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Gameboy Wars 24 May 2004 Both Sony and Nintendo demonstrated their next generation handheld game systems at the Electronic Entertainment Expo in Los Angeles in mid-May. The two products are fundamentally different. Based on early information, I’d give Nintendo a slight edge in this next round of game wars. Regardless of the winner, the next couple of years are going to be eventful for anyone interested in videogames -- as players, developers, investors, and parents. Sony’s PSP provides the latest and greatest technology in a long thin package. Here’s a picture:
Sony’s Playstation Personal (PSP)
The PSP not only plays games, it can also play movies and music. Sony sees it as the “walkman for the 21st Century.” Nintendo’s DS is a clamshell device shaped like an inch-thick checkbook:
Nintendo DS
All it does is play games – it has no music or video features. But it will be playing games that are unlike any on the market, because the DS comes with two screens rather than one. One of them will be a touch screen. It will also have a wireless connection that allows gamers to play with up to 16 other DS users in the area.
There are no existing games written for two screens. Nintendo is creating a new gaming platform, a development as significant as the development of “side-scrolling games” in 1985.
The two approaches are so different, it’s hard to predict who will win. The PSP is like a luxury automobile; the DS more like a hybrid. Still, the two systems will compete in the same market, one currently dominated by Nintendo, and the last time Sony entered the game market with a new platform, it scored a huge hit with the Playstation.
I applied the four factor model of innovation success to the information we have about the two products to see if this could give us any insight about which product will be a winner.
Sony PSP
While Sony’s performance sets a new standard in the handheld market, the price is more than three times that of anything currently available. The newest Gameboy Advance retails for $100; Sony is planning to sell the PSP for $300.
On the “low barriers” side, the product is easy to use, but less easy to buy. The PSP provides the familiar interface of Sony’s previous Playstation products. But the system will use a new proprietary mini-optical format called the “Universal Media Device (UMD)”. The lack of games immediately available on the UMD creates barriers to purchase.
Nintendo DS The initial four factor model for Nintendo’s DS demonstrates how different the approach is from the PSP. Nintendo is targeting the DS price to be below $200 in the US -- twice as high as current offerings, but 33% lower than the PSP.
Because the DS will be able to play existing Gameboy Advance games, it will have a current library of game titles, making it easy to buy. Because it introduces a second screen, it will be harder to use than existing game systems, or than the PSP.
Both the DS and the PSP have higher benefits than current offerings, but they differ fundamentally in approach. The PSP is an improvement in the “bigger, faster” mode -- it provides a fabulous screen and many additional features and functions.
The DS changes the nature of the games. Adding a second screen and making it a touch screen enables an unimaginable range of new games for the system.
The current benefits are not as clear and present for the DS as they are for the PSP, so I scored it a bit lower on the benefits side. Many customers currently don’t value the two-screen game system because they haven’t seen it yet. But because the DS provides a new platform for games, it will be a pioneering new feature if it does succeed.
So … PSP has better benefits and is easier to use; the Nintendo DS has a lower price and is easier to buy. My rankings have the DS edging out the PSP in the four factor model; yours might be different.
Shigeru Miyamoto, Nintendo’s Senior Managing Director and a gaming design legend, described Nintendo’s development objectives to The New York Times:
"We weren't trying to create the next PSP. We were trying to create something you hadn't seen before."
The DS is a new approach to the handheld market. We’ll know whether it’s a winner before the end of next year.
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