DS sales are now almost double PSP, Wii double PS3

[shams]

I have been talking about the similarities between the two for months now - and there are many.

At its heart, its a "hard-core" vrs "casual" battle.

The hard-core devices are graphically more powerful, more expensive, have "deeper" games, more storage space, more multi-functioned, etc.

The casual devies are cheaper, more profitable, have more games available, easier to develop for, more accessible control/input styles, quicker loading times and lighter, simpler, more casual games.

It seems to make sense that the casual devices sell more units in the marketplace - but the hardcore devices end up with the best games on them (and maybe more revenue). 

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The BAD news for the PS3: The extra competition from the 360 (plus its 1 year lead), make this a much tougher battle. If the PSP was joined by the "Xboy" (MS's PSP) it would have sold less, and made the market even more competitive.

The Wii is also even more innovative than the DS - adding touch screen is one thing, but completely changing the input style is another.

And whereas there are many 3D games that simply won't work (at all) on the DS - the Wii is powerful enough to run every console game developed or released in the last 20 years (bar the 'new" next-gen titles). 

The price difference is even more significant as well - with the Wii selling at almost 1/3rd the price - for a profit - while the PS3 struggles to get close to breaking even.

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The GOOD news for the PS3: The handheld market is more than just graphics. Battery life, loading times, size, weight - are all factors in purchasing units. The DS loses out to the PSP in the graphics department, but wins in just about every other.

House consoles are graphic focused, as they are designed to run on large display devices, high resolutions (esp. these days). The PS3 easily beats out the Wii in this department (no contest really) - more so than the DS vrs PSP. 2D games (Pokemon?) work nicely on handhelds - very few of the big selling titles on the DS are 3D titles (Nintendogs?). 3D tends to dominate consoles more than 2D does.

Probably more significant - the DS was a step above what was possible on handhelds before it was released.

The Wii however is not (as much) - take away the control scheme, and you have a compact "Xbox", with slightly more raw power. But to counter this - the Xbox never really ran its course. MS killed it off as soon as the 360 launched, and this left a lot of opportunities that were not completed.