With Wii and DS, Nintendo has two hit game devices

While shoppers are still lining up to buy Nintendo?s Wii, its older portable sibling, the Nintendo DS, is the best-selling game machine in the United States.
The New York Times

The story "With Wii and DS, Nintendo has two hit game devices" published December 30, 2007 at 8:45 AM is no longer available on CNET News.

Content from The New York Times expires after 7 days.

[zincmann]

Are you kidding me? This is a loaded comparison

"The DS, a 3-year-old $130 unit, has been handily outselling its chief rival, Sony's $170 PSP handheld game device, as well as the newer and more expensive consoles, like Microsoft's Xbox 360, selling for $350, and Sony's PlayStation 3, which starts at $400." The chief reason any laymen can tell that the DS is outselling is because of price. I JUST got a PSP for CHristmas and I am an adult, I game for a hobby and find that the PSP is feature rich and can be modified down the road, the DS reminds me of the old Nintendo game dedicated unites that had the black and white LCD screens from the 1980s. Not very innovative at all.

[SonicV4]

Ridiculous...

DS is not innovative and is only outselling the PSP more than 2:1 worldwide over a simple $40 price difference?

Don't kid yourself. You probably don't follow sales data, but the PSP had been initially outselling the DS on a monthly basis - and this was when the price difference between the two was much larger. It was only later on that the DS surpassed the PSP's monthly sales, especially with the introduction of the DS Lite.

[markusfarkus]

re: loaded

What difference does innovation make in terms of sales? They're not comparing the devices on which is better, they're talking about what people are buying. I'm sure most people will agree that Nintendo's hardware is not as fancy as what Microsoft and Sony are offering. But it seems that a lot of people don't care. And I'm sure Nintendo (and their stockholders) could care less since they're making boat loads of money.

[volterwd]

innovation?

better graphics are hardly innovation... ds is innovation and change... what is innovated about the psp???

[ralfthedog]

The iPlay will kick the cows off all game systems on the market.

The only company that might compete with an Apple game system is Google.

[BtmnHatesRbn]

Are you daft?

What in the flying flipping flagger boo boo are you commenting on?

Hey, if you comment on a story, stay on topic, and not go off into Lala Land, okay?

[gsmiller88]

.....Sony still makes the PSP?

Hmm...I never see them, I figured it went to gaming heaven...

[BtmnHatesRbn]

Where do they get their figures?

9 million PSPs? Where? In a wherehouse somewhere? Only two people I know own PSPs, four total. Me and my pal. We own two each.

You want a Game Boy? I have 10+ of those, too.

[rturner2]

PSP and wii

Watching TV on my PSP using the PlayTV connected to my PS3... now that will be cool!!

The wii is boring (sold mine after 9 months) (you can't even download demo games - the entire online strategy at nintendo is crap!) and nintendo has never managed to get the Gameboy (or DS) and TV game console (eg. Gamecube and wii) hookup to offer any real fun or purpose or benefit to gamers.

[BtmnHatesRbn]

Sour grapes?

What's your point? And why are the other two companies emulating Nintendo now?

[Wookiee-1138]

Wii is a kids toy.

With it's open OS and general reliability, the PS3 is a multi-purpose powerhouse.

[BtmnHatesRbn]

Oh, grow up.

Games are for kids. I laugh at the immature attitude of the current generations in their 20s/30s who are still trying to capture their useless youth.

[funkball]

Wii has it right

I'm a 37 yr old veteran gamer, and the Wii is a blast. Great party games, great core games and full Gamecube library. I think the big N has really hit on something by making games accessible for a much wider demographic.

The PS3 and 360 are good systems and have their place, but until the prices drop further, I'm not touching them. If anything, history has proven that if you are patient, you can have what you want at the price you want it.

[darthstupid]

DS's movie capabilities... you mean PSP's

By the following comment I think you meant the PSP's movie
capabilities...

But the DS's movie capabilities have not been a hit with consumers,
mostly because the price of the movies--$25 and higher--is
limiting sales.

[volterwd]

UMD

yeah and we know how that was recieved...

[iBuzz]

Can't believe Nintendo killed the GameBoy brand

I still can't understand why this thing wasn't called the GameBoy
DS. A few people I've talked to didn't realize it could play the old
GameBoy Advance games.

[R.Jefferson]

The DS one ups the PSP....

?.in almost every category.

Analyze how you use your portable gaming device.

What kind of games do you play?
Do you watch moves?
How much battery life do you need?
Where and when do you play your system?
Personal preference?

1) I like the classics, and previously released games. I usually start a game and get bored so DS answers this calling. Plus, Nintendo has good game development practices and 3rd parties. PSP games just seem like cutting edge games ported to the PSP (whether or not there are any new developments platform to platform). I don?t want to play madden or a high graphic shooter up on a portable device.

2) No, the screen is small, UMD is proprietary and expensive and I don?t even buy that many DVD?S. Portable DVD players can be bought cheap in a supermarket.

3) I charge my DS like every 2 weeks. However as soon as the red light comes on the DS usually dies.

4) Personally I use my DS on the john, waiting when my PC games are loading or there are commercials on TV, or any time when 5-10 mins need to be killed. That fits my needs.

5) The dual screen and touch screen are novel. The dual screen being more important than the touch.

Do you want a pure gaming device? Or do you want a handheld that does a little of everything? I have a MOTO Q so whatever the DS lacks when compared to the PSP my Q picks up the slack.