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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.

Wow, shocked to see that people who are silly enough to limit their choices to a single platform because they are "fanboys" expect to see the PSP fail :D

You guys are such a cliche, and you can't even see it :)

I agree the PSP wont sell all that many, I also agree that it might be hampered by a high price and I also feel that it might be hampered by the fact that it an do almost anything you would want from a handlheld.

But maybe, just maybe Sony will get this right. All they need to do to get this to work is aim it a teenagers who will get their parents to buy it as a Christmas present.

I mean, it's a Playstation handheld which can play movies, mp3s, play top notch games and maybe even go online.

Anyone who is cool or likes to get some attention will want to have one of these, that's their selling point. They are an exclusive piece of kit.

Any man and his dog could own a chep and nasty plastic Gameboy Advance.

If you are cool, you will own a PSP, Sony will make sure that's the way it is.

Expect pre-orders to fulfil most of the supply for early machines, this will be deliberate, just like when the PS2 official pre-order system was launched. Create a frenzy, it looks like everyone wants one, and no one can get one.

Sony are better at that game than anyone, and they know it :D

I certainly don't think it will fail. A high price shouldn't put off too many people, it's a mini-PS2 for gods sake, I mean the graphics and the name, they're very 'cool'. It will sell.

I was actually looking forward to it a fair bit when it was first announced, but the initial design looks awful. The buttons just don't look like they'll work and the screen is far too small. Of course, if it changes I still may pick one up for a reasonable price, but otewrwise I'll stick with my GBA.

If there are enough really killer games like GTA, Tekken and the like, PS2 fans will lap it up, I may even find myself getting one if they get good reviews. But otherwise, in terms of actual gaming, I can't see it being that different to the PS2 in terms of shoddy design, it's terrible but something as little as a bad control system can ruin games.

As good as Pro Evo 3 is, I'd much rather be playing ti on my Cube or XBox whith a much better designed pad.

Pro Evo is coming out later this year on the Xbox.

But I'd have to disagree witht e pad comment.

I have all 3 consoles and the PS2s is the best.

As for shoddy design of the PS2, I don't know what you mean.

It doesn't look shoddy, and if you are talking about the actual hardware, it isn't badly designed either.

So, looks like this thread might get a bit interesting if people want to explain what they mean with these comments :D

How can you say the PS2's controller is the best? It's awful, it's made GTA and Pro Evo a pain to play at times. It's like playing games with a bed of spiky rocks rather than a nice pillow.

The XBox and Cube controllers are very comfortable, having two analogue sticks at the bottom of the pad just doesn't work. It's suffered from not being redesigned since the PSOne, compared to it's refined counterparts, it's a bit of a mess, really, and very unreliable.

I've never been a fan of the PSone/PS2 analogue sticks.

Oh got God's Sake Bonus that is a sign of fanboyism there.

The fact that 1 in 3 PS2's break down in JApan within a year and that nearly every developer moan about the PS2 being hard to develop for proves it is a shoddy machine.

The thing about the PSP is that Sony are not attacking the home console market... but they are attacking the handheld market. It's like Sony going into washing machines, I put money on Hotpoint.

The handheld market is for far younger people, adults do not find it cool to play games outside of their home. Not even me, a hardcore gamer, with 2 GBA's, would ever take either of them out in to the street. Those who want to look hip would opt for an IPod, listening to music is cool. But in a society dominated by sex you are not going to woo the opposite sex by playing Final Fantasy on the PSP.

Which brings me onto my next point. Square, Konami, Namco and EVERY OTHER developer supports the GBA as thoroughly as the PS2. Square plan to release tonnes of games, MGS appears on the Gameboy too as does Tekken...

And the GBA also has Microsoft Games Studio's on board, which of course include the masterful Rare Ware.

The N64 had a lack of third party support, it was released late in the day and costs a bomb.

This is not the case this time. Sony are selling the Playstation brand to a different type of gaming market, and I do not think it will work.

Not to mention Pokemon and the dedicated GBA developers all around the world.

Talking of MGS developing for the GBA... I'd love to see a Metroid-style Halo game come out. I may dig out DarkBASIC just top give it a go, actually.

Pro Evol is an absolute joy to play on the PS2 pad.

There has been scientific research done into how ergonomic and comfortable pads were to use, and there was an article in Edge published on it last summer.

The PS2 pad one, for a simple reason, It's symetrical.

The joysticks are in line. The buttons on the right hand side are in a symetric configuration to the d-pad on the left, and there are four easily reachable triggers.

The pad is the pinnacle of design because it was based on the SNES controller, just made more curvy so it fits into the hand rather than having to be held, you can just sit it there and push the buttons.

The Gamecube pad would suck for Pro Evo, not enough buttons, z is too hard to get to quickly, it only has 1 true analogue stick and the buttons aren't in a layout easily useable for football games, good for mario and zelda games, bad for football.

The Xbox pad is hampered by not having enough buttons to support everything you can do on a PS2 pad easily. The Black and White buttons aren't designed so that you could hold one of them, play a pass and hold a joystick at the same time.

In short, the PS2 pad isn't a perfect shape, but the button layout is the best.

Why not Halo?

As I've said Microsoft Games studio is an official developer of the GBA.