The DS called irrelevant by Sony

[wraggster]

In six days’ time Europe will experience the biggest hardware launch since PlayStation 2 in 2000, with Sony insisting that any competition with Nintendo is ‘irrelevant’.

And after a hard year for the High Street, PSP brings with it what the trade hopes will be a long-awaited turning point in the fortunes of the market and the promise of a bumper Q4.

Despite shortages, Sony’s handheld has already launched to great success in Japan and the US. And while delays have pushed back the release of the system in PAL territories until September 1st, the £179.99 unit is expected to prove a sell-out.

With the final part of the global launch jigsaw almost in place, backed with a massive £10m cross-media marketing campaign, SCEE expects its dominance in the home console arena to drive its debut handheld system to success, dismissing the challenge of sector leader Nintendo.

“The idea of a handheld rivalry with Nintendo is an irrelevance,” VP of studios Phil Harrison insisted to MCV. “Those formats don’t appear in our planning. It’s not a fair comparison; not fair on them, I should stress. That sounds arrogant, maybe, but it’s the truth.

“Nintendo knows its target audience, because it has really narrowed that down; and it’s pretty much defined by a boy or girl’s ability to admire Pokémon.

“With the DS, it’s fair to say that Nintendo stepped out of the technical race and went for a feature differentiation with the touch screen,” Harrison continued. “But I fear that it won’t have a lasting impact beyond that of a gimmick – so the long-lasting appeal of the platform is at peril as a direct result of that.”

But Wedbush Morgan analyst Michael Pachter believes there is enough room for both systems in the market: “Longterm, I see DS expanding Nintendo's demographic upward to the high teens,” he told MCV. “I see Sony’s PSP expanding the ‘mobile’ demographic to the 30s. Both will expand the overall market by providing an outlet for gameplay beyond the home or office.”

The face of the enemy

Sony may be dominant in the home console field, but it has a long way to go to match Nintendo’s handheld achievements...

Game Boy Range
Total global hardware sales (as of 9/04): 176.8m
GBA
Total global sales: 67.7m (inc. SP)
Total PAL sales: 15 million (inc. SP)
Nintendo DS
Total global sales: 6.65m
Total PAL sales: 1.3m (inc. 300k in UK)

Big hitters at launch

While its movie and music playback features will prove a draw, PSP’s ultimate success is dependent on its game content. MCV highlights a trio of titles carrying great expectations...

GTA: Liberty City Stories (Rockstar)
A dream title for SCEE to have in the launch window, retail has been briefed to expect Rockstar’s original, fully 3D adventure to release in October. And with early reactions bordering on the hysterically positive, this has ‘system seller’ written all over it.
Ridge Racer (SCEE)
An integral part of the PlayStation story, Namco’s latest Ridge Racer offers the definitive arcade petrol-fuelled experience.
WipEout Pure (SCEE)
Another title synonymous with Brand PlayStation, Sony Liverpool has conjured another fast and furious, future perfect racing thriller.

Source -MCVUK

[Cap'n 1time]

yes yes. sony is full of underestimating, unappreciating assholes.. we can confirm this now... moving on...

[Tomppa]

Well looks like I'm like people of Sony.. :O

[JOE2339]

look how well the ps2 was sold in europe, once the psp comes out nintendo has no chance. I have the ds and I regret buying for many reasons, mainly the poor ds titles, and the lack of inovation, and don't tell me using a stupid stylus is. For that I have my ipaq.

[EvilDragon]

look how well the ps2 was sold in europe, once the psp comes out nintendo has no chance. I have the ds and I regret buying for many reasons, mainly the poor ds titles, and the lack of inovation, and don't tell me using a stupid stylus is. For that I have my ipaq.

? There are quite some good RPGs coming for DS in the next month... I'm still waiting for some decent ones on PSP.

[lockethevaliant]

sony will never catch up to nintendos handheld share..my psp has been in my nightstand drawer even before i got my copy of advance wars: DS..

if sony wants to take the handheld war...then need more games then movies

[crispana]

look how well the ps2 was sold in europe, once the psp comes out nintendo has no chance. I have the ds and I regret buying for many reasons, mainly the poor ds titles, and the lack of inovation, and don't tell me using a stupid stylus is. For that I have my ipaq.

I own both a psp and a ds. I own 14 ds games and 7 psp games. I buy what seems to be something I will enjoy after reading reviews/etc. I only own 7 psp games because thats all I could find that looked like they were worth buying.

As far as inovation, I recently purchased Nintendogs. It is controlled via mic and stylus only, seems pretty unique to me. Aside from a native widescreen output, the psp doesn't really have anything you can't already find on a console or another handheld.

The fall lineup for the DS impresses me a lot more than the PSP. The PSP has Burnout, Gran Turismo, GTA, and.. maybe Lemings. The DS has a new Castlevania, Mario Kart, Metriod Prime, new Yugi Oh game, a new Mario & Luigi rpg, Katamari Damacy and hopefully the New Super Mario Bros. (http://ds.ign.com/objects/682/682879.html).

[alepus]

The DS has a new Castlevania, Mario Kart, Metriod Prime, new Yugi Oh game, a new Mario & Luigi rpg, Katamari Damacy and hopefully the New Super Mario Bros. (http://ds.ign.com/objects/682/682879.html).

mario has been eating too many of them shrooms.

yeah i really look forward to the new anabolic-steroids-mario.... uhm not! what the **** is that about.
http://xfersf02.ign.com/%5E1437942856/movies/streamingmovies.ign.com/docroot/pocket/article/513/513230/newsupermariobros_051104_01_wmvlow.wmv

[lockethevaliant]

The DS has a new Castlevania, Mario Kart, Metriod Prime, new Yugi Oh game, a new Mario & Luigi rpg, Katamari Damacy and hopefully the New Super Mario Bros. (http://ds.ign.com/objects/682/682879.html).

im waiting for those games too

and also Lunar,Lost in blue,Boy and his Blob(anyone remeber this game? i had it for NES), animal crossing,Sonic rush,Tony Hawk,Guilty Gear,Snowboard kids,viewtiful joe,resident evil..many more

for psp..i want Breath of fire 3...if they release it to US..they better!!!!!

[Qmark]

I don't see this as an issue. In fact, it's lunacy to even think that DS and PSP are even competing. This is a gaming generation where it's quite simply all-or-nothing. More often than not, and most of the time, anyone who owns a PS2, Xbox, or Cube happens to own all three, or at least two.

Sony decrying DS as a toy for the 'pokemon' crowd isn't entirely inacurate, yet is also a gross generalization. Being a 30-year-old American (of the US variety), I'm not ashamed to own a copy of Nintendogs, no more than I am ashamed to own a copy of Meteos, Polarium, or SM64DS. Good games are good games, period. If all the PSP can interest me in is Lumines and maybe Death Jr. (which is getting murdered in reviews) then it's Sony's problem.

As is, I'm happy with my DS, and my PSP. If Sony wants to set up a situation wherein I have to lose functionality for the privilege of spending $30-40 on games I may or may not be interested in, then it's not my problem. If anything, the DS has the saving grace of homebrew needing a $100 or so flashcart setup to even get started.

[ArugulaZ]

look how well the ps2 was sold in europe, once the psp comes out nintendo has no chance.

Suuuuure it won't. The DS has sold double the amount of systems that the PSP has, and continues to outsell the PSP by a wide margin in Japan. Grand Theft Auto has no chance of turning things around for the PSP in Japan, because the series simply isn't that popular there.

Admittedly, the PSP is doing better in the West, but I have to wonder if a compromised version of Grand Theft Auto, based on an antiquated version of the game, is going to make it the dominant handheld game system in America and Europe. It certainly didn't do much for the Game Boy Advance. There's also the issue of Hot Coffee, and its effect on sales of future Grand Theft Auto games. This incident, coupled with the age of the series and its inability to evolve along with the industry, could make GTA the next Tomb Raider... hot today, gone tomorrow.

Nintendo has over fifteen years of experience in the handheld gaming market. Do you honestly think all this becomes irrelevant the moment Sony drops its hat into the ring? Sony may be the leader in the video game industry right now, but when you're at the top, there's nowhere to go but down.

JR

[bkdevart]

I agree with a lot of people here... I own a PSP and a DS, but if it were not for this website, my PSP would still be gathering dust. Lumines and Wipeout withstanding, there is nothing to brag about that is different, new, or exciting on Sony's handheld. The amount of console ports planned for it do not scream "innovation" to me. Thankfully, I can now play SNES and NES games on it, which is horribly ironic for Sony. The ony reason I use their handheld is to play dated Nintendo games :) While the hardware specs on the PSP are enough to give me a hard-on, the fact that developers are being required by Sony to clock the processer down to the 233 mhz range, as well as use minimal disc access - all to save battery life - cripples the potential of this system's ridiculous amount of power. And let's face it: UMD is a HORRIBLE media format for handhelds. I refuse to stare at a loading screen while I'm sitting on the crapper at work on a break.
The DS, on the other hand, is a rock. It's cheap to develope for, no one expects realistic graphics (although Nintendogs definitely has some pretty convincing pups), and despite naysayers, the sylus/mic/2 screens is quite innovative - check out Kirby: Canvas Curse, Yoshi's Touch and Go, Pac Pix, and of course Nintendogs. Plus Meteos is an excellent counter to Lumines. There's no way these games could be made on any other system. And as other people have mentioned, great games are on the way. Once the DS goes online... my god. This is a first for Nintendo, and it's an exciting time.
So say what you will about the DS. It's still ahead, and will continue to be until Sony starts focusing on making games for their handhelds instead of movies.

[lockethevaliant]

I agree with a lot of people here... I own a PSP and a DS, but if it were not for this website, my PSP would still be gathering dust. Lumines and Wipeout withstanding, there is nothing to brag about that is different, new, or exciting on Sony's handheld. The amount of console ports planned for it do not scream "innovation" to me. Thankfully, I can now play SNES and NES games on it, which is horribly ironic for Sony. The ony reason I use their handheld is to play dated Nintendo games :) While the hardware specs on the PSP are enough to give me a hard-on, the fact that developers are being required by Sony to clock the processer down to the 233 mhz range, as well as use minimal disc access - all to save battery life - cripples the potential of this system's ridiculous amount of power. And let's face it: UMD is a HORRIBLE media format for handhelds. I refuse to stare at a loading screen while I'm sitting on the crapper at work on a break.
The DS, on the other hand, is a rock. It's cheap to develope for, no one expects realistic graphics (although Nintendogs definitely has some pretty convincing pups), and despite naysayers, the sylus/mic/2 screens is quite innovative - check out Kirby: Canvas Curse, Yoshi's Touch and Go, Pac Pix, and of course Nintendogs. Plus Meteos is an excellent counter to Lumines. There's no way these games could be made on any other system. And as other people have mentioned, great games are on the way. Once the DS goes online... my god. This is a first for Nintendo, and it's an exciting time.
So say what you will about the DS. It's still ahead, and will continue to be until Sony starts focusing on making games for their handhelds instead of movies.

i agree..but my psp is still collectin dust..i bought my psp "just for" the great emulation programs it has and i thank you to the programers for your super hard work and what you guys have done.if it wasnt for the programers i wouldnt of got a psp :(..all the psp features dont really interst me.....


i pray to god they make breath of fire 3 psp for the US...but still doesnt matter since i already have it for the PSX...