Pachter: PSP is doing great, DS doing better

 How did today’s handhelds do in the holidays and for the duration of 2007? The answer shouldn’t be too hard to figure out if you’ve been reading gaming news every so often. The Sony PSP had a solid year all throughout, while the Nintendo DS continued its dominance above all other platforms. Analyst Michael Pachter and PSP marketing manager John Koller share their insights why.

In a recent New York Times article called “With Wii and DS, Nintendo Has 2 Hit Game Devices,” the respected publication took a look back at how the video game industry’s mainstream platforms did this year. It’s a foregone conclusion that Nintendo ran away with the show in the year that was, and some popular industry personalities offer clues why.

All platforms in 2007 were led by the Nintendo DS handheld which continued its dominance by offering a huge collection of innovative games that take advantage of its touch screen, Wi-Fi and microphone features. The DS sold 1.53 million units in North America alone during the holiday season and expects to rack up a total of six million as 2007 comes to a close.

These numbers give the DS a lofty sales margin over competitor Sony PlayStation Portable, which also had a solid year 2007. A solid crop of games along with the release of the PSP Slim & Lite gave the more high-end device a market boost.

“SonyÂ’s PSP is doing great,” Wedbush Morgan analyst Michael Pachter told the NY Times. “The DS is just doing better.” He then adds that the DS is still a “kidÂ’s device,” and that “there is a lot of mature content available for the PSP that is not available for the DS.”

Sony’s PSP Marketing Manager John Koller, for his part, reveals that their division’s direction is first party and third-party games from such developers as Electronic Arts. “This will pay dividends down the road,” he contends.

Koller also hinted that all is not lost as far as the PSP’s movie-playing capabilities go. He acknowledged that content and pricing may have hindered them in the past, but Sony is on the move to deal with it. Hipper content that fits with the PSP’s core demographic with lower price tags are being worked on as of press time.