Musashi Wins!
FLAWLESS VICTOLY!
I think people were more excited about the launch of the SP than this unit.
Where is the DS ultimately headed?
- Thread starter GDJustin
- Start date
soundwave05
Member
Like I said, I would be surprised if Nintendo can't sell every DS between now and the New Year that they can make.
That's really not the issue. We know they're super hot when it comes to portables, they can release just about anything and have it hit pay dirt right now.
The question is how consumers will take to the PSP having such a large visual output advantage for only $50 more than the DS.
If you were excited about the GBA SP, why wouldn't you be excited about the DS? It's a far more interesting platform that plays all the Game Boy games anyway. It basically is (for now) Game Boy DS.
That's really not the issue. We know they're super hot when it comes to portables, they can release just about anything and have it hit pay dirt right now.
The question is how consumers will take to the PSP having such a large visual output advantage for only $50 more than the DS.
If you were excited about the GBA SP, why wouldn't you be excited about the DS? It's a far more interesting platform that plays all the Game Boy games anyway. It basically is (for now) Game Boy DS.
soundwave05
Member
Nintendo is going to sell a bazillion GBAs this Christmas at $79.99. I would also expect them to sell every single DS they can make.
And Sony will sell every single PSP they can make too for Japan.
The longterm success of these units is definitely not going to be decided this holiday season though, that's completely ridiculous.
We're going to have to wait until the dust settles and the DS and PSP really match up beyond the early adopter market. My personal feeling is once the dust settles, around next spring you're going to see the PSP start to pull away from the DS a little bit, unless Nintendo drops to $99 and Sony stays pay at $199.
There's way too many unanswered questions at this point though.
And Sony will sell every single PSP they can make too for Japan.
The longterm success of these units is definitely not going to be decided this holiday season though, that's completely ridiculous.
We're going to have to wait until the dust settles and the DS and PSP really match up beyond the early adopter market. My personal feeling is once the dust settles, around next spring you're going to see the PSP start to pull away from the DS a little bit, unless Nintendo drops to $99 and Sony stays pay at $199.
There's way too many unanswered questions at this point though.
I'm saying that the buzz isn't nearly as big it was for the GBA. The GBA launched at an even odd-er time yet was projected to sell much more. DS figures aren't in yet so anything I post isn't definite. However, to say that the GBA wasn't "hot" at launch would be a farce.soundwave05 said:
Same-Time comparison shows that the GBA sold 1.6 MILLION in it's first launch month just in the US. The DS does not have the momentum the GBA has. The GBA sold a million in 3 weeks in Japan. Nintendo expects to sell 1 million in 2 months worldwide with the DS. To say that the DS has a chance at outpacing the GBA anywhere is rediculous.
To say that the GBA (OR GBASP for that matter) Had 'quiet launches' and the DS is just following suit is INSANE. I cannot see how anyone could draw such conclusions. The DS, in relation to either, is a quiet launch.
I'm saying that, historically, the amount of ground you gain at launch can be shown as a precursor for the upcoming events. If you have a bad launch, you can overcome that, sure, but you'll not go to the levels you could possibly be at if you had an outstanding launch. Sega pumped 150 million into the Dreamcast launch. Of course they're gonna have a big splash. They failed to follow up due to lack of resources, though. Their sales sank like a stone. However, if they did not have such a big launch and stretched it out a bit, they would have not sold to the levels it did, but it'd perhaps be a bit more constant. This is only my prediction though.
DS is in a tougher position, because they have possibly the first system that could compete with them seriously. They have -4 MONTHS-. That's not a long time. The Game Boy line is red hot. The DS brand is unproven. The DS is competing with the Game Boy, which is 'Red-Hot' and the PSP, which is gaining attention and shows some potential to appeal to a new audience.
seismologist
Banned
DS launch didn't seem so quiet when I was at the mall yesterday standing in line behind 15 people waiting for EB to open.
Actually people seemed more excited than both GBA and SP launches. I picked up all 3 systems at launch.
Actually people seemed more excited than both GBA and SP launches. I picked up all 3 systems at launch.
soundwave05
Member
The DS is Game Boy. I really don't care how much Nintendo pretends to differeniate it, it is basically to the average joe "hey it's the new Game Boy, but with all this new stuff".
I really would laugh if people seriously think that the average consumer looks at DS and goes "oh my! It's a completely seperate and brand new third pillar from Nintendo!" :lol
DS for all intents and purposes is like a premium Game Boy.
I don't know what the overall buzz is, but there have been various reports of stores being sold out very quickly on the internet, and I can attest to that, as I got the last system from my Best Buy and that was only about 2 hours after they opened.
I really would laugh if people seriously think that the average consumer looks at DS and goes "oh my! It's a completely seperate and brand new third pillar from Nintendo!" :lol
DS for all intents and purposes is like a premium Game Boy.
I don't know what the overall buzz is, but there have been various reports of stores being sold out very quickly on the internet, and I can attest to that, as I got the last system from my Best Buy and that was only about 2 hours after they opened.
soundwave05
Member
Deg said:
Uh why not? You do realize also that DS and PSP will both eventually come down to $99, right?
And the Game Boy Next likely will have many of the same features the DS does.
The reality is this -- people always say Nintendo does not react to competition, no Nintendo PR does not react.
The fact that the DS is even on the market, is a huge reaction from Nintendo to the PSP. What they've effectively done is given themselves two shots at the PSP instead of one (Game Boy Next being their second shot).
CrimsonSkies
Member
At $150 I'll get a PSP for the MP3 functionality.
Chittagong
Gold Member
CrimsonSkies said:
yah but DS has teh tv tuner, it's gonna be the iPod of the 21st century
CrimsonSkies said:
thats pretty dumb considering you cant write on UMD and have to use memory sticks of all the portable memory solutions out there. Then again the US could be behind in this area.
soundwave05 said:
I think you're saying this because DS makes PSP look alot better sales wise. Trying to avoid GBASP eh? :lol
soundwave05 said:
The GBA one is much smaller. Why would nayone bother with that?
The Guivre
Member
I have to start by saying like I usually do in my Nintendo related posts that I am not one of Nintendo's corps of loyalist gamers. I have the SP, and it's great. I got it because at that point in time (I won't count the NGage) it was pretty much the only thing out there to fill the hand held market.
The SP does what I wanted/needed it to do. Kill time when I'm not sitting in front of my TV with a console running. It had good titles for what it was, Advance Wars, The Castlevanias were decent and I have to admit I really got into revisiting Super Mario World and Super Mario 3. When I look at the DS I can't really justify that $150 when about the same time last year I shelled out $100 for the SP. I don't think I'm alone in this sentiment. There's no real reason for me to jump from a handheld with plenty of life left in it for the still unproven DS.
We can talk about how wonderful and amazing the Japan release was but most of us don't live in Japan. And to be honest there are times I wonder if Nintendo just doesn't run the Japanese government while Sony handles the Judicial branch or something like that.
Is the Pokemon release for the DS a show of faith? I'd say it'd be a bit more like an attempt at a killer app. Also, Nintendo, whether you like it or not is largely viewed as the most kid friendly company out there in the game market against Sony or Microsoft. And the DS isn't really something I see in the hands of a little kid, I mean the stylus alone is just waiting to be lost at school or wherever.
The DS seems cool to me I suppose, even more so to those who have Samus posters up in their rooms or a Mario hat in the closet I'm sure. But overall it's sort of without direction to me, the few PDA type options would be useless to a little kid and it's certainly not going to replace a PDA for a business person.
To me the DS is another point at which Nintendo took a concept that is obviously not mainstream and ran with it. The result can be great at times, just look at all those great Nintendo titles but sometimes it doesn't turn out so well, I think the DS is one of those times.
The SP does what I wanted/needed it to do. Kill time when I'm not sitting in front of my TV with a console running. It had good titles for what it was, Advance Wars, The Castlevanias were decent and I have to admit I really got into revisiting Super Mario World and Super Mario 3. When I look at the DS I can't really justify that $150 when about the same time last year I shelled out $100 for the SP. I don't think I'm alone in this sentiment. There's no real reason for me to jump from a handheld with plenty of life left in it for the still unproven DS.
We can talk about how wonderful and amazing the Japan release was but most of us don't live in Japan. And to be honest there are times I wonder if Nintendo just doesn't run the Japanese government while Sony handles the Judicial branch or something like that.
Is the Pokemon release for the DS a show of faith? I'd say it'd be a bit more like an attempt at a killer app. Also, Nintendo, whether you like it or not is largely viewed as the most kid friendly company out there in the game market against Sony or Microsoft. And the DS isn't really something I see in the hands of a little kid, I mean the stylus alone is just waiting to be lost at school or wherever.
The DS seems cool to me I suppose, even more so to those who have Samus posters up in their rooms or a Mario hat in the closet I'm sure. But overall it's sort of without direction to me, the few PDA type options would be useless to a little kid and it's certainly not going to replace a PDA for a business person.
To me the DS is another point at which Nintendo took a concept that is obviously not mainstream and ran with it. The result can be great at times, just look at all those great Nintendo titles but sometimes it doesn't turn out so well, I think the DS is one of those times.
Doubt it... but as the PSP will probably prove, battery life is not oging to be an issue for most people (besides the kids crowd) as it has in the past. I'm willing sacrifice battery life after seeing what the PSP can do visual wise. What can I say, I'm a graphics whore when it comes down to it 
TheGreenGiant
Banned
I have to say personally, not hooked on DS but reading all about the niceness of the screen for GBA games...ooo oaaa . Nintendo needs to make sure shopes put GBA titles into the DS to illustrate this.
Techies and programmer types are attracted to new technology in a way that I don't believe the average Madden fan or Clancy gamer really cares or thinks about. Not that any of it really has much bearing on the overall success or failure of the system.... I just wouldn't expect a room full of CS students to be a particularly good focus group for a mass market product.
Here's my take on it all.
I think what people are forgetting is that the GBASP is NOT a new system at all. When you get down to it, the SP is still the same GBA that was released more than three years ago. If anything, the GBC back in the day got a bit less lifetime than the GBA has right now. Thus, at this point, I feel the GBA has served its main purpose for Nintendo (sales after all are passed 50 Million units). Even if Nintendo doesn't realize it, I think the DS is going to be their best shot at attracting older gamers. True, I saw a few younger people buying the system, but I also saw a healthy dose of adults purchasing the system. All in all, sales will speak for themselves come December or the Nintendo PR announcement.
This scenario brings me back to 1994, when the Super Famicom was BARELY passed its halfway point and the Saturn and PSone were released. Now the GBA is in similar ground, except now Nintendo's releasing next-gen contender one instead of Sega.
I think either way, Nintendo will be fine until the next GameBoy hopefully four years from now.
I think what people are forgetting is that the GBASP is NOT a new system at all. When you get down to it, the SP is still the same GBA that was released more than three years ago. If anything, the GBC back in the day got a bit less lifetime than the GBA has right now. Thus, at this point, I feel the GBA has served its main purpose for Nintendo (sales after all are passed 50 Million units). Even if Nintendo doesn't realize it, I think the DS is going to be their best shot at attracting older gamers. True, I saw a few younger people buying the system, but I also saw a healthy dose of adults purchasing the system. All in all, sales will speak for themselves come December or the Nintendo PR announcement.
This scenario brings me back to 1994, when the Super Famicom was BARELY passed its halfway point and the Saturn and PSone were released. Now the GBA is in similar ground, except now Nintendo's releasing next-gen contender one instead of Sega.
I think either way, Nintendo will be fine until the next GameBoy hopefully four years from now.
Similar threads
- Poll