When Sony announced last month that it would launch the PlayStation Portable in late 2004, the company was sketchy on the details, preferring to let spin do the talking and the elated games journalists carry the story to the gaming masses.
We had to wait until the ELSPA games software summit this week for Sony Entertainment Europe president Chris Deering to finally release more information on what we can expect from the highly anticipated handheld console.
Sony will be releasing all the entertainment software for the PSP on its new Universal Media Disc (UMD), a small 60mm optical disc that can hold up to 1.8GB of data. The UMD could play movies and music.
If would be advantageous for Sony is music and film studios were to come on board and release movies and music on UMD, and at a lower price than normal-sized DVDs and CDs.
Although a price for the PSP hasn't been set, Mr Deering said some games would be priced around £35-£42, but the majority would be in the £20 range.
Despite the fact that the PSP looks like being a direct competitor to the GameBoy, Mr Deering was quick to say the PSP will target a different market, and won't be in direct competition with Nintendo. The relationship, described in a blizzard of buzzwords, could be "synergistic and dynamically collaborative". He added: "I don't think people will be able to walk around in the schoolyard with the PSP and treat it as roughly as you do with Game Boy." Instead, the PSP would cater for people who want to escape the TV, and who have "shorter leisure time ".
Sony is not alone in trying to distance its products from the GBA. Iikka Raiskinen, the head of Nokia's entertainment division, is less convivial than Sony when it comes to promoting his N-Gage versus the GBA. "GameBoy is for 10-year-olds," he was quoted as saying. "If you're 20 or 25-years-old, it's probably not a good idea to draw a GameBoy out of your pocket in a public place."
With the N-Gage pegged at $299 (no European price has been announced yet), it's clear that Nokia is pricing its handheld out of the market that the Nintendo currently occupies, and Sony will no doubt do the same - the GBA retails at £70 and the GBA-SP at £90. Baring in mind that N-Gage's price tag has caused a lot of bad press, Sony would be well advised to try and occupy the middle ground between Nintendo and Nokia.
This evolution in the development of handheld gaming platforms seems to be forging the way for a bigger adult market in gaming sector that traditionally has been seen the preserve of children.
But with recent software sales in Europe estimated to reach $6bn this year, games are a serious business. In much the same way as the PlayStation took console gaming outside the realm of teenagers, the expansion handheld market to cater to adults can only serve to help give gaming the recognition, and respect, it deserves.
TOP 10 GAMES, ALL PLATFORMS
Compiled by ELSPA
1) Enter the Matrix (PS2, GC, XB, PC) Atari, £39.99
2) SOCOM: US Navy Seals (PS2) Sony, £49.99
3) The Sims: Superstar (PC) Electronic Arts, £17.99
4) Grand Theft Auto: Vice City (PC, PS2) Take 2, £29.99
5) Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell (PS2, Xbox PC) Ubi Soft, £37.99
6) The Sims (PS2, PC, XB, GC) Electronic Arts, £37.99
7) Def Jam Vendetta (PS2, GC) Electronic Arts, £39.99
8) Return to Castle Wolfenstein: Operation Resurrection (PS2) Activision, £39.99
9) HULK (PS2, Xbox, GC, PC) VU Games, £39.99
10) Championship Manager 4 (PC) Eidos Interactive, £29.99
