized in the advertising campaigns. The Nintendo DS is a portable gaming system, whereas Sony has been marketing the PSP as a portable multi-media system in hopes of capturing a wider demographic.

      Secondly, there is the content available for either device. Nintendo has many titles available for the DS, most of them exclusive to the device if not just the brand. Sony has a number of titles available for the PSP, but not so many original concepts or exclusive to the PSP alone. For instance, "Liberty City Stories" has just been released for the PS2. For those who may have been contemplating purchasing a PSP simply to play the exclusive PSP version of Grand Theft Auto now have more options, including to having to purchase a PSP to play the game.

      Thirdly, there is a certain out-of-the-box quality that should be expected from a portable device. Every PSP owner I have encountered has taken the time to show me the capabilities of the device. Not once was the focus of the PSP it's own line of games, but other games it could play. PSP owners would show me the vast library of NES and MAME titles they had installed. However, when I asked if that was available out of the box, I was informed that it took some work to get the resulted library.
      Not that I would think it would not take work, but if the existing game library (import titles or no) is not the focus for the device owner, there is a good chance that the device will not succeed.

      I see the PSP hanging around for a bit, yet. There is still a chance for a comeback. It is an interesting machine, I have no doubt about that. It simply needs a steady line of original titles that are something more than what has already been seen on the device.

      --
      Those who believe the Internet is private,
      find their privates are on the Internet.
    3. Re:Hmm... by MemoryDragon · · Score: 3, Insightful

      You bring it to the point, the only really interesting thing on the PSP is homebrew stuff and Sony tries to prevent these things to happen by enforcing firmware updates for newer games. So every psp owner has to face the fact, either homebrew or commercial games, now many of those buyers simply stick with homebrew, which means a sure loss for sony, because it cannot sell newer games to this demographic. Only two things have prevented those people to switch to the DS which is way friendlier with homebrew (as of now only a plugin module on the top and an sd adapter on the bottom is needed), those two missing things are a snes emulator which works well and a mame port. Once this is done, you can say goodbye to the PSP as preferred homebrew choice. Sony with its own stupidity of shooting itself into the foot will take care of the rest.

  2. That's what happens when you actually have games by Orange+Goblin · · Score: 4, Insightful

    PSP looks nice and all, but they missed out the "gaming" part...