14 DAY TRIAL // The handheld gaming market is currently split between two big manufacturers, Nintendo and Sony, which, through their very successful products, the DS and the PSP, are appealing to a wide variety of gamers across the world.
But while the DS has been targeting children and casual gamers, the PSP has always taken pride in being the hardcore gamer's choice when it came to playing titles on the go, whether it was God of War: Chains of Olympus or the more recent Resistance: Retribution.
As the DSi has just been launched in North America, SCEA director of hardware marketing, John Koller, saw fit to further emphasize the difference between its product and the newly released revamp of the old Nintendo DS. He went on to say that, because of the blockbuster lineup that Sony had, the DSi still wouldn't make Nintendo popular with hardcore gamers.
“If Nintendo is really committed to reaching a broader, more diverse audience of gamers beyond the "kids" market that they've always engaged, there isn't much new with the DSi to support that. Significant gamer demographic groups are being ignored, and there continues to be limited opportunities for games from external publishers to do well on the DSi. Compare that with the PSP platform, where we have many blockbuster franchises from our publishing partners launching this year, representing a wide variety of genres and targeting diverse demographics.”
Koller then went on to highlight these titles: “Games such as Rock Band Unplugged from MTV Games, Assassin's Creed from Ubisoft, Dissidia Final Fantasy from Square Enix, and Hannah Montana from Disney demonstrate the commitment that publishers have to the PSP. From our own first-party studios, we're launching unique versions of LittleBigPlanet and MotorStorm, and we're also planning a steady stream of downloadable games — both new titles and PSone classics — to add to the content that PSP owners can already purchase wirelessly through PlayStation Store.”
It seems that Sony is bent on thoroughly supporting its handheld platform this year and will do almost anything to make it clear that it will dominate the mobile market. Hopefully this will also mean more new features for the end user.