Nintendo on NGP, Sony on 3DS

With the NGP now fully exposed and the 3DS just two months from release, the 2011 handheld battle lines have been drawn – but both platform holders are remaining coy about their rival machines.

"Clearly in the dedicated portable space, we will be in competition with 3DS," SCEE president Andrew Hosue admitted to Eurogamer.

"I know you’ll think me coy, but our wish when we enter markets is to grow the overall market and landscape, and find new audiences. So in that space, I think we’re more or less generally competing for consumers’ time, and that’s where we place the highest premium. It’s our job to deliver fantastic experiences that merit the consumers’ investment of their time with our devices.

"I think that we feel very confident that we have very sufficiently differentiated ourselves from the competition with spec, and in particular the connectivity and network features and interfaces that are all pretty revolutionary. That will set this device apart."

In contrast, speaking to investors (as translated by Andriasang) Nintendo president Saturo Iwata was more reserved, refusing to be drawn on possible comparisons.

"They’re trying to appeal to customers from a different direction than us. The customers will decide which is correct," he stated.

"Nintendo is not the kind of company that thinks about how we oppose other company’s product."