A new contender in the handheld battle?

The handheld market has always been ruled by Nintendo. The Game Boy is probably more famous than any other console before or after it and for many it was there first step into the world of video games. In fact I have owned every version of the game boy since it was first launched (with the exception of the latest: the 'Micro'). However, I was never really that attracted to the DS. All that I saw in it was a gimmicky control system that disguised the sub-standard console behind. Instead I settled for a PSP as it had the more power, the bigger screen and much more multimedia capabilities. However, the masses disagreed with me and went for the DS and needless to say Nintendo stayed at the top of the podium.

Nintendo then saw how attractive these "innovative" controls were and decided to take a similar approach with the Wii. Incredibly after being behind in the last two generations of the home console market, Nintendo were pushed straight to the front as everyone went Wii crazy.

However Nintendo now have something else to worry about and this time it comes from Apple.

A few years ago, the worldwide leader in the portable music player category was the Sony Walkman. It was one of those brands that with infamous. However, Apple released a little thing called the iPod and it became so successful that practically everyone now owns one. There iTunes store stole millions of record sales away from the 'real' music stores like HMV and lead to the music charts being forced to include online sales. Then last year they released the iPhone, once more they overtook practically every other mobile phone and smartphone manufacturer.

At this point you might be expecting me to unveil the Apple iGame or something that will put Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo out of business, but in fact this new DS contender is already out on the market. With its version 2.0 upgrade, the iPhone now supports 3rd party applications and this means that it can now play games.

'So what?', you say 'Most phones can play games, but the DS is still the market leader.' The iPhone however has a couple of tricks up it's sleeve. Firstly it has a multi-touch screen which, as the name suggests, means it can detect multiple points of contact as opposed to the DS only picking up one point of contact. Secondly the iPhone has a built in 3-axis accelerometer which, in lament's terms, means it can match the Wiimote and Sixaxis in their motion controls.

So the iPhone is a combination of the DS and Wii in terms of its controls, but what about everything else?

Well the new version, 'iPhone 3G', is a 3G Phone, a Camera, an iPod, a Sat Nav unit and a Calculator. It can surf the web, it can send emails, it can do instant and SMS messaging, it supports YouTube and is compatible with 3rd party software. It supports Music, Photos and Video and has a large high-quality screen. Just in this one device it can both match and then beat the PSP and DS, but the final and killer question is: what are the games actually like?

Well at the moment it remains to be seen, but from the footage I have seen of Sega's 'Super Monkey Ball' running on it, it is looking positive. (View the Keynote here and skip to around 22:00 minutes)

Apple have announced that the iPhone 3G will be sold globally at a maximum price of $199 or around £100. I know that at that price and with all those features that I definitely want one and I guess that you probably do as well, the only problem will be trying to get your hands on one.