By using this site, you agree to our Privacy Policy and our Terms of Use. Close
naznatips on 20 June 2007
Edit Thread
Bodhesatva said:
naznatips said:
Bodhesatva said:
naznatips said:
It's REALLY scary when a game software and hardware company is competing with an electronics GIANT that sells game software and hardware, every electronic device imaginable, and makes blockbuster movies.

Another perspective: the DS beat out the PSP, even though the PSP had support from Rockstar (GTA) Konami (MGS) and Square (FF) from the beginning. In essence -- given that Nintendo's own software is clearly the main software for the DS -- Nintendo's handheld and software single handedly defeated the combined efforts of Sony, Take Two, Konami, and SquareEnix.


The PSP never did and still doesn't have much Square support. The vast majority of SE support has been on the DS, and remains on the DS. 14 games (2 remakes, 1 of which was never released in America) vs. 8 games (6 remakes). Certainly SE was never allied against Nintendo. In fact, they took their biggest JRPG in Japan and stuck it's primary sequel on the DS, along with tons of spinoffs. I'll agree that at least initially Take Two (more than Rockstar, since they are the owners of Rockstar) showed more PSP support, but just yesterday claimed their entire company is focused on Nintendo games over the next year. Konami made 2 big Castlevania games for DS. I'd say 3rd party support is hardly lacking from the DS right now, though maybe it was some at first.


Everything you mention here is recent. The new Dragon Quest game isn't out yet; the Castlevanias have been released in the last year; the 14 DS games from Square are in development. I totally agree that the 3rd party support has shifted now, but it wasn't there at first, as you've hinted at (and I'm stating, explicitly). Also of note: Ninja Gaiden is on the way, which is another big franchise.

My point was about the beginning of the war, when the DS first pulled away from the PSP in sales. The big games, released at that time for both systems were as follows:

PSP:

Grand Theft Auto
Metal Gear Solid
Need for Speed Most Wanted
Loco Roco

DS:

Nintendogs
Brain Age
Mario and Luigi: Partners in Time

Those were the first big, top selling titles for each system, as I recall (tell me if I'm missing one or two). Things may be changing now, but at the beginning of the system's lifespan, the DS's primary support was almost entirely recieved from Nintendo itself, and Nintendo was basically capable of defeating the major software offerings from Sony and all its major third party contributors simultaneously.


The Square Enix games are combined in games that are released or are in development.  I was listing total system support.  There has never been a PSP game released by Square in the US yet.  There are 8 total comming (6 remakes).  On the other side, Square Enix has released 4 DS games, and has another 10 set for release.  All were in 2006 and 2007, so I'll give you that at least Square support has been recent, but they obviously weren't making PSP games during that time.

Castlevania DS was released in 2005, right at the beginning of the DS's life, and Castlevania PR was released in 2006 holiday.  There have been  29 other Konami games made or in development for the DS.  An insane amount for one system.  Many were only released in Japan because they were anime themed (Death Note, Prince of Tennis), but man that is a buttload of support.  I will give you that most of these were 2006,2007 releases, but a lot were 2005 as well.  This is compared to 26 PSP games made or in development, so nearly equal support from them.

I agree the best selling games are Nintendo games, but the DS otusells the PSP software at a 6:1 rate, so even without the Nintendo games the DS would be beating the PSP in software sales by a wide margin.  In fact, the only PSP game to really be a large commercial success has been GTA:LCS.  The other million sellers have barely made a blip.  Obviously Nintendo is a software giant (they are constantly fighting with EA for the lead), but right now they are showing very strong support from 3rd parties as well, which is certainly contributing to their success.  Remember, the last time Nintendo tried to depend only on proprietary software was the N64, and that didn't end well at all.