PSP’s impressive start in the handheld market has been soured this week as rival console Nintendo DS began to pull ahead in the race for portable supremacy.
The latest industry estimates suggest that the June 23rd launch of DS Lite, while deemed unspectacular by some at the time, has boosted hardware sales for the year so far ahead of Sony’s PSP.
And Nintendo is eclipsing the competition in the software charts – this week’s biggest selling DS game New Super Mario Bros outsold top PSP title Tomb Raider: Legend by a ratio of over five to one. The Nintendo format also claimed the prize for being the overall top-selling full price console platform this week.
As the summer months shift gamers’ focus toward handhelds, the sector as a whole seems to be gaining strength all the time.