It's a sorry state of affairs when a media player like the
Zune HD has more polygon-pushing power than the latest handheld videogame consoles on the market. If rumors are to be believed, Nintendo and Sony will set things straight with their next-generation portables -- at least for a little while. We've already heard that the successor to Nintendo's DS will have
Tegra power, but the current speculation is that it'll be a
Tegra 2 chip, promising
twice the power of the current iteration. On the Sony side the PSP2 is apparently shaping up to use an offspring of the IMG PowerVR graphics found on the iPhone, said to be theoretically superior to what the DS2 will be able to achieve but costing more, being more difficult to develop for, and not shipping until sometime in 2011 -- potentially a year later than the DS2. In other words it's standard operating procedure if these rumors are to be believed, but even if there aren't any surprises in this showdown we'll be there in the front row with popcorn to watch the bloodshed.
posted Nov 16th 2009 9:58AM
There's no longer a reason to buy just a portable game system. With the ZuneHD and iPhone/iTouch, it does games and a crap load more at reasonable/comparable price.
Even with the most awesome graphics, touchscreen gaming is still touchscreen gaming. Using up screen real estate for places to put your fingers, no analog input, etc.
MAKE A CONTROLLER ACCESSORY FOR THE ZUNE HD, MICROSOFT!
I am going to have to disagree with you. While the zune and iPod touch are both great devices gaming is just a by product. Where as the ds and psp gaming is the product. Having andedicated gaming device is still a big selling point due to the fact it actually has gaming controls. It's aparent there is still a market for dedicated gaming portables by sales of he ds alone. All you have to do is look at numbers.
Zune/HD and iPhone touch comes nowhere near having the gaming experience of a PSP or a DS.. The PSP is like playing a console but on a portable scale. Plus if you mod PSP you can play every game from PS1 back to Atari and don't get me started on the DS large homebrew community too. I have yet to see ZuneHD do that and the iPhone does it only on a select few games.
You'd be insane to pick up an iPhone for gaming when you can find a PSP or DS for $99 or less...
Congratulations you just lumped in iPod touch and Zune in the same category since the "Does it have Games" checkbox gets a tick.
Typical PC fanboy.
Pal, by the time Zune gets the app delivery system and software in the hands of developers, and can convince devs to write games for a plaform with a userbase of about 500,000, then we can talk.
Till then, iPod touch and iPhone take over the world.
I am going to agree and reinforce what 7egend said. As gaming is a by-product on mobile phones, why would a developer pour their resources into something that gaming was more or less an afterthought?
No more reason to buy a portable gaming system? Either you're drunk or you're dumb.
Majority (if not all) of the games available on Apple and MS devices are nowhere near the level of the games available on the DS and the PSP. There are some good ones, yes. But there are MOST are just casual games (the ones you'd normally find on a cellphone) with better graphics. Though I do admit that the graphics and power packed in iPods/iPhones and Zunes pack quite a punch, but gaming won't be the same. I think it's extremely insensitive of people to say that touchscreen gaming is better than mashing buttons. It's pretty clear these guys aren't gamers by blood.
I can see it now. God of War, Tekken, and Guilty Gear Judgement without buttons. Oh the humanity.
Except for the fact that you don't get Nintendo or Sony games on the zune or iphone.
PCs can play games, who would buy a dedicated machine, that's stoopid!
There is aways a fanboy talking shit out of his mouth. You are way off topic.
@MIKE
Typical "macnoob who doesn't know anything about gaming" response.
Stop acting like you people know the real definition of gaming.
@Chaj
I'm going to vote you up because, certainly in the long-term, I entirely agree with you. The likelihood that we are going to be buying standalone portable gaming devices in the future is pretty low as the adoption of smartphones increases. I'm prepared to agree with those who today say that the likes of the DS and PSP are "better" gaming systems than the likes of the iPhone but I absolutely guarantee that standalone gaming systems have no future. I am, however, less certain of whether it will be a case of the DS/PSP being replaced by the likes of the iPhone/ZuneHD or the DS/PSP evolving into smartphones. On that last point I feel it could go either way, with Sony having a bit of an advantage over Nintendo since they already have a mobile telephone/smartphone business in Sony Ericsson.
Only a fool would think that iphones and the zune take the place of a full gaming handheld. I have the iPhone and some of the games are fun on a light and shallow level. It's touch screen, so it gets uninteresting to play games on rather quick.
My wife got me a ZuneHD recently too, and I love that thing. As far as gaming goes you're missing some pretty important issues with it though. First, MS is controlling what games hit for it right now, and there are few. No games that compete with those made by companies like Nintendo or Sony - such as FPS or RPG and the like. Second, it is using the touchscreen again, which still is not as dynamic as tradition controls. Yet, I am a big fan of the Tegra chips and really can't wait to see how they are pushed in the future.
There will always be a place for a full fledged gaming handheld with traditional controls. Gamers like the comfort of traditional controls and also like the options of playing deeper games that take more than touchscreen. Stop trying to declare some weird victory for the iPhone in gaming.
I own an iPhone 3G, a Nintendo DS Lite and a Sony PSP. I remain stunned at how much I use I have gotten out of the DS. It may well have looked like the gimmicky also-ran when it launched, but if you can wade through all of the chaff like the ten trillion Petz and Imagine games, it is a gaming nerd's wet dream.
That being said, the convenience of the iPhone has allowed me to get a gaming fix without having my pockets full of gadgets. Granted, I mostly play Solitaire, Bejeweled and other more casual titles, but gaming on mobile phones is only going to grow now that the current wave of devices is so adequately specified for the purpose. When articles like this talk about future dedicated gaming devices in relation to the power of a popular mobile phone, you'd be a fool to think otherwise.
I don't think we should entertain these odd notions that the Zune HD, iPhone, myriad Android phones et al are going to put Nintendo and Sony out of business, they ARE competition. As a result, I'd be interested to see what features the DS2 and PSP2 offer that reclaim ground from mobile phone gaming - especially where networked play is concerned. Personally, neither current system lived up to its potential in that respect.
"said to be theoretically superior to what the DS2 will be able to achieve but costing more, being more difficult to develop for"
Deja-vu anyone?
If someone could just manage to market an add-on for iPhones, Heros, Droids etc. that gave them full size games controllers every handheld gaming device would be obsolete.
Agreed. The only deal-breaker for me regarding gaming on a phone is the control options, or lack there-of.
On this subject I am in total disagreement. Adding controllers so that you can play the same games as before is just a rubbish idea. Buttons are not necessary but are added because of this notion that you have to have them (and as many as possible) in order to be "serious". But gaming isn't serious. A game only needs to be fun to be good so this concept of "serious" and "casual" game categories is total nonsense. You can produce fun games without buttons and which play to the strengths of the platform. Needing an add-on device is both inconvenient and, frankly, unoriginal. You need only look to your local games arcade (assuming that it still exists) to see the multitude of different control methods available to deliver fun games - sticks and buttons are not necessary.
We need imagination, not blasted buttons.
When games like Abduction use the phones motion detector then yes it is great fun, but trying to play SNES classics or Doom with a touchscreen is pretty crap really.
All I want is a controller I can afix my Hero to for "real" gaming.
I'm not saying all games need buttons but most games don't work with a touchscreen or motion detector.
Honestly, I would never carry around an accessory controller for these phones. The reason why games on your phone is so convenient is because you carry your phone around everywhere. Not because its a better distribution platform.
Even 3G iPhone games are limited to 10 MBs, any large game you need to be connected to a WiFi to download on iPhone. So as a distribution platform its also dubious, PSP games are already can be over 1GB.
The real solution is Nintendo and Sony should allow their nextDS and PSP2 to also be a phone.
All I can say is, don't try playing games on a device that weren't written for it because the experience will always be sub-par when compared to the experience of playing it on the device that it was written for. I have absolutely no intention of trying to play Doom or SNES games on something that isn't a PC or a SNES. Yes, these may be classic games but you should be looking to the present and future rather than to the past. Just because old games don't work well on a smartphone does not mean that it cannot play good games that have been written for it and which do not rely on D-pads, joysticks and buttons. It just means that you need to try something different...
There's no longer a reason to buy just a portable game system. With the ZuneHD and iPhone/iTouch, it does games and a crap load more at reasonable/comparable price.
uhhh sure there is....at last check the controls on the iPhone were shit....and I can't play Professor Layton, Crisis Core, God of War, Mario & Luigi or countless other titles on said iPhone or ZuneHD.....not to mention I didn't get an iPhone to play games on...nor my ZuneHD(when I get the 64GB model when released)....there is still PLENTY of reason....
oh yea....all those people that HATE digital distribution only models also have PLENTY of reason to get a DS or PSP
Touchscreen games are just not comparable to games that are developed for physical controls. PGR for the zune is a prefect example of how the experience just doesn't translate from the console to touch controls. If only Motorola put the D-pad on the left side of the droid......
That being said, I'm ready for Megatouch to start bringing their bar games to the iphone/zune
@J D
Project Gotham Racing is a perfect example of what is wrong with our ideas of what is necessary for gaming. Any racing game not being played with a steering wheel or equivalent is, frankly, just wrong. Yet for some reason people will argue that an stick and buttons are needed for gaming. There is no "right" controls for gaming, just the right controls for a particular game. There is no "one size fits all" solution so arguing that a system is not right for gaming because it doesn't have buttons just shows a complete lack of imagination. Any system capable of playing a game can have a good game written for it as long as the game is written for the controls available and the controls are appropriate for the game itself.
@ Kelmon
I would argue that having to tilt the screen to turn your car is also just wrong and this is why the fixed position of the screen in the ds/psp would make driving games superior on them. And using an analog stick that is attached to a fixed point also, at least to me, a more realistic interpretation of actually "steering" something.
I am not trying to argue that touch devices are the wrong devices for gaming. I agree that touchscreen gaming is a different genre than what gaming has historically been and that not all games will translate to the new format. Some games will be suited to this type of control, some won't.
PSP2 will most likely cost $250 at launch.....I dont see them going higher than that....but if it has a Second nub I would expect the damn thing to play PS2 games....can't wait for it to come out...I also how Nintendo allows for the Next DS to play the NES, SNES games that the Next Wii does much like Sony does with the PS3 & PSP......that will add value to both systems....
The only problem is that if they did put in PS2 games, they'd make it UMD-less and have you purchase everything for full price online.
@ jol
Yeah, it's like companies are all about making as much money as possible ;)
@ Chris D.
I hope the future psp2 has a second nub too, if only to get people to stop the whole "no 2nd analog=FAIL" thing.
uhhhh that wouldn't be that bad.....I mean $15 for a PS2 game is no big deal....hell FF7 is a CLASSIC on PS1 and was worth the $10 I paid for it....or was it $7.99? now I 4get....
If the PSP2 could emulate PS2 games I'd buy it day one copyright protection or not. I could wait a few weeks (or months) for the homebrew community to release mods to play whatever game I want. Plus if it could emulate PS2 that means there's a chance with tools that it could emulate Dreamcast later. Can you say Shenmue?
Anyways largest advantage handhelds have to consoles is that most of their games aren't used for online play and even if they're usually the firmware checks aren't as strenuous as the consoles. So the homebrew communities can always keep up.
I highly doubt anyone can predict what Sony is going to charge the masses for their "Premium portable gaming experience" or what ever marketing slang they're going to use to poorly justify their pricing point. The PSP Go launched at $250 which is what the original PSP sold for 4+ years ago. I'm skeptical that Sony would design a more powerful unit and release it at the same price as a PSP Go tech. I doubt we'll see anything until Sony decides to design some new proprietary media/memory format that nobody else will use.
I dont think its a sad state for portable gaming when the Zune is the most powerful unit out there. The Zune is using the latest GPU vs the 2 gaming systems that are using way older chipsets. As everyone stated the Zune and iTouch lack the tactile controls that a gaming unit has however, the Zune has these ridges on the sides of it that look like a controller add-on would snap on to. XNA is a couple years old now and people have had the ability to code for the Zunes it just needs a kick start to make it a proper gaming console. Just image if a dedicated Zune for gaming was released.
I thought sony would of learned not to use expensive hard to program for components by now. Look at the PS3 and how developers are initially programming their games for Xbox then porting them to PS3, causing the games to have better quality on xbox and not taking advantage of the PS3 full horse power.
@lothar
Actually I'd say the iPhone 3GS and 3rd gen iPod Touch are more powerful than the Zune HD. Tegra is no miracle hardware.
I'm theoretically interested in this news.
*Theoretical hardware battle looms for theoretical successors to Nintendo DS and Sony PSP
A sorry state of affairs, indeed.
Both Sony and Nintendo have dropped the ball, as far as developing a compelling next-gen handheld.
MS could slap together a $40 Zune HD controller add-on/dock and I would be all over it. It would be a game changer. Xbox Live Mobile, yummmm. This surely isn't happening anytime soon though. blah.
"Both Sony and Nintendo have dropped the ball, as far as developing a compelling next-gen handheld"
*facepalm*
Zune HD came out THIS YEAR, the DS and PSP are over 5 years old. OF COURSE their being outpaced by newer machines. News flash, next year when the DS2 launches it will make everything by comparison look laughable. Would you then argue that Microsoft and Apple "dropped the ball"?
actually, in portable hardware, Microsoft has yet to have it's balls drop.
Okay, so Sony will spend lots of money to produce a game system with lots of fancy gaming hardware that is still only average, producing very few games and charging a lot for ridiculous little things.
Nintendo will ignore hardware entirely, produce, something that is gimmicky and far underspecced, throw out the latest mario/zelda/metroid themed games, as well as a bunch of developers who want to try something unique and innovative (but ultimately not very fun), and then they add another bedroom to their fortress of money.
Its silly for these two to be going at it like this. Sony ericson can tap into the gaming sector and become a powerhouse. Its sad the politics behind not making their cell phone handheld division not work integrally with their mobile gaming division. Imagine an app store where the newest Star Wars rogue squadron is available for download.
Somehow I don't think Sony Ericsson is going to want to do that. I think they may have learned from Nokia and the N-Gage that gamers want a 100% dedicated device, not a 50-50 "meh" device.
@AH2049
I can't help thinking that this is an opinion rooted in the past. Sure, the NGage died a death but when you consider how many units products like the iPhone are shifting, the migration now to smartphones, and how many games are being sold on these things, do you really think that things will stay this way? I have no doubt that some people will prefer a dedicated device but it remains to be seen how many of them there really are and whether there are sufficient numbers to sustain a product. As much as I have fond memories of my Gameboy, I don't see any point in buying a dedicated device today and carrying around something extra in my pocket.
Perhaps Sony and Nintendo can wring another generation out but I don't see there being much life left in the dedicated device category beyond that.
@Kelmon
I can see where it sounds good on paper to have your gaming portable and phone all in one, but I still think that a company that's good at one side, probably won't do the other justice. "Jack of all trades, Master of none" comes to mind.
Companies can make powerful hardware for phones, but in the end, it's still a phone first. Thus, serious devs and support go to serious platforms.
@AH2049
Do not "real" gamers argue that the PC is the best gaming platform? That platform is about as generic as it comes and certainly is not "designed" for gaming.
At this point the DS2 will be more powerful than the Wii
Nice! Let's just hope the WiiHD is true!
haha you beat me to it! but yeah heck the tegra in the Zune HD is pretty much on par with the current Wii
Whatever. Nintendo doesn't DO hardware battles.
Why you will see them with a Tegra even when Tegra2 is out (which funny enough will be powerful enough to run the wii games probably, heck wouldn't doubt it if it could do 720 upscale output at the same time).
@Templarian:
Read the post above again... the DS2 is slated to -have- the Tegra2...
@Gir: Yeah, and Wii was slated to have a three-core G5-equivalent processor.
Don't believe Nintendo hardware rumours (at least not until like a few weeks before announcement); that one I just quoted above was a real rumour at the time. They seem to have a pretty good lockdown on such leaks, and they will definitely consider cheapness and low battery consumption ahead of other factors. Tegra (which should be reasonably cheap by the end of the year or next year or whenever this is supposed to drop) sounds a lot more likely to me than Tegra 2 (which will presumably be really expensive initially).
Or to put it another way, the CPU in the original DS was way below the fastest ARM chips available at the time (ie without changing any other aspect of the design they could've doubled the speed - but it would've cost more and the battery life would've gone down), and I'd expect the same to be true of DS2. A current Tegra at low end of clock speed range would still give it hugely more power than DS.
I'm perfectly willing to believe Nintendo are investigating and prototyping systems with Tegra 2, I just think - at least if they release in the next twelve months - they'll probably go with something cheaper.
"...said to be theoretically superior to what the DS2 will be able to achieve but costing more, being more difficult to develop for, and not shipping until sometime in 2011 -- potentially a year later than the DS2."
My question is, why the hell would Sony be looking at doing to the PSP2 exactly what it did to the PS3? It'll be even worse for them because the PSP2 won't have a bluray player, i.e. some other feature that will make it worth the extra cost.
Also, if anything can be learned from the fact that games developed across the X360 and PS3 sometimes wind up with noticeably worse graphics on the machine with superior hardware, its that raw power in a gaming device is not everything. There are cost-benefit aspects to developing for certain platforms that could leave that superior hardware largely untapped, just as many PS3 games have done to it.
I'm not trying to bash PS3 or Sony, but when I read that phrase I could not believe how out-of-touch with the gaming market Sony execs seem to be. They lost $4 billion so far on PS3 largely because it was really expensive, came out a year after its competition, and did not have a high enough attachment rate until recently for many developers to see the value in developing their games specifically for its superior graphical platform.
Good job Sony, keep headed right on this path; I'm sure your entertainment devices division has another $4 billion to lose.
Too be fair to Sony, the PSP has actually been a success for them. They made money and built up enough of an install base that they can hope to have some carryover with a PSP2. I mean, the PSP sells VERY well in Japan, managing to top the charts a few times. This isn't like the PS3, where Sony was going in with a new everything - Cell Processor, Blu-ray media, etc. etc.
the gameboy has historically been underpowered compared to the competition, yet it has dominated the market since day one. Hardware isn't everything.
Absolutely. Using the tegra would be a continuation of this strategy, seeing as all the functions (graphics, memory, in/out) are on the same die. It'll be cheaper, and give better battery life because of this, both of which are probably more important than balls-out power in a handheld.
Agreed. Sega was the perfect example. Despite them being my all-time favourite, they thought that as long as they had the best hardware the industry was theirs.
Now look at em... poor Sonic has to put up with %$@^%$ Mario.
Wait shouldn't it be DS5? As there's the original DS, DS Lite, DSi and DSi LL (cool j)/XL
there won't be a tegra based ds, Nintendo will just pull the original DS out of the closet and make it bigger, call it the DS Classis XL
:rollseyes:
Shouldn't it be PSP 5? After all, there's the PSP, the PSP Slim (2000), the PSP 3000, and the PSPgo. Durr, there won't be a new PSP; Sony will just pull the original PSP out of the closet and cut another feature.
how hard is it to approprietly identify the market your spamming?
I would use my PSP for music more readily than I would use a Zune for gaming
As long as the hardware is better then the original the ds2 will be good. People fail to understand that the thing that makes the ds great is the games. The only way anothe rhandheld can totally win is if they buy nintendo themselves.
Nintendo and their games is what makes their systems good.
Only one thing can be said: about fucking time.
I love Nintendo not because they bring the most expensive and powerful systems to the market. I love them because they never forgot how to make awesome games. Sure they have a lot of shovelware, but this is one industry where I have no qualms saying I don't tend purchase media outside of the mainstream.
Just give me my EA, Take-Two (Rockstar), Nintendo, Bungie and such. I'm more then content - My wallet on the other hand... Not so much.
i would see this as a direct result of apple (the iphone) lighting a fire under nintendo's collective ass
Ohh god no. Apple's collective ass can't put a dent into Nintendo's demographic.
Look, the iPod Touch/iPhone has games. So does the Zune HD. They're all three great multi-media devices but none will ever compare to something like that PSP for gaming. Touch controls alone detract from the actual game experience. The games on the App Store can be really great but again, there's no comparison to a real portable gaming system. A good example of this is iPhone's "Real Racing" vs PSP's Gran Turismo. HUGE difference. Yes, Gran Turismo definitely costs more but if you want a real portable gaming experience, you have to pay a bit more. In my opinion, it's completely worth it.
@tkaravou
I can't tell if your being sarcastic or not so I'll reply anyways.
Some people like buying devices that are used for one particular thing because they are tailored for doing that one thing well instead of sucking at everything. Yeah there are exceptions to the rule like the iPhone being a good cellphone and portable music/video player or the PS3 which is a great gaming device and one of the best Blu-Ray players you can get. But for the most part when it comes to handheld gaming nothing comes close to the PSP or DS on that front.
Try playing a PS1 or a N64 game on the iPhone? I rest my case...
PC's can play games but some people don't know the ins and out of a computer to keep their computer up with the hardware curve. I honestly thing it's good for the industry because more casual gamers can play too or people that would be too intimidated with PC hardware.
It's things like consoles and handhelds that helped the gaming industry grow to where it is today.
"Try playing a PS1 or a N64 game on the iPhone?"
Moving quickly past the point that you didn't ask a question, why would you try to play a PS1 or N64 game on the iPhone? As much as I loved R-Type Delta on the PS1, I have absolutely no wish to try playing it on an iPhone for the simple reason that it wasn't written for it. We don't need old games on new systems that were written for old systems, what we need are new games that were written for our news systems. It really doesn't matter which new system we are talking about.
Typical of Sony using hardware that's more expensive and difficult to develop for. I love my PSP 3000 (even though I don't use it as much as used to) but come on Sony this is gettin rediculous.
More expensive and difficult to develop for AND more powerful. The PS3's CBE chip won't be truly outdated for years - the graphics card on the other hand, is already rather dated, but there's no reason that an updated CBE couldn't be used in a future PS4.
But the question is what good is that if it takes developers 3+ years to get out of it what they want. I'm not going to lie I will be buying a PS3 Slim this Christmas but it really says something when multi-platform game devs say that the Xbox 360 is much easier to program and develop for than the PS3. Sony did the same thing with the Emotion Engine. I understand the importance of using new technology to move the industry but when Devs find it more cost efficient to work with what they know (Xbox 360s PPC hardware/Xbox 1's Pentium 3) than why not use that?
iPhone + Actual game controls = Print even more money.
Isn't the PSP2 indicative of how Sony products always are. PS3...Cell processor...supposedly more powerful than 360 but hella harder to develop for. Normal Sony affair.
Well, I buy Nintendo handheld for Nintendo games. There are just something about their games that no one seemed to be able to replicate on other handhelds.
I tend to find the comments against this article indicative of why I find games today so boring. There are so many people here advocating that games should be played in the same way as they have been since the 1970s, that joysticks and buttons are in some way mandatory to producing a "serious " game and that any gamer worth their salt wouldn't touch a system without them. They are not. If you insist on keeping the same controls and just uprating the graphics in each "generation" then you are doomed to keep playing the same games as you have been. I would rather give up playing games entirely than continue to keep playing the same variations of games.
No, the main point isn't that they don't want touch screen gaming...
But the fact that most of the controls that REQUIRE sum type of button press and analog control (whether physical or touchscreen)...it takes up 50% of the iPhone screen. So your gaming view is cut in half.
That's not good no matter how you look at it.
If they could make it to where you have full view and a very effective control system...then bring it. Until then...DS and PSP will reign supreme...
Well, indeed, that continues my point. Games don't need buttons, real or virtual. In much the same way as existing games developers have problems coming up with things to do with the Wiimote because it is not a joypad, so they seem to have trouble coming up with games for touchscreen devices that don't resort to the "tried and trusted" option of making the user press buttons. I absolutely agree that games that dedicate large expanses of screen space to virtual buttons are not the way forwards. As I have said in a number of comments already, what is necessary is imagination and there are enough examples of good games that don't need on-screen buttons to show that it can be done. Developers as well as gamers need to come out of their "comfort zone" in order to experience something new and interesting.
@Kelmon: Um, I don't know if you noticed yet, but DS already has a touchscreen - sure, resistive with stylus rather than capacitative, but that works better for precise gaming controls - and it's seen plenty of creative use over the last five years.
I think a large part of the problem with phone games is about what kind of games people want to play on their phones.I agree the input hardware limitations are overblown (there are plenty of DS games you can play entirely with touchscreen, many of which are better than anything that's released on iphone). People don't seem to want to play full-scale phone games for several other reasons:
- battery usage; if your game system batteries run out, whatever, you can't play games for a bit. If that's your phone battery, you're out of contact. Not such a problem if modern phones had batteries that comfortably lasted for three days or so. They don't.
- software price; full-length games cost money to develop and $5, or even $10, isn't going to work as a price point. Phone gamers aren't conditioned for a $30 price point.
- hardware price (the opposite); what's an iphone cost these days including the contract, still somewhere well north of $1,000? Sure, some parents are willing to pay that for their kids, but others aren't. Kids are a big part of the market for portable gaming.
Indeed, the DS does have a touchscreen and it can be used to great effect but I think it is fair to say that a lot of the games for the DS still rely on the D-Pad and buttons. That there are good games for the DS that can be played almost entirely with the stylus only not only shows that the D-Pad and buttons are not necessary (contrary to the opinion expressed in this article's comments) but that smartphones with only a touchscreen can certainly be competitive.
With respect to some of the other points, I agree that the smartphone isn't there yet and that battery life is an issue. However, I do not expect these to be issues for much longer, which is why I think Nintendo and Sony can only get one more generation of dedicated devices. What I do find odd is that you would consider price and development costs to be an "issue". The iPhone has shown itself to be tremendously democratising because anyone, pending Apple's rather capricious approval, can produce a game. You don't need to be a "development house" and you don't need to worry about publishing costs - anyone can do it. Some people are making a lot of money from doing this because the overheads are so low so I don't see the low average game prices being issue. Perhaps this will be a problem for the big development houses that do have high overheads already but I don't believe that these companies produce any better games than the rest of us.
Finally, the beauty of the iPhone platform is the backup that it has from the iPod Touch for those people who want access to the games but don't want the cost of the monthly contract. I imagine that Microsoft will be in the same position if it ever produces a Zune Smartphone. Again, the iPod Touch is hardly what you would call a dedicated gaming device, although I will concede that it has quite a lot in common with at least the PSP in terms of its capabilities, but it does enable you to "upgrade" to the full iPhone later when you want to and you can bring along all your games/applications.
I'd just like to note that I don't want these comments to necessarily be a trumpeting for the Apple iPhone. Rather, I use this as an example of what can be done with a smartphone platform to compete with Sony and Nintendo to the point where I do not see a dedicated gaming device to be a viable option in the future. Device convergence is what the customer wants and it is what they are getting right now.
Well, I dont' want to get into what type of gaming is meant for which device and whats better, not the point of the engadget post. Though I will say this: For games that cost $30+ bucks, I'd want a dedicated gaming platform that I know will handle it well. For casual gaming on $5 games, the touch-based quickie games (like Tower games) on iPHones/Zunes are great. Doesn't need dedicated gaming hardware. And there are huge markets for both.
Now, the Tegra 2 would be great for the DS2. Though, I kind of like the 2D gaming on the DS, don't care for much 3D stuff. But that is only my preference. DS2 is simple: Have the screens slightly larger (not XL size), perhaps widescreen it a bit, a bit higher resolution, offer touch on both screens, and the Tegra 2. More built-in storage and SDXC slot. My only concern with Tegra is having a good battery life. Will it compare to the current DSi or DSLite?
PSP2- I wonder if they could figure out someway to put a low-power, pared down Cell Processor in it. I doubt it, so the only thing I wonder about is if they will stick with UMD or go with downloads only? Also, Sony should really think about putting a second stick on it. Seems every gamer wants it.
Yeah, because Professor Layton and Hotel Dusk needed alot of polygon-pushing power to be fun.
Can I please just have dual analog sticks on a portable gaming device?! Though faster processors are certainly nice, I'll never be able to fully enjoy (at least to my preferences) some on-the-go Halo/Call of Duty/other FPS action with the current control options.
I would have thought that Sony learned their lesson with the Ps3. For all the hype about the cell processor, their really isn't a noticeable difference between the graphics on Ps3 and the 360. MAYBE if you had them side by side you MIGHT be able to see it, but really when it comes down to it nothing to be concerned about. So they develop a system that has a negligible graphics advantage that takes longer to get out, more expensive to make, and more difficult to program for...really? Sony really has fallen from its glory days. I wish they would be less concerned about difficult to program for graphics that make no difference and worry more about good games.
Thouch screen gaming on the iPhone and DS aren't always equally comparable to each other.
Specifically, the DS is able to dedicate it's touch screen to input and it's upper screen to output. The iPhone must dedicate one screen to both input and output, that can make a huge difference in whether or not touch control is suitable to a specific title.
I'd be seriously impressed of a platformer like Yoshi's Island DS would even be remotely possible on a system with no buttons.