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Message: <blockquote data-quote="WizarDru" data-source="post: 1782006" data-attributes="member: 151">Some of them, sure.  But the Sega GameGear was expected by many to be a Gameboy killer, and it helds it's own for a while.  The TurboExpress was a technically superior system with a larger collection of games...that was completely squandered by a company with no clue of the market. Oh, and the fact that it was 4 times as expensive as a GB. Nintendo wasn't always so dominant in the handheld market, and they were much more vulnerable in 1991 and 1996 than they are now.  Remember, the Lynx came out at the same time as the original Gameboy, and had color, stereo sound  and 3D capabilities.  But it was also $90 more expensive at release time, had no killer apps and was released by Atari, who's name was now badly tarnished with retailers.  Even then, it was plagued by production shortages in 1989, as they couldn't meet demand.  Nintendo could and did.  Nintendo was at the height of NES popularity, was cheaper and had killer licenses.  Even with all that, the Lynx was on the market from 1989 to 1994, with it's best years being 1991-2.  The Lynx II was the redesigned version, and was only $99, making it sell much faster.  The Sega Gamegear is what killed the Lynx, not the gameboy (well, and Atari itself). The thing is, most of the competitors to the Gameboy didn't understand what made the GB so popular: it's form factor and battery-life.  The Lynx and Gamegear were both heavier, and went through batteries like crazy.  The TurboExpress was just too expensive, and the neogeo pocket...well, it just stinks.  Sony, one hopes, understands these things.  Sony's two biggest problems are it's insular design culture (two competing MP3 player designs, for example) and it's insistence on trying to force certain technologies it's enamored of, regardless of consumer desire.  Do we really need Mice with memory-stick slots?  The UMD format sounds like a potential problem: mini-CDs don't sound like they'll be able to withstand the punishment of portable gaming the same way that cartridges can.</blockquote>

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