Microsoft execs comment on PlayStation Portable

[GwymWeepa]

N-gage, Zodiac, who are they? Competitors.

Ngage = cell phone that can play games (just like all those other cell phones out there.)
Zodiac = handheld that can play ports of PC games.

I don't think you can really call those two competitors. Ngage is a phone targetted at gamers from nokia. It not strictly a game system. Zodiac is even worse IMO. As it doesn't have any developer support and can only play ported emulators/arcade games.

in reality, these are different beasts compared to the GBA. Btw, the wonder swan is officially dead now, is my understanding.

Well the n-gage in particular tries to market itself as a handheld, it looks just like a gba, and its phone functions seem secondary, especially considering how you had to use the first n-gage to speak to anyone. Its a competitor, and a pathetic one at that, but that's my whole point, just because you have competition doesn't mean you have competition LOL. There are competitors without a chance and ones that are serious threats, the gameboy line hasn't had a serious competitor since the gamegear, but much like Nintendo lost marketshare during the 16 bit wars despite being alone during the NES generation, Nintendo can easily lose marketshare to the PSP, despite being "alone" with the gba.

 

[GwymWeepa]

I have to agree with GwymWeepa


ONce upon a time nintendo had the lions share of the market .

Sega came and split the market.

Then sony came and dominated that market.


The moral of the story is that at any point in time a console can come out that will topple sony .

Perhaps the psp will be the very reason sony is toppled .


Perhaps the psp will topple nintendo.


Perhaps because of the psp , nintendo will loose its grip on the hand held market but in doing so sony looses its grip on the console market.


So many possibiltys . Guess we will find out soon enough

Next-generation will be by far the most interesting one to date.

 

[Spidermate]

N-gage, Zodiac, who are they? Competitors.

Ngage = cell phone that can play games (just like all those other cell phones out there.)
Zodiac = handheld that can play ports of PC games.

I don't think you can really call those two competitors. Ngage is a phone targetted at gamers from nokia. It not strictly a game system. Zodiac is even worse IMO. As it doesn't have any developer support and can only play ported emulators/arcade games.

in reality, these are different beasts compared to the GBA. Btw, the wonder swan is officially dead now, is my understanding.

It is not dead because the thing is still selling. And even if it was, it was still RECENT competition with the Game Boy. So, what's your point?

 

[Qroach]

Nintendo never achieved 100% dominance of any market, with the exception of the portable market.

There's a reason companies keep failing as they try to enter the portable market. It's because nintendo has been there so long, and has built up such a brand that it's hard to chip away at a portion of the market they currently own. Nintendo never owned 100% of the console market. they always shared it (with small and sometiems big competiors) they have never had a big competitor in handhelds with the exception of sega, and that was over 10 years ago.

 

[Qroach]

It is not dead because the thing is still selling. And even if it was, it was still RECENT competition with the Game Boy. So, what's your point?

for all you know it's on clearence. Dreamcast was on clearence and still sold many units despite that it wasa dead console. btw I've never even played or seen a wonder swan. That's part of my point. none of the units you mentioned managed to take any market share away from nintendo. I dont consider it "competing" unless they manage to do that.

 

[Spidermate]

I have to agree with GwymWeepa
ONce upon a time nintendo had the lions share of the market .

Sega came and split the market.

Then sony came and dominated that market.


The moral of the story is that at any point in time a console can come out that will topple sony .

Perhaps the psp will be the very reason sony is toppled .


Perhaps the psp will topple nintendo.


Perhaps because of the psp , nintendo will loose its grip on the hand held market but in doing so sony looses its grip on the console market.


So many possibiltys . Guess we will find out soon enough

I agree.

 

[GwymWeepa]

Nintendo never achieved 100% dominance of any market, with the exception of the portable market.

There's a reason companies keep failing as they try to enter the portable market. It's because nintendo has been there so long, and has built up such a brand that it's hard to chip away at a portion of the market they currently own. Nintendo never owned 100% of the console market. they always shared it (with small and sometiems big competiors) they have never had a big competitor in handhelds with the exception of sega, and that was over 10 years ago.

When did they have 100% of the handheld market, iirc there were still tiger toy handhelds, those simple lcd games similar to game&watch technology back in the original gameboy days. I see the point you're trying to make, but the NES' dominance of the 8 bit generation was pretty severe, similar to the dominance they've had over the handheld market, though I do acknowledge that their strangle hold on the handheld market has pretty much been since day one, when they reshaped it in their own image with gameboy. BUT, that is no guarantee they'll retain the near monopolistic marketshare they've enjoyed thus far, especially with a massive company like Sony, who has had great success in the console arena and has made a name for itself in the videogames arena as strong as Nintendo's itself. Considering the stark contrast in power between the DS and PSP, Sony has a great chance at stealing marketshare Nintendo had once taken for granted.

 

[cthellis42]

A bit of a different story with the consoles. Sony wasn't the only competitor in the console market. Nintendo is the "only" competitor in the handheld market.

Not exactly--they're just the only ones identified as "that type of machine" right now. They still share the space with innumerous PDA's and other equipment--just no other major-named portable consoles. And in the mainstream console space itself, though the situation was different, Microsoft was still entering as an unknown into a market where one long-runner died out, the longest-runner was still in, and the PS1 was very dominant.

Of course that's the POINT--dominance in many markets matters little, as it can always change. (Not so much in the Windows market itself, of course. There IS no available comparison to that one.)

The iPod point still stands, though. Hehe...

It's still simply silly. That is all.

 

[jarrod]

Nintendo never owned 100% of the console market. they always shared it (with small and sometiems big competiors) they have never had a big competitor in handhelds with the exception of sega, and that was over 10 years ago.

I'd say Nintendo's NES domination was comparable to their Game Boy empire. People forget how entrenched Nintendo really was in the mid to late 1980s, they had publishers, retail, media and consumers all at their mercy.

Also, WonderSwan was looking like a viable competitior early on, especially with full Square and Sony backing. To bad neither Mattel nor SCEA made good on their promises to bring it to America.

 

[Johnny Awesome]

Personally I think the PSP can chip away at Nintendo's marketshare slowly over time if Sony handles things properly. Kind of like the way MS is chipping away at Sony in the console space.

 

[gleemax]

Sony can't afford to lose money on the PSP like Microsoft lost with the Xbox. Even Microsoft can't afford to lose that kind of money on Xenon.

The PS1 and PS2 were wildly successful. Sony is accustomed to domination in the console arena. How will they react if the PSP is only moderately successful?

 

[PC-Engine]

NES and SMS were released at roughly the same time.

Genesis and TG-16 were released at roughly the same time.

SNES was late to the party, THAT is why they gave up marketshare. However eventually the SNES caught up and surpassed the Genesis anyway.

Even though PSP has a good price, I don't think it's going to be selling huge numbers to take a large chunk of the portable market because Nintendo has the NDS to hold most of their loyal GBA fanbase over until the GBA2 comes out. If Nintendo didn't release NDS then yeah they would be giving away marketshare, but that's not the case unfortunately for SONY.

 

[passerby]

But judging from the comments of MS execs, MS is scared.

Pretty good point, though 'scared' is maybe too strong a word.

 

[Sonic]

All right, let's get this thread back on topic. No more dbeating about marketshare from yesteryear's consoles in this thread. Make a new one if you wish to continue the debate.

 

[Tuttle]

Kind of like the way MS is chipping away at Sony in the console space.

 

[Deepak]

Kind of like the way MS is chipping away at Sony in the console space.

I love Tuttle's philosophy, "an emoticon is worth a thousand words"....

 

[ultimate_end]

Kind of like the way MS is chipping away at Sony in the console space.

indeed.


Anyway.
I'm not sure that Macrosoft is scared scared. They will be betting on PC game semi-exclusivity for XBox2 (by way of XNA). They will be betting on amazing graphics (to most people's eyes). They will also be betting on antipicipation for Halo3 launch that will almost certainly coincide with PS3's North American Launch.
This is all unless Sony try to pull a Nintendo style "Connectivity!" gag of course . In that case Macrosoft better pack their bags right now! LOL

But I do agree a little with those who believe PSP will affect XBox2 launch, if only it is due to lost sales to Sony fans that can't afford both. The real impact of this remains to be seen however.

BTW Peter Moore is a moron anyway.