Forbes provided some hyped linkbaiting today with an article on why Apple’s iPhone could kill, not compete with, but kill the Nintendo DS. I’m taking the bait to quash Apple’s gaming might once and for now.

Tech pundits love finding that new “killer” app to quash the incumbent which, in recent memory, always seems to be something Apple related: iPod “killer”, iPhone “killer”, and even Apple TV “killer” (do you need to kill something that isn’t even selling?).

Nintendo’s DS is the powerhouse of handheld gaming, the benefit of almost 20 years and more than half-a-dozen hardware generations. Sony launched its first handheld competitor, the PSP, barely clutching to 30 percent of the market, a credit to the system’s power and Sony’s well-established Playstation brand. Apple comes to the gaming world with no experience (except the tragic Pippin), no game studio, no retail presence or expandable memory, and most importantly, no interest in killing Nintendo.

Forbes writes its article ahead of Apple’s release of 3rd-party software include, presumably, an assortment of games. When Apple announced its developer’s kit for 3rd-parties, major game publishers Sega and EA were there to show off the first games for the platform. These high-profile releases led blogs to speculate on the iPhone’s potential as an actual handheld gaming platform.

This assumes Apple wants to be a handheld platform. The recently announced $25 for games sales Apple has other priorities. Gaming platforms have relied on low priced hardware subsidized by royalties from game sales. Sony’s PSP struggled initially at its $200 price point - how can Apple’s $400 iPhone think to fare better.

The other point against Apple’s gaming interests are its lack of actual gaming. EA’s cute flOw clone, if holding to Apple’s aforementioned price, costs $8 on the PS3. A rare $20 game on the PSP, Patapon, featured dozens of hours of gameplay. The DS offers assorted casual games like those likely to dominate on the iPhone, but also offers a varied library of epic stories and varied genres. Casual gaming is big business, yes, but hard core gaming is still bigger. The Wii sells amazingly, but software beyond Nintendo (first-party) fails to sell like games on the Xbox 360 and PS3.

Games will never sell the iPhone. The iPhone sells itself because of its variety of features and solid casual gaming will appeal to that user base in ways even the Nintendo DS can’t. The result will be different markets, not competitors.

Video game fans know it sucks to invest hundreds of dollars in consoles, accessories, and games only to do the whole thing over again in five years. We do it, but we hate it. Sony’s PS2 is showing the console lifecycle might be lengthening, with awesome games still being releases for the seven year old system. The PS2 even outsells the state-of-the-art PS3 meaning people seem willing to invest a couple years in the aged platform.

But Sony’s PSP handheld is a different beast. John Koller, senior marketing manager for Sony’s PSP told IGN he believes the handheld has a 10-year lifecycle similar to the PS2 and PS3. Using firmware updated and some hardware revisions, they can milk the life out of the PSP. But this is a bad idea and an example when starting fresh is better in a few years.

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Everyone needs one portable gadget to carry all their music and movies. And I must go against popular opinion and say I love my PSP more than my iPod.

7. Multimedia

The PSP provides MP3, video, and image viewing with built-in speakers and a radiant 480p screen, far bigger than any iPod screen. I can then plug in my PSP to watch videos, either UMDs or MPEG-4s (just like your iPod), on my television. The larger screen even works better for reading comic books and websites. And if you’re ever bored, you can keep many flash games you find online to play on your PSP.

6. Wireless and web browsing: no extra charge

It only took six years and six generations of iPods before Wi-Fi and web browsing finally came built into the MP3 player. The PSP has had an impressive web browser for years with wireless networking to play games. The PSP had an RSS reader built-in.

5. Expandable memory

Want an more TV episodes for that long plane ride? Just have too much music for one iPod Nano. Well for the PSP, you can buy one, two, four, or eight gig memory cards giving you unlimited space for all your media. You can buy three four gig memory cards (about $40 each) and a PSP ($169) and spend less than the $299 iPod touch with eight gigs.

4. Easily replaceable batteries

So did that battery in your iPod crap out? Now you have to replace your whole iPod. Or worse, were you watching a video in the car ride to grandma’s when your battery dies? If you had a PSP, you could just switch out a new battery. Keep two around. Or three. And never worry about being without your precious music, movies and games. And you never have to wait for those annoying appointments to have college student do what you can do yourself.

3. Homebrew and accessories

While both Apple and Sony aren’t happy about random people making random stuff for their hardware, PSP has a much larger and successful homebrew community, creating eReaders, ISO loaders, original games, and GPS services with maps. One downside are the current best accessories, like the video camera and official GPS have yet to be imported to the U.S. Europe also will be getting live TV, instant messaging, and a video download service, many of which are soon to be coming to the U.S. And until that happens, I can always use Remote Play with my PS3. I might be across the country, but give me a wireless connection and I can be enjoying all the games and movies on the attached 500 gig hard drive.

2. Games

Pretty obvious, the PSP plays games. This handheld is a power house almost rivaling the home console PS2. While the console has had more misses than hits, there’s far more quality games for the system then the iPod which has, well, none. From an original Grand Theft Auto game to classic remakes of Final Fantasy and Mega Man, the PSP offers a nice assortment of value-adding games. And if those games aren’t enough, try out flash games from the web (which you can save onto your memory card) or play some free homebrew games. All the features of an iPod and a game machine. All for a …

1. Lower price

You get more features than the $300 iPod Touch for the price of an iPod Nano. And a lot more features than the iPod Nano…for the same price.

And no I did not forget the UMD movie format. UMD is a waste. But the PSP can play all your digital movie files just as well, on a wider, bigger screen than any iPod. Just wanted to remind you of that.

Every Monday, I force my opinion on you, my fearless readers, ranking the seven of something geeky.

Within days hackers cracked the iPhone like the glass touch screen rolled over by car tires. Apple released a new firmware that freezes hacked or modded iPhones preventing users from accessing programs or services, possibly permanently.

The mainstream press has followed the thus far short give-and-take between Apple and iPhone hackers, and this sudden firmware update looks like a powerful win for Apple. But this is only because the mainstream hasn’t seen hackers battle and beat corporate America over and over again.

Video game consoles have been fighting a back-and-forth war between hackers freeing up console firmware. The console maker than updates the firmware, often for the sole purpose of blocking the hackers. But within a few weeks, a new hacked firmware gets released. Nothing is perfect.

Apple will discover the same painful challenge. In a few weeks or less, this new iPhone firmware will be cracked and people will once again be able to customize their iPhone until the next firmware gets released.

But as Between the Lines points out, Apple’s battle with hackers might cause more bad than good:

We do know none of these hacks to unlock the iPhone would be necessary if we had carrier choice. What’s the cost differential between adding a few carriers to the iPhone and wasting time developing software to outflank hackers?

Even with an extremely successful launch for the iPhone, Apple has started seeing their power getting the better of them. The mass of attention on their products, from the media to the early adopters to the general public, means little information can hide. Most people will never know or care that Sony blocks PSP hackers every chance it gets. But Apple battling hackers will get attention and at some point, the once sweet Apple might get too many sour stories affecting the taste. Apple thrives on rapid evangelical early adopters. After forcing users into one phone service, announcing a major price cut early, and now freezing people’s phone, there might not be enough of a good thing left to adopt.

With costs exceed $20 million dollars to produce games for the next-generation, publishers a looking at every avenue to defray costs, from producing cheap multi-platform ports, to sequels, to charging for updates.  But my question is, with the slow growth for this next-gen of gaming, why aren’t publishers putting the effort into handhelds?

Square Enix chief executive Yoichi Wada is committing his company to the handheld market for the year.  He responds to the demographics of the massively dominate Unintended DS. and criticizes the PS3 and Xbox 360 for being too complex.

“There are too many specs – and you also need a high-definition TV, a broadband connection and a deep knowledge of gaming – these consoles are mismatched to today’s environment. In a year or two years they will fare better,” says Wada.

Square Enix plans to put one of its flagship series’ next installments, Dragon Quest IX, on the DS.

Other publishers may follow Square Enix’s example.  The gaming industry has enjoyed the console dominance in the PS2 that provided detailed, 3D worlds compared to the pale colored sprites of Gameboy games.  But this generation of handhelds provide unique gaming experiences without sacrificing graphics and gameplay. 

Unfortunately, game developers do not seem to put their best work on the handhelds.  The PSP receives an army of poor console ports while the DS enjoys more mini-games and causal gamer experiences than it does Pokemon spin-offs.  In fact, not since Pokemon has there been a successful handheld only franchise. 

The DS has more than 35 million units sold.  The PSP numbers over 25 million.  Both challenge the less than 25 million consoles sold.  That includes the Wii, Xbox 360, and PS3.  Handheld games cost less to make and have a larger, more diverse audience than consoles.  Upcoming God of War and Final Fantasy spin-offs are good starts, but it’s questionable the innovation they offer being products of the console generation.  Just think how much Pokemon console games suck.

But maybe us hardcore gamers, developers included, are still glued to our television sets.  I know I am. 

PC-based emulators, programs that allow console-based games to be played on computers, have provided various options for Playstation emulation. DCEMu Yoshihiro has released a Playstation emulator for the handheld PSP.

The amazing thing here is not the program itself, which technically limits portability since you have to plug your PSP into a computer to play the CD-ROM. But the interesting this is the jump in technology: a small, hand-held system can play the games that broke all limits for graphics and 3D worlds. Sony, and Nintendo DS, are both hosting games updated from older games that were, in many ways, state of the art when released, as in Mario 64 now crammed into a small cartridge for your DS. And Final Fantasy III’s cute pixilated 16-bit world just can’t muster the glow needed for the PSP, as the game comes re-released in all-new 3D graphics.

The added benefit of these imports is that hand held systems are finally enjoying some console styled game play with rich storytelling and cinema-styled visuals. This will make those long plane rides much more fulfilling, but your train ride to school might start to limit game choices. This will be the trade off to consider, between the quick hits and full immersion.