The Handheld Wars!

[jman8]

OriGin said:

jman8 said:
i dunno how the DS sales are gonna skyrocket when there's barely enough supply to meet the current demand. The DS should get more publicity tho as you say. Thing is, the PSP and DS market are just so different that I don't think they overlap as much as you make it seem. Basically, I don't think the people that were seriously considering the PSP are going to immediately rush out and get a DS because of Pokemon. Anyway, we'll have to wait and see how the PSP price cut affects sales, but in April I'm expecting it to do just as well as the 360, which should have a good month with the release of the Elite.

 Which just goes to show the smaller portion of the market that is governed by 'harcore' 'mature' gamers if the PSP is supposed to be suited them does it not?

But saying that they are suited to different markets and they aren't competing against each other directly is a moot argument, GameCube had a different market than the PS2 did it not? It was aimed at a different subsection of the market but that still means the PS2 kicked the GameCube's arse.  

The problem with the difference in install base is the amount of money that devs can make on either console, having TWICE the user base when you are at the 20's of millions point is a big deal.

What does it matter that people that were considering a PSP wont go and buy a DS? Hundreds of thousands, if not millions of people will be upgrading from GBA to DS because of Pokemon... many GBA's were sold SIMPLY for people to play Pokemon on... there is no disputing the fact that Pokemon is going to be huge for DS.  However it might just serve to raise the demand for a console that is already so hard to come by.  I really wonder if Nintendo are going to raise production, I don't even know if they physically can... they are selling probably 1.5mil DS a month WW at the current rate and that can only increase.  Maybe they produce 2mil a month?

1.) Nobody's arguing your first question.

 2.) The GC was aimed at pretty much the same market as the PS2. The PS2 was aimed at everybody. You could pretty much get whatever kind of game you wanted on the PS2. Unless you mean that the GC was aimed at the Nintendo fanboy market.

3.) As for the difference in install base meaning that devs automatically make more money off DS games, that's false. B/c the two systems have different aims, certain kind of games are more suited to one system than the other. If install bases were equal, Animal Crossing would not do nearly as well on the PSP as it would on the DS. Syphon Filter would probably not do as well on the DS as it would on the PSP. That's why even with half the install base, certain kind of games can be more successful on the PSP. That's why the PSP has a number of exclusive games. That's why developers continue to make games on the PSP, and support seems to be increasing rather than decreasing. That's why no videogame developer would hire you to run their company.

 4.) What does it matter that people that were considering a PSP wont go and buy a DS? It matters because PSP sales aren't going to flounder because of the release of Pokemon. However, they will increase because of the price drop. Check out the weekly charts on this very site. Sales are up in the face of Pokemon coming out soon.

 5.) I never said the PSP was going to catch up with DS. It won't. Nothing will catch up with the DS. However, the PSP will sell a ton of systems during its lifespan. There's a decent chance it outperforms the 360, especially considering PSP sales have basically been mirroring 360 sales. What's the point of bring up the 360? Because that's a system that gets a lot of developer support. So why wouldn't the PSP? Developers don't have to develop for just one system. The PSP has a large enough install base that is growing at a decent enough rate, that it will get good developer support.