With the European release of Sony’s PlayStation Vita just around the corner, gamers are divided over the importance of handheld consoles in the time of smartphones.
The electronics giant’s new system is set for launch on February 22nd.
However, with smart phones also capable of gaming on-the-go, and the economy being the way it is, there may become a consumer reluctance to invest precious pounds in a dedicated gaming machine.
John McGrath, 35, a student at the Open University, from Winchester, said that, if he were to choose a handheld device, it would be a smartphone “…simply because I'd rather have the combined phone/console functionality rather than a device limited to purely games or game-like applications.”
And Thomas Nally, 27, a receivables account handler, said: “Neither [of the console] handhelds are really appealing to me at the moment. I can’t bring myself to part with my money for either of them.”
He added that he was content to play portable games on his Android phone.
According to statistics published on ofcom.org.uk, it was revealed that in August 2011, more than a quarter of adults and almost half of teenagers in the UK were smartphone owners.
This included Android, iPhone, and Blackberry handsets.
However, Martin Atkinson, 30, a Sony games tester, from Wales, said that he thinks handheld consoles are “still relevant“.
He believes that they have “superior games” to smartphones and that higher production values warrant the price of those titles.
He also said: “Controls are also a major factor. Buttons are vital for "proper" games.”
PlayStation Vita follows the success of the PlayStation Portable (PSP), released in Europe in 2005, which reached a cumulative sales total of 70 million units worldwide in June 2011, according to Stephany Nunneley on vg247.com.
Japanese sales of Vita are currently slow, according to Tom Phillips at eurogamer.net, but it is still early days for the console, which was only released there in December 2011.
As reported by Tom Magrino, on gamespot.com, John Koller, Sony’s director of hardware marketing, was unconcerned by the numbers.
He is quoted as saying: "If you look at the word-of-mouth factor, it's really strong because people are bringing it home and really enjoying it…"
The hardware specifications seem impressive — it includes a four core processor, an OLED touch screen, a rear touch pad, six-axis motion detection and, of course, GPS and Wi-Fi support.
However, the PlayStation Vita not only has smartphones to contend with, but also the handheld console king in rival company, Nintendo.
Nintendo’s dominance in this market dates back to the Gameboy, launched in Europe in 1990, which — in its various forms and revisions — became synonymous with handheld gaming around the world for more than a decade.
Because of the Gameboy’s affordability, long battery life and killer titles, such as Tetris, Super Mario Land 2 and The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening, it saw off competitors time after time.
The console, including revisions, shifted 118.69 million units cumulatively, according to Matthew Humphries at geek.com and was followed by the Gameboy Advance, which was also a success.
The company has, in recent years, achieved remarkable sales with the dual-screened Nintendo DS, released in Europe in 2005.
With all revisions combined, to date the Nintendo DS has sold more than 151 million units worldwide — making it the second most successful console of all time, behind Sony‘s PlayStation 2.
Part of the console’s prosperity came thanks to Nintendo’s marketing strategy, as it sought to appeal to casual gamers, and those who wouldn‘t usually play videogames, with titles like Dr. Kawashima’s Brain Training.
Nintendo’s current generation handheld, the 3DS, released in 2011, can display 3D images without the need for glasses.
Richard Bell, 22, a student from Liverpool said: “I do think, for gamers, the handheld console market will hold out against smartphones. But only as long as PSP and DS titles remain exclusive.“
He added though that, if there is a failure to do this, the convenience of buying smartphone games may outweigh the limitations in their controls.
Indeed, the importance of exclusive titles for hardware sales cannot be overstated.
Despite a sluggish start, 3DS sales gained momentum, according to Alexander Sliwinski at joystiq.com, after a price drop and also the releases of some of Nintendo’s top franchises on the platform, such as Super Mario 3D Land, and Mario Kart 7.
And with titles such as LittleBigPlanet and Resistance: Burning Skies on the horizon for PlayStation Vita, perhaps Sony are right to not worry just yet.
It seems that for handheld consoles to stay relevant and overcome the smartphone threat, exclusive titles are now more important than ever.
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