Pocket Power: A Guide to Portable Game Players
Gaming has come a long way in the last 25 years with the creation of amazingly realistic graphics and real-time surround sound. Tomorrow's generation of portable players fit in your pocket while packing a powerful pixel and audible punch that is much stronger than the original TV-attached consoles from 1996.
Nintendo DS
Nintendo got a head start with their portable cartridge-based "green and black" LCD (liquid crystal display) Game Boy, followed by Game Boy Color, Game Boy Advance then today's Game Boy Advance SP. Their current backlit, battery-operated color screen handheld game machines are still backward-compatible with those original monochrome games.
Going forward, Nintendo has decided that two heads are better than one and will in the fall launch a new player called the DS (dual-screen) sporting dual color 2.9" LCD screens. It will use the SD (secure digital) memory format for games but will contain an old school original cartridge port to play the antique games as well. Expect Nintendo's popular Mario game series to make the move as well, as more family-friendly and strategy games set to launch.
The idea behind the second screen is not for two-player gaming but for additional information like maps or treasure inventory. Bluetooth, a wireless technology for connecting mobile devices, should provide a wireless headset or same room network gaming features.
A touch screen on the second display can be used as another controller via its stylus. I question the ability to hold a stylus while you use the direction pad and buttons to play the games. Maybe if we had a third hand it would not sound so out-of-the-question.
Early speculation suggests that the Nintendo DS price will land somewhere in the $150-$200 range, with games costing about $35-$50 each.
Sony PlayStation Portable
Sony, who won the home console war with its PS2 against the Nintendo GameCube and X-Box, is racing behind Nintendo's lead in the handheld market as well. In early 2005 Sony is releasing the PSP or PlayStation Portable. Sony's target market is the 18-34 year old group who should go for its style, stereo audio, wireless networking and large capacity mini-optical Universal Media Disc. I expect this device to be a mini-media player for music and movies since they are going after an older age group.
Movies would look great with its 16" x 9" wide screen display assuming that Sony is able to convince the movie studios that their content will remain secure. With 1.8 gigabytes on a disc and a Memory Stick Duo port you will have two different storage devices for this multimedia content.
Meanwhile, games should follow what is available for the PS2 since the platform is similar. The wide screen format should inspire a bit more creativity from the developers. Industry insiders anticipate the PSP to go on sale in the $125 -$200 range with games priced in the $15-$25 range.
Nokia N-Gage QD
Nokia has raised the bar for cell phone gaming with their second generation smaller N-Gage QD phone that no longer has to be powered down to switch the MMC (Multi Media Card) stored games. They have also eliminated the strange phenomena of "taco talking" where you conversed into the side of the old device. This was an effort to keep your face from smudging the 2" LCD but became an object of ridicule from user sites like SideTalking.comthat now miss the feature.
With a QD, I enjoyed a full day of gaming, short messaging and voice calls powered by a Lithium battery, which lasts up to 10 hours. This phone does not include an MP3 player and for some reason Nokia did not backlight the direction pad or select button. This despite the fact that the other 19 keys are visible in the dark and the screen shines brightly even in the dark.
The phone and gaming device runs on the Symbian 6.1 operating system and lets you easily download J2ME games, which should add justifiable software and even an MP3 player capability. Nokia plans to release just 50 compatible games that seem pricey at around $30 each.
Graphics quality varies per game with "The Sims" being cute and whimsical, "Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2004" ranging from photo realistic to computer generated, and "Ashen" looking "blocky" and lacking detail like the old time PC software title "Doom."
Nokia's gaming phone will retail for $199 without service or $99 when purchased with a cellular contract. You will need to have service on this phone - or at least a GSM-based SIM card since it will not even boot up without it being inserted. These "Subscriber Identify Modules" are used to identify the phone to the wireless network. It will support cellular-based global gaming as well as local area wireless BlueTooth challenges, but remember, it is a phone - not a true gaming machine.
Dave Mathews lives in Dallas where he broadcasts as the "Gadget Guy" on TV and radio. More stories and video reviews can be found online at DaveMathews.com.
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