Dear Future Gamer

Don't be silly. The future of gaming in handhelds? Pish posh. Now I love my handheld gaming, don't get me wrong, and a 32bit system with a very hi-res screen and a low appetite on batteries would be much appreciated. To suggest that handheld gaming will somehow take over from sitting back in your armchair and playing on a hoofing great telly does seem a mite fanciful though, however good handhelds become. The increased popularity of handheld gaming is evident, with SNK releasing the NeoGeo Pocket Color and Nintendo announcing a new, more powerful Game Boy successor. I still reckon that the home console is hardly going to die as a result.

The way to go seems to be to make your handheld system compatible with a console. SNK are linking theirs with Dreamcast, and Nintendo would be very silly not to link up with Dolphin. How successful this will be remains to be seen, but the VMU seems to be very popular for its terribly weak mobile gaming-to-console angle, so this sort of cross-pollination looks set to thrive.

I reckon that mobile gaming is about due for another surge in popularity, but the idea of some sort of exodus to a glorified Game Boy by the entire console gaming fraternity is nothing more than a marketing man's sales pitch gone mad.

Michael Foster

FG: It's always nice to start the week with a letter from Mr Foster. What do other people think on the handhelds subject - is Mike right, or is he underestimating the power of the portable? Replies to the usual address please...