Curse

William of Orange · Mar 28, 2005, 01:50 AM // 01:50

The handheld gaming world has for months been abuzz about both the DS and Sony's first handheld system, the PSP. Now, with the recent release of the PSP here in the United States, a question presents itself...

Which do you think is the better system; the Nintendo DS or the Playstation Portable?

While I have a natural tendency to support anything and (almost) everything Nintendo, the PSP has some very promising features, like the ability to play full length movies (though you do still have to purchase them), play music, and have high-quality game resolutions, even if it is at the Playstation 2 level, which is the worst of the three major console systems currently (Xbox>Gamecube>PS2).

Just to start things off, I'll vote for the DS. What does everybody else think?

Devil's Dictionary · Mar 28, 2005, 03:04 AM // 03:04

I honestly don't think anyone would be stupid enough to waste 20$ on a movie which can only be played on a such tiny screen. Sony should've allowed to play DivX from MemorySticks instead.
As for PSP, I like the fact that it plays Mp3 (nobody cares about ATRAC3) and has a wide-screen. Graphic-wise, Nintendo's DS is one generation behind.
I have a very bad experience with Sony products though, so I won't be buying a PSP soon and not especially for 300$.

William the Silent · Mar 28, 2005, 04:37 AM // 04:37

There's a really good review of the PSP vs DS on Yahoo! and it really set in stone my preference of the PSP. Things like the PSP may not be the future now but just the quality of gameplay vs. the DS is nothing but dominant. To have PS2 graphics on such a tiny machine is completely awesome, not to mention there is such a wider appeal of titles for the PSP.

Ren Falconhand · Mar 28, 2005, 05:10 AM // 05:10

I have always liked sonys games better than nintendos but if you are judgeing the system I am going to have to say DS. I got to play with a DStoday and was amazed. Plus add in all the bugs with the PsP and it should be a walk a way win for the DS. The case is moot because you can't play Guild Wars on either one LOL

Ren

William the Silent · Mar 28, 2005, 05:12 AM // 05:12

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ren Falconhand

I have always liked sonys games better than nintendos but if you are judgeing the system I am going to have to say DS. I got to play with a DStoday and was amazed. Plus add in all the bugs with the PsP and it should be a walk a way win for the DS. The case is moot because you can't play Guild Wars on either one LOL

Ren

I still have to stick with the PSP because some testers who did the review wrote that it looked like there was a ten year technological difference between the DS and the PSP when you put them side by side and compared their abilities.

William of Orange · Mar 28, 2005, 06:49 AM // 06:49

Quote:

Originally Posted by William the Silent

I still have to stick with the PSP because some testers who did the review wrote that it looked like there was a ten year technological difference between the DS and the PSP when you put them side by side and compared their abilities.

You're also paying more than $100 more for the PSP than you are for the DS, just going off of base price. If you want to be able to take advantage of the PSP running things off of memory cards you have, you still have to buy those cards, and they can become quite expensive if you want one with a decent amount of space. You still have to buy the movies, which is stupid in my view, might as well watch them on a portable DVD player, or better yet, watch them at home!! Both PSP and DS utilize Wi-Fi, DS uses PictoChat, which I like, not sure what kind of chat software PSP has, if it has any. Want to listen to music? Turn on the radio, or slap in a CD, don't need to listen to things on your PSP, I'd rather be playing games on there.

And as for games, you'll never get anything as good of game play quality as you would on the PS2, so anything about graphics for me is shot there if the games suck. DS has all of the nice Mario games, I can catch an occassional Pokemon fix, they have can play all of my favorite Fire Emblem games, Advance Wars, and the clincher is that I don't think there will ever be any Zelda games on the PSP

DS still takes the cake.

Weezer_Blue · Mar 28, 2005, 07:14 AM // 07:14

I voted for PSP because even though it's hardware is inferior, it's more versatile and will have better games.

Inde · Mar 29, 2005, 01:48 AM // 01:48

Quote:

Originally Posted by Weezer_Blue

I voted for PSP because even though it's hardware is inferior, it's more versatile and will have better games.

That makes no sense. PSP's hardware is inferior? Yet in the opposite vein, how do you know it 'will have better games?' To nitpick yes, but these prejudiced decisions are inane and are nothing more than a resultant of the corporate marketing machine.

As to the topic itself - the PSP is interesting. From my own experience, its too soft to be used by little kids. On top of that, another damn Sony format just irritates me. I am intrigued by the DS and its two monitors, but right now there is no game out to warrant purchasing a DS.

Right now I honestly see no reason to buy either [and for those that cite Lumines, you can find many a clone online]

Jeanette · Mar 29, 2005, 03:19 AM // 03:19

Quote:

Originally Posted by Inde

Right now I honestly see no reason to buy either [and for those that cite Lumines, you can find many a clone online]

I haven't really noticed much in either of the two, I don't play those games to much, but anyway, what is that last part ?

William the Silent · Mar 29, 2005, 05:40 AM // 05:40

Quote:

Originally Posted by William of Orange

You're also paying more than $100 more for the PSP than you are for the DS, just going off of base price. If you want to be able to take advantage of the PSP running things off of memory cards you have, you still have to buy those cards, and they can become quite expensive if you want one with a decent amount of space. You still have to buy the movies, which is stupid in my view, might as well watch them on a portable DVD player, or better yet, watch them at home!! Both PSP and DS utilize Wi-Fi, DS uses PictoChat, which I like, not sure what kind of chat software PSP has, if it has any. Want to listen to music? Turn on the radio, or slap in a CD, don't need to listen to things on your PSP, I'd rather be playing games on there.

And as for games, you'll never get anything as good of game play quality as you would on the PS2, so anything about graphics for me is shot there if the games suck.

You get what you pay for. With the PSP included is stereo speakers, headphones, mic jack, an input for a standard controller, and a 32MB memory stick(so I don't get your whole memory stick=pricey thing when one's included) and a whole bunch of crap that you can use if you want and if you don't, who cares. When the graphics are the same, the controller is the same, and the games are the same I don't see how the gameplay is diminished from the PS2 to the PSP.

I also think it's totally awesome that you can play multiplayer online with anyone else logged on without any lag.

No wonder the first 1 million are already sold out. It's about time a portable gaming system comes around that can actually match the quality of an at-home console and do even more. When I browsed around some sites I found that the PSP is compared in gameplay and performance to the PS2 while the DS "has been equated to that of the Nintendo 64 console." source

Seeing that I'll just leave my argument in the words of Sony CEO Kaz Hirai:

The PSP will "elevate portable entertainment out of the handheld gaming ghetto, and Sony is the only company that can do it."

PSP wins by TKO

William of Orange · Mar 29, 2005, 06:19 AM // 06:19

Quote:

Originally Posted by William the Silent

You get what you pay for. With the PSP included is stereo speakers, headphones, mic jack, an input for a standard controller, and a 32MB memory stick(so I don't get your whole memory stick=pricey thing when one's included) and a whole bunch of crap that you can use if you want and if you don't, who cares.

The point was that if you wanted any sort of decent memory stick to be able to run the things which people have been touting as so great with the PSP, you'll have to put down more money for those memory sticks. And I'm also pretty sure that the DS also has a microphone jack and sterospeakers. If you don't want people hearing you playing the game, guess what? There's a little volume dial on the system itself, and last time I checked you can turn it down to zero, so that gets rid of the headphone problem. And why would you want to use a standard controller on a handheld system? No matter how much they would like the PSP to be the PS2's equivalent, they have to realize it's a handheld, and I for one would not be comfortable trying to play with my controller while staring at the tiny screen (yes, bigger than the DS, but still small compared to a normal TV you'd play a PS2 on).

Quote:

Seeing that I'll just leave my argument in the words of Sony CEO Kaz Hirai:

The PSP will "elevate portable entertainment out of the handheld gaming ghetto, and Sony is the only company that can do it."

PSP wins by TKO

http://nintendo.about.com/od/editorials/a/pspvsds.htm

A review from the friendly people at About.com, who definitely have their stuff together. But I'd just like you to notice the first two lines of the Comments part at the bottom. If you're having trouble reading it, here it is...

Quote:

The screens on the DS and the PSP are equally cool, in my opinion. The PSP is certainly going to have more wow power with its wide-screen gaming, but the DS is going to be capable of more in the long run.

And since when has handheld gaming been "in the ghetto," and does Sony even have the right to say anything? You've been in the handheld community, for, oh, about 5 days in the United States now, compared with Nintendo, who has been in it since the advent of handheld gaming? I've never even thought of giving up my Game Boys at any point in my many years of ownership, starting with the Virtual Boy>Game Boy>Game Boy Pocket>Game Boy Color>Game Boy Advance>Game Boy Advance SP>Nintendo DS at some pont. This new poser will not make me change my mind, no matter how ugly of a picture your Kaz Hiraz tries to paint for us.

Point, set, and match for the DS.

Edit:

Quote:

When the graphics are the same, the controller is the same, and the games are the same I don't see how the gameplay is diminished from the PS2 to the PSP.

The point was that, although the graphics are the same, the games will not be the same, so the actually games themselves will not be as good as any of the PS2 counterparts. There's only so much you can do with a system that small, and there are limitations on what types of games you can create. Take Metal Gear Acid for example; the gameplay for Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty and Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater is simply amazing. And then we have Acid. It's.....turn based? They can label it as a shift to a new era of Metal Gear, but it's blatently obvious that they faced limiations in what they could do and had to settle for a second-rate game, uncommon for a franchise as famous as Metal Gear.

William the Silent · Mar 29, 2005, 06:58 AM // 06:58

Well I'm not going to put in a bunch of quotes because everyone knows what's been said so this will just make it easier to read.

First of all: Quoting an entire article from the Nintendo writer; now that's objective journalism...Just read some of the Play Station writer's articles; equally as biased.

When the Nintendo writer talked about the DS' long run advantage that's a matter of opinion and preference and all he was talking about was the screen not the system itself if anyone didn't catch that.

As for the volume concern, yeah, I don't want other people to have to hear my games. I ALSO don't want to play my games on mute so the headphones make sense to me. As for the memory stick, 32MB is fine initially with me, once I need more I'll just go buy the 1GB stick. I really don't care.

I also don't see the point of the DS' microphone at all. You'll only be able to use it playing multiplayer on Wi-Fi with people in your general vicinity. With the PSP you'll at least have some games with internet capabilities that actually make a microphone a logical accessory.

Though only 24 games are out on PSP at launch and all the truly "good" games are still in development I'm really not worried about quality of games because I know they'll be superb as usual. What I do care about is GRAPHICS! I don't want some portable thingy with N64 graphics! If I want to play mario I'll do it on an N64, not on some 150 dollar system.

A lot of the PSP vs. DS comes down to personal preference. I'm into performance for a portable system. I personally like the single 4.3 inch widescreen rather than two screens because I enjoy more of the sport realism games and shooters so I would like one single HUD instead of two different screens. The same preference applies to the controller options. I prefer the PSP because of the on-board joystick so sporting and shooting is much easier than with a d-pad. I also wouldn't have the same concerns with plugging in a wireless handheld controller because I could just set up the screen right in front of me and the visual quality would have no difference.

Just as you will never leave the DS I will always stick to my guns on sheer performance and preference with the PSP.

William the Silent · Mar 29, 2005, 08:00 AM // 08:00

Quote:

Originally Posted by William of Orange

...even if it is at the Playstation 2 level, which is the worst of the three major console systems currently (Xbox>Gamecube>PS2).

HOLY MOLY! I can't believe I didn't notice this before. When you're talking about performance it's Xbox>PS2>Gamecube. The Gamecube is still only running with a processor data width of 64 bits while the Xbox and PS2 are at the more modernly accepted 128 bits. If you look at screenshots of the same title on different consoles the difference is impossible to miss.

Note: I do NOT hate Nintendo. I am a proud owner of an N64 and I must say just watching people play Resident Evil 4 on Gamecube is one of the most fun things EVER!

edit: the PSP is a 128 bit system as well if anyone was wondering.

StandardAI · Mar 29, 2005, 08:30 AM // 08:30

I'm voting for Nintendo out of loyalty, But if anyone cares they've hacked the PSP (Not that I think that's a bad thing for the psp)

http://www.fumanchuu.com/pspdev/P1010066.JPG

William of Orange · Mar 29, 2005, 12:56 PM // 12:56

Take a look around at pretty much any website you come across (besides Sony's of course), and you'll see that I'm not the only one who says that PS2 graphics are the worse of the three. If you really want me to, I could go around and get plenty of testimonials of that for you...

I own both a Playstation 2 and a Gamecube, have played some of the same games for both consoles, and hence have a basis for saying which consoles are better for graphics. But that's not even the point of this thread, so lets not get into that here.

Virtuoso · Mar 29, 2005, 02:06 PM // 14:06

Definately the PSP. While I haven't owned a handleheld since the original Gameboy (you know, the brick model), I would get the PSP over the DS. Now, that doesn't mean I'm gonna go right out and buy one, but hey. I still can't for the life of me even understand the purpose of a 2nd screen on the DS. Do I really need to run down my battery to display a map?

-Virt

Inde · Mar 29, 2005, 03:02 PM // 15:02

A few things to note.

Just because the bus of a system is 64 bits vs 128 bits does not mean the graphical output [or ability] is any superior. Furthermore, in terms of raw computing power, I am 99.9% sure that the GC is more 'powerful' than the PS2 and XBOX more than the the GC [ease of development not included]

In terms of sales - http://games.slashdot.org/games/05/0...id=212&tid=207 I believe the GBA is still kick both their asses in terms of sales.

But I mean - if graphics is what makes or breaks a game for you ... then yes the PSP is for you. Don't mind me - my favorite game is a 2d online game that has not been updated in 8 years. It isn't beautiful but its hella fun

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jeanette

I haven't really noticed much in either of the two, I don't play those games to much, but anyway, what is that last part ?

It is said to be a very addictive game. My point being that yes while being portal is a big thing, it does not really use what the PSP is suppoused to offer [raw horsepower]

Agent Dark Bootie · Mar 30, 2005, 12:44 AM // 00:44

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ren Falconhand

The case is moot because you can't play Guild Wars on either one LOL

Ren

i believe that that is what is keeping every system behind the noble computer!

walder · Mar 30, 2005, 03:19 AM // 03:19

I voted PSP because it has really great graphics for a handheld. I'm not going to get one because I can't stand staring at handhelds but it is cool.

sino-soviet · Apr 08, 2005, 05:56 AM // 05:56

The games are really what is going to make or break each system. Neither has particularly good quality games, but the PSp has Twisted Metal, Metal Gear Acid, and Lumines(if you like that sort of thing.) The DS seems to just not have a strong library of games. Even about 6 months after launch, the only game to really be considered quality is Super Mario DS( even then, a port). PSP is a clear cut winner in terms of games, due to the lack of viable titles on Nintendo's part. The touch screen doesn't seem to function as an important part of the games either. It has little purpose in most games except as some oversized mini map. Nintendo better release some killer apps and tap into the touch screen potential or I can see sony running away with it. (note: this is solely representative of the CURRENT status of the two systems)