"With the DS, it’s fair to say that Nintendo stepped out of the technical race and went for a feature differentiation with the touch screen,” Harrison continued. “But I fear that it won’t have a lasting impact beyond that of a gimmick – so the long-lasting appeal of the platform is at peril as a direct result of that.”Source: MCVUK
Let the mud fly. Ever since Sony decided to get into the handheld market, and invade Nintendo's utter dominance in the space, both Sony and Nintendo have been trading blows.
Now if you were to ask me what I thought of the DS, and I know you are dying to know, I would say the DS is nothing but a gimmick too.
The DS has some great games out. That's a fact. It has had some huge releases and longevity in its short life where the the PSP has not. You could say the PSP looks like the sprinter, where the DS is the cross country runner so far.
Most of the greatest games on the DS uses some gimmick. Some are more successful then others. My question is: what the hell is wrong with a gimmick if it works?
Current and future generations games and consoles are not about graphics. We are past that threshold. Bringing something drastically new to the table, the touch screen, voice recognition in Nintendogs, etc. is why the DS is so successful. Its great technology that makes for enjoyable games.
So far all Sony has showed us with the PSP is port after port and an occasional new game (that was at launch). It also never apologized for missing two launch dates for the 2.0 firmware upgrade, and has left those of us who plunked down $250 in March 2005 with a full summer with hardly any titles, much less quality ones. (A full six months if you consider that the next big release, Madden 06, will not come out until the end of September.)
Is it any surprise the Nintendo DS is selling well?
Article comments
1 - J B Cougar
IN the wake of a survey that says 50% of PSP users "have not touched their PSPs 'in some time'", Sony is sounding rather bitter, eh?
Good analogy on the "sprinter/XCountry" comparison ... how much faith can there be in a system when its best game isn't out yet (GTA) -- and that game has been on consoles for more than a year already?
And gimmick? If touch screen is a gimmick, then what's a $30 UMD movie? Maybe Sony can plead with Nintendo for some third party software to boost their system's cred. A price drop wouldn't hurt either.
2 - hand held maniac
I have both hand held, and i have to say if they can develope starcraft for the ds that the touch screen would be no gimmick
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4 - Tan The Man
I don't get why you call it a gimmick. I think the touch screen is a good innention, and actually innovative in Nintendo's use of the screen in its hand-held.
5 - Matt
I think Sony at this point feels that trying to down-size the company of legendary status (in the handheld market) will win them more PSP buyers... However, when you compare quality to hype... Quality definitely sells the console/handheld as we have seen with the DS.
I dont know if Id call the DS innovations, a gimmick (like Virtual Boy: 3D pop-out graphic scapes) or something that's trying to open our horizons to a MORE INTERACTIVE and ENGAGING experience. Graphics go so far but what happens once you've hit the equivillent to reality?