The balance of power in the handheld game market experienced a significant upset two years ago when Sony used their press conference at
E3 2003 to announce the development of the Playstation Portable. At the time, Nintendo held utter dominance of the portable game market with over 90% market share thanks to the Gameboy, and now, the Nintendo DS. Just by the very announcement, though, Sony kicked the gaming media into overdrive. In the hallway outside of Sony’s studios, where the press conference was held, you could hear comments like, “It’s going to be great,” and, “Way better than the DS,” from the gathered journalists. This was before anyone had seen pictures of the unit, product designs, or even a suggested retail price; the game industry was ready to buy it on Sony’s say-so alone.
Now that the Nintendo DS has released in the U.S., the PSP in Japan, and a with a late March 2005 PSP launch date for those of us over here in the States, a lot more is known about both systems than was known then. While it’s still difficult to do a full-blown comparison prior to having an English version of the PSP in hand, there is enough info to make some pretty solid early comparisons between the two. Gone are the days when you could mention Nintendo and assume you’d covered the significant players in the handheld market; now it’s Sony and Nintendo, and you can’t consider buying either system without knowing both.
A Brief Overview of the Two Systems:
- Nintendo DS: Known as the Nintendo Dual-Screen, the DS is a handheld game device with two screens, a stylus pen, and the ability to play both Nintendo DS and Gameboy Advance games. Equipped with wireless technology, a touch sensitive screen, and a microphone, the DS has many characteristics similar to a specialized PDA, but with awesome gaming ability. It was released in the U.S. in November of 2004.
- Sony Playstation Portable (PSP): The Playstation Portable is Sony’s answer to Nintendo’s handheld market dominance. With a large wide-screen display, more powerful innards than the DS, and a media type capable of storing 1.8 gigabytes of data, the PSP is well positioned to change how we think of portable gaming.
Price:
Detailed breakdown:
Technically, the PSP dominates the DS in terms of horsepower. With far superior hardware under the hood, the PSP is capable of pushing out graphics that fall somewhere between the PS and the PS2. This means that the PSP has about the same graphical advantages over the DS that the original Playstation used to dominate the Nintendo 64 when it was released back in 1994. However, other hardware differences make this a different story than that of the Playstation and Nintendo’s doomed N64. Whereas the PSP is basically a portable version of the current PS2 home console, the Nintendo DS includes a number of features that have never been seen in a handheld gaming unit. The PSP’s strength lies in its graphic ability, and the DS’s strength lies in its additional features and creativity. Let’s compare the two units point by point.
Screens:
- PSP: The PSP has a 4.3-inch screen, which is gigantic in terms of handheld systems. The screen uses a letterbox resolution of 480 x 272, and has 24-bit color, meaning that it’s capable of displaying millions of colors with a quality that is unparalleled in terms of portable game units.
- DS: The DS has two separate screens that run simultaneously depending on the game you’re playing. While both screens are smaller than the PSP’s single display, they can be used in tandem to provide varying information, such as a map on one and your playable character on the other. Additionally, the bottom screen on the DS is touch-sensitive, so in addition to being a display device, it can be an interface. The included stylus pen allows for a great deal of variety in approach to game design and control.
- Comments: The screens on the DS and the PSP are equally cool, in my opinion. The PSP is certainly going to have more wow power with its wide-screen gaming, but the DS is going to be capable of more in the long run. This is a good example of the difference between Nintendo and Sony’s approach to the market; Sony offers the current home console experience on the go, while Nintendo offers a different approach all together.
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