Sony PSP vs. Nintendo DS?

[QreepyBORIS]

DS is going to kick so much ass there wont be any PSP left for any one else

...Huh?

[evilbutterfly]

Back to the controller thing. There are reasons I love the PS2 ones and hate XBox and GC controllers. XBox I hate because they're huge, and other than that, the buttons are not evenly spread out. You have 6 bunched together on the front and then 2 triggers on the back. With the PS2, it's 4 on top, 4 on front, so it's easier to hit a bunch of buttons at once. I've played games on both XBox and PS2, and some games are a ton easier to control on PS2 because of this.

For example, in Jedi Starfighter, you can zoom in by holding a button and you have primary and secondary weapons that you can be firing. Thrust and brake are used by 2 of the shoulder buttons (for both controllers). With the PS2, the zoom is one of the shoulder buttons, but on XBox it has to be on the front. So, if you wanted to be zoomed in, thrusting towards the enemy, shooting primary and secondary weapons, and be moving and aiming at things all at once, you'd have quite a hard time on the XBox. On PS2, the controls are evenly spaced so you never have to hit 2 buttons with one finger (which is the only way I could do the previously mentioned maneuvers on XBox).

And one of the reasons I hate GC is because it's not symmetrical. There are 3 shoulder buttons...wtf!? N64 was the same way, but it had 3 prongs, which was kind of an excuse (but the prongs themselves were inexcusable). I don't know of the other reasons I hate GC, because I haven't really played on them too much. But the few times I've used the controller at Walmart/Best Buy/wherever I just remember hating it and thinking it was retarded. I mean, I could stand using an XBox controller, but the GC one is just messed up.

And as for this topic overall, I don't see many people looking at this objectively. We seem to all be fanboys of one side or the other. I, for one, am going to wait until the rest of you go out and buy both and compare. Also, I'll see what games come out for each.

And just so I can get this straight: what kind of discs does the PSP use? If I understand correctly, it won't be able to play PS1 and PS2 games. So, is it going to use little discs like the GC, or perhaps minidiscs?

[Kenzya]

GC discs/minidiscs It'll probably have it's own subdivision in the minidisc market..

But yeah.. when this topic started everyone was just like.. NINTENDO DS OMG LIEK, WOOT WOOT FOR THE UNDERDAWG!.. I LOVE NINTENDO BECAUSE IT'S COOL EHEHEHE..

The only reason I stepped in here was to find out why people wanted Nintendo DS.. and they only want it because it's Nintendo.. So I started looking around.. Either of these systems could be the next hit.. There isn't anything soo different that sets them apart besides being of two different companies...

[Kenzya]

GC discs/minidiscs It'll probably have it's own subdivision in the minidisc market..

But yeah.. when this topic started everyone was just like.. NINTENDO DS OMG LIEK, WOOT WOOT FOR THE UNDERDAWG!.. I LOVE NINTENDO BECAUSE IT'S COOL EHEHEHE..

The only reason I stepped in here was to find out why people wanted Nintendo DS.. and they only want it because it's Nintendo.. So I started looking around.. Either of these systems could be the next hit.. There isn't anything soo different that sets them apart besides being of two different companies...

[Moogy]

The Nintedo DS is much better because it's Nintendo.

PSP will suck because it's Sony.

[evilbutterfly]

I just hope the PSP doesn't break as much as the PS2 does. Then again, the only part that breaks on my PS2s is the part that reads PS1 discs, so PSP won't have that problem.

Oh wel, we shall see...

[Sinjin]

An interesting thing about console wars is that people bash other systems, but everyone knows if they had enough money they'd buy them anyway.

I love Nintendo because it always comes out with spectacular games for it's first-party licenses (Mario, Zelda, Metroid, etc.). I want the PSP because it would be cool to have portable versions of games like FFVII...the square RPG's are probably some of my favourite games of all time.

Whatever, I'm broke-ass anyway, so I guess my input on this debate is worthless.

[Moogy]

I will never buy a PSP or an XBOX. I have enough money, easily. But I will not buy them because they suck shit.

[IAMTHEEVILBEAN]

Agreed ^.

[Kenzya]

Right.. PSP isn't even out yet and you're saying it sucks.. which makes your opinion in this thing even less.. important.. Makes you look like a fanboy :/

[Rustingmoon]

It also seems that the DS is going to have more third-party developers. The unique dual-screen draws many of them to come up with a new style of gameplay, which has a major impact on the market if it goes right.

[Kefit]

Just to clear things up, the PSP will use UMDs. They are a new kind of mini disc that Sony has developed.

[dmleet]

Right.. PSP isn't even out yet and you're saying it sucks.. which makes your opinion in this thing even less.. important.. Makes you look like a fanboy :/

The specs say it say sucks. Battery life is the most important to portables. Really, the best thing PSP has over the DS is the graphics and the amount of polygons it can handle: almost as much as PS2. But remember, SONY HAS LIED ABOUT IT, at the time PS2 was just coming out. They were lying about the performance of the PS2. Plus, UMDs are just introduced so you can't do much stuff with it, and it will force you to buy, say, a movie you liked that you already have, in a UMD disc. What a waste of money. And did I mention cds are more prone to errors than cartridges?

No, I don't have problems with money, it's just that you have to buy a shitty Memory Stick to save games, when I can do it on DS without any additional accessory. It's like buy the portable, the games, have fun.

Whoever posts the message that said DS copied the PlayStation controller design is an idiot. If it did, where is the analog? It copied the SNES controller.

[suicidalmuskrat]

firstly...portable systems as a whole are aimed at children...i can't help but laugh when i see a 30 something business man on the subway playing video games...hence nintendo's aim at children in marketing...they do, however, cater to other age groups...secondly, the PSP does look very cool, but it has no cover, so how cool is the case going to look (i can't just imagine someone bragging about their sexy hip PSP, only to have to cary it around in a case very similar to the game gear-esque purse case)...also, the two really aren't in direct competition...in a way they are, because most people won't be buying both, but the products aren't really that similiar. sony is trying to make consoles portable, whereas nintendo is trying to create new dimensions for gaming. granted, most of the games i've seen so far don't look that great, but just wait until the 2nd and third wave games, you should be seeing things that you've never seen before...i don't understand sony's idea here...let's make a portable system that plays movies, music, and games...ok, that works...now let's introduce a new format of disc for it. ok, that's stupid. i'm not going to be able to rent UMD's from blockbuster, and if i have to choose to buy a movie for my DVD player, computer, and PS2, or buy the same movie for my PSP, i'm obviously going to go with the regular DVD.....nextly, the stylus for the DS is not (or should not) be a selling point...it'll be a perk for messaging, doodling, etc...the whole tapping thing to shoot or whatever is stupid, and will fade away as companies realize this...but even if that goes away, there is still the touch screen, the voice recognition, and the online play...they could create an online goldeneye with voicechat like SOCOM...
PRIMARY CONCERN FOR DS: too many remakes of remakes with a stupid map put at the bottom, causing the system to flop before the true potential is realized.
PRIMARY CONCERN FOR PSP: the quality of the machine, UMD's skipping, TWO AND A HALF HOUR BATTERY LIFE??? (ok, so i buy a movie on UMD format, just for the hell of it...DOES FRODO SAVE THE DAY?? I DON'T KNOW BECAUSE MY BATTERY JUST RAN OUT...300 dollars + 2.5 hour battery life = rich silly people)...

portable games were meant to be put on cartridges...nintendo is going to be able to shock us all by putting their great games online, whereas sony has already done this with PS2, so they will not shock us in any way...if you're that desperate to play a crappy metal gear title for a short car ride, buy PSP...if ya want quality and innovation at a cheaper price, buy DS...

^^^^MY LONGEST POST EVER^^^^

[evilbutterfly]

For the record, minidiscs don't skip that easily at all even years ago when they were first coming out. Also, even the cheapest MD players let you record stuff on the MDs, too. Now, the only exposure I've had to MDs was a few years back when my sister got one, and I can only assume that they've gotten much better since then. That would lead me to believe that the PSP would be able to write to the MDs. Thus, you wouldn't necessarily need a memory stick to save your game. Also, MDs don't look like CDs, don't break like CDs, and don't skip as easily as CDs.

Although, the battery life in the PSP will be a problem if it indeed is only 2.5 hours. Are you guys sure that's what it is, because that's just ridiculously low.

I still say that all this arguing is pretty pointless. We won't know which is better until a long while after they both come out, so we're really wasting our time here.