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However, we cannot underestimate Sony's PSP and declare that it is no threat to Nintendo's handheld throne. Nintendo was in the same situation with consoles, too, but Sony toppled that.
But that was in the console market that required that users leave behind all their accumulated games from the prior generation. Just as Sony has proven with the PS2, having a stranglehold on the userbase, even with arguably inferior technology,
can be enough to fend of worthy challengers.
Sure, you can describe me as pro-Nintendo and anti-Sony, but I still use good reason to back up my arguements. In the console market, $200-$300 is the standard release price of a new system, despite the technology contained within each respective console. Because each system is relatively equally priced, the price factor does not play too much of a difference in people's console choice (as was proven by PS2's continued sales increases vs the cheaper Cube's lack of any good spikes). On the other hand, the handheld market is dealt with almost like a secondary, nice-to-have toy. The cheaper something is, the more likely people are to pick it up on a whim, which is why the $100 GameBoy series is so widespread. Take into account the prices of all other (domestic) portables (okay, so NGPC came over, ignore it for now), ignoring the steep battery cost of the pre-GBC generation of color handhelds, and you may notice quite a many less owners because of restrictive price. (blah, blah, blah GameGear, okay, that also ruins my arguement.) Taking a look at Sony's proposed tech specs, even the merely-slightly knowledgable tech-head will note that some of these technologies aren't even affordable enough for I-pay-$400-every-6-months-for-a-new-video-card PC users, let alone mainstream I-download-free-MP3's America. Sure, the release date is quite a few years off, but if NURBS has been in existance forever (in fast-moving PC time) and still hasn't manifested itself in consumer-level workstation video cards, I don't see it being used as the main rendering system in a mass-market portable. Moral of the story: Sony may have to swallow more expenses than Microsoft is with the Xbox for it to be affordable enough to make a marketable (read: worthwhile to provide software support) system for the masses.
::rabble:: It's about 1:45am, so feel free to poke holes in my groggily-prepared arguements. Debate is a good thing.