FUTURE OF THE
HANDHELD MARKET
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For years Nintendo have been enjoying a de facto monopoly on the handheld
console market. No one managed to seriously threaten the Gameboy, be it
the Gamegear from Sega, the Lynx from Atari or the NeoGeo Pocket from SNK,
not to mention weaker competitors. Today even the powerful Korean-made
GP32 stands no chance on the mainstream market due to the lack of
financial weight of its conceptors. This may change in a near future, as
the market for that kind of devices and associated games is becoming
increasingly attractive for a number of big players, such as Nokia or
Sony, but also for some smaller firms. Below is a quick overview of some
of the forthcoming consoles.
- Nokia N-Gage
The Finnish world leader for mobile phones is planning to release a game
device -that could be also used as a phone- during the fourth quarter of
2003. The emphasis is put on wireless multiplayer games, thanks to its
Bluetooth and GSM/GPRS features. Technically it is based around a 104 Mhz
ARM processor, the display size is 176x208 pixels in 4096 colours for a
maximum frame rate of 30 fps. From a software point of view, it uses
Symbian OS and the architectur e of the Series 60 phones. Games will be
provided on MMC memory cards, usually of 8 Mb. Unfortunately professionals
of the game industry who were presented to the console earlier in the year
seem to be unimpressed, partly due to some design flaws (changing a game
cartridge involves removing the back of the unit and taking out the
battery), partly due to its high retail price ($299) and partly due to the
fact the games presented so far are generally unexciting, suffering of low
frame rate or overall poor quality.
- Tapwave Helix
Tapwave was founded in 2001 by former Palm engineering and marketing
leaders, and they plan to release a handheld console using PalmOS at the
end of 2003. The current specifications are quite impressive, including a
Motorola ARM9 processor, an ATI graphics accelerator, a 480x320 pixels 3.8
inch screen, an analog controller and Bluetooth wireless networking. Like
the N-Gage, the price should be around $300, which is much more than the
GBA, so Tapwave may price itself out of the market. Moreover one can have
some concerns about the lack of financial/marketing power of Tapwave
compared to Nintendo, which could jeopardize the future of the console.
- Sony PSP
The Japanese giant just announced at the latest E3 in May they will
release a handheld console at at the end of 2004. From the few details
Sony have made public yet, it seems it will be more powerful than a PS1
(near PS2-quality graphics were announced) and the storage format will be
a 60mm optical disc based in a Mini-Disc-style casing, holding up to 1.8
Gb of data! Resolution should be 480x272 in a 16/9 ratio. In top of games,
the device should be able to offer up to 2 hours of video at a near
DVD-quality and numerous other uses, considering it will be connectable to
the forthcoming PS3 and uses Memory Sticks (such as the ones used for
digital cameras) rather than the usual memory cards...
Although I would like an alternative to the GBA emerging soon in order to
force Nintendo to adopt a saner pricing, I have the feeling it will not
happen before Sony enter the market. Both Nokia and Tapwave devices won't
probably be able to compete directly with Nintendo, due both to their high
price (more than twice than a GBA) and their lack of experience in the
gaming market. But even Sony's handheld will probably be sold at a higher
price than the Gameboy, considering its impressive specs...
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