Sony and Nintendo may be raking in huge profits from their portable gaming systems, but their days are numbered. The handheld gaming industry is threatened by the arrival of all-in-one devices, leaving dedicated systems no longer practical these days. Nintendo 3Ds is already showing lackluster sales performance and by the time PlayStation Vita is released more tablet/smartphones variants will appear and join the competition.
Nintendo 3DS
Gone are the days when gamers were up for epic and lengthy role-playing games. The focus has shifted to casual games for short amount of entertainment during leisure time. You can then imagine the PS Vita and Nintendo 3DS as the Apple I, a system more suitable for hobbyists, whereas tablets and smartphones are like Apple II that is meant to please the masses. Why not buy consoles like Xbox 360 instead for serious hard-core gaming?
With a device like the Samsung Galaxy Tab, you have near-limitless possibilities of whatever purposes you demand from it. It has the perfect balance of being a media player, gaming entertainment, and content creation. On the other hand, 3Ds and PS Vita are marketed mainly as a gaming device with rudimentary, if not abysmal, secondary features.
Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1
Carrying, for instance, a 3DS along with your Android smartphone essentially beats portability. You are merely bearing additional weight with redundant functionality. Don’t forget how bulky the system is, especially when you add the add-on for a second analog joystick, and how it needs to be recharged more often.
And then there’s the price factor. Nintendo 3DS games costs more than $25. That’s a huge difference from the most expensive — yet most graphically detailed — game apps found in the Android Market or Apple App Store. I admit the best games of Android or iOS systems can’t even compare with those of 3DS in terms of graphics and power. But instead, you get more bang for your buck along with arguably more replay and entertainment value.
Sony and Nintendo are not completely blind when it comes to all-in-one functionality. But as I previously have said, they are basic and incomplete. The 3DS may have Netflix right now, with Hulu Plus to follow soon, but that’s pretty much about it. You can’t make it into a reader for news, comics or e-books. Most of what it does actually has something to do with the gaming experience.
PlayStation Vita
On the other hand, PS Vita will sport social networking applications — Facebook, Twitter, among others — when it ships. But apparently, all-in-one is somehow closely associated with calling and texting capabilities. Without these, whatever a device has as secondary features seems superfluous.
All these leads me to urge Nintendo and Sony to view gaming on a different perspective. The gaming industry is evolving and it is leaving behind the traditional companies. In fact, Nintendo’s severe 6-month loss in profit should be an indication to adapt the new trend. Satoru Iwata is right to say that Apple (with its iPhone and iPad) is the enemy of the future and not fellow traditional Sony.
