Originally posted by: yougotdeals
Sony has a ways to go before it's as popular as Nintendo is in the handheld market, but keep in mind Sony surpassed Nintendo in in the console market, so it can be done if they do things right over time. IF they do things right.
IMHO, Sony got ahead of Nintendo for one major reason: the N64's use of cartridges when everyone else was going to CD-based games. Not only did this decision cause Nintendo to lose Square as a developer, but it also drove up production costs on the N64 games a lot compared to the PS1, so a lot of developers and publishers went over to Sony's side because they didn't have as much monetary risk invested in PS1 games (since CDs as so much cheaper to make). Also, the cheaper CD media made it a lot easier for Sony to come out with a Greatest Hits collection for around $20 to spur sales of the system to those of us cheapskates that balk at paying $40-$50 for a game.
I also think that the ease of making illegal copies of PS1 game CDs also did a lot to help become the market leader as well, as I knew tons of people that would buy PS1s, slap mod chips in them and burn copies of rented games to their heart's delight. (I wish more game system manufacturers would just give up on trying to protect their systems from pirates and hackers and not even waste our time and theirs trying to stop it - I bet the X-Box wouldn't be doing as well as it is against the Game Cube if it weren't for the fact it can be hacked and modded with relative ease).
The events that put Sony on top of the console business were a really unique set of circumstances that I just don't see repeating. The PSP just looks like another overpriced, overpowered handheld that is going to fall to the Game Boy yet again simply because it is trying to do too much. I wouldn't be shocked if both the DS and the PSP kinda falter and the GB SP stays the system of choice for mobile gaming for quite some time because it really is still a nice mobile gaming system. The 3D graphics of the DS is kinda nice, but I really don't see the other features (except maybe the WiFi) making a big splash in the market unless some game developers really find a cool way to use them.