Which handheld for a seven year old

iwb

Can someone enlighten a gaming agnostic please? My seven year old wants a PSP from Santy. Besides the expense for something that he may leave behind him on a bus somewhere, I had heard that they weren't too robust. The Nintendo DS looks better as it is less expensive and seems to be more robust with better battery life.
I have no idea what games are available in general but he is into soccer which I assume can be had for both machines. The other capabilites are attractive too. We have wifi at home and lots of music and video stored for streaming.
Any advice is greatly appreciated.

Retr0gamer

The DS is by far the better console. It's cheaper, has far better games and more of them and it's far cheaper and has a great battery life compared to the PSP which has a battery life of about 3 hours which is a joke. However if your seven year old wants a PSP then it would probably be better to get the PSP to avoid tantrums and disappointments. You could try and get him to change his mind by letting him play games on the DS. Mario Kart and Mario Bros. will probably change his mind. My next door neighbour has an xbox bought for her 7 and 5 year old kids. They were over in the house recently and I stuck on Mario Kart on the GC and now they want a GC The neighbours are very annoyed but screw them, an xbox isn't the console to be getting kids.

chump

Get him what he asked for

Or else try and persuade him to get the DS, but either way make sure he agrees with the choice before you buy!

sprinkles

Get him a DS. He will play the PSP until Stevens Day and then you'll have a very expensive paper weight lying around. The DS will keep him interested for a lot longer. As regards soccer titles, the psp probably has the better selection but they don't play that well (even PES, lots of slow down and load times are ridiculous).

As was already said though make sure he's in agreement with your decision. Get him to play mariokart on it. THat should do the trick. Also ask him why he wants the psp.. it's probably because little johnny in his class is getting one :rolleyes:

iwb

I thoroughly agree that he has to want it too. We are heading out on a shopping expedition so that he can try both. Thanks for the excellent feedback.

iwb

We went to Smyths in Waterford this afternoon. The City was unbearable due to a road closure but although the shop itself was packed, we came across a really helpful guy. He spent as long as we needed and my son decided himself that the DS is better for him at the moment.
Thanks again for all your help.

sprinkles

Good to hear. Hope he enjoys it.

Balfa

A victory for good games everywhere! Hurrah!

Don't forget that the DS can also play Gameboy Advance games, and there are a billion excellent ones.

You can go to http://www.gamerankings.com/itemrankings/simpleratings.asp and filter for "Platform: Game Boy Advance" (Advance only! Other gameboy games will not work on DS) to find lots and lots of stocking fillers that can be picked up second hand for cheap.