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Forums - Gaming Discussion - Are Handhelds = Consoles?

 

Are Handhelds = Consoles?

Yes 184 50.14%
 
No 126 34.33%
 
Its more complicated than that 37 10.08%
 
Who gives a shit! 20 5.45%
 
Total:367
Mnementh on 24 September 2015
AlfredoTurkey said:

It all depends on the person. If it's a Nintendo die hard, of COURSE they are. Sony diehard with say of COURSE they aren't.

Everyone else knows better. This is why sales data is NEVER combined. They are separate markets that sell to mostly different demographs.

I've said this a billion times, and I'll keep saying it. Handhelds and consoles are like motorcycles and automobiles. A motorcycle does the same basic thing, but is much cheaper and is used by a completely different demograph and thus, don't compete head on with automobiles. The same is true with handhelds.

The sooner you guys accept this, the happier you will be because the people who do sales analysis will NEVER lump them in together and you will ALWAYS be on the losing side of any argument.

Nobody says the sales data should be combined and something useful deducted from it. But they are both dedicated gaming devices = consoles. As vivster already said, they're also both electronic devices but still you shouldn't compare their sales with car radio sales. If you look in the other thread, I only argued the claim that contradicts all definitions, that handheld consoles aren't consoles. They are, still you shouldn't compare sales.



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Mnementh on 24 September 2015
Rogerioandrade said:
Console = a device that outputs a video signal or visual image to display a video game

Handhelds are devices dedicated to display video games, they´re, obviously, consoles. I don´t think there´s much to discuss here.

What we could discuss is if we should consider the home console market and the handheld/portable console market as a same market or not.
I´d say that it would be foolishness to consider them different markets, because they have pratically the same consumers: traditional (or hardcore, if you prefer) videogame players.

They have not exactly the same market, but very similar ones. But they have different use cases. That's why two subcategories exist: home and handheld consoles.



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Mnementh on 24 September 2015
DerNebel said:

I can say that there's always been a distinction that's been made between consoles and handhelds and that suddenly disregarding that distinction (while at the same time still insisting on the distinction between consoles/handhelds and smartphones/handhelds) to win a sales arguement in one market is just desperate.

Actually VGC is the first place there I see that people made the distinction. And pokoko is right, the term console is much older than even home consoles, therefore in the past the term gaming console was used to differentiate it from other consoles. Maybe I'm just too old and rememer things and that isn't cool anymore in the 21st century.



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Azhraell on 24 September 2015

They are obviously consoles but with portable capability, so even if they play dedicated software like home consoles I don't consider them to be the same or in the same level.



JetSetter on 24 September 2015

Yes, home consoles and handheld consoles are indeed in the same category. They are devices whose MAIN purpose is too play video games. It's just the form factor that is different. It blows my mind how they are people who don't think that handhelds are under the banner of "dedicated video game console".



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Mnementh on 24 September 2015
Boutros said:
spemanig said:
Boutros said:

The point is to use terms that don't lead to confusion. Using "consoles" to talk about handhelds is simply confusing because handhelds have a name of their own whereas consoles are only called consoles. There's no other accepted term for something like the PS4. It's a console. But the 3DS can be called a handheld and no one will be confused on the matter. If you want to use a term that includes both consoles and handhelds than use "hardware". It isn't a question of actual definition of the word. It's about the definition that leads to the most comprehensible use.


Wrong. It's a home console.

No one calls them home consoles.

You do, if you differentiate between home and handheld consoles. Otherwise you get it from context. Actually I do all day, because at work I have to work with consoles which have nothing in common with gaming consoles. So the REALLY exact term is home gaming console and handheld gaming console. Obviously nobody spells that out. But it is ridiulous to suddenly say the other consoles aren't consoles anymore.



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Spade on 24 September 2015

By definition it is a console, but they are obviously not the same type as "home consoles."



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Octane on 24 September 2015
Goodnightmoon said:

To say that a handheld console is not a console is just as stupid as saying that a mobile phone is not a phone because is mobile... WTF?


^This



Dr.Henry_Killinger on 24 September 2015
Mnementh said:
Dr.Henry_Killinger said:
 

Home, due to the need of an external power supply.

DS, 3DS, Vita, PSP all need external power supply, without it you will not be long happy about them.

Everything on earth is externally powered by the Sun if you want to argue semantics. It is implied that need refers to dependency on a constant external power supply. 



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Mnementh on 24 September 2015
KLXVER said:
spemanig said:
KLXVER said:

No it doesnt.


Yes, it does. Handhelds do exactly what is described in that definition.

 

So you call the screen on the 3DS and Vita a television do you?

I connect my PS3 not to a TV (as I don't have one), but to a computer monitor or to a projector. Is my PS3 no console now? Or wait, is my PC a console, as it plays games and can be connected to a TV?



3DS-FC: 4511-1768-7903 (Mii-Name: Mnementh), Nintendo-Network-ID: Mnementh, Switch: SW-7706-3819-9381 (Mnementh)

my greatest games: 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023

10 years greatest game event!

bets: [peak year] [+], [1], [2], [3], [4]