DS or PSP

grimloch

Friend on holidays would like to know which he should get in terms of better games and all the rest.

The cost of either machine seems irrevelant to him.

Thanks.

DiscoStu

a ds with meteos, kirbys canvas curse and zoo keeper gets!

mayto

this will start another ds-fanboy vs psp-fanboy thread!

Psp has some good games atm but hopefully there'll be a good lot more after the european launch (burnout legends, virtua tennis, pro evo soccer....). Then theres the added plus of music and videos but a big memory card costs about 100 yoyos.

Good games imo at the moment would be lumines, ridge racer, wipeout, tiger woods, hot shots golf

Havent a clue about the DS, just do a search im sure ur not the first to ask something like this.

ps: dont pay any attention to these battery rumours, its not as bad as everyone seems to think!

TheIrishGrover

Haven't played the PSP yet. Looks cool but very expensive, short battery etc apparently. Have played the DS though. Me nephews one...... Bloody machine... Couldn't put it down.... Loved it. If only I could justify getting one.... But saying that, the PSP does look cool..... Aggghhhh. I'm no help. Sorry

Rhyme

From what ive played the DS is a lot more fun, just something that cant be put down unless you're passing it to a friend to prove how good it is, the PSP is a more serious piece of kit (dont get me wrong, the DS is serious... i just take it as fun first) Depends on your own needs really.

grimloch

If this starts a fanboy moment I apologise to the mods.

The PSP games look promising and the touching business on the DS could annoy his overlarge clumsy hands.

Have to decide which one to get for myself soon...

Retr0gamer

DS seems to have the best games out at the moment (well in america) and some nice looking games in the future. The PSP has lots of extra features and isn't too short on good games either. I wouldn't buy Ridge Racers. WipeoutPure would be a far better purchase than the overrated ridge racers.

kaisersose77

IMO it depends on what sort of games he likes, I myself like sports games, racing games etc and so the PSP is pretty much the only choice in that regards. But if its other types of games then its probably best if you can try out the handheld for yourself and see what your in for before splashing out. As i dont think ur gonna get many unbiased replies here.

Franky Boy

Psp without a doubt!Just open up two pages and compare the two machines' specs and then make him decide!

dregin

TheIrishGrover wrote:

Haven't played the PSP yet. Looks cool but very expensive, short battery etc apparently. Have played the DS though. Me nephews one...... Bloody machine... Couldn't put it down.... Loved it. If only I could justify getting one.... But saying that, the PSP does look cool..... Aggghhhh. I'm no help. Sorry

Who told you it has a short batter life? I play games and listen to music on it all day without any problems. My flatmate bought a ages ago DS and has played my PSP more since I bought it than he has the DS.

Mimikyu

This post has been deleted.

Winters

PSP gives you a lot of extra ability. Internet Browsing, Videos, Music, Photo etc. I dont think the true power of the PSP has shown yet and I dont think we will really see it for another year or so. Particularly with the launch of the ps3, the chance of having a wireless video remote controller sounds nifty indeed.

Ive tried the DS a couple of times mostly in shops. Its an interesting idea, the whole touchscreen stuff but as a device I dont like the large clunky feel to it. Also its lack of foresight, it appears to be more of a quick fix to combat the psp then a totally new idea for the future imo.

TCamen

I have a DS, and I really like it -- particularly because it can play Gameboy games too (just got Warioware Twisted, much prefer it to Touched!)

Saw the PSP running for the first time a few weeks ago, and it looks fantastic, so if the battery life isn't as bad as I first heard/thought, I might be tempted come Christmas, I just wouldn't be bothered importing one early.

OP - I think it will really come down to what kind of games your friend wants to play, like others have mentioned. I use my DS in doses, not ALL the time, and mostly for Gameboy titles like Metroid Fusion/Zero Mission rather than newer DS titles (Another Code has driven me up the wall, Most. Frustrating. Game. Ever)

PSP has all that added functionality, and UMDs of big/new movie titles are coming out quite frequently now so there is that too!

Gizzard

I would go with DS the PSP does not really have any good games for it, the load times are fairly bad and battery life gets annoying, unless your into emulation and can get a 1.5 PSP or less then I would say dont bother with it.

DS has some nice games coming out , and has good battery life

RE*AC*TOR

Unfortunately to get the most out of the DS you really have to go the import line... Meteos, Kirby Canvas Curse etc. I have a ds and love it - use it more than my xbox or gamecube.

Having said that the PSP does look good - but I would be very wary of (a) the price, and (b) the battery life.

Doodah7

Neither tbh. Personally I don't think the DS is up to much. Anything I've seen of it seems to be GBA rehashes with a gimmicky touch screen. There is what? a maximum of four or five great games for a system out 9 or 10 months...

As for the PSP, it seems too large and too fragile to be a useful play anywhere handheld. In addition, has it had an original game released for it?? All rehashes of PS1 or PS2 games so far...

The price of a PSP will get you most of the way to a XBox 360 when it is released a couple of months later (not that the release games on that look exactly stellar either)...

steviec

I got a DS in December and a PSP in February and the DS has barely been touched(pardon the pun) since. I will however admit that I haven't played either of Meteos or Kirby's Canvas Curse, which seem to be the only worthwhile games for the system. However I didn't like Mario 64 or Yoshi Touched and Warioware was fun but not as fun as the GB version, and very short lived. The overall system is way too big and bulky(I don't know where people get the idea the PSP is too big from, it's much more compact than the DS and I think it's smaller than the original GBA, only the SP beats it)

As for the PSP. Battery life is not a problem in the slightest. I charge mine whenever I think of it, and it pretty much never runs out. The extra features on the PSP are worth thinking about, it's a decent MP3 player(when you buy a good memory stick) and I've a few episodes of family guy stored on it which I watch ocassionally. The fact that homebrew is coming so thick and fast is great too, the Megadrive emulator being my favourite. PC emulators are all well and good, but playing the classics on a proper games machine with proper controls instead of a keyboard is great, and being portable is that much better! The important bit though is the games. Ridge Racers is cool but short lived, I only play it anymore in wireless mode which is always fun with friends. Wipeout Pure is good, if you like wipeout you'll love it, I'm not a huge fan personally. Lumines is a great puzzle game. Very very addictive. And it uses the machines strengths really well to provide an audio visual experience. Meteos on the DS might be better but right now I don't want another puzzle game Lumines is everything I want. Metal Gear Acid is very interesting, I haven't fully gotten into it yet though but it's very promising. The reason I haven't fully gotten into it though is Mercury - my favourite game on any console over the last few months. It's a fantastic game and it pretty much lives in my PSP. There's other games available right now, like Twisted Metal, Tony Hawk's and the EA Sports games that are all of a very high standard and worth getting if you don't have the home console versions. And there's also a lot coming out in future that make me think PSP is the better console to go for. It's also beautiful. It feels just right to hold too, although it does feel somewhat precious, I'd be very scared of dropping mine.

The analog stick, better portability, greater comfort to hold, better aesthetics, and much higher specs give the PSP a lot of potential in my view. The DS has the touch screen but time and time again I read reviews of DS games saying 'the second screen is for a map' or 'doesn't make use of the machines unique abilities'. I'm glad I have both because I know there's going to be some absolute classics on DS that do make use of these features, but I feel there'll be very few and the PSP is going to have the more solid catalog a couple of years from now.

CiDeRmAn

Bought DS on release, had a bunch of games, really enjoyed it, saw PSP was on the way, sold DS to fund new handheld, much to my wifes disbelief.
Bought bunch of games to go with it, then got real, real bored. Awful launch line up, all PS2 rehashes with the honourable exception of Mercury, though Monkey Ball kicks its ass.
So I sold the PSP, selling the games now too and bought another DS with Yoshi touch and go, wario and project rub, and would you guess children, I am happy again!

Dont be at yourself

I bought a DS at launch, played it for two weeks and never really went back to it. A real lack of not just quality titles, but titles in general. Over here we're getting a trickle of two or three titles a month. I've had every Nintendo console since the SNES, but their apathy towards Europe is really starting to grate. If you're willing to wait sometimes up to a year for a port of a game (cough Meteos), then go for the DS. There's even a good few second hand for around the €100 mark, which is a bargain.

Imported a PSP a few months ago and it's always with me. Even if you don't like the games (and Ridge Racers is much better than Wipeout, Retro!), the movie and music playback is going to be an extremely handy feature. Can't wait for it to launch over here so I can get my hands on more games and movies.

RE*AC*TOR

NekkidBibleMan wrote:

If you're willing to wait sometimes up to a year for a port of a game (cough Meteos), then go for the DS.

please elaborate....?

shortys94

psp for definate, it hasnt even launched worldwide, when it does you can be ssure that you will want one, i have played ds but bought psp so glad i did

browser is great and thug 2 remix looks like an exact replica of ps2 version:P

Hercule

I'd say the PSP wud be the better bet but only as my experinces of playing either are quite limited. I played ridge racer on PSP and Warioware touched and Mario64 DS and I wasnt really that impressed with any of the games but if i had to say i think you would propably be better getting a PSP - for the multiplayer alone. (whether we like it or not :rolleyes:))Ireland is pretty much a playstation majority country and im assuming the PSP will be just as succesful as the PS 1 and 2 were, so in other words more ppl will have PSPs (if current trends continue) with wireless multiplayer this should be the main attraction of both consoles so more ppl = more opponents = more fun. In a years time we will all propably have our own definitive answers to this question but in the meantime I simply have not seen the best (or worst) of either machine to make a final decision.

2 nuggets
1- PSP will have wait for it........................... FOOTBALL MANAGER 2006! soon after it comes out, thats right the PC game in perfect portable form!!!!!
im sure that could be a "killer app" for PSP.

2- In a recent survey of american PSP and DS owners 90% of them said that they spent more time playing their consoles at home plugged into the mains then they do playing on the battery when outside or travelling.

Dont be at yourself

Nintendo have a habit of delaying the launch of their games in Europe for no apparent reason.

Meteos was released in Japan last march, but still isn't out over here.
Warioware Twisted was released in Japan last november, and it doesn't even have a date over here.

Metroid Prime was released stateside, what, five or six months before we got our hands on it? Animal Crossing was released back in 2001 in Japan, and only made its way over here last year.

It's the same for practically every single first party release from Nintendo, and while they cite localisation issues, that can't always be the case. It doesn't take a year to translate a game with as little text in it as Warioware, not when other publishers can release games globally in the space of a couple of weeks, if not days.

ambro25

Hey, CiDeRmAn,

CiDeRmAn wrote:

Bought DS on release, had a bunch of games, really enjoyed it, saw PSP was on the way, sold DS to fund new handheld, much to my wifes disbelief. Bought bunch of games to go with it, then got real, real bored. Awful launch line up, all PS2 rehashes with the honourable exception of Mercury, though Monkey Ball kicks its ass. So I sold the PSP, selling the games now too and bought another DS with Yoshi touch and go, wario and project rub, and would you guess children, I am happy again!

Meanwhile, in another thread earlier...

ambro25 wrote:

(...)

(Funny how I seem stuck in that ever-running circle... buy GC, sell GC, buy XBOX, sell XBOX, buy PS2, sell PS2, buy GBA, sell GBA, buy DS, sell DS, buy N64 (twice), sell N64 (twice), buy PS1, sell PS1, buy PSOne, sell PSOne, buy retro (3DO, PCE, SGX, CDI, Turbo Express, Wonderswan, V-Boy, etc, etc), sell retro... and again, and again, and...)

I may need counselling

(...)

You think we can share the counselling sessions ?!? LOL!

On a serious note: I'm absolutely refusing -on principle- to buy the PSP since the UK cases and the pending Lik-Sang case :mad:

i_am_dogboy

I'd say go for the DS, you got meteos, wario ware, zoo keeper, electroplankton, kirby, pac pix all currently available now on import or over here. Advance wars and animal crossing are both coming pretty soon. There's also a sweet looking puzzle bobble game coming out where you catapult the balls, something like the mario 64 mini game.

I will admit that I haven't played enough of the PSP to make a completely unbiased decision. Lumines is fantastic, ridge racer and wipeout are both good, you also have GTA and infected coming out later in the year and they should both be really really good.

Both handhelds have rainbow island and bubble bobble games coming out too, which is worth looking forward to regardless of which choice you make, but I say listen to biffo and get a DS.

monkeyfudge

I have both the PSP and the DS.

I when I bought the PSP I was very impressed with it... the graphics are simply amazing and it's quite an acomplishment what they were able to achieve on such a small machine. The screen is of an absolutely lovely quality too. Also the analogue stick is something that I find is sorely missing from the DS. I played alot with it for about a week and actually I haven't touched it since... that was about 2 months ago. I have really seen any other games for it that grab my attention.... even Ape Escape is just a rehash of the old PS1 game and doesn't look like it work the same with just the one analogue stick.

Being able to rip whole DVDs to the memory stick is very nice though, and I'll probably use that feature more so in the future than using it as a games macine. It would be great if they got some RPGs on the system... that would get my a attention... as RPGs and survival horror games are about all I use my PS2 for anyway.

I love my DS though.. I still play with it regularly... I'm currently working my way through Another Code. I too have a been a bit dissappointed with the release schedule.. but when I look at what is due to come out in the near future... I just can't wait... Animal Crossing DS is the title I'm looking forward to the most as it's one of my favourite titles on the Gamecube. Also I use the DS alot for playing GBA games, as the backlit screen on the DS is far superior to the 'front' lit screen on the SP.

So.. to sum up... PSP has amazing graphics and is a nice little gadget... But the DS has far more of the types of games that I love... And.. well playing games that I love is what I want from a console.. so I'll go with the DS over the PSP any day.

kaisersose77

If anyone wants to buy a psp, buy this while you have a chance! :

http://www.videogamesplus.ca/product_info.php?products_id=8479&osCsid=a5381c3fa14f3b7122053a64252703f7

Its a 1.50 so it'll run homebrew unlike the ones that will be on sale here in september. Or you could sell it on ebay or something when ppl are desperate to get one.

Stoichkov

Id go for psp but the choice of games around are limited.

Also, to get the best out of the psp you'll need a 1gb card. Pricey but its worth it.

I've Lumines which is good fun but you get fed up of having to play for nearly 3hrs to beat your top score. Also got Wipeout which is great and the downloads are fantastic freebies.

The only game I can see myself buying soon is virtua tennis.

As for the DS, im not a fan of nintendo and the endless mario parade but games like advance wars and quirky titles like Trauma Centre look quite tempting.

yawnstretch

I had both.

The psp (which I've had for nine months) is much better. In every way.

monkeyfudge

yawnstretch wrote:

I had both.

The psp (which I've had for nine months) is much better. In every way.

You bought the PSP on it's launch day in Japan and sold it today?

Dermo

I've played with both and I gotta say that the graphics on the psp are a lot better than the DS but I don't buy games for their graphics, I prefer gameplay (I got bored with GTA:SA because it was too much like the others)

I don't see the point in having an mp3 player, video player and web browser in a handheld games machine, I hate it when I machine tries to do too many things and never perfects any of them...

The games on the DS, in my opinion, are better. granted some of the available ones are utter crap ports of games that are available on every machine (eg. The Urbz) but it does have some very unique features(microphone, touch screen) which add an extra element, something new to the frame of computer games.

If you are looking for something that will do everything for you, that has been done before, except satisfy you sexually then go for the PSP. But if you want something that will give you a new experience and unique gameplay then go for the DS.
In reality they shouldn't be compared because one is an entertainment piece of technology while the other is a straight up handheld games machine.

CiDeRmAn

Please Yawnstretch, elaborate, tell us why its so much better, aside from the specs, where in its current game releases does it show how utterly wonderful it is? Where does it sparkle? Even the best of the games, Ridge Racers is a title that could have just as easily appeared on the home consoles.
The only game that will make me buy a psp again will be GT4 mobile, I figure jsudging by Sonys release dates I have between 12 and 18 months before I will have to dig deep again, probably pick one up for €150 second hand, together with a big mem stick.

And regarding the range of things a PSP can do, its a rubbich format for MP3, no harddrive, Its a rubbish format for video, no harddrive, there are other machines that do it better. Sure as a handheld games machine it seems to have all the bases covered but it feels far too fragile to be entrusted into the hands of your average sticky little 7 year old and so far the games are far too derivative for a 33 year old videogame veteran like me with rosetinted memories of the Vic20.
The DS is a less powerful machine, not as pretty or shiny as the PSP but it is more robust, the games feature truly original features and gameplay elements, sure it won't make people go ohh and ahh on the train when you produce it but at the games will do that when they have a go.

CiDeRmAn

And Ambro25, if that is your real name!, I have pretty much broken that cycle, its only in the current series of handhelds that I was led astray. I should have an Xbox 360 a bit ahead of launch and have no intentions of selling it, PS3 will probably be Sept '06 and who knows about the Revolution and what Nintendo is doing so I don't think I wil be selling any home consoles again, learned my lesson years ago that your return just gets smaller and smaller, in selling first the DS and the the PSP I did make my money back so no loss incurred, then picked up a cheap DS once again. This ones a keeper.

Hey y'all hear Rare are to make DS games! Perfect Dark on the go anyone? Stick that up your ass PSP and smoke it.

kaisersose77

lol why is it nintendo fanboys always go a bit too far, not everyone likes those sort of games, always seem like they think their elitist when talking about nintendo stuff and do their best to down everything else from reading various threads here (i play nintendo games so i'm a real gamer... ). If you done like it, you dont like it, just because thats the way u feel doesnt mean every other person will think the same. Ppl actually like games like Tiger Woods, Burnout, Pro Evolution, Football Manager, Fifa, Grand Theft Auto, Gran Turismo more than warioware 15 and mario 64 to the power of 72 (no need to say those psp game are sequels too - im jk). And i dont think any fans of those psp games mentioned would enjoy playin them on the DS. Origianal poster, if you dont like ps2 'ish games and like warioware etc buy a ds.

glimmerman

I also have both, and they're both good for different things.

The last generation of PSP (firmware 1.50) is an excellent deal. The homebrew scene has exploded over the last 2 months, and there are now more emulators than you can shake your old SNES controller at (GBC, SNES, NeoGeoCD, PC Engine etcetcetc).

Emulation on the PSP is the way to go right now, as in my opinion there's not a lot of current games that are worthy of long term attention. Wipeout is entertaining (but bored me after a week or so) and lumines held my attention for about 2 days. Hopefully that will all change when GTA LCS is released, or maybe the Final Fantasy effort from sqenix will rivet my thumbs to it. In the meantime I'm all over emulated rpg's... (portable chrono trigger anyone?)
Video capability is very good, and music... well, its ok, but its not a primary player cos its too big. Battery life is fine, not as long as the DS, but definitely enough to watch a few episodes of whatever, and play a bit too.
Not sure what the avaialibility is of 1.50 PSP's anymore, but I am pretty sure that the european release of PSP will have firmware 2.0 (web browser and extra security so no homebrew til someone cracks it )


DS is great too. The games are really fun, and lots of stuff that interests me is just about to come out. I played with Electroplankton for about 2 weeks, its really completely different from anything else. Yoshi Touch and Go is great, Mario 64 is good value, controls are a bit weird tho. Apparently Kirby Canvas Curse is fantastic.
Looking forward to import Advance Wars DS in the next few weeks, and I'll get Animal Crossing and Mario Kart when they come out too. Also bought a Play-Yan for it, to see how that worked. Its OK, not fantastic quality but good enough to watch a few episodes of southpark or robotech in bed.

CiDeRmAn

Only problem I found with the homebrew scene is that as a modded xbox owner I have it all already, no need to use the PSP for that at all. I don't spend time on buses or trains so I am supposed to use my PSP at home, while the PS2 Xbox and GC sit quietly under the tv? I don't think so, as I said before I have similar titles or better already, I was just duplicating my games collection buying stuff for the PSP.
As for Nintendo fanboys, well I think thats a crock, sure there are those out there who love machines for the badge on the outside instead of the software running on them but truthfully, of late, with the DS Nintendo took a bold step, producing what looks like an underpowered console but with a hardware feature unsurpassed in console gaming since the introduction of the Analog stick. And they produced games taking advantage of the new system perfectly, Yoshi Touch and Go, Wario Touched, just to name 2, soon to be joined by Meteos and Nintendogs.
Psp titles just seemed like rehashes of all that went before, At this stage we expect more than that, if you are going to make something for your new console make it something to knock our socks off, Ridge Racers was the only title to really do that. Doubtless as the software matures we will see better and better games being released for the PSP but as yet there is nothing to make one run out and blow 250 bills on it. I would rather ignore the handheld scene and wait til 25th of November and the Xbox360, PGR3 here we come!