DALLAS – This week, video game fans will finally get their hands on one of the most eagerly anticipated pieces of portable consumer electronics since the iPod.
Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. will release its PlayStation Portable handheld game machine Thursday, going toe-to-toe for the first time with Nintendo Co. in the multibillion-dollar portable gaming market.
Both companies see the portable space as a natural extension of their battle for home video game console supremacy.
The PSP will be the most high-tech handheld system ever released, light-years beyond the primitive Game Boy that personified handheld games for more than a decade, and capable of producing sophisticated 3D graphics and playing near-DVD quality movies.
The PSP – about the size of a thick checkbook – can play movies, digital music and games on its wide-screen LCD, has built-in Wi-Fi wireless capability for head-to-head play between PSP owners and could eventually offer wireless Internet access.
Monica Wik, corporate communications manager for Sony Computer Entertainment of America, said the PSP is “technologically far superior to anything that’s out there.”
Almost 1.2 million PSP units have already been sold in Japan, where it was released in December.
The PSP will square off against Nintendo’s own recently released DS handheld, which sports two screens – one a touch screen similar to those on personal digital assistants – its own wireless capability, a built-in microphone and 3D graphics.
Portable gaming has gone mainstream, and that should boost sales for portable platforms.
Market research firm DFC Intelligence predicts portable gaming revenue will grow from $4.5 billion worldwide in 2004 to more than $11 billion in 2007.
Total worldwide video game revenue in 2004 was about $24.5 billion.
Although Sony and Nintendo are fierce competitors, Beth Llewelyn, senior director of public relations for Nintendo, said both companies can be successful in the handheld industry without poaching customers from each other.
“Clearly, there are new people coming into the market who have not played handheld games before,” she said.
Sony feels the same way.
“We’re certainly not going into the market to take their market share away,” Wik at Sony said. “We view this more as a way to create a new market.”
One notable absence from that market is Microsoft Corp.
Microsoft, which makes the Xbox console to compete against Sony’s PlayStation 2 and Nintendo’s GameCube, has no corresponding portable system and is unlikely to introduce one any time soon.
Analysts and retailers say Microsoft doesn’t have the expertise to compete in the portable gaming space, and would only get distracted from its main goal of using the Xbox platform to dominate the living room.
If Microsoft did venture into the portable arena, they’d face stiff competition targeted at gamers and tech enthusiasts in the 18- to 34-year old age range.
“The design of it, the sleekness and sexiness of it, it’s not a kiddie toy,” she said. “The content that is provided for it is not kiddie content.”
If Microsoft does ever hit the start button on portable gaming, they’ll find that Sony and Nintendo have already conquered the most cherished demographics, DeMatteo said.
“They’ve carved it up,” he said.
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