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Nintendo's survival depended on three things, their unique, totally different style to Sony meant Nintendo offered something Sony didn't. Nintendo also have the hardest dying fan base you'll ever see, a fan base filled with us lot. These two factors help but it was the Gameboy, a franchise left untouched by Sony's rampage that meant Nintendo could re-group and re-build.
Nintendo hid in their niche market, their fan base and their Gameboy franchise allowed them to soldier on as Sony's user-base tripled, quadrupled and whatever came after that. Could anyone stop this jugganaught?
Enter Microsoft. The biggest, richest company in the entire world... and all of a sudden Sony didn't look that strong. Microsoft has slowly chipped away at Sony over the past 2 years, eating more and more into both their and Nintendo's user base. Microsoft are a company that, no matter how hard they try, Sony cannot defeat even in their elevated position.
There is no room for 3 consoles, it is time for Sony to finish off Nintendo once and for all.
And this was the perfect time to do it. Despite unbelievable sales of the Gameboy Advance the Gamecube was falling. Nintendo's die hard fan based were annoyed, the company they loved so much was fiddling with franchises and ultimately creating games that were not up to the usual standard. Wind Waker, Sunshine and Pikmin... the Gamecube's self-proclaimed lead titles were, to some Nintendo fans, disappointing. Only Mario Kart and Metroid Prime proved that Nintendo did indeed still have it. The sale of Rare to Microsoft was another massive blow to Nintendo's fan base, the constant loss of third party developers every week made Nintendo appear doomed to failure.
Enter the death nail, the killer blow.... The PSP.
If Sony want to fight Microsoft then a handheld is the key. A platform that is said to be the future of gaming, a handheld would not only extend the already strong Playstation userbase but also cripple Nintendo beyond repair. Getting a massive head start over Nintendo's next Gameboy, introducing MP3 playability and what looks set to be the sexiest piece of kit ever created.
E3 2004
How Sony didn't expect this. Suddenly everything changed. Nintendo's third parties may be leaving but what at first seemed like a weak first party line up became stronger than ever. The die-hard Nintendo fans were happy with a line up that featured a brand spanking new realistic Zelda game, a fantastic looking Metroid Prime and what is set to be the best Resident Evil title ever made. With Mario Tennis, Donkey Kong, Geist, Starfox, Pikmin 2 and Paper Mario 2 all on the release list it was safe to say Nintendo have protected their die-hard assets.
Nintendo will also launch the next Gameboy before the end of the year.... sorry I mean the 'DS' before the end of the year... undercutting Sony. The DS may not look as cool as the PSP but for pure functionality the system is cool. The games looked gorgeous, the new way of holding games is fantastic and backward compatible with the GBA. Brilliant.
The PSP is launching with GT, Tekken and Metal Gear Solid. Despite those 3 games being some of the biggest in the world their popularity (a bit like Mario's) have taken a knock after their dissapointing latest outings. The PSP also needs to implement a jog proof system for the CD based hardware, a laser as well as an inbuilt memory. Could battery life be a problem? Yes the Playstation name sells, but can Sony sell a handheld console to an adult market? I won't underestimate them, they can do it but there is no way they can have as many PSP gamers as they have PS2 gamers... handheld gaming just is not popular with the adult gamers. Just look at the N-Gage. The DS is launching with Mario’s, Metroid and even Sony’s own Final Fantasy. It is also launching with Nintendo’s first full online mode, boasting touch screen, Wireless connection, a protected clam shape and an in-built microphone. Not all of that may appeal to the casual gamer. But some of it will.
Confessingly the Playstation Pocket looks more dangerous than I originally thought. It looks utterly stunning, lacks clutter (something the DS suffers from) with a beautiful screen. This alone could sell the system... but with the GBA SP set for a large price cut before the end of the year can the PSP defeat Nintendo’s massive, 95%, handheld empire?
If Nintendo are going down they are not doing it without a fight. If Sony’s PSP is forced out by the Gameboy, a system that has forced out many of Nintendo's competitors before, what can Sony do to stop Microsoft?
Dringo.
But the thing about FPS's is that they are FPS's...
And I truly cannot wait for DK:Jungle Beat.
> But the thing about FPS's is that they are FPS's...
I don't get what you are trying to imply by that comment?? A third person shooter, is just a third person shooter. A kart game is just a kart game. An adventure game is just an advemture game.
Just say what your point is :D
If you are trying to imply that being an FPS somehow makes it an iferior game product explain why.
Yes... but still they all feel the same.
Bar of course the legendary Metroid Prime.
> Yes... but still they all feel the same.
>
> Bar of course the legendary Metroid Prime.
You are so full of crap. Obviously the 2nd party Nintendo title, and probably Goldeneye too are the exceptions to the rule, what else was I to expect from you.
You're just not worth having a decent discussion with because your head is so far up Nintendo's arsenal that you really don't have a clue about what goes on in the rest of the world.
I'll let you get back to playing with your excellent Mario Sunshine or the absoluttely captivating single player experience that is Mario Kart.
Obviously Nintendo can do no wrong in your eyes, so why bother talking about anything else.
But Metroid Prime is a first person game but not an FPS... if you played it you'd understand.
I think Sunshine was great, as did the majority of the public and the gaming press. You did not. Well go cry about it.
As for Mario Kart, the single player was alright but a bit easy.
There's a whole PSP vs DS thing on IGN.
What seems to be the main argument is games vs power. PSP is a better designed console ergonomically, and has much better specs, but offers little in the way of games innovation.
Both editors are worried that the PSP will just see ports of PS2 games (which is what I think will happen as well), and so peole won't be that interested in buying the games, whereas the DS can't do ports, so some developers may be put off.
Although battery life is such an issue on the PSP that developers will have to sacrifice much of the power to prevent too much disk-reading. For instance, the seamless world of Jak & Daxter 2 will be nigh on impossible, and so there might be a lot of loading to be had. I don't fully understand it but it seems to be quite a problem. And what use is the wonderful portableness of the PSP if you have to play it within a metre of a plug socket?
Although the DS seems to have some intrinsic flaws with the control system, in that it would be very difficult to use a stylus an dthe D Pad, and support the console while still being able to touch the lft shoulder button. I don't really see a way around this but I'm sure that there'll be something done with it.
[URL]www.ignpocket.com[/URL]
> But Metroid Prime is a first person game but not an FPS...
Surely by definition a First Person Shooter is a First Person Game.
I'm trying to find out why you are using the line, it's just a FPS to make it sound like an inferior product, not whether the gameplay involves shooting a lot of things as in Doom, or not shooting very much as you seem to apply happens in Metroid.
I'm trying to find out what your poin tin saying that was, because it doesn't make much sense.
If you don't particulary like first person shooter games then fair enough, but why not just say that rather than imply that there is something wrong with a game being a first person shooter.
The battery life issue would be a problem for me, especially seeing as you'd have to wait for your battery to recharge before using it again. Dying batteries are one of the most annoying things with gameboys, and they always have been.
But Halo for me is an extension of Perfect Dark of the last generation and so forth... out of all the styles of games it is the FPS that does the smallest jumps.
The biggest leap in new First Person shooting gaming is Metroid Prime, as it is a platform/adventure game.
An FPS does get better, Halo the pinacle of single player First Person shooting gaming.
But then we get a new one of these every couple of years....
It is just an FPS!