Case Study Topic 3- Handheld Gaming Devices & Brain Training

Prediction:
I expect to find that the movability of the handheld gaming market is its main strength, one of the only things it has an edge compared to regular consoles, the wii etc. Furthermore, I expect the Brain Training games to offer the handheld for a wider target audience, with the older generation involved as well.

Background Research:
PSP: On the company website, an article about the PS3 and the PSP networking together to be able to view the content on the PS3, and have it saved and be able to view it anywhere, on the mobility of the PSP, also allowing for interent access through the PS3. With the PSP and the Go!Cam, users can take pictures and upload to the PS3, and access them through the PSP.
From Wikipedia, i found out that the launch of the PSP in Japan, was quite succesful in terms of sales, with the first shipment of 200,000 selling in just 2 days. However, there were problems with faulty pixels (discoloured squares), and discs ejecting abruptly because of 'twisted' systems.
Becuase of the large demand in North America upon the release there, the European release date was pushed back to 9 months after the Japanese release date.

Nintendo DS: Compared to the PSP, the launch of the DS was much more succesful. As opposed to the 200,000 sold in the 2 days of the launch, the DS sold more than 500,000 in the first week. The overall sales of the DS was 64.79 million, while the Playstation only saw sales of 20.25 million worldwide. The Nintendo Wi-Fi connection is included on the DS, which can support up to 8 players, from connecting with friends, people at the same skill level, people in the local area, or people from around the world, and the player choosing which of these options they would like to take. As same as the wii, players have to enter their friend codes where both sides must enter the other in order to communicate freely.

I read an article about the brain-training game Dr Kawashima's Brain Training: How Old Is Your Brain?, and how it has sold over 5 million copies.
Summary: Overall, the article outlined the brain activity beneficial for the mental agility of people. Also, it outlines the fact that the wider audience is now exposed and included into the gaming market, with more adults playing the games and widening the target demographic.
Furthermore, it mentions that it isn't just Nintendo developing brain training, and that mobile phones are now able to play the sort of games, more likely to be taken on the go than a ds or psp, which has also got involved, releasing Carol Vorderman's Sudoku game. It says that there will be a 'wider acceptance' of the psp and ds since more people are interested in the games, it will promote advancement of the technology.

I also read a review of the Nintendo DS Lite and about the consumer opinion to the Lite version.
Apparently, 10 handheld consoles have been released by Nintendo, and there are only four major ones; from the Game Boy, to the Colour, then from the Advance to the DS. The concern is about the almost pointless upgrades that consumers keep buying into, especially smaller versions. Consumer demand for these has increased the popularity of them, and have been widely accepted, bringing in huge sums of money for nintendo. Lastly, the demand for it in the US means that more systems in the future are expected from nintendo.

Handheld game consoles have allowed more flexibilty when playing games on these consoles. The DS and the PSP have widened the target demographic to the older generation, boosting sales and raising awareness. Users are allowed more interactivity because of the nintendo wi-fi connection, and the networking between the PSP and PS3 allows more freedom of movies, images, and other files which would not have been possible before.