Was it? vs. the gameboy line? (I honestly dunno)
The classification of handhelds as different to consoles is part simple nomenclature, part substantiative analysis. Obviously, a battery powered portable device is going to appeal to different people than one that required AC power and a TV. On the other hand, would you try to say that laptops and desktops don’t compete with each other?
Exactly! Handhelds and consoles are seperate markets, sure there’s overlap, perhaps lots of overlap but if someone is looking for a home console they’re not likely to be talked into a DS and vice versa. It’s a about the portability vs. the higher quality presentation.
Slap a 1080 display and give it the same horsepower as the home systems and yeah then a portable will compete with consoles. Until that happens they’re different devices with different uses.
A more apt comparison would be a PC vs a handheld.
I disagree, but think that the console <-> handheld relationship certainly comes somewhere in between the PC <-> Laptop one and PC <-> PDA one. I think it’s a little closer to the former than the latter, you obviously think otherwise.
You know, I always thought the consumer is always the winner in any fierce competitive market.
Just sayin.
Count me as seeing it more like the latter. My laptop can do almost everything my desktop can do, but my Pocket PC doesn’t even come close. There may be programs designed for the Pocket PC that are like the programs I use on my desktop/laptop but they really don’t compare.
And that’s basically the case when you compare consoles to handhelds. Graphically, handhelds are no where near as powerful as the current consoles. It’s not even close.
Let’s put it this way: many a laptop can be rightfully billed as a desktop replacement. I can’t imagine anyone with a straight face saying that any of the current handhelds could similarly replace a current home console.
Amen. Definitely true. When I heard about Sony’s HOME, it made me smile. I don’t own a PS3 and don’t intend to. But I just know that this puts more pressure on the 360 and Wii to pony up my goodies for gamers. And that works for me.
You forgot to mention that PCs sold 66.7 MILLION in the 4th quarter. http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,129656-c,researchreports/article.html
Suck that you console lamers. Freecell is again the biggest selling game for the 48th quarter running.
Recommendation: Please make this your schtick. Acting as the in-house PC fanboi has a lot of comic promise, actually.
As opposed to a Sony Fanboi
But that would be the joy of it. We had K0NY for awhile. And while Jazar is a defender, he’s too damn reasonable (a compliment really). And Dave Long is not as bad as people make him out to be.
I just think a really rabid PC fanboi would be a hoot in many a thread.
“Gears of War just sold what? So that means it’s sold only a FRACTION of Minesweeper. Suck on that!”
I try to put at least a reminder about how awesome PCs are compared to those kids entertainment products people call consoles but it seems like those consolebots don’t seem to have much fight in them, the cowards!
Anyways, if ppl are justifying mentioning handhelds in a console thread, then IMHO PCs deserve to also be in there. Shit, why don’t we throw in mobile phones and PDAs as well.
Minesweeper is more of a game than the non-game shovelware that forms most of the DSs library.
Doing a good job so far!
Now hold on as far as a handheld not being able to be a console replacement, I’ll admit that the DS is very underpowered vs a playstation. The DS plays emergent games very well but the more complex games would probably suffer in quality to say the least. However the DS does have some games I’d never expect to see on an underpowered console like FF III, and Metroid Prime Hunters. Also the PSP plays games that look as good and play as good as the last gen’s consoles but no one would say that the PSP and DS aren’t in direct competition.
I honestly remember that for my birthday in 2003 I was at best buy trying to choose between a gameboy advance and an X-box. The gameboy won out that time and I ended up getting an X-box on my birthday the next year. I imagine that scenario gets played out thousands of times a year. How many little kids put a 360 or PS3 on their Christmas lists with the DS as a backup and ended up getting a DS?
I think you make a solid point. I would agree that they’re in the same market, certainly and consumers often make a choice between the two.
But I don’t think alone makes a handheld device a console. Look at it this way - no one would ever say, “Guess who the winner of the next-gen DVD format wars is? It’s… the DVD!”
And yet, as with your example, we can imagine a consumer putting on his Xmas list a hi-def DVD player (HD-DVD/blu-ray camps start your engines). And we can also imagine that same consumer instead getting just a regular old DVD player. Maybe it has progressive scan. Maybe it’s as high-end as DVD players get. But whatever it is, it’s NOT a next-gen DVD player.
Just because consumers have a choice between similar products in the market place does not make those products equal.
In sum, I’d agree that they compete with one another for consumer dollars, but it’s a stretch to say that either the PSP or the DS are a console, by any stretch.
If you still don’t believe me, try giving a handheld to an excited neice or nephew (or your own children if you are old enough) after you’ve promised to buy them “one of the consoles” on the market. See how they react and report back.