Gameboy Advance vs. Playstation Portable -- is Nintendo doomed?
So with PlayStation Portable coming out in late 2004, will Nintendo finally dissapear? They survive thanks to their Gameboy sales, a market that Sony is now targeting.
I'd love to play a great looking Madden football or Tony Hawk game on the go.
Quote:
"He (the device) is really cute," said Ken Kutaragi, president of Sony Computer Entertainment Inc., at the annual Electronic Entertainment Expo, or E3. Kutaragi touted Sony's PSP as the Walkman of the 21st century.
The player's game cartridge will use a Universal Media Disc, or UMD, that measures 2.4 inches in diameter and holds 1.8 gigabytes of information.
At the heart of PlayStation Portable is a microprocessor with integrated sound and graphics functions that produce music in stereo and 3-D graphics on a backlighted 4.5-inch LCD screen, Kutaragi said.
"He (the device) is really cute," said Ken Kutaragi, president of Sony Computer Entertainment Inc., at the annual Electronic Entertainment Expo, or E3. Kutaragi touted Sony's PSP as the Walkman of the 21st century.
The player's game cartridge will use a Universal Media Disc, or UMD, that measures 2.4 inches in diameter and holds 1.8 gigabytes of information.
At the heart of PlayStation Portable is a microprocessor with integrated sound and graphics functions that produce music in stereo and 3-D graphics on a backlighted 4.5-inch LCD screen, Kutaragi said.
I'd love to play a great looking Madden football or Tony Hawk game on the go.
Comments
Also, remember that the Gameboy has seen off opponents before, the Atari Lynx and the Sega Game Gear.
Nintendo is in the better position here. They have a huge fanbase, a huge game library, the most experience with making and marketing portable gaming devices, and the street cred. I'm more worried about Microsoft. they have the ability to make a mediocre showing in the portable gaming market and pump the endless funds into it to make sure it succeeds.
unless they pull gamecube2go out of their pants...
Originally posted by Jonathan
our fine french friends would say that nintendo est fini.
unless they pull gamecube2go out of their pants...
It they were serious about targeting Nintendo, they would target it to kids aged 6-13. They thing that they describe sounds like a $300 uber game toy while parents are getting their kids the very sub-$100 GameBoy. I don't know how much market share they'll take from N with that thing. But who knows. Maybe they'll sell it at a huge loss for $99 (the backlit 4.5" screen alone will cost that) and hope to make the cash up on game licenses.
Originally posted by Outsider
Nintendo is in the better position here. They have a huge fanbase, a huge game library, the most experience with making and marketing portable gaming devices, and the street cred.
I wouldn't be so sure. Nobody really saw the original PlayStation as a big threat to Nintendo and Sega's dominance back in 1994-1996. They soon learned the hard way that Sony had more muscle than both combined. They just bought license after license and ripped away hits like FF7, Tomb Raider, etc.
Now it's been years since Sony outsells Nintendo (and now Xbox too). I think this is it for Nintendo, unless they come out with something trult revolutionary.
As I read on some website, the Game Boy Advance ain't more advanced than a 1991 game system and I agree. No 3D support is a joke and they have frankly been sleeping on their laurels in that area. You won't see a breakthough GBA game more than you'd see one on a Super Nintendo.
I also don't think they'll have a portable GC before Sony comes out with PlayStation Portable.
gba is exactly what a handheld should be.
Originally posted by alcimedes
funny part is i, for the most part, think 3d games are horribly overrated. give me a 2d slide scroller any day of the week.
gba is exactly what a handheld should be.
Yeah, for 2D platformers is great. FPS and Madden-type sports game are just horrible. This is exactly where Sony will eat Nintendo's lunch.
In the end the Gameboy might not die, but instead of being the handheld leader it'll just take the backseat, just like the GC plays third class passenger in the console races. This is where I think Nintendo will suffer and it'll seriously affect their bottom line.
Apple is finished!
Hey didn`t anyone tell you about the story of the boy that cried wolf? Whats that? Oh they really are? Oh okay then, Cary one.
If Nintendo is making a profit off of GameCube sales (meaning they sell their hardware without a loss), and they are making money off of license fees and their own games, then why are they doomed?
Secondly, the Game Boy Advance has a huge lead already in the portable handheld market. They have controlled the handheld market for a decade. In the console market, people might shell out cash for two or even three consoles if they really want those exclusive games. If you want to play GTA: Vice City, Metroid/Zelda, and Halo/Halo 2, you have to buy PS2, GameCube, and Xbox. There really isn't much choice. Even so, most people do not own 2 or 3 gaming consoles.
But how many people are going to go out and buy two handheld systems? Sure, the PSP might be more powerful than the GBA, but the Game Boy has a few things going for it. First of all, the installed base means that most developers will put out their games for both systems. We know that former PSOne and Saturn games have been ported to the GBA without issue.
Then you also have to look at the market the games are designed for. You have classic Nintendo games ending up on the GBA, such as Mario 3 which will be out in a few months, not to mention brand new Sonic sidescrollers.
Also, Nintendo has put a ridiculous amount of stock in the GBA. You have GBA-GCN hook ups, the e-Reader device, and the new Game Boy Player which will hook up to the bottom of the GameCube to allow GBA games to be played on a television set. I don't think they will be leaving the market without a fight.
But the basic bottom line is this: It has been proven that the market can support the 3 consoles in the US, including the GBA. So I don't see any of them going anywhere.
Originally posted by Fran441
then why are they doomed?
well maybe not doomed, but Sony will take a major bite out of the Portable gaming pie. That's what's holding Nintendo together. It won't help you way too much to sell Gamecubes at a profit if you don't sell them at all! Popular developers like Capcom, EA, Sega and others might develop games for all platforms but smaller ones go with the sure bet: Playstation. That's bad news for nintendo.
When Nintendo faces crippled gc sales and lower GBA sales then it'll only be a matter of a few years before they become the next sega... they'll make great games for all other platforms...
Then there's also the Nokia N-Gage... but that's completely different and another topic.
Originally posted by Fran441
But the basic bottom line is this: It has been proven that the market can support the 3 consoles in the US, including the GBA. So I don't see any of them going anywhere.
Barely.
When we had PS, Saturn and N64, Saturn couldn't stay alive. So we basically had two.
Right now we have PS2, GC and Xbox, with M$ having losses for every Xbox unit sold. So if it wasn't for Microsoft's money this would be a two home console race again. Then there's the question of how would Nintendo be doing if they didn't have GBA and all those pokemon games sold to help them boost their profits.
Originally posted by Fran441
If Nintendo is making a profit off of GameCube sales (meaning they sell their hardware without a loss), and they are making money off of license fees and their own games, then why are they doomed?
Nintendo might make a profit off of game licensing, but not if they don't have a large user base. The GameCube user base is not large enough for serious development, unlike Sony's machine.
If Sony moves into handheld land, all they have to do is offer free licensing for the handheld system (PSP) for any game that's exclusive to the PS2 & PSP. Nintendo's licensing fees drop overnight.
Right now, the Game Boy has knocked every other handheld game maker out of the market, including the Game Gear, the Neo Geo, the Wonderswan, etc. These devices were arguably better than the Game Boy but failed because people were buying the Game Boy.
The Playstation 2 is the dominant console right now for a few reasons. First of all, the hype built up for the machine was so amazing that people didn't buy the Dreamcast because the PS2 was supposed to be 'that much better' and because it could play DVDs and PS1 games. Never mind that the Dreamcast was out for over a year with one of the most impressive game lineups ever, it was the hype that killed the Dreamcast. Also don't forget that Sony intentionally held back supply of the PS2 to drive up demand. Have people fighting for your console and paying $600 - $1000 on eBay before Christmas was definitely good press for them as it said to people, "Hey, there must be something great about this console". Never mind it had just about the worst list of games in any console's launch.
Then you have Nintendo and Microsoft come out with the GameCube and Xbox about a year later. What do we see? That Sony's lead in the market is huge despite a handful of great titles. You don't see Nintendo or Microsoft's sales even close to Sony's because in the year between Sony's launch and the GCN and Xbox launch, Sega bowed out of the console game and Sony had the market to themselves.
Without competition, people had one choice for a 'next generation' console and that was the PS2. We know that some people have since gone out and purchased the Xbox or GameCube to have alongside their PS2, but not everyone wants or needs two gaming consoles. That's why you see the other two gaming consoles way behind Sony's sales. Never mind that when 3rd parties come out with games for all 3 systems that the Xbox and GameCube versions are generally superior, it's the fact that people already own the PS2 that the games sell better for that platform. Sony has control over that market and it's going to be very difficult for anyone to make any huge in-roads at this point because people have already went out and bought their console.
Now let's look at the handheld market. The Game Boy Advance has thousands of titles now since it can play every Game Boy game ever made. The people that wanted a Game Boy have gone out and purchased it already. The library of newer games is huge and even Microsoft and Sega are committed to making handheld versions of their games for the Game Boy Advance (Microsoft signed a deal with THQ about 6 months ago).
Even Sony is going to have a very difficult time entering this market for various reasons. First of all, it's a new type of data format so it's an investment to developers right off the bat. Also, we have no idea of the power of this system. Is it just going to be a portable PS1? If so, will the system be dominated by PS1 ports versus new titles? Why invest in a PSP then if you can buy a PS1 with mobile monitor and battery? It would most likely be cheaper in the long run as you can just snatch up the games you want for $5 or $10 out of bargain bins rather then buying $30 or $40 cartridges of the same game.
Yes, Nintendo and some 3rd party developers have been a little port crazy with ports of the Mario games and some other 'classics', but they continue to sell very well to people that have played them before and people who weren't old enough to experience them on the NES (or SNES).
But even then, Nintendo has put out some excellent new games for the handheld as well including a new Metroid game, various Wario games, and have announced a new Capcom Zelda (Similar to a Link to the Past), a new Metroid, and a new Mario game. Also don't forget that new Sonic games and Mega Man games have also been found on the GBA.
It will take a lot for Sony to unseat Nintendo from their grip on the handheld market, and even now, I think we will see a successor to the GBA to be launched alongside Nintendo's next console.
My 2 cents.
Winner.
The GBA is wonderful, the SNES was arguably the best console ever(many people agree) because of many great long lasting games. And the GBA encompasses all that was great about the SNES and then kicks it up a notch.
GBA is in the same position that PS2 was in when dreamcast dropped out. They have no competition, people don't need multiple portable game systems. PSP could very well be the worst thing to happen to sony's grip in the console gaming industry, if they invest enough money into it, and it flops, then sony might end up being forced to cut back some in their console endeavours(think Microsoft with the x-box)
I personally love nintendo, there are many great games that are just plain entertaining and fun to play. I also own a PS2(that I got a year after owning a GC) and I enjoy it a lot as well. There are some games that I would prefer to play on gamecube and some I prefer to play on PS2.
I highly doubt that the PSP will be able to compete with GBA, simply because there is no way that sony can sell it at a price point that even comes close to the GBA(even to the SP) Unless they want to lose a lot of money.
Originally posted by Fran441
This doesn't make sense. The question is will people buy another portable gaming device if they already have one? I think the answer is 'No'. If you already own a Game Boy Advance (which costs around $50), what is the compelling reason to buy a 2nd handheld gaming machine?
The GBA is priced around $70 and GBAsp is priced around $100. In the past you didn't even have a good reason to buy a second handheld gaming machine. They weren't very good. But you gave the answer yourself: Sony will create a great amount of hype for PSPortable and developers will jump in. Then all of a sudden you have something that had never happened before: 2 good portable consoles. I'm inclined to think that if people don't buy the two of them, then at least they will give a good look at Sony's offering... or we might discover that for once we'll have a two console race in the portable arena. There's a good reason it could happen, the fact that we've never been in that position before. I for once, would like to buy different type of portable games. GBA doesn't cut it most of the time.
Why invest in a PSP then if you can buy a PS1 with mobile monitor and battery?