Preview Bias in Portable War Coverage?

KaiEl writes "Is Nintendo being penalized in the press for releasing their Nintendo DS before Sony's PSP? That's the quesiton I ask in a recent post on The Video Game Ombudsman. While DS games are being held up to the harsh standard of hands-on reviews, PSP coverage is mostly rosy glow previews and lofty PR promises. Readers comparing the two very different types of writing might notice a "preview bias" that seems endemic to video game writing. Is this a serious problem, or am I just expecting too much from what is simply a preliminary review?"

Re:Just waiting for the inevitable Nintendo Blunde

[satoshi1]

What market have they blundered themselves out of already? They make software and consoles and handhelds. They are still in those markets. OK, sure, they used to make playing cards way back when (maybe they still do in Japan?), but I'm sure they didn't "blunder" their way out of that market.

Two Ways to Launch Your System

[ayersrj]

This totally reminds me of the issues that Sega had with the Dreamcast. A great system, but had to deal with Sony and everyone else coming after.

There's two ways you can launch your system. One, you can launch first, try to capture an audience while there's no competition. Two, wait it out make your product the best, because it's been in development longest, then launch and catch up.

The preview bias exists because Sony with the PSP won't allow crap to be shown. People are excited about a Metal Gear game. It's a CARD game. Wait til you try to play a dual-shock game with one stick. It's going to be ridiculous. But a PREviewer can't grasp that yet. On the flip side, there may be preview bias, but Nintendo sure has a lot more DS's out in the hands of game players right now and when the big games roll out, they'll sell many more, unless the PSP is able to take this preview bias and roll it into enough sales and momentum to overtake DS.

Does anyhow follow any of the Japanese coverage? How are they handling the two systems now?

Re:Ridges Racers DS versus Ridge Racers PSP

[incom]

Ridge racers DS is a rushed port of an n64 game(I own RR:DS btw, it has it's moments), RR PSP is the best looking PSP game so far, hardly a fair comparison. Try comparing Need For Speed Underground PSP vs. DS, much better comparison, although the PSP still wins in looks, the DS version stands up MUCH better. Here's some pics for comparison (DS pic is a scan, both pics are not guarenteed final release pics):
PSP - http://media.psp.ign.com/media/664/664929/img_2533 918.html [ign.com]
DS - http://www.teamxlink.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?p=4 6413#46413 [teamxlink.co.uk]

Re:Just waiting for the inevitable Nintendo Blunde

[DeadScreenSky]

A flamebait mod certainly wasn't fair. More like overrated, since he apparently can't keep up with the whole last year or more of console sales in the USA if he thinks the Cube is doing almost as good as the Xbox...

Re:The english hate nintendo.

[DeadScreenSky]

Actually, it's Nintendo that hates the English (and the rest of Europe to boot). They are infamous for their poor PAL conversions, late release dates (waiting more than six months for a huge game like Metroid Prime is not unusual), ridiculously high prices, just not bothering to release certain big games (Animal Crossing for example), and even (recent) masssive price fixing that has pissed off multiple governments. It's no wonder Europeans favor non-Nintendo companies like Sony and MS! (Which both incidentally also work with a far higher amount of European developers, too. Much of the PS1's huge success was due to European games like Wipeout, and Xbox has had large success with games like PGR2 and Rallisport Challenge.)

Re:Just waiting for the inevitable Nintendo Blunde

[Zangief]

USA is not the world. Nintendo is doing fine everywhere else.

And.. theres the chance is due to gba 2

[AzraelKans]

Probably you dont know it but theres a rumor about a gba 2 in the works (sort of a portable gamecube) actually if you read back in the revolution rumor article slashdotted a while ago you will notice the system will lack DS support, but will support the "gba succesor".

The DS (as everyone knows) was a way to keep the PSP at bay (actually Nintendo never called the DS the GBA succesor) so .. although unconfirmed, the fact that they never called it a "succesor" is a bit worrying.
Of course this is great news for everyone except for those who actually bought the DS. how much time will the DS be in the attention span of nintendo? (a year maybe 2?) You may want to pay attention to the early signs, lack of advertising, lack of titles or big titles being produced (in the future) etc. (You have to take into account a major such as a 3d rpg title needs a good 1-2 year timespan to be produced)

Of course this is all rumors.. however we have to wait until e3 where "revolution" (apparently) will officially be announced and hope they mention DS support or any word of a gba succesor.

P.S. Even if this rumor is true, it doesnt mean the DS is dead, revolution is rumored for a 2006 release, the gba 2 is not even dated yet, so thats a 1-2 maybe 3 year expected life period for the DS however it does mean it may have less attention and titles than those initially expected (specially from third party publishers). And if theres an actual GBA2 in the works, the PSP may be facing some serious problems in the coming years

And before you mod me down, please research a bit, the rumors do exist and so the official statements where Nintendo specifically mentions the DS is not the GBA succesor.

So go ahead MOD my day