For the last 15 years handheld gaming has survived as a cute niche, tagging along beside a succession of behemoth home consoles. But are the tables slowly turning in this power relationship? Apparently, Nintendo DS was the biggest selling console in America last month. Over in Japan, the story is the same: between June 26 and July 2 the DS shifted 153,566 units - the next nearest competitor, the PSP, managed 25,935. And as Greg pointed out last week, DS Lite hit 200,000 sales after ten days on European shelves. I've also just heard from Future that its Golden Joystick awards are attracting record numbers of votes this year - with handheld titles like New Super Mario Brothers, Animal Crossing and Mario Kart DS making a strong showing for the Ultimate Game of the Year accolade.
Of course, this could all be about the current lull in the home console scene. Xbox 360 is still establishing itself, PS3 and Wii aren't out yet, while PS2 is slipping quietly into the dying of the light. When there's a real, full-bodied three-way battle going on between the next-gen consoles, handheld formats may well be pushed to the periphery once again.
Or the success of portable platforms may be reflecting a general consumer shift away from big static hardware and toward sexy little take-anywhere machines. We know, of course, that notebook PCs are regularly outselling desktop models and that the burgeoning concept of the integrated home server is seeking to replace the numerous wired entertainment boxes we have littered all around our houses.
We are, after all, the iPod generation...
