Samit Sarkar made some fair points in his article;
Why Sony's PSP2 (NGP) will fail.
Before I say anything else, let me list a disclaimer, I think it will depend more on the price than any argument either Mr. Sarkar or myself can make. I still think the 3DS has to sell itself better to me for it's $250. I will reserve judgment on the NGP until the price is announced.
The amusing thing about the 3DS is that it's lineup seems to have an awful lot of console based games, something Mr. Sarkar uses against the NGP for (specifically he muses that people dont want the console experience on a handheld). Ocarina of Time came out in 1998 for N64, MGS3 was a console game for the PS2, and yet the possibility is ignored that the 3DS offers a similar experience to the NGP, if one that switches graphics out for glasses-less 3D. My problem is that you seem convinced, without any real evidence, that the NGP will fail because it offers a console experience. The problem is that from what I have seen of the 3DS, the 3DS offers the same thing, just with older games in a new light (not a bad thing per se).
I personally trust both Nintendo
and Sony to get it right. They're both very good at what they do and myself and many others loved each company's last handheld. I think the Price will be the thing that makes or breaks the PSP2, as I'm still unsure if the 3DS will be able to succeed at its current price point, but I wont get into that discussion now (or later really, I want them both to succeed). I will personally be buying both, though I might wait for the eventual 3DS Lite, but to write off the NGP for the reasons listed above seems very narrow minded.
I will grant you the cell phone market is a tough nut to crack, but a portable PS3 in your pocket should be enough to differentiate the device, especially because the fully functional dual analogs on the NGP defeat any comparative controllers on many of the Smart Phones (the one possible exception is the "PSP Phone" from Sony Erickson. As a sidenote, I view the PSP Phone as the only true threat right now to the NGP from the Cellphone market, due to it's control scheme. I know if I didn't love my iPhone so much, I would be getting that. Still the NGP is aimed at a different market sect. I'm sure part of the plan is for Sony to draw fans away from the cellphone gaming market, but they are also aiming it at gamers, who want a fully fleshed out experience on the go.
Why should we settle for simplistic games on the go like Angry Birds? It is a great game to be sure. But I find it hard to believe that the prospect of a fully playable Uncharted game on the go is anywhere near a negative for a system. We've been collectively dreaming of a full console experience on handhelds since the Gameboy came out. Now we have the opportunity to finally have our miniaturized consoles, and people are arguing that it is a bad thing? The advantage here, is that the NGP, and the 3DS as well, are at a point where they are the perfect blend, despite the touchscreen and 3D gimmicks. Both Systems are poised to allow us the experiences of all gaming worlds, from the quick and casual of a mobile game, to the quirky yet refined goodness of a core handheld, to the fully fleshed out experience of a console.
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For one, games of genrations past always get reborn in the handheld market and MGS and Zelda let you save at whatever point you left off anyway. Zelda dungeons are always hub-like in flow, so its not like when you quit out that you're going to be too far from where you left off.
MGS3 has codec saves. It can't be a portable game well let's call Paramedic on 140.85 and see about that.
Supeer Street Fighter IV is alien on a console as it is, its an arcade game, so moving to handheld is idea for its quick-fix play.
Its things like Uncharted and Killzone that are a mismatch for the NGP. Current generation experiences never translate well. Uncharted is very cinematic and when you're on the subway train or in a restaurant the effect isn't the same. LBP loses nothing, but Uncharted and Killzone are compromised.
Put it this way - for Silent Hill or Resident Evil to really work on handhelds. I'm gonna have to turn the lights out and hide under the bedsheets to get scared at all and then there's those lengthy sections between save points. These are cool ideas for handhelds that don't work.
As for price - must we really pretend Sony is going to go cheap on this?
Its going to be $350 to $400 at minimum and the second we hit the holidays nintendo is going to laugh cut the price of 3DS down a bit.
Nintendo always sells hardware at a profit, Sony never does. This will give Nintendo another layer of advantage as the parts get cheaper.
Double points for reasonable optimism.
As mentioned above, being able to exit a game at any point, and start up at the same place is probably enough for a handheld.
I don't see where you're going with Street Fighter 4, as I never brought it up, and frankly, it works great on any system. It was also a console title. Still, SF4 seems irrelevant in this context
Ok, so you want atmosphere, I understand that, but still, that is a minor issue at worst, and one that is only particularly relevant to survival horror games. At worst, don't buy those games! Frankly, I don't even mind, a good horror game can scare you no matter where you are.
And exactly how is Killzone or Uncharted compromised but something like MGS3 wouldn't be? You never give a reason why they would be compromised. The suggestion is there that the atmosphere wouldn't be there, but I don't believe that Frankly I don't think it matters. A good game, even a story driven one, wont be affected by where you are. The thousands of people playing Pokemon or Liberty City Stories really give a damn where they are when they're playing it, so long as the game absorbs them. Powerful hardware such as the NGP or the 3DS only helps to facilitate the experience of a good game. I don't think the games suffer just because you happen to be on a train or in the airport. if anything, it makes you appreciate the system more, for offering up a console experience on the go.
As for the price, while my personal opinion is that the device will be $350, which is the upper-echelon of realistically affordable, it adds nothing to the argument at this time, as we don't know what the price will be.
And for the record, I never said Sony would Win over Nintendo. They don't have to for the NGP to be considered a success. This kind of stuff isn't black and white. If the NGP is profitable at all, then it will have succeeded. Bringing Nintendo and their business model into it is irrelevant. Sony generally prefers a long term strategy to make money. So what? In no way, shape or form does it mean the device will fail.
My logic is flawless. ;P
Of course if the NGP is just full of handheld versions of PS3 games I'll be disappointed. If I want to play those I'll play them on my tv. Make portable games please, not scaled down versions of games on a better console.
@silentprotagonist
Nintendo's going to cut the price of the 3DS this holiday? Really? Didn't it take the 360 being $80 cheaper and the PS3 being on par before they cut the price? Good luck waiting for that.
@Rhuno - There are lots of options for mobile gaming, yeah, but only the ones with dual analog sticks are any good for playing decent videogames.