This is the spot where we offer readers the chance to climb on their soapbox and shout about anything and everything games related. This week Craig Bailey ponders hand-held consoles...

With the Dreamcast only a few weeks away and the Next Generation PlayStation and Next Generation Nintendo console soon to be revealed to the world, people can be forgiven for forgetting about the hand-held console market. But for the first time in what seems like thousands of years, the hand-held console market is starting to become very exciting indeed.

With the imminent release of Pokémon, the Game Boy is set to go from strength to strength. Also, for the first time in ages in the west, the Game Boy is set to get a new rival, the Neo Geo Pocket Color. While it's easy to turn your back on this console, I for one think it looks pretty damn good. A 16bit hand-held which runs on two AA batteries for up to 40 hours and that can link up to the Dreamcast? Now when you compare this to the only other 16bit console to be released in the west - the Atari Lynx - which used to last about two hours on six AA batteries, that suddenly sounds very promising indeed, doesn't it?

The games at launch don't sound too great, I'll admit, but with King Of Fighters and a brand new Sonic game, I think it sounds very promising. Now let's all raise our hands if we think SNK are crazy for going up against Nintendo! Oh, there's one person in the back there... hold on, aren't you from SNK?