PSP vs DS - flame war!

[bani-banan]

I've been meaning to get into gaming.

PC gaming sucks ass, probably because I can't afford bad ass peripherals :(

I found an eBay seller that sells nintendo DS and PSP for around $50 + $20 shipping.

As a new gamer, what should I be looking at?

I currently play my NES. Like Mario 1, 2, 3. The flintstones - the search for dino. (only those two games).

The nintendo looks slick and Apple esque.
The PSP looks neat. Would be handy to have the PSP since I'm currently thinking of getting a PS3. Right after I get my shitty analog-tv out of this house.

Gaming wise, what makes you excited? I know the TRS guy's favorite game is Puzzle quest.

plix guys. Help=)

Yeah, I'm not afraid of voiding my warranty/using custom firmware etc. So the most hackable one in your opinion.

I've done my research. Homebrew on the PSP, but can't seem to find an equivalent on the DS.

ciao

[zoomtechtv]

Kind of hard to say both systems are very fun. I would say go over to http://www.ign.com/ and look at the ratings of games that got 9 and 8. And see what you want to play watch some of the videos and sometimes that have some nice video reviews.

[inertianinja]

i have both, here's my view:

the PSP is powerful, has a beautiful screen, and lots of extra capabilities (skype, internet, etc) which really shine IF you are around WiFi. If you can put up with some little annoyances in the way sony handles its file structure, it can be your audio/video/pic media player (with a large memory stick or SDHC-memory stick adapter) and a game system. the games are usually more involved, often ports of PS2 games, etc. UMD discs, however, are relatively fragile (there's an optical disc partially exposed inside a plastic case, dust and crap gets in) and UMD movies are relatively worthless. it runs skype, does remote play (games and media over the internet or INTRAnet) with a PS3. as always, with sony, HUGE potential (wifi multiplayer, GPS), but i feel that the games are somewhat lacking compared to the DS...but generally it's a different TYPE of game. the PSP is like a mini version of the PS systems, and runs mini versions of the PS games.


the DS is more geared toward casual games (of course there are exceptions). innovative uses of the touch screen are all over. there are tons of must-have games that will not disappoint. it has wifi and multiplayer as well that is more widely supported in games than on the PSP (at least in my experience). the games themselves are physically more durable than PSP games and much smaller so you can bring more around with you. you can get a browser for it but the PSP experience is generally more computer-like. games are lower-resolution and less adult overall but more "fun." (PSP has games like SOCOM, whereas the DS is more cartoony). as a Nintendo guy, you'll find many more familiar games/game types on the DS (mario, zelda, etc). the DS is like a mini version of the Nintendo systems, and runs mini versions of Nintendo-type games.


PSP hacking is involved and requires custom firmware, sometimes hardware hacking (pandora's battery) and usually involves buying a game (like GTA:LC) to take advantage of an exploit.

DS "hacking" involves buying something like an R4 and a memory card, loading ROM's on it, and playing. simple, clean, nothing can go wrong. the only thing you have to worry about is whether your memory card supports the game/homebrew you want to play. for that, there's a wiki online with a simple chart.

of course, i'm not advocating piracy. use it for 'homebrew.'

you will have fun with either system, but definitely check out gamespot.com or IGN and see what their top rated games for each system are. buy the one that has the top games that are the type that you like.

IN EITHER CASE i'd recommend getting older games off half.com rather than buying old games @ full retail.


no flames at either system. i'm a fan of both. i can't believe i typed this much. i must be really bored at work.

[jasonpoon]

I bought my PSP when it first came out, then love the DS more and more and quit playing PSP, recently I'm back to it.

If you do not own a PS2 and you're not a causal gamer, you will find many great PSP titles. There're many innovative and brilliant games came out in the last two years (such as LocoRoco, Patapon...they remind me those innovative PSone games) I think the PSP is getting better and better.
Try Monster Hunter Freedom, it's huge in Asia, I wonder why it's not a big hit in the West? Giant monsters, co-op hunting...it's just great.

DS is really fun but just like Wii, most good games are made by Nintendo and some large 3rd party developers (Puzzle Quest is the exception, but there's PSP version too)

[dolson]

Why don't we ask Square-Enix for an opinion on the matter?

http://www.pocketgamer.co.uk/r/PSP/Crisis+Core%3A+Final+Fantasy+VII/news.asp?c=6599

The DS was already out at the time we came up with the concept of Crisis Core. It really wasn't an option to begin with and it wasn't something we regretted later because whereas, yes, there are a lot of DSs out there - but does that mean that our products sell in relation to that? That our sales grow with how many DSs or PSPs there are out there?

It's not really the case. How much the product sells really depends on the game itself, who it's targeted to and all sorts of different factors. It's not really always about the hardware. Especially in terms of this game where the demographic was higher teens to young adults as opposed to small children. The PSP seemed closer to that demographic than DS in general. So we feel we really made the right choice.

We'll make a DS game called Brain Age: Final Fantasy for DS

Also, to the post above me - Monster Hunter Freedom *2* is the one to recommend. I have it and love it. There's no story to continue along from the first, so you get the improvements on loading times and newer graphics, etc. made in the 2nd one.

[thestevefrench]

if I could find my cracked (software wise, not hardware wise) PSP i'd sell you it for 80 smackers

[andyaldrich]

I do not think that there is a lot I can say that would add a lot to this thread. I would like to note the following games which are on the PSP which I think are pretty fun and do not necessarily require you to get mega-involved:

Lumines
Loco-Roco
Patapon
Tokobot
Ridge Racer (or Ridge Racer 2 if you want...same thing really)

An ex-girlfriend's mother had a DS and I played New Mario Bros on that which was very enjoyable, however I do not think I would want to miss out on the opportunity to play the games above.

I do not think that you would regret buying either console. You know what does suck? Not buying one of the consoles.

NES emulation on the PSP is awesome and quite a few SNES games can be played at full speed too.

It is true that hacking the PSP is more involved than doing so for the DS, however I think there's a good community for hacked PSPs so that's something to get into as well.

If you're going to hack a PSP I recommend:
www.psp-hacks.com
www.psphacking101.com
pspupdates.qj.net

[njshadow]

A lot of games on the PSP are excellent but you CANNOT beat custom firmwares. I've had custom firmwares on my PSP for a little over a year now and I've got pretty much every system on it. NES, Genesis, Game Boy Advance/Color, PSOne, + homebrew games. I love my PSP and I would definitely say go for it. Not to mention that my PSP is my primary mp3 and video player considering the fact that I have a 4 gig stick in it. :D

[az0madman]

I'd say if you're looking for the most hackable, go with the PSP because it can offer you emulation for PS1 and earlier. The only downside of that is with a 4GB memory stick, you can only fit so many games on it depending on what you put on. Disc/UMD based games range from 200MB to 1.5GB.

DS with R4 is good because you can carry more games with you at one time since the files sizes are a lot smaller. However, it lacks any decent emulation, well, as far as SNES goes. Layer problems and sound problems galore. You can emulate GB/GBA games, but you need an M3 thing for that I believe.

Game-wise, I would say I've had more fun playing DS games then I have playing PSP games. DS has offered a more unique experience whereas the PSP has offered a more console like experience (which is far from a bad thing, but I just enjoyed the unique experiences more).

[bani-banan]

Thanks guys!

So, the PSP can play NES games (custom firmware<3), that means that I don't have to buy a DS=D

If I had bought a DS I probably would've just played pokemon all day. Now, I can play pokemon on a PSP.

I'm not looking for it to become my primary multimedia device. I have an iPhone. That is my multimedia. I store my music, and a couple of tv-shows/podcats.
But I'm sick and tired of the shitty ass NES emulator.

I guess I'm buying a PSP :)

Btw, PSPs latest firmware, is it downgradeable or do I have to open it up and reflash it? (Fuck warranty!)

[njshadow]

Thanks guys!

So, the PSP can play NES games (custom firmware<3), that means that I don't have to buy a DS=D

If I had bought a DS I probably would've just played pokemon all day. Now, I can play pokemon on a PSP.

I'm not looking for it to become my primary multimedia device. I have an iPhone. That is my multimedia. I store my music, and a couple of tv-shows/podcats.
But I'm sick and tired of the shitty ass NES emulator.

I guess I'm buying a PSP :)

Btw, PSPs latest firmware, is it downgradeable or do I have to open it up and reflash it? (Fuck warranty!)

It's gonna have to be reflashed unless you have a magic memory stick and pandora's battery (which I have) or know someone who does. And yeah, playing Pokemon on your PSP is INCREDIBLY fun. I have Red, Blue and Yellow on mine. :D AND it runs full-speed!

[bani-banan]

It's gonna have to be reflashed unless you have a magic memory stick and pandora's battery (which I have) or know someone who does. And yeah, playing Pokemon on your PSP is INCREDIBLY fun. I have Red, Blue and Yellow on mine. :D AND it runs full-speed!

I've read that newer batteries (made by sony) are "poorly" made, and can't be made into "pandoras batteries". Or did I get something wrong?

The code to reflash the firmware, that should be put on a mem-stick card automatically gets deleted at startup. Damn systemcheck=/

I guess it's doomed, eh?

[njshadow]

I've read that newer batteries (made by sony) are "poorly" made, and can't be made into "pandoras batteries". Or did I get something wrong?

The code to reflash the firmware, that should be put on a mem-stick card automatically gets deleted at startup. Damn systemcheck=/

I guess it's doomed, eh?

Well, I think it's because Sony actually patched their new batteries. You just need to find one of the older batteries for the PSP Phat, they can fit in the slim as well. Also, if there's no way to make or find one, even though it's free, there are actually people selling these on eBay for profit. You could try getting one that way. Just make sure it's compatible with or can downgrade the SLIM. I made a pandora's battery and magic memory stick and I hacked both of my sister's SLIMS in a matter of minutes!

[sugarsickness]

Custom Robo Arena (and the many other great DS games... but mainly Custom Robo Arena) and my R4 + homebrew apps are enough to make me enjoy my DS more than enough. It's like a PDA/MP3 Player... that also plays games of various platforms. And it's cheaper than a PSP.

[satori]

I'm sad about this thread... they're different machines entirely and you should get the one that's right for you. Lets leave the flame wars to those other sites where people suck.

[ryudo]

DS has so any RPGs and had FFIII and currently Square is remaking FFIV only this time with voice acting and more CG cutscenes and eventually releasing DQ9.

Also some great games that are very hardcore is Ace Attorney series 1-4 and the upcoming Spinoff game with Edgeworth and this may Jake hunter detective chronicles...DS is the best handheld for RPGs and point and click genre and interactive novel games oh and it also has Hotel Dusk two great castlevania games and another in development and Ninja Gaiden is out.

Then of course the Nintendo games and the good 2D sonic games in the Rush series plus you can play all your old GBA games and yeah the oh so perty apple ish design.

Never played the Brain age stuff but hear it's fun.


Not saying Skip the PSP as I don't own one (yet and I do want one ..great system with great games as well) but just saying giving a brief FYI that there is more hardcore games on it than is given credit,there is tonnes..just knock all the petz games off the shelf and the rest is cake.;)

[scoobydiesel]

DS for gaming IMO.
My PSP has not been played ince Nov(i played it a few days around thankgiving during my breaks at work) but i didnt play it long...and that was actully the first time in about a year, i had to update bad o_O;

PSP isnt bad just the guys have not made me go all happy and what not, and the higher price, the control and layout...But you get all teh cool media also.

But i play/use my DS alot more.

[dolson]

I'm sad about this thread... they're different machines entirely and you should get the one that's right for you. Lets leave the flame wars to those other sites where people suck.

True, true. But I think you'll find nobody's really dissing one or the other very much here (except that guy from Square-Enix).

Myself, I just found the PSP met my needs more. I still have a GameBoy micro for all my low-powered, low-res needs!


(I don't see how the price is such a huge issue to everyone.. You're talking going from $139.99 to $169.99, at least where I live.)

[satori]

well yes, I'm far more a PSP guy, but after seeing all the DSdiots on Digg kill any PSP story I'm really done on the entire "flamewar" thing. The DS is easily the more popular of the two platforms because it's so accessible. PSP takes a while to boot into games because there's so much more game to load. The graphics are much better on the PSP, the DS has a better battery, blah blah blah... Well I have a ps3 and it streams movies to my PSP... SWEET! I couldn't be happier with my psp.

[inertianinja]

i'll never get why it has to be a "flame war," especially when things are so different. they both have their strengths.

i only put the PSP down because at the time, i felt like there weren't enough of the games i wanted to play and the hacking was more work than i wanted to put into it.

[damnedeyez]

i'll never get why it has to be a "flame war," especially when things are so different. they both have their strengths.

Right...other than 'handheld', they really aren't even aimed in the same direction.



Which reminds me, I really need to look into 'hacking' my old PSP since I have a slim now. (and find a place to get one of those R4/DS3 cards for the DS)

[bani-banan]

About the flame war; Just for funsies. I just want arguments, ie "DS is better than the PSP because.." or vise verse.

One question regarding games.

The PSP/DS is probably going to be a US-version. Would I be able to play european/asian games?

It's heading more towards the DS. It's cheaper (I'm a poor student).
I'm looking into a DS-NES emulator :)

[geeksunny]

Hacked PSP + hacked DS = portable win.

I am an equal opportunity gamer. :)

[optimus187prime]

Personally I just feel like the PSP tries to be a home console which makes it feel old, like you have been there before. The DS is an experience unlike any other system, so it is fresh and offers games not done on other consoles.

[ryudo]

About the flame war; Just for funsies. I just want arguments, ie "DS is better than the PSP because.." or vise verse.

One question regarding games.

The PSP/DS is probably going to be a US-version. Would I be able to play european/asian games?

It's heading more towards the DS. It's cheaper (I'm a poor student).
I'm looking into a DS-NES emulator :)
DS/PSP gamewise 100% region free.

I have imported stuff from Japan to play on my DS and since PSP is also region free you can do the same..for games.