Loose Threads: Is there space for another handheld?

[Fraser]

Sony and Nintendo are sitting pretty at the top of the pile with the DS and the PSP. Meanwhile Nokia has achieved incredible figures with its N-Gage service and the iPhone has been surging up through the ranks.

But what about those other outliers. Gamepark is about to have another stab at the ill fated Gizmondo and there is lots of talk about Microsoft finally getting into the handheld console arena. And let's not forget the Pandora.

But is there enough room for another serious contender in the handheld space? What would a new console have to include to have a chance of gaining a foothold?

It's your world people...

[hunter_alien]

Yes there is. At least for bigger companies like Microsoft or Apple. Other like Gamepark or Tiger will probably remain low-end producers, and will fall out from the "race" ( if we can even consider them competitors ), but for somebody who has as much money as Apple, MS or Nokia, anything is possible.

Would this mean that an older one should get out? Not even by far. The hand-held market lately is arguably bigger ( in sheer hardware numbers of course ) then the console market, and both Sony and Nintendo are doing either great or phenomenal. If lets say MS would come out with a Xboy, or PalmX or whatever he could easily cut a slice from Sony, a smaller slice from Nintendo and there you go, you already have a market big enough to secure for it 3rd party development.

The truth is that hand-helds are extremely appealing for both hardcore and softcore gamers, and if you manage to get close to 10% of those, you are already sitting on a goldmine... Take the recent Iphone sales, and the effect on the DS/PSP sales... there was no effect, and we all know that the Iphone is selling out big times, especially in the US. So would another corporations entrance forec one of the grandfathers out? Hell no, it would just make the hand-held market even more competitive and thus even better.

[SetsFireToPoshHammer]

Why not?

I mean, mobiles, the iPhone and the N-Gage arguably occupy a separate consumer space to that occupied by the DS and the PSP, which are essentially the portable counterparts to the home console business. And as hunter_alien points out, if the home console market can support three dominant formats with fewer overall hardware sales than the handheld sector, then there's definitely a slice left for another dedicated gaming machine to come in a gobble up.

The market share is completely skewed in favour of the DS anyway (which is the most gaming centric handheld out there), so a competitor could easily encroach on that turf while still allowing Nintendo to turn a healthy profit. The question I can't answer is what a new handheld console would need to do to win over consumers already happy with what's out there.

[Accelorata Jengold]

What would it need to do to differentiate itself from the competition?

Does it need to? As you say the bases are already covered but that hasn't stopped the PS3 and the 360 existing in the same space, offering near identical gaming experiences. Something that handhelds haven't nailed yet is the FPS (though the DS does a decent enough job). If a game centric handheld with a control set up that allowed for some decent FPS action surfaced, it could do very well. Obviously Microsoft is the king of the FPS in the console world but I have a feeling that if it ever releases a gaming handheld, it will be a do all device much like the PSP.

[Fraser]

Two things; could a console manufacturer pin all of its hopes on one genre, and are FPS games really what handheld gamers are after?

The DS is great because it has created a whole new raft of handheld genre's and playing styles. You can only reinvent the wheel so many times, but I don't know if a handheld that attempts to do what consoles do best is really the answer. If someone could button down a handheld that you could use to remotely play already popular PC MMO's in some form however...

[GideonB]

Fraser, I do agree with you, but with the looming of the GP2X Wiz and the Pandora, we may just see more FPS games, because of the Open-Source, along with the hackability of the Old PSP's, while all we need for another handheld is a small pricetag, controls that work with pretty much everything, and homebrew games supported without any of the DSi Store, or PSP Store malarchy. More like Steam on the PC for releasing games, which can boost it, but I would like to see Valve make a console or a handheld, they would do well because Homebrew supports them and so does a huge modding community. Back to the question though, I think that there isn't space for a rubbish handheld, the handheld has to be brilliant, and sell quite well. I prefer if Valve made a handheld but let's see what they can do on exisiting ones, because we need more games that are good, than another handheld to screw up the market even more than it is, thanks to the iPhone and it's App Store adding a new level of competition, but being useful, as it is a digital distribution, which is better than buying UMD's or DS Cards, but Nintendo are straight-minded and there needs to be bigger memory sticks for PSP readily availible at shops like Gamestation instead of having to get your mum go onto Amazon to buy an 8GB for £20 because you don't have a memory card. It feels better to have a good handheld, rather than 30 average ones though maybe we can have another handheld. It just leaves a lot of controversy because nobody knows if there is going to be another mainstream handheld or even one from Sony. You don't really know do you?

[Bludhavenn]

I agree entirely that there should be more companies entering the handheld arena, so to speak. Living in a capitalist country, more competition is AWESOME for us. (the consumer) Just imagine if handhelds evolved as fast as computers are.

[yiyi]

Green, who is now a patient advocate as interim executive executive cheap polo shirts executive director of the Accord Alliance in Whitehouse Station, N.J.
me, that's a scary thing."Over time, a lot of things things cheap authentic jordans things have been done to girls that are experimental and
is another one."Bioethicists have sounded the alarm because, they say, say, cheap polo shirts say, doctors are bypassing the strict regulations and ethical protocol
clinical trials by offering the drug off-label, then recruiting the the cheap Ralph Lauren the same patients for federally funded follow-up studies.Mothers were told
therapy was "safe for mother and child," she said, [h4]cheap replica handbags[/h4] but there has been no scientific evidence. "Until we
decent studies we can't answer what are the side effects."Many effects."Many [h3]replica designer bags for sale[/h3] effects."Many obstetrical textbooks describe it as a "standard of care,"
author Dreger said.The report, co-authored by Ellen Feder, associate professor professor cheap Ralph Lauren professor of philosophy and religion at American University in Washington,
and Anne Tamar-Mattis, executive director of Advocates for Informed Choice Choice [h4]cheap designer handbags[/h4] Choice in Cotati, Calif., was based on clinician grant requests
under the Freedom of Information Act.Dreger said doctors have expressed expressed [h4]designer replica handbags[/h4] expressed concern in the past decade about the off-label use
dexamethasone.The drug has been routinely recommended by Dr. Maria New, New, authentic jordans New, a world-renowned expert on congenital adrenal hyperplasia and pediatric