And the Winner Is…? Apple vs. Nintendo vs. Sony

The Nintendo DS Lite and PlayStation Portable have been fighting the secondary console wars in the handheld market. Nintendo has a substantial lead, with a massive user base and large variety of games. The PSP is more for the hardcore gamer who wants to both game and use the video and music playback capabilities of the PSP. But now, with Apple slyly entering the gaming market via the iPhone, who will be the handheld leader?

Handhelds are moving past gaming, nearly requiring extra features like web browsing or chat. Nintendo has shown its strength with the Game Boy and its descendants. Sony entered portable gaming in 2005 and made some headway, but not enough to claim success. Apple never officially announced that the iPhone was a gaming system, relying more on the existing user base who would upgrade from their iPods to the iPhone. Now, with around thirteen million iPhones on the market, the idea of just one game being mass-downloaded could mean huge dollars for developers and Apple.

Nintendo

The DS Lite is the weakest system in pure processing power, but on the creative side, it defeats both the PSP and iPhone. The huge variety in games, including ones that do not utilize the touch screen, is substantial. But for every excellent first-party game, there have to be sixty quickly released token touch screen titles. Taking cues from Apple when they redesigned the DS, the DS Lite is the slick portable system for the casual gamer. Many big name titles are remakes, pulling gamers’ history back to the present and cash into Nintendo’s pockets.

The DS Lite was revolutionary in the application of the touch pad and two screens. With the DSi, Nintendo will continue to release positive first-party games that apply the new technology, and other developers will assist in increasing the number of games, but possibly not in quality. The built-in cameras take away one notch from the iPhone’s belt.

Nintendo will always have strong support, and as long as they keep releasing Mario, Link, and company, they cannot fall too far.

Sony

The PlayStation Portable should have been a massive blow to Nintendo’s handheld crown. A system that was more powerful than the DS, had a true widescreen aspect ratio, and could play video/audio as well as browse the internet. What went wrong? Substandard game releases, non-existent video format support, a wireless-B connection in the age of wireless-G (and now N), and a flash memory format that was as expensive as games.

PSP’s first year was a difficult one, with Sony suffering growing pains. The release of the PSP-2000 showed that Sony was still supporting the PSP, at least in the hardware, and the PSP-3000 continued that trend. But where the PSP should be shining—the games—they are not. The must-have titles release too far apart, and the PS3-PSP connectivity is non-existent. Remote Play is a nice feature, but widely useless.

Sony needs more support for this system and to release games that are designed around the PSP’s architecture and take advantage of the processing power it possesses. Sony’s best-selling PSP bundle includes a game over twenty-one months old. There is a problem with that.

The PlayStation Portable still has a chance to make a solid dent in the handheld gaming arena before Sony has to design and market a new PSP. Maybe the marketing team will come up with a better name to attribute to it. My suggestion: Sony PlayStation, Don’t Abandon Us.

Apple

Seriously, the iPhone and its little brother, the iPod Touch, are not gaming systems. They were not designed with that function primarily in mind, and while the internal components are stronger than the PSP, it is hard to believe the gaming-functionality hype around the Apple duo. Primarily, the lack of tactile buttons is the main concern. The touch screen is a great hardware application, browsing the internet, scrolling through music and movies, and the occasional free software application from the App Store is fun; but there are many genres that will not translate to the screen of the iPhone.

Apple is not a game publisher and would have to rely on others for game development. At best, only casual games would work. But as the video game market has shown, casual gaming is big business and continues to grow. Apple was very intelligent by not advertising the gaming potential and continued to flaunt the iPhone for its 3G network and iPod Touch as a revolution to the iPod family. Apple knew that people would rush to the new products and buy in bulk. With iPod synonymous with MP3 and iPhone with cell phones, the Apple market is bigger than that of Nintendo supporters, and probably overlaps.

Just one game being downloaded by six of the thirteen-million iPhone users equals bank for Apple. The iPhone and iPod Touch will probably never be formally recognized as gaming systems, more like extra features. But just in terms of profit, Apple is in a great position.

Nintendo will continue to succeed through supply and demand, firsthand innovation, and secondhand redesign. They showed that graphics were not the primary feature for games, but applications. Sony has a lot of work to gain ground and show its supporters that it is not letting the PSP die. They lost the possible advantage early on, and need to start getting better releases for the system and connect it to the PS3. Apple will continue to be Apple, a front-runner in profit and design. With developers excited at the possible applications of the iPhone and the processing power underneath, Apple has gained another source of revenue.

As of now, Nintendo remains the winner in portable consoles, and I do not see that changing anytime soon.