Predict the future of traditional handhelds.

[GwymWeepa]

I keep hearing rumors of the Wii hardware designed for a dual purpose, to be both the successor to the Gamecube and the DS to boot. This got me thinking about the future of tranditional handhelds (let's exclude cell phones, pda's, non traditional gaming devices). Is this really the direction Nintendo will go? What direction will Sony go? What will become of the psp? Will MS ever join the race?

I've decided to make the thread to hear your opinions about what you think the future will be for traditional handhelds, give me your thoughts.

 

[Rolf N]

Handhelds won't go away. I don't know where you've heard your rumors but you just can't play your home console while riding a train, no matter who made it, so the notion that Wii will replace the DS is silly.

 

[pc999]

Well given the todays sucess of DS I think they will not want to replace it anytime soon.

 

[Arwin]

If wireless data traffic ever becomes something cheap and dependable, then the whole 'location free anywhere' thing could be an interesting development. Basically, a new version of the PSP could then be something like a sixaxis controller with a PSP screen, and PS3 games could just stream to that screen instead. Of course, not all games are going to be suitable for this, but a lot of them might work quite well and you'd probably get certain E-distribution type games that are equally well playable on both platforms ...

 

[Corwin_B]

The DS was supposed to be Nintendo's "Third Pillar", in addition to GBA and Cube. Now, the DS is wildly successful, the Cube is being phased out (after suffering a long, horrible, gameless agony) for the Wii, and the GBA still has some life in it in the NA (and perhaps EU) market. I can see Nintendo using Broadway's touted power advantage for a "traditional" handheld in the GBA line, one perhaps able to play NGC disks. Something like the great mockup that circulated on the Intertron a while ago :
http://www.engadget.com/2005/05/05/portable-nintendo-gamecube/

If something like that was released, perhaps it would have additional features in addition to being a portable NGC : wireless, Flash memory for downloading VC games from the Wii, Internet browsing, included accelerometer...

 

[JohnH]

If wireless data traffic ever becomes something cheap and dependable, then the whole 'location free anywhere' thing could be an interesting development. Basically, a new version of the PSP could then be something like a sixaxis controller with a PSP screen, and PS3 games could just stream to that screen instead. Of course, not all games are going to be suitable for this, but a lot of them might work quite well and you'd probably get certain E-distribution type games that are equally well playable on both platforms ...

I'd say thats pretty much limited to turn based rts and raw motion video due to latency issues...

John.

 

[Xmas]

Handhelds won't go away. I don't know where you've heard your rumors but you just can't play your home console while riding a train, no matter who made it, so the notion that Wii will replace the DS is silly.

I think the idea is not that Wii will replace the DS, but that the Wii hardware platform will make it into a handheld succeeding the DS in a few years.

 

[Rolf N]

I think the idea is not that Wii will replace the DS, but that the Wii hardware platform will make it into a handheld succeeding the DS in a few years.

Yeah, that I could see happening, in terms of the chips inside the device. The gaming experience will probably always be a bit different. Eg you can't have elaborate controls on a portable you're supposed to hold in both hands.

 

[Corwin_B]

And the successor to the DS :

Seriously, though, it's easy to imagine a successor to the GBA, but I'm not sure what a successor to the DS would be like... Incremental upgrades are possible, I suppose (extra functionalities, better resolution, better CPU/GPU/RAM, internal storage...), but I don't imagine what Nintendo could do that would make the impact of the DS (or Wii) features.

 

[Rolf N]

And the successor to the DS :

Seriously, though, it's easy to imagine a successor to the GBA <...>

That mockup is interesting in that it totally misses the obvious reason for the DS design.

The GBA SP is a clam-shell design. People love those because they feel safe. You won't scratch your screen if it's inside the closed unit in your pocket.
Witness the Gameboy Micro which totally failed, despite being an improvement over the GBA SP in several aspects (input ergonomics, much better screen, headphone jack built-in).

OTOH the GBA SP is almost uncomfortably narrow. The original GBA, with the screen right in the middle of the controls, was wider and easier to control.

Now imagine a few Nintendo designers sitting in a room with a plastic mockup of a wider, more ergonomic redesign of the GBA SP.
"What a terrible waste of space."
"Yeah. Look at that. Might as well stick another screen there or something. *chuckle*"

<...> but I'm not sure what a successor to the DS would be like... Incremental upgrades are possible, I suppose (extra functionalities, better resolution, better CPU/GPU/RAM, internal storage...), but I don't imagine what Nintendo could do that would make the impact of the DS (or Wii) features.

Yeah. Maybe they make the second screen a touchscreen as well and change some buttons around, but IMO it will be difficult to bring another significant change to the format.

 

[GwymWeepa]

As someone mentioned earlier, yeah what was meant was that the chipset used in the Wii could make it into Nintendo's next handheld.