Nintendo fights for handheld market

Handheld gaming in Australia is tipped to undergo a major shakeup, with two new portable gaming devices due to appear on the scene next month.

Japanese gaming giant Nintendo has dominated the worldwide market for the last decade. The company's Game Boy system has been the only device available to gamers on the go.

But two advanced new portable gaming devices are due to be released shortly. Nintendo has announced that 24 February will see the release of its new Double Screen (DS) system.

The DS features one screen to display the game, and another touch-sensitive screen for control and displaying game data.

With the DS, Nintendo also hopes to attract fans of multiplayer gaming.

The unit supports wireless multiplayer gaming and communication. DS will also be compatible with current generation Game Boy games.

The DS will retail for a SRP of $199.95, and will include a demo of Metroid Prime Hunters: First Hunt.

The DS will face stiff competition from the PlayStation Portable (PSP), due later this year from Sony. The PSP is already available in Japan, and features graphics and capabilities on par with the current PS2 console.

Sony is pitching the PSP as a portable multimedia device, while the Nintendo DS is purely a gaming machine.

No details for the PSP's release date or price were available at press time.