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Star Tribune: DS is easy to pick over the PSP


Ah, mainstream media. How we love your misinformed nature and incredible ability to point out the obvious. Like, how the DS is way better than the PSP. You've really showed your clairvoyance, Miss Cleo.

We will agree that choosing between the DS and PSP is a lot easier than choosing between the current generation of consoles, however. In terms of price, it's a smaller commitment and it's easier to decide between two, rather than three. But one thing the DS has (like its console cousin, the Wii) is an appeal to people of all ages and all walks of life.

What are some other things you love about the DS? Why do you think it's better than the PSP (we have a feeling you're going to say "the games")? Or, don't you, and you're merely reading DSF to learn more about your enemy for the impending battle between fanboy armies?

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Reader Comments (Page 2 of 3)

Fiefdom21

11-20-2007 @ 10:46PM

Fiefdom said...

I don't care about the touch screen or use of two screens versus a large wide screen. The only thing that I attracts me to a game system is the games available, I don't adhere to blindly following a game company or supporting one piece of hardware over another with outdated arguments and a lack of experience with what I could be arguing against.

I have both a DS and a PSP because they both have games I enjoy. Even were that not the case I wouldn't pretend one console is superior to the other because everybody has their own tastes and interests in terms of games and playing style. The lack of games argument against the PSP lost its validity quite a while ago. I play my DS more than my PSP only because the DS can play GBA games. Otherwise, my time with each handheld is fairly evenly distributed. Both systems offer good and bad games. It's daft to make a sweeping generalization about the quality of what's available for one system over that of another because there's no discernible reasoning behind such an assessment other than brand loyalty.

This rubbish about battery life (the PSP's battery does happen last SIX hours), the price (a new PSP-2000 model is $50 more than the DS, that's not even two games), and the graphics (the DS has a disconcertingly low limit on the number of triangles it can display) is irrelevant because it says nothing about the quality or playability of the games themselves. Both systems have a lot going for them, and both deserve a good look by anyone who cares more about the games they're buying than who distributes them.

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Nad22

11-20-2007 @ 11:34PM

Nad said...

Um well, I have both a DS and PSP. I enjoy my DS from time to time but I generally play my PSP a lot more. I don't understand why this article is this one track minded. I understand it's a DS site but there is no need to try to get ones opinion trying to convince the general public to believe that the Nintendo DS is "Obviously" a better system.

I spend more time on my PSP and personally I think the days of saying the PSP has no good games have been over for a while. It's a very fun system with it's own little problems here and there. Don't try to tell me the DS doesn't have it's problems either.

All in all though, these are both great systems! people would waste so much energy to rule out that the DS is better. You don't have to market the DS, you know.. Nintendo can do it themselves.

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Xian B.23

11-21-2007 @ 1:18AM

Xian B. said...

What makes me curious is that "Pajama Party!" is getting all wound up about this topic and is ranting about ignorance and flamewars, but he's the only one doing so. I'm seeing a lot of people put forth their reasons without expletives, without name-calling, without impassioned ignorance.

Pajama Party!, has it ever occured to you that these problems are actually being caused by YOU? Consider it. From my point of view, it honestly looks like YOU are the one trying to start a flamewar. Calm down.

As to the question at hand, I've never played a PSP but I do like the idea of a gaming system focused on gaming, rather than an all-in-one media solution. And I would get annoyed with long load times. And I have brand loyalty with Nintendo dating back to the NES days. (I still haven't forgiven Sony for their hand in Sega's demise, even though I know Sega mostly brought it on themselves. Rest in peace, Segata Sanshiro; your sacrifice is not forgotten.)

And I like that Nintendo's DS advertising stresses inclusivity. The new Mario Party DS ads always show two or more people playing together. The commercials for PSP ("Dude, get your own!") strike me as antisocial and mean-spirited.

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Jamesology24

11-21-2007 @ 2:41AM

Jamesology said...

Like most of us now-a days, I too have both systems. The PSP and the DSLite.

I personally play the PSP more cuz I like more mature strategic games eg. MGSP Ops, Syphon Filter, and Socom; and to include racing games like Juiced, Burnout and so fourth. But that's "my" preference.

So far the only reason I bought a DS is cuz my GF wanted one so we both bought one. The games are easy to pick up like Brain Age and its different. But most of them lose their fun-factor pretty fast since they are mostly mini-games. When at work I use the DS more since it's built as a clamshell for fast stow-away and Zelda and Dementium came out. But for my free time I play my PSP, with Monster Hunter Freedom 2

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daveteee25

11-21-2007 @ 2:42AM

daveteee said...

He was obviously trying to get a reaction out of someone by posting about how he hates DS fanboys on a site called DS fanboy, but seeing as how no one bothered to reply to his rant I guess he got mad.

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Jamesology26

11-22-2007 @ 4:52AM

Jamesology said...

Are you talking about me?? B/c I didn't say anything about any fanboy.

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jgoreham27

11-21-2007 @ 4:11AM

jgoreham said...

I really love my DS, I have some great games on it I wouldn't find on PSP. That said, there have recently been games on PSP that I'd really like to play, too. I think there's room in the market (and in my life) for both handhelds, and I hope to acquire a PSP sometime soon as well :)

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Frangible28

11-21-2007 @ 9:38AM

Frangible said...

Kind of a stupid comparison-- most people own both systems and the games are completely different. If I were buying a single system for children it would be a DS, due to the lower cost and more games made for children.

Personally, I play my PSP more than my DS these days. In addition to the PSP's hardware being obviously better, the current crop of games from the PSP is also very solid, whereas there haven't been that great of releases on the DS in some time. It's sort of a moot point though, because the good PSP games will never come out on the DS, and the good DS games will never come out on the PSP.

So, if you want to be a 12 year old emo anti-Sony fanboi and deprive yourself of Silent Hill 0, Jeanne D'Arc, and all those other PSP games that are actually quite fun... well, your loss, not mine.

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Qdubb29

11-21-2007 @ 10:06AM

Qdubb said...

The ds is way better than the psp. I mean come on
the screens,the batterylife,the features,games.DS
rules.

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Greg30

11-21-2007 @ 11:00AM

Greg said...

I had a PSP for about a year, and I enjoyed the games I played on it...but somehow, the DS is more "fun." No other way to explain that other than I have more fun playing the DS...especially with others. Also, I never, never, never had the chance to even play a single multiplayer game of anything while I owned a PSP...

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Trogdor31

11-21-2007 @ 11:01AM

Trogdor said...

Well, the PSP is alright, but it's more of a music/movies/internet sytem than a game system. Obviisly, the dS is a game system, so it's games are better. Plus, the little analog nub on the PSP is so annoying, cuz my finger always slips off!

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liam32

11-21-2007 @ 11:22AM

liam said...

i have a psp and a ds,i have an r4 card as well and i play my psp alot more.i live in england and ds is £100 and psp is £130 so i dont see a major price gap.and now there is playstation network,ps1 games for only £3.49 each,even the ps1 games have better graphics and gameplay than ds.i think that the ds has really rubbish games,the only thing making the ds sale is games like mario and zelda, personally i cant be bothered with slow paced zelda.also people keep comparing the size of ds lite to psp-1000,thats unfair,compare psp slim to ds lite and now thats fair.psp is a better gaming console,even if it didnt have internet,podcasts,video,music and pictures i would still pick psp over ds anyday.one last thing psp games are going to be almost half the price of ds games as you can download the psp games from playstation network now.

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TheCoats33

11-21-2007 @ 11:28AM

TheCoats said...

you just said ou didnt see a major price gap and that shouldn't be a factor followed later by now games for the psp are sooooo cheap and i can download some of them for even cheaper....so i am going to go all phoenix wright nd say

OBJECTION!!!

Good opinion but really the psp game start to seem all the same.........i love my ds because its just so diffrent like the wii.....the 2 are hard to compare

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tom.b34

11-21-2007 @ 1:32PM

tom.b said...

Maybe I would care what you had to say a little bit more if you learnt that commas are meant to have spaces after them.

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InvisibleMan35

11-21-2007 @ 11:55AM

InvisibleMan said...

I don't think it is the games... Sure, the DS has more high-rated games, but the PSP has a very decent collection too. As far as gameplay go, you won't miss the DS games if you play a PSP.

But the real selling point for the DS over the PSP is its portability. The system is better engineered for on-the-go playing:

> longer battery life,

> you can simply close it at any moment and open it later to continue playing right where you left off,

> shorter loading time with compact flash cards,

> of course, its size, which actually fits in your pocket!

There is something to be said about its tactile style of playing with the stylus, but that doesn't work with half the games... it is good, but not its strongest selling point.

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TC36

11-21-2007 @ 12:42PM

TC said...

I have owned both for quite some time and for me personally, the DS is the better "handheld gaming system". I don't want to watch movies or listen to music on my "handheld gaming system". I just want to have it in a pocket, be able to pull it out, waste 15 minutes to a few hours playing a FUN game and then move on to something else in life.

I am in my early 30s so my view could be a bit biased although you would think I would dig the PSP more.

I often have the PSP and the DS on me at any given time during the day and 9 out of 10 times I grab the DS to play a game.

I agree with the comment above about Loco Roco. It was a genius game, both fun, addictive and enjoyable in small spurts of time or even an hour or so.

If you compare just the hardware I could see how the PSP wins hands down as the screen is beautiful and the games CAN look and play amazing.. Thing is, when it comes to utiilization it just seems the DS is better IMO.

The DS never makes me charge it fully AND update my firmware every 7.3 times I play the dern thing. When I pick up an handheld gaming system I want to open it, play, close it and move on.

Don't know why I prefer it over the PSP but it is DS hands down for me.

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Fiefdom37

11-21-2007 @ 12:52PM

Fiefdom said...

Has anybody noticed how ridiculously difficult it is to play games which require precision, like Trauma Center, on a car or bus ride? The DS isn't the ultimate portable gaming device because it restricts its own playability on some cases.

Xian B., if you paid attention to what Pajama Party! wrote you'd notice he isn't citing any taunts on either side but the blatant discrimination against the PSP via incorrect logic: "I used to have a PSP, and the battery lasted almost long enough for a productive bathroom break," "There is no Zelda on PSP," "its not a bunch of movies and no games," "It has too little diversity in games and doesn't have a touchscreen of course." These comments which stem from loyalty to Nintendo are grossly exaggerated or entirely untrue. It's fairly obvious that Pajama Party! is remarking on the lack of realistic arguments.

I think it would prudent for anybody who's inclined to make a comment such as "the DS has better games," or "the PSP has no games," or "PSP games are worse because the PSP doesn't focus only on gameplaying" to research that which they are in opposition to. The PSP has plenty of good games, just as the DS has plenty of good games. The PSP also has plenty of rubbish just as the DS has plenty of rubbish. However, the suggestion that PSP games will inherently be worse because the PSP is also capable of playing movies and music is entirely illogical. Game developers don't produce movies or music, it's stupid to suggest that a developer would produce a game of lesser quality because somebody may be inclined to watch a movie on a long car ride instead of playing a game. Someone might also be inclined to read a book or go to sleep. Both systems have their own unique advantages and drawbacks, but to suggest one is superior to another with outdated arguments (honestly, the PSP has quite a lot of games now) is ludicrous.

The DS has Zelda, the PSP has Disgaea. The DS has Super Mario 64, the PSP has Lumines. The DS has Hotel Dusk, the PSP has Valkyrie Profile. The DS has Hannah Montana: Music Jam, the PSP has.... :P I watched anime on my PSP on the way to a museum a few days ago because I was ticked off at Etrian Odyssey. :P You'll notice that most of these games don't directly parallel each other no matter how you try to mix and match. Both systems have their own worthy titles and neither are plagued by rip-offs of products available for the opposition. Everybody is going to have their own opinions and interests in terms of games but it would be best if those who own either console were to educate themselves on what's available on the opposing handheld because most of the arguments posed have no relevance in terms of the quality of the games. If you're blinding yourself to what's available then you're potentially missing out on quite a bit regardless of which handheld you own.

And for the hell of it, the PSP's easily scratchable screen equates to the DS Lite's easily broken hinges. I have a PSP-2000 (a sexy black and reduced load times due to twice the RAM) and a manly style DS (a sexy silver and sturdier hinges), they're both the best of what's available in terms of hardware.

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TC38

11-21-2007 @ 12:59PM

TC said...

Regarding the games.....

PSP has some great games like...
WipeOut (in my top 3 of BEST handheld games)
Loco Roco
Syphon Filter:Dark Mirror (possibly a better MP lobby than many 360 games - too bad the MP gameplay can't live up to it)
Lumines

There are some other popular PSP games that I personally just don't enjoy even though they are popular.. I just am not willing to play with shoddy mechanics JUST to play the game.. (GTA, Burnout, Daxter, etc)

DS has some great games like...
Zelday - Aboslutely brilliant and mechanics are near flawless
Mario Kart - Fun, fun and then just plain fun.
Kirby Canvas Curse - more brilliance..
New Super Mario Bros..
Advance Wars Dual-Strike (can kids REALLY win at this game, if so, they deserve a degree as this game can be brutal)
Planet Puzzle League - Better than Meteos, Lumines AND Tetris DS in my opinion

Again, there are some popular DS games that I refuse to play due to shoddy mechanics.. Meteos (just friggin flip up and down and you can score), Tetris DS just isn't the same as the original, etc.

Oh, if you have EITHER system and have not tried Puzzle Quest.. oh my what fun and addiction is involved..

There are games on both but I just enjoy the DS more for some reason.

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TC39

11-21-2007 @ 1:02PM

TC said...

Trauma Center on the DS (on a bus, train, john, etc) made my dogs nervous as they thought I was going to beat them while TRYING to play that game...

I DON'T WANT TO INJECT ANOTHER VIAL EVERY 1.7 SECONDS WHILE TRYING TO DO 5 OTHER THINGS...

could be just me but Trauma Center was a PITA.

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Bizarrohulk40

11-21-2007 @ 1:27PM

Bizarrohulk said...

I'm going with:

Cheaper
Smaller
More games
Unique interface
Not just a portable version of something in my living room.
Backwards compatible (Currently playing Doom II for GBA)
Faster loads.



Let's not forget that the PSP's best games keep getting ported to PS2.

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