14 DAY TRIAL // In the last three weeks, the gaming industry has been flooded with official news about the Nintendo 3DS and Sony's Next Generation Portable (aka the PSP2).
Seeing as how both devices are getting ready to be launched this year, 2011 should become a landmark moment for portable gaming as a whole.
In a time when full pledged home consoles are very expensive to research, develop, manufacture and market, it seems that portable gaming is becoming more and more important, especially as the current generation of home devices, are here to stay, at least according to the companies behind them.
As such, the announcements of the 3DS and the NGP are coming at a great time, especially since sales of their current iterations, the DS and PSP, are on a descending trend.
Looking at both devices from afar, you can clearly see the direction where the two companies are going.
First, Nintendo is at it once more, betting on a big feature that may make or break the device: glasses-free 3D, just like it did with the Wii and the DS before it.
If it's pulled off successfully, the 3DS can actually become a game changer, in terms of portable entertainment, as it doesn't require any glasses or accessories and puts the 3D tech into the hands of mainstream consumers.
If not, then the 3DS can become a failure just like the Virtual Boy, one of Nintendo's previous attempts at getting 3D technology into the mainstream market, which is something the company doesn't want to remember anytime soon.
Sony, on the other hand, isn't betting on a certain feature for its Next Generation Portable, instead relying just on pure hardware power to deliver an experience similar to that on the PlayStation 3 home console, as it did with the original PSP many years ago.
Thursday's tech demos for the NGP (aka PlayStation Portable 2) included things like Epic Games' Unreal Engine, Konami's Metal Gear Solid 4 or Sony's own Uncharted franchise, all designed to showcase just how powerful the NGP will actually be.
As you can see, two different approaches for two different portable consoles, which may or may not result in success.
It's still too early to tell where things will be going, but it seems that portable gaming is going to become an integral part of our everyday lives.
The Nintendo 3DS is set to arrive on February 27, in Japan, March 25, in Europe and March 27 in North America.
Sony's Next Generation Portable has yet to receive concrete release dates, but it's safe to say that the company will launch it around the end of the year, just in time for the holiday season.