Nintendo seeks to dominate portable game market with new console

The market size of the portable game market, dominated by Nintendo, is shrinking rapidly. "According to the latest industry survey, the Japanese video game market contracted for a third consecutive year in 2003, with the market size dropping to only 60 percent of the peak in 1997."

This nevertheless means that competition can be fierce, as market players try to stay atop a shrinking market or want to keep their revenues. It means that there are exits from the market and that those remaining in the market can actually still grow.

Nintendo aims to rejuvenate the market with the release of a Nintendo DS, a hand-held double-screen console.

This comes after Sony recently released a slimmed-down Playstation 2 that goes heads-on against Nintendo.