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"Dringo's theory on the real future of gaming"

Remember when we all start out on the forums. We sat there and go "the future of gaming are VR machines". Yeah.... errr no. We know full well that they are just so many many many years away. Even after our life time perhaps.

But Nintendo knew the future is in trouble. Games machines are forever technically going forward. But not for much longer. Games are becoming more photo-realistic, even today's X-box, PS2 and Gamecube are possibly good enough. But the PS3, Xenon and N5 truly will be the final nail in console progressions coffin. So what next?

Well although consoles will struggle to go forward, that isn't strictly the case for handheld gaming.

That's when Sony went, "s**t, Nintendo can actually win this thing!"

You see after the N5 Nintendo can rest on the Gameboy. A franchise that can at last display as good graphics as home formats. The N-Gage and up-coming PSP prove it. With a small connection to the TV and you have a home console/handheld combo. Multiplayer will almost be totally done by online play... Gaming as we know it has changed.

So Sony have to enter the handheld market. Start to knock away some of Nintendo's monopoly. After all there is no guarentee Sony can beat Nintendo again. After all they are ready this time. But have Sony got it wrong?

The PSP is a brilliant piece of kit, MP3 player and video player combo. Genius idea. Plus the £200 price point proves this is an expensive gadget for the adults. Now tell me people, how many adults do you see with Gameboys?

According to Nintendo, with their new plan to see Gameboy to adults (with the SP), a few more than before. But Nintendo will still admitt, the Gameboy sells to children and hardcore gamers. Adults are few and far between. But Sony are different, for starters Playstation is a multi-million selling brand and all these extras are sure to tickle adult gamers fancy. A bit like Nokia, I mean with their brand name and a load of cool extras they would sure make a million selling handheld system...

Oh wait.

Well I'm sure with CD lasers and in built memory to store game data and MP3 abilities will not damage battery life at all. Well maybe, not that it matters I mean battery life doesn't affect the success of a handheld console at all. Just ask SEGA. Oh wait. Well that doesn't matter, it looks so cool with top graphics. They'll get a head start over Nintendo for sure, I mean it's not as if Nintendo plan to launch a handheld system just before the PSP. Oh wait. Well come on, Nintendo haven't learnt anything, I mean the SNES was just as popular as the GAmeboy franchise. Oh wait.

Yes from my standpoint I'm supposed to see it like this. But I'm also a casual consumer, despite the PSP looking hotter than Elisha Cutherbert I can't see a flock of eager people to buy this £200 handheld system. Not even I'd go for it, It's like those PALM computer thingy's, damn they are cool... but there is no way I'd ever get one.

Nintendo are not as stupid as they look. As the Gameboy starts to flag they buy into Pokemon and release a colour edition. Moments before Pokemon started to slide the GBA was launched. As Children became the main consumer of the product Nintendo released an adult edition. The SP. More expensive but damn cooler. Come the PSP launch the SP will suffer a long overdue but very good price cut. The PSP will be facing off against the words most popular console, both the adult SP and the normal childrens edition... at a fraction of the PSP's price.

Not to mention the fact that Nintendo are also getting a head start over the PSP with their own new fangled hand held device the DS. The DS could fail, but the idea could be cool enough to win over gamers hearts.

Sony are not going to walk over Nintendo this time. Nintendo are making sure of it. With a war going on between the DS and PSP for advertisement space you know the GBA will quietly move on by as the biggest selling system still. You just know, like Atari, like SEGA, Like Nokia... Sony could well be the next victim to the handheld massacure. Sure unlike those 3 Sony are a bigger threat. But, Nintendo are actually putting together a defence system this time... they've never done that before.

If the PSP falls will that be the end of the fear that Nintendo will falter? Yes. Nintendo will continue with their handheld dominance, and when and if they are finally forced out of the home console market... the power between the 2 divisions will be so minute... none of us will care.

Dringo - fanboy till the end.

Rickoss wrote:
> Methinks Nintendo are waiting until E3. That's gonna be one hell of a
> show.

When is the E3?

..::CGL::.. have you left the SR Fifa tourney?

Tried handheld gaming: Don't like it much.

I still expect 2 SP's with Doom link-up to rock though. :D

If I remember rightly, Doom co-op kicks ass. God I love that game, can't wait for the third edition (as long as it isn't crap).

gerrid wrote:
> And anyone who says something like "imagine 4 player Perfect
> Dark on the bus" is stupid and ignorant, because

Hehe. :)

Incase this was aimed at me, which it probably wasn't because I never mentioned busses or any other public transport...


Even if you just have one or two friends with the DS who are within view, you'd get Perfect Dark multiplayer, wherever you felt like playing it, each with your own screen (the console would find it easier to manage simulants that way - no slowdown).

Speaking of which, team simulant control could be handled on the second screen...

I think that in this whole "will the PSP succeed" debate, the fact is that it'll have the Playstation brand name plastered all over it, so will sell, no mattter how much it costs.
The DS will have a darn sight more innovation in terms of gameplay because of the two-screen display and of Nintendo's usual brilliance, but do we really believe that in this modern games industry of ours, that punters will buy into quirky innovation from Nintendo, or will they opt for the all singing all dancing hyped up Playstation option that can perorm a million and one different high-tech functions?

You have to look at the Gamecube vs PS2 debate. There's no question in my mind that the Cube is far superior, both in terms of hardware and software (though it does lack a few killer apps), and it's cheaper, but the PS2 is still more popular. Why? More varied selection of games that appeal to a wider audience is one aspect, but image and branding is another.

I get the feeling that Sony are going to create such a wave of frenzied hype with the PSP, that no matter how much it costs, ordinary people are going to go and just buy it, the same way they do with the FIFAs, Harry Potters and Enter the Matrix.

Fifa, Harry Potter and Enter The Matrix don't cost £200+ though, do they.
People don't generally have that sort of money to throw around.

But generally, consoles sell very well at launch (excluding the N-Gage of course). So what we'll have is lots of PSP hype before launch, and mad hyped up fans will rush out and buy them on launch.
We'll have news stories on TV about fans camping outside HMV in Oxford Street in order to be the first to get one. Then during the buying frenzy there'll be news stories about how big a thing it is (like the current iPod craze in the US) and people in shops will be shown fighting over the last few remaining systems. Shops will sell out and product awareness will be at it's fullest.
Everyone will hear about the PSP, that won't happen with the DS.

Im not saying anything about how well teh DS will do.
I've no doubt that it will fall flat on it's face, I just can't see the PSP selling as well as the PS2.

Also, I get the feeling that if people do buy it, the casual gamer will buy a couple of games, and then return to his PS2 when he realises that he's just playing PSOne ports, or that he is paying £30 for handheld games when he could be buying PS2 games, which "must" be better in the long run.
And as we all know, Sony, Nintendo and Microsoft make money from software, not hardware.

Things like iPods and Palm PCs don't need to sell in vast quanitities to be hailed "successful", because Apple and Compaq/whoever make their money from actually selling the hardware, but the console market is very different.

It'll certainly be an interesting time for the games industry, especially as Nintendo have never really had any competition in the handheld market, and we'll have a hyped up Sony effort and a novel new Nintendo gadget. What will the future hold? We'll have to wait and see.

I personally feel the handheld market is a bit overrated. I've got a GBA and have enjoyed a few games, but I've hardly bought any titles in the last year or so. My last game was the excellent Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga, but apart from that, nothing in the last year or more has really attracted me, especially as there are bigger games to get for the GC/PS2/Xbox/PC. Unless I was travelling somewhere, why would I bother playing on a small handheld when I could be playing amazing new console games.
I rarely bother with handhelds, but will I get a PSP or DS? I've no idea.