A Buyer's Guide To Portable Gaming

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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.