Portable gaming devices experienced incredible growth this year, with a major boost over the 2004 holiday season, followed by another lift in Q1 2005.

The longstanding dominance of Nintendo's GameBoy family was broken with the launch of the company's own DS gaming system. Also impacting these numbers were the launch of the PSP. Other platforms in the market, including the Nokia nGage and cell phones with the capability to play games, have a smaller share of the portable universe. Projected numbers show interest in the next-gen systems, DS and PSP, dominating through the end of 2005.

"Historically, handhelds, being dominated by the Nintendo GameBoy, were focused on the youth market," said Job Lawrence, product manager of IGN's GamerMetrics. "People who grew up with games as kids are now in their thirties, which matches our audience demographic."

Multiple handheld platforms are projected to create more competition for console and PC platforms in the coming months, with a share raising from 24 percent in Q1 2004 to a likely 36 percent of the gaming market by the fourth quarter. Sales and interest for the PS 2, M$ Xbox and GameCube are tapering, as these are reaching the end of their lifecycles. However M$ is about to announce details of their next system - the Xbox 360 - which could launch in time for the holidays and draw attention.

"What we see is less of a cannibalization of the console market from dedicated handheld systems, and more of a complimentary effect," comments Jay Horwitz, senior analyst at Jupiter Research. "For most gamers, handhelds are not substitutes for consoles."