PSP v's DS Lite

You know the longer I look at my PSP the more I realise that the DS Lite screen is far superior! I am gobsmacked at how much difference there is. I was playing King Kong on the PSP last night - looks fantastic, but the screen ghosts soooooo much.

Where as play a game like Mario Kart or New Super Mario Bros and WOW - no blurring or ghosting at all.

What do you guys think?

IPete2.

Stop rubbing it in! :)

I realy fancy a DS Lite but can't afford one, yet. Hopefully, when I sell my car...

I still dont know which one to buy.

Yeah I've been impressed at the sheer brightness of the DS screen, but I stopped playing and plugged in my PS2, I marvelled at the sheer size of my 14 inch monitor screen, and the speakers plugged into it were huuuuge.
And get this, the controller is totally independent of the screen, so no more balancing on my knee with wobbly screen when I get over excited. Not to mention my posture has improved no end, then guess what! A mate came over and I plugged in a second pad and we could both play on the same screen!

Man, I never knew how much old technology could rule! :)

you cant play it in a bus station,doctors waiting room, on a bus, in a car or on a plane though,
thats kind of the whole point.

ive played both i think the ds will be better for a while but the psp has some really great stuff coming which the DS hasnt got the power to do. GT4 and metal gear portable ops to name just 2. the ds is alot cheap though?

Pete

Ive played with my psp on a plane.

Edit: but that comment was about the ps2 wasnt it.

PSP looks nice - I just don't think there's anything on it I would play much :/

I already got a gp2x.

Yep, the refresh rate has, and always been, my largest pet-peeve of the PSP, 2nd largest being the horrid battery life.
(although understandable given the system specs...but still)

That and as mentioned, the DSLite is $&@*ing brighter in comparison.....and sexier looking. ;P


The DS seriously can push some pretty 3d stuff, problem is, none of the developers have stood up and taken the time to develop an engine that's flexible that can contain an extremely consistant frame-rate around 30-60 fps.....I mean, look at MGS1 on the PSX, that could be done on the DS, and would still look great in this day & age on the handheld, regardless of the fact the graphics of the actual game are dated now.
(would needa huge cartridge for voice-over though ;/)


Last I checked over here, it's half the price of the PSP's Value Pack, the games are cheaper for it too.

I still don't know why i should buy one...

IPete2: I thought you had no money lol, naughty! I was tempted years ago by the Gameboy Advance but when faced with the choice in a shop I bought a 2nd hand Gamecube. It rocks as a console and may have been the better choice. I just fancied the portability of an Advance. Thing is the last portable game machine I had was Donkey Kong and Super Mario Bros (bricks on a conveyor belt!). Also had a haunted house one and Scramble, that was cool, my dad used to play it on the toilet! Don't know where they are now, wonder if they are collectible.

Nintendo = Know their handheld shizzle
Sony = Chancers

:P

psp 8 only cost me $39... at amazon.com...

can't beat that price... and it does 99.9% of what i need a paint program to do...

besides... what is DS anyway...

:)

--Mike

you are joking ... right ?

Anyway, hopefully soon I can afford one of them.

:)

who knows...

--Mike

yeah, especially with you ;)

datsa riiiiight...

--Mike

What are the best games for the DS? I have been tempted to buy it, but somehow been able to resist the urge. :-)

@Grey,

I haven't...

The DS - my son bought with money he had saved and swapped his old handheld and some games (he'd bought)- and I have had the PSP almost since launch (which is a while ago now) besides, the company bought it as a portable presentation tool - I have a lot of screen shots and videos of my work, which makes it easy to carry around and show (its also quite impressive).

We can also develop flash games for it (for internet use only though sadly).

IPete2.

Honestly as someone who owns both I would not recommend the PSP to anyone over the new DS Lite. The range of great software on the DS far overshadows the PSP`s lacklustre lineup. I think the PSP is a great piece of kit but for me the DS wins everytime.

Jason.

As much as I hate to admit it, I agree with Mike for once.

PSP still and always will be an abbreviation for Paint Shop Pro in my eyes. Even when you put "paint program" noone seemed to get the joke.

You see Mike, you can be normal once in a while, shows that even older people are still humans. :)

> you cant play it in a bus station

Yeah, but then you might miss your bus or someone could come along and nick it off you

> doctors waiting room

No sound allowed in waiting room, plus people would stare.

> on a bus

Rocky ride, travel sickness. Noise, someone might nick it after you get off the bus.

> in a car

Rocky ride, travel sickness, noise.

> plane though,

Same as before, and sometimes in a plane you have to turn it off to not interfere with equipment. Nowhere to charge up your PSP (long flights)

> thats kind of the whole point.

Kind of, but you know, why would I want a system where I'd only ever play it outside my house?

I had a PSP when they first came out. I sold it within two months. Whilst technically impressive, the games failed to impress me.

I purchased a DS Lite on the day of release (under the guise of it being for my kids) and I've already used it more than I ever did the PSP. It oozes quality and the games are just sooooo much fun (Mario is superb). Even the wife plays on it!

I like the homebrew aspect of the PSP though.

DS can play GBA games, therefore, it wins. As those games are in general, better than anything that will ever be on the PSP... mainly, cause the PSP is all about snappy graphics and very little about new gameplay... the only things on it that are any good are ports of good games (which are always better on the origional system anyway) and derivations of other games... Like GTA liberty city stories... which is better on the PS2, but why bother with it on the PS2 when there is san andreas which has 10,000% more content.

The PSP movies are a failure, the PSP games suck... I have no idea why ANYONE bought it in the first place...

I really don't understand why anyone has a DS either, although I understand it more, as some of the games are ok, and it can play GBA games, which are great. Would be senseless to buy a GBA now, so if you lost or never owned a GBA, getting a DS is a logical option as you get the GBA lineup and also get to mess around with some DS "renters" which is essentially what all their games are.. (With the possible exception of the Final Fantasy 3 remake, which is long enough to warrent buying the game)

You can get 'Backlit' GBA's very reasonably second hand... don't think you can say the same of the DS... The DS is Very appealing but somewhat out of my budget.

Hmm, Had a quick look at the DS Lite today for the first time. The buttons and direction pad seem a bit cheap/small/wobbly - I was quite suprised, TBH. Screens are great. I still want one! :)

Cheap maybe, but I like whatever "wobbly" there is in the face buttons, easier on the thumb....and speaking of thumb, love the d-pad on it compared to the norm DS, sure it's not as clicky/precise, but it feels great on the thumb regardless.

Now if only Sony would pay the freaking patent Nintendo owns on the "cross" direction pad so my thumbs dont freaking die on the PSP as they could then use a better D-pad setup, you know how hard it is to roll yer thumb from left-downleft-down-downright-right is on the PSP for fighting games?

Btw, regardin the DSLite, was wondering if anyone elses touch-screen "pushes in" a tiny bit using your thumb on the lower-right corner...mine does and it bugs the crap out of me knowing if it's a manufacture flaw of my device, or intentional....

New Super Mario Bros.
Metroid Prime: Hunters (WiFi)
Animal Crossing Wild World (WiFi)
Advance Wars Dual Strike
Castlevania Dawn of Sorrow
Mario Kart DS (WiFi)
Kirby Canvas Curse
Super Mario 64 DS
Brain Age
Tetris DS (WiFi)
Super Princess Peach (don't laugh)
Wario Ware Touched!
Nanostray

I've owned all of these and can attest to their greatness. You can't go wrong with any of them.

Mine does, I think. Not so much the right corner, but the entire screen seems to push in a little bit. I remember reading that there are two kinds of touch screens for the DS Lite. One is the grid kind (which I have), that is more durable but less responsive. The other kind doesn't have the grid pattern, it can be scratched easier and generally appears more blurry. Look at the bottom screen in sunlight to see if you have the grid style or not.

Is Metroid Prime any good as a single player game?

No, not really. I still haven't finished the sp experience.

*edit*
sp as in single player, sorry. I wouldn't suggest buying it if you can't play multiplayer. The single player game has the distinct feeling of being put together in a hurry, which is the case with most games that focus on the online aspect. You go around trying to find and destroy the other hunters as Samus, kind of a bot match type thing.

If you want to get WiFi access cheaply, the easiest way is to get a MN-500 router off eBay for $10 to $20.

Oh. :(

Do you mean the 2D GBA/SP version? I finished that one - was really good. First Metroid game I'd ever played.

The only thing is all the kiddy games, out of that list above, most are kiddy games.

I don't really consider Mario as "kiddy", games like Mario Kart are more accurately described as for all ages. To be fair, the only real kid games in that list are Wario, Princess Peach, Kirby, and Animal Crossing. The rest are pretty subjective.

If it's fun, what does it matter?

Well, I still have my original DS, but I can tell you, it's still better than a PSP at all costs. I may plan to upgrade my DS to a DS Lite, whether or not it's worth doing that at least. However, even since the PSP price dropped, Nintendo is still a lot cheaper in the long run, and the games run better, too. So, Nintendo still does seem to be #1 in the handheld market through this day. The Big N'll be too difficult to dethrone in that market, I can rest assure you of that one...

Very true. Recent sales numbers indicate that both the DS and DS Lite are outselling the PSP (seperately). It's gonna be tough to overcome Nintendo when they are besting you by more than two to one.

Right, and the GBA SPs are still selling like hotcakes (well, the DS is still stealing the GBA's popularity, even tho Nintendo didn't want the DS to replace the GBA (guess that's what's happening anyway), that's the power I suppose).

Wish the GB Micro fared as well, great little GBA system, but it wasn't marketted to the right audience....one of those things you gotta see & feel to believe why it was created in the first place.
(and even the Micros screen is brighter then the PSP's....)

Is the screen on the Micro as good as the new DS Lite screens?

I may consider getting a Micro if I can't afford a DS Lite - the price difference isn't great, though, I guess.

Nah

and there's no touch screen and you could not play any of the DS games on it.

IPete2.

Yeah, I know that. Beggars can't be choosers. :)

Save and get the DS, you'll appreciate it more. Just being able to use the touch-screen for certain types of game (Zoo Keepe, for instance) brings a whole new experience to the thing. I've never been so pleased with a gaming purchase (not even Xbox 360).

You're probably right, VP. This is the first games machine I've actually wanted to own since the GameCube came out.

Now if only Nintendo would quit with the updated handheld systems, I'm goin broke buying each version of the GBA here, if they release another DS....

You know, I see these threads all the time and I just don't get it. I have both a PSP and a DS. I absolutely love my PSP. It gets played daily. My DS on the other hand does not get much play, and the games I have for it have not held my interest. I bought it for mario 64, and for that alone it was worth it, but I have had very little else to keep me playing it. The new DS lite is a much nicer system, screen is brighter and the d-pad feels a bit softer (and hopefully easier on the thumb) but I can't justify getting rid of my old DS to upgrade.

My PSP on the other hand goes with me everywhere. I use it for mostly games, but I also have a 1 gig card filled with .mp3's, home videos of my kids, my work demo reel and some client projects, a few stupid video clips from google video, and hundreds of pictures of my kids.

Oh, and as for UMD videos,... I'll never own one of those.

Well, the PSP is obviously going to appeal more to some people, and vice versa - we're not all the same. :) Yer pays yer money and takes yer choice.

Personally, I just want a handheld to play games on, nothing else. I've never listened to an mp3 on a portable device in my life.

The homebrew community is very close to releasing a fully customized firmware/os for the psp. once that happens the psp will be a very hot item again. full access to wifi/ir and the graphics processor natively will really open up the console.

Well, as I said, the GBA carts are very easy for homebrew as well, and since the DS and DS Lite allow you to play GBA carts, then you could develop a nice game on one of those as well, albeit that the controls of a GBA game are far more limited than a DS game, obviously.

RAM: There's no obstacle in creating DS software that makes use of DS features. I downloaded NitroTracker which is a FastTracker 2 clone. It uses the touch screen and the built-in microphone amongst its features.

Granted, you need to spend as much on hardware as a new DS to be able to use such software, but it is at least possible.