whee! sony vs nintendo 2 (microsoft died)

rawr! since i am free 2day's post shall compare the two most popular handheld game consoles in the world, namely the Nintendo ds and Sony psp. Sony psp sold 34 million units worldwide as of 31/12/2007 while Nintendo ds sold a total of 45.97 units

overview of the two systems:

• Nintendo DS: Known as the Nintendo Dual-Screen, the DS is a handheld game device with two screens, a stylus pen, and the ability to play both Nintendo DS and Gameboy Advance games. Equipped with wireless technology, a touch sensitive screen, and a microphone, the DS has many characteristics similar to a specialized PDA, but with awesome gaming ability. It was released in the U.S. in November of 2004.
  
  
• Sony Playstation Portable (PSP): The Playstation Portable is Sony’s answer to Nintendo’s handheld market dominance. With a large wide-screen display, more powerful innards than the DS, and a media type capable of storing 1.8 gigabytes of data, the PSP is well positioned to change how we think of portable gaming.

detailed comparison of DS and PSP:
http://gear.ign.com/articles/599/599454p1.html



at first before the introduction of PSP nintendo has a market share of over 90% (very close to monopoly, has monopolistic power) in the handheld console market thanks to the gameboy, however after the introduction of Sony PSP, more and more people are turning toward psp for better graphics and more hardcore gaming experience. The PSP also allows users to listen to music and watch videos ( a feature that the DS does not have)

The psp is a very close substitute of the nintendo ds. So according to the cross elasticity of demand Nintendo ds should try to differentiate its product so as to lower the substitutability of the product. Nintendo improved their current ds and launched DS lite in january 2006. The DS lite is 21% lighter than the original ds and 16% smaller in size. below is some more improvement made to the DS lite compared to the original DS (copied from wikipedia)

1. The LED battery and charging light indicators have been moved to the upper right-hand corner of the unit, making it viewable regardless of whether the system is open or closed.
   
2. The "start" and "select" buttons have been moved to the lower right-hand side of the touchscreen, the microphone has been moved to the direct center of the opened device, and the A, B, X, Y, and D-Pad seem to have been designed to match the Wii and Game Boy Micro.
   
3. The power button above the D-pad was removed and replaced with a switch placed on the right side of the unit, in order to avoid accidental shut-off.
   
4. Another improvement is the longer and thicker stylus, significantly reducing the amount of hand cramps as its users use it extensively throughout game play; the stylus holster was moved from the top of the unit to the right side.

But in order to keep up with the competition, the sony psp launched its own version of psp slim/lite in September 2007. This new psp is 33% lighter and 20% smaller than the original one.
Some of the new improvements in the new design:

1. TV Output function
   
2. supports charging via USB
   
3. double the onboard RAM (32 MB to 64 MB) and caches UMD data in memory to decrease game loading times.
   
4. The WLAN switch has been moved to the top where the old IR receiver was to avoid accidental switching, and the speakers have been moved from the bottom of the screen to nearer the top, to prevent users from accidentally blocking the speakers with their hands.
   

http://www.cnettv.com/9742-1_53-50002265.html?om_act=convert&om_clk=multimodule&tag=multimodule;picks;title;4
This is a video where they compare the new features of both the new PSP slim and DS lite

I am sure both Nintendo and Sony will continue to improve on their products through research and development to win consumers over so they can own a bigger market share which will lead to an increase in revenue.

han chang