[itai195]

You're still going on about the IGN.com reviews? That list only includes the last few months, and it's one site's opinion.

[Jawbone54]

Coming from someone who has owned both, there are a few things to consider. One is the price. The PSP might have been dropped to $200, but the memory sticks are going to run you at least another $50 (if you actually want enough space), so you're still around the $250 mark. The DS Lite is $120 cheaper.

The other is the UMD issue. They're more expensive, and the movies flopped badly. The loading times were absolutely horrendous as well.

I also felt really nervous while carrying it around in a bag. The could be easily scratched, which is something I don't want to deal with in a "portable" device. A little issue, but enough for me to think about.

The screen is certainly beautiful, I'll give it that. The problem is that you're playing all the same games that you have at home, except on a smaller screen, with greater loading times, one less analog stick, and two missing shoulder buttons. The DS has given me games that I normally wouldn't find on a console, especially those with touch screen functionality.

Celebrating my black DS Lite as of yesterday...

[starman]

Originally Posted by itai195

You're still going on about the IGN.com reviews?

You tell me what other kind of non-anecdotal reference I'm supposed to make.

[starman]

Originally Posted by Jawbone54

Coming from someone who has owned both, there are a few things to consider. One is the price. The PSP might have been dropped to $200, but the memory sticks are going to run you at least another $50 (if you actually want enough space), so you're still around the $250 mark. The DS Lite is $120 cheaper.

The other is the UMD issue. They're more expensive, and the movies flopped badly. The loading times were absolutely horrendous as well.

I also felt really nervous while carrying it around in a bag. The could be easily scratched, which is something I don't want to deal with in a "portable" device. A little issue, but enough for me to think about.

The screen is certainly beautiful, I'll give it that. The problem is that you're playing all the same games that you have at home, except on a smaller screen, with greater loading times, one less analog stick, and two missing shoulder buttons. The DS has given me games that I normally wouldn't find on a console, especially those with touch screen functionality.

Celebrating my black DS Lite as of yesterday...

I've had my PSP since Day One, not a scratch on it. It came with a very nice sleeve, you know.

[Jawbone54]

Originally Posted by starman

I've had my PSP since Day One, not a scratch on it. It came with a very nice sleeve, you know.

I just always had that fear of scratching the screen somehow, accidentally.

Not everyone shares my concerns or my opinions, and I'm fine with that. Some people feel the DS is too "kiddy" for them, which I completely disagree with, but that's their preference, and who am I to tell them that they're an idiot for their tastes? I'll just enjoy my DS Lite and let you guys argue it out.

Side Note: loved Hot Shots: Open Tee. WIsh there would be a DS Mario Golf.

[itai195]

If you want something non-anecdotal you can refer to sales, but the most significant argument is your personal opinion after having tried both. Game reviews are unreliable. If you really love your PSP I'm not here to change your mind.

[Hawkeye_a]

Originally Posted by starman

I already posted how IGN.com posted higher reviews for more games for the PSP.

Sorry.

Oh ok...so a consumer's preference should be based on other people's opinion ? And a gaming publication full of fanboys of every console ? rigghhhttt.

Oh and just cause an IGN editor says it, doesnt actually make it "better" in any way. All it means is he, as a person who does nothing but play and review games (a hardcore gamer) liked it. That means nothing to the rest of us(except you).

I'm so sorry, but other people's opinions dont count as a benchmark for determining which console is better at gaming.

Try again.

[starman]

So WTF are we supposed to talk about EXCEPT our own likes/dislikes? It's amazing how you Nintendo fanboys quote sales left and right, but when it comes to reviews of the games themselves, which favor the PSP, then all of a sudden it's bad to quote sources.

Goddamn hypocrites.

[itai195]

Reviews are just as anecdotal as personal opinions. I worked in the game industry for a short time and publishers do all sorts of things to manipulate the scores their games get. Plus, what qualifications do game reviewers have anyway? They play a lot of games? Wow. For the most part they are no more qualified to be critics or journalists than you or I.

BTW, I'm not a Nintendo fanboy. I sold my original DS to get a PSP in fact. Fanboys are people who rely on the opinions of others to form their own opinions and irrationally defend their chosen platform/game as if they depend on it for their survival. A question about the PSP was asked and I stated my own opinion of why I was disappointed with the system and why it's failing in the larger marketplace.

[Hawkeye_a]

Originally Posted by starman

So WTF are we supposed to talk about EXCEPT our own likes/dislikes? It's amazing how you Nintendo fanboys quote sales left and right, but when it comes to reviews of the games themselves, which favor the PSP, then all of a sudden it's bad to quote sources.

Goddamn hypocrites.

"Reviews" are not objective, they try to be...but at the end of the day, theyre one man's opinion.

I learned that when i read reviews on Titanic(movie). which also made a killing at the box office, but imo was a lousy movie. Sales figures are more objective since it's people voting with their $$$ and not their mouths. Numbers over waffle any day.

But like you said at the end of the day it's your own personal preference, so quit constantly badmouthing Nintendo constantly and this argument can end. I hate to say it, but it was you and SWG who sucked me into this entire argument..i was happily playing my GCN for 2 years before i read your obnoxous posts, and given my experience wth Nintendo, i definately didnt think they deserved it. So yeah....

[starman]

Nobody sucked you into anything. Don't blame other people for your own lack of willpower. You're probably the type that sues the tobacco industry for making you smoke.

[subego]

Originally Posted by Jawbone54

I just always had that fear of scratching the screen somehow, accidentally.

They sell electrostatic clear plastic overlays to help prevent this.

Considering how... uhh... aggressive my GF is with her portable electronics, I made sure I bought one of these and slipped it in her Christmas stocking.

On a related topic, how tough is Loco Roco? I just got it for the GF, who will kick your ass at Tetris or Bust-a-Move, but in general she's frustrated by platformers.

I'm guessing that since it has such female gamer appeal, they didn't make it too hard-core.

[Landos Mustache]

Originally Posted by subego

On a related topic, how tough is Loco Roco?

It is easy but extremely fun.

[subego]

Originally Posted by Landos Mustache

It is easy but extremely fun.

This is what I was hoping.

Thanks!

[Hawkeye_a]

Originally Posted by starman

Nobody sucked you into anything. Don't blame other people for your own lack of willpower. You're probably the type that sues the tobacco industry for making you smoke.

Not really. i dont have an addictive personality (for tabacoo, TV or videogames).... if you want to bad mouth Nintendo each and every time, be ready for the counter argument.

You argued marketshare and number of games for the PS2...well be prepared to accept the same reasoning for the DS. I'm bashing the PSP using your own standards. (mine were quality of the games (subjective) for the GameCube, and seeing as how Nintendo's quality hasnt changed, the DS has that AS WELL)

Bye bye PSP (i find it hilarious that stores dont want to buy second-hand PSP's ... thats like being spit out of the bottom of the porn industry for consoles lol)

[mitchell_pgh]

Originally Posted by Hawkeye_a

Bye bye PSP (i find it hilarious that stores dont want to buy second-hand PSP's ... thats like being spit out of the bottom of the porn industry for consoles lol)

Please... the PSP imho has much more life than the DS. Even if there are no games ever created for it, it's still a cool video player. The MP3 player in it isn't bad, etc. etc.

My main beef is with Sony (AGAIN, I really don't care about the PSP vs. DS argument as I wouldn't have even considered the DS as an option... it doesn't play movies, IMHO, that was a deal breaker). I feel like Sony, by constantly switching around the underlying technologies, has caused many developers to shy away from the platform. The thing really is like a mini-computer, and I wish they would have embraced some of the hackers out there as compared to constantly implementing newer and harder ways to make things "just work" on the platform.

[11011001]

I have to say, it is kinda fun. But I stopped buying games for it. Also, I was really excited about the homebrew, but.. Sony has done a nice job killing that again and again.

Oh well.

[lavar78]

Originally Posted by 11011001

I have to say, it is kinda fun. But I stopped buying games for it. Also, I was really excited about the homebrew, but.. Sony has done a nice job killing that again and again.

Oh well.

Exactly. It's a failure because Sony killed the one thing that interesting about it.

[Wiskedjak]

Originally Posted by ::maroma::

I should clarify that when I made that statement I was comparing the PSP to the iPod. I know they are 2 different devices, but I feel that Sony was going for the same demographic as Apple.

But I still think that the PSP hasn't done nearly what it could have in terms of sales. And I think its because it isn't nearly as elegant to use as an iPod.

That's almost like saying the latest Palm Pilot failed as an iPod killar. The latest Palm, and the PSP, may have been targeted at the same demographic as the iPod, but not the same market.

And, of course the PSP isn't nearly as elegant as the iPod; even at it height, Sony has been more techy than elegant

[mitchell_pgh]

Originally Posted by lavar78

Exactly. It's a failure because Sony killed the one thing that interesting about it.

Well, it's not dead... it's just in limbo... and Sony keeps adding more security to the thing.

[ink]

Originally Posted by starman

I've had my PSP since Day One, not a scratch on it. It came with a very nice sleeve, you know.

I must concur. My PSP is still in mint condition, and I got it when it came out.

Of course, I haven't turned it on in months (since I finished Chrono Trigger), but, hey...

I absolutely LOVED Wipeout XL on the PS1. Wipeout 3 sucked, but I'll still put in XL on my PS2, even though the emulator doesn't work properly with it. Wipeout Pure (PSP) was better than Wipeout 3, but wasn't as good as XL. Lumines was OK. I may give Loco Roco a shot, but other than that the game situation has been ho-hum. It's not N-Gage horrible, but it's also not GBA sweet.

The PSP isn't a failure, it's just not perfect -- and neither is the DS. I'm worried about the PS3 for the same reason. Just as Sony pushed UMD into the PSP to do that whole corporate synergy thing with their media wing, they've put Blu-Ray in the PS3 for the same reasons. It could turn out like the PSP -- not horrible at anything, but not really good at anything either.

[fhoubi]

Originally Posted by Jawbone54

Celebrating my black DS Lite as of yesterday...

Congrats! I got a black DSL myself for my birthday 2 months ago, after I gave my GF a white MacBook a month before (how she dare to give me a black one after I have an white iBook G3 and a new i(ntel)Mac oh well, but looking at a black background is really stunning). The games I bought are Metroid, Tetris, Brain Training (Age), Mario Bros and Mario Kart, and the last 3 are really stunning. Even after 1 1/2 months I am still playing Brain Training/Age, and I would never have played Sudoku before. The touch screen is here a killer.

[Jawbone54]

Originally Posted by fhoubi

Congrats! I got a black DSL myself for my birthday 2 months ago, after I gave my GF a white MacBook a month before (how she dare to give me a black one after I have an white iBook G3 and a new i(ntel)Mac oh well, but looking at a black background is really stunning). The games I bought are Metroid, Tetris, Brain Training (Age), Mario Bros and Mario Kart, and the last 3 are really stunning. Even after 1 1/2 months I am still playing Brain Training/Age, and I would never have played Sudoku before. The touch screen is here a killer.

Sorry that the black DS Lite doesn't match the rest of your stuff, but I'd agree that the black provides a great contrast for the extra bright screen. Just curious...do you keep your brightness bumped up to level 4, or do you use any of the others to conserve battery power?

I actually owned a white DS Lite before, but had to get rid of it (long, stupid story). I went out and got New Super Mario Bros., Brain Age, Mario Kart DS, and Tony Hawk's American Sk8land immediately. I've thought about Metroid Prime: Hunters, but I'm kind of worried about the controls. How does it play?

[itai195]

I enjoy Metroid but I can't play it for much more than 30-45 minutes at a time. Some of the boss battles have given me a wicked hand cramp. Otherwise it controls fine, but I hope they don't use this control scheme much more in the future.

[Velocity211]

PSP has never failed, isn't failing, and will never fail. Well maybe the UMD movies, but who really watches those?

[fhoubi]

Brightness 99% on level 2, sometimes in bed even level 1. Metroid controls are ok, it was the first game I (could) bought but I play it almost never as I sck in boss battles...

[Landos Mustache]

My PSP came with a case and the unit doesn't have a scratch on it even though I took it camping and on the subway every week.

Did they stop shipping the case with it or something?

[Ouhei]

There isn't any way to truly say which is better, its all a matter of opinion. Some people will enjoy the DS more, some will enjoy the PSP more.

If you want to go by sales numbers, the DS is straight up whooping the PSP, there is no argument there. You can look here in the US and in Japan (where the DS sells 100k+ units a week).

I think the problem with the PSP is that it tried to do too much and failed to make the games original. Most of the good games for the PSP are ports of PS and PS2 games, and that just won't work. The DS took the approach of being truly different, Nintendo has been doing handhelds forever and know what to do when it comes to handheld gaming.

Both systems have their good games and their bad games, the DS seems to have more success though in the larger market, which, despite what some of you may say, is what really matters. Little kids and parents are a huge market, and Nintendo has them, now they're spreading out to "non gamers" with the Touch Generation games. If Sony want's the PSP to survive they need to do something.

[Landos Mustache]

Originally Posted by Ouhei

I think the problem with the PSP is that it tried to do too much and failed to make the games original. Most of the good games for the PSP are ports of PS and PS2 games, and that just won't work.

I think you mean the opposite actually. The best games for the PSP are ones that were NOT ports such of Lumines and Loco Roco.

[Jawbone54]

Originally Posted by Landos Mustache

I think you mean the opposite actually. The best games for the PSP are ones that were NOT ports such of Lumines and Loco Roco.

...and what else?

[starman]

It's not like the DS didn't have its large share of ports also.

[Ouhei]

Originally Posted by Landos Mustache

I think you mean the opposite actually. The best games for the PSP are ones that were NOT ports such of Lumines and Loco Roco.

I'm speaking of games such as GTA and the like. Your right though, companies are starting to come out with cool original games for the PSP, and I'm glad to see it, it's what the system needs to stay alive. I for one, am looking forward to the Power Stone title for the PSP, I loved it on the dreamcast, and it looks like they're doing a good job making it work on the PSP.

The DS has had a few ports, mainly at the beginning of its life, some of them worked, some not so much. Mario Kart for the DS is essentially a port, but its brilliant, and was tweaked enough to work well on the system.

The main thing keeping me from a PSP is the price (I don't need another mp3 player, I don't need to surf the web on it, I just want some games) and the load times, I play my DS a lot when I have maybe 5-10 minutes to kill, and its really easy to turn on the DS and go.

[Landos Mustache]

Originally Posted by Ouhei

and the load times

Well the load times aren't really an issue. Loco Roco and Ghosts and Goblins have load times of about 3 seconds.

Even on games that have long load times it isn't much of an issue as if you flick the power switch it pauses the game and puts the unit in sleep mode. Turning it on takes 1 second to recover if that.

The only time you see load times is the first time you fire up a game, but like I said, unless you frequently change games on the go it doesn't matter.

[Jawbone54]

Originally Posted by Landos Mustache

The only time you see load times is the first time you fire up a game, but like I said, unless you frequently change games on the go it doesn't matter.

MLB '06: The Show. Never played it, have you?

[Landos Mustache]

Originally Posted by Jawbone54

MLB '06: The Show. Never played it, have you?

No why? Long load times? The developer should hold their head in shame.

[Jawbone54]

Smackdown vs. Raw

This one seemed to be a problem that both the developer AND the format are responsible for. And I cannot tell you how many PSP reviews I've read in which load times are at least mentioned.

[Landos Mustache]

Originally Posted by Jawbone54

Smackdown vs. Raw

This one seemed to be a problem that both the developer AND the format are responsible for. And I cannot tell you how many PSP reviews I've read in which load times are at least mentioned.

That one seems the fault of the developer and is appealing. You can see they spend the first minute and a half with just their own logos. After that they load cut scenes and all sorts of other junk.

If GTA can load an entire world in 30 seconds there is no reason wrestling should take that long.

BAD PROGRAMMERS!!!!

[Stogieman]

Wipeout Pure is another one that suffers from long load times.

Originally Posted by Landos Mustache

Even on games that have long load times it isn't much of an issue as if you flick the power switch it pauses the game and puts the unit in sleep mode. Turning it on takes 1 second to recover if that.

That's great until you want to switch the game.

[- - e r i k - -]

The PSP fails in that in doesn't seem to be geared towards casual gaming. It has a feel to it, both in bulk, in controls, loading times and the general games themselves more like you'll have to make time for playing a game rather than just flick it up any time you have a spare moment. And for a portable that's just all wrong.

[Jawbone54]

Originally Posted by - - e r i k - -

The PSP fails in that in doesn't seem to be geared towards casual gaming. It has a feel to it, both in bulk, in controls, loading times and the general games themselves more like you'll have to make time for playing a game rather than just flick it up any time you have a spare moment. And for a portable that's just all wrong.

It's not a true portable gaming system. You can play the majority of the games on PSP o your PS2, which you might as well do, since you're not going to be firing it up in an instant and playing for a few minutes anyways.

I guess you could fire it up at home, wait for the several minutes of loading time, try to load up a game, then put it to sleep. Then you just have to click it on when you're out and about, but do you really want to prep it before you leave home?

The PSP isn't as convenient as a portable device should be. And with the dying UMD format, the only thing left to do with it is play movies and music, which the iPod does in a more portable manner. They'd better do as rumored and drop the price again.

[itai195]

As far as price, I've read that they're actually going to introduce a new bundle with a movie and a game and jack the price up.

[Dark Helmet]

Originally Posted by itai195

As far as price, I've read that they're actually going to introduce a new bundle with a movie and a game and jack the price up.

No.

They are keeping the same price but including the above PLUS a 1 gig memory card.

[paul w]

By the way, Loco Roco may be one of the most absurdly cute, silly, fun games ever.

I also picked up Ghosts and Goblins which has rather eye poppingly good graphics and is fun as hell, but it's as hard as Loco Roco is easy.

BOTH are excellent casual games.

[Wiskedjak]

Originally Posted by paul w

By the way, Loco Roco may be one of the most absurdly cute, silly, fun games ever.

I also picked up Ghosts and Goblins which has rather eye poppingly good graphics and is fun as hell, but it's as hard as Loco Roco is easy.

BOTH are excellent casual games.

For the amount entertainment I got from just the Loco Roco demo, I hafta agree with you.

[JoshuaZ]

Failed? No. Could it be doing better. Yes.

It sells very well here in Japan (which means nothing in light of the fact that its impossible to buy a DS over here. Waiting lists galore!) and I love the homebrew for it. If Sony embraced the whole homebrew scene I would have gone Sony instead of DS.

(It could be worse. You could be an Xbox in Japan. No one would love you then. No one.)

[Buckaroo]

I like the PSP, too bad Sony dosen't. Sony does more harm to themself than any competetor.

My biggest beef, PSP dosen't have enough games.