We already had individual looks at both the
Nintendo DS and the
Sony PSP over the past few months, but with the PSP officially released in Europe at last, I felt it a good time to compare the two and see how well they stack up against each other.
Looks
Winner: PSPNo doubts about it, the DS is ugly. The controls look simplistic and dull, the screens are tiny and the outer shell looks like your old secondary school calculator. A small saving grace are the new coloured variants that are starting to creep out - the black of which looks considerably better - but with limited availability, it helps little to alleviate what is a dated, bulky, ugly looking contraption for the most part.
The PSP on the other hand, is pure sex on all fronts, from the layout to the buttons, to the vibrant 16:9 widescreen. In fact, its look is damn hard to fault pretty much across the board. Not only is the PSP a great looking console, but it has definite crossover/fashion potential in the same way the iPod did. A true stunner to look at.
Durability
Winner: DSWhile the PSP does indeed look the bizness, it feels like a priceless vase in your hand. While I'm not lining up to test it first hand, I'm pretty sure one decent drop of this thing would shatter it.
 | | Coloured variants of the DS are popping up, but primarily only on import |
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Even worse though is how susceptible the screen is to knocks, dirt and scratches. After just a couple weeks playing, even the most careful of hands will leave it looking like that chick's back from Teen Wolf. And that's a shame, 'cos for such a fucking pretty unit, it doesn't half age badly. Add-ons are available to improve the durability (see
this recent article), but that's more money spent on an already incredibly costly piece of hardware.
The DS avoids not one, but both of these pitfalls. Using a hinge based design, it doubles up as an automatic screen protector when not in use. Do whatever you want with this thing, them screens'll stay prestine.
Not only that, but the DS screens themselves are designed around touch technology, so are bloody well
expecting you to scrape and scratch at them like crazy. For this reason, your DS screens will encounter no permanent damage or blemishes in the line of duty, unless you are especially vicious with 'em.
The other pleasing trait is just how much more solid the casing feels. It may not look like much, but the DS features more solid construction where it counts. I'm pretty sure the DS will outlive the PSP before a replacement unit is needed.
Software
Winner: PSPA tricky category to be sure, as both systems are in their relative infancy still. The DS however, should rightly take a small lead due to being out longer. In truth, I don't really think it does.
 | | After a shakey start, quality software has finally started appearing for the PSP |
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Both machines have around 3 or 4 must-have games, along with a couple of other nuggets of interest depending on your genres of choice. The PSP has the grand dragon Lumines to its name, as well as stunning racers Wipeout Pure and Ridge Racer. More recently they've been joined by the stunning Virtua Tennis and Burnout Legends. Hotshots Golf is also the most fun you can have hitting stuff with a stick, outside being locked in a room with Harry Hill.
It's been a long wait for follow-up titles, but the machine does feel like it's coming into its own at last, and on top of that we can soon look forward to Grand Theft Auto, Katamari and Pro Evo Soccer to name a few.
Conversely the DS has a reasonably solid port of Mario 64 - what many consider to be the best game of all time - as well as the delightful Kirby, puzzle classic Meteos and the various other Nintendo franchises you'd expect. More to the point, a whole lot more is coming its way, including Metroid Prime: Hunters and a multiplayer focused Mario Kart offering.
 | | With DS games scarce, you can always play Noughts & Crosses on Pictochat |
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But that's the future, and this is the now, and there's no denying the DS is in need of some follow-up titles sooner rather than later. Nintendogs and Advance Wars are its current big releases, but as someone who doesn't dig on strategy titles, nor fancy useless tamagotchi games where you can't even murder your pet, neither hold any vague interest to me and mine.
On the plus side, the DS wins some major points in this category for the simple reason it plays all GameBoy Advance games, so while we wait for the future releases of tomorrow, there's an entire generation (or two) of games to keep us busy. In fact, I'm playing more Street Fighter II on the GBA right now than any of the proper DS releases. It's also worth mentioning, that the PSP games all suffer extensive load times of varying degrees, a problem none-existent with these DS releases.
A month ago this category would have gone to the DS as a result, but in light of the PSP's more recent Euro launch titles, it's pushed it over the edge. PSP games really seem to be flowing in nicely...at last.
Sound
Winner: DrawThere's no two ways about it, the PSP's speakers are incredibly quiet. What's there is good, but it lacks raw power, and is completely inaudible in a crowded place. Not only are they low in volume, but the speakers also lack oomph and bass, baring more resemblance to the tinny sound leaking from that guy's walkman sitting next to you on the train.
Still, poor speakers aside, the actual sound itself is of fantastic quality, with clear reproduction of voices and music on par with a CD. It's just a shame a set of headphones or add-on speakers are required to actually
hear it.
Due to lower specs and the use of cartridges over a disc based media, the DS was never gonna cram as much voice and music into its titles as the PSP, but it still handles itself more than adeptly. In fact, the large built in stereo speakers give it much louder sound reproduction than the PSP, coming across loud and deep with or without headphones. Ultimately it loses points for slightly fuzzy sound quality when played at lower volumes though, leaving this round a draw.
Graphics
Winner: PSP | | Burnout Legends on the PSP plays (and almost looks) as good as its PS2 big brother. Wow |
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The PSP takes this one home in a second. Not only do the increased specs afford it graphical power almost on par with a PS2, but the widescreen display and incredible quality of the screen mean all that power looks even better than you could possibly imagine.
The DS is a whole generation behind the PSP from a graphical standpoint - more on par with a slightly overcooked N64 or a PSone - and on comparing the two side by side, it shows. It's still a huge leap in quality over previous GameBoy models, and in a world without the PSP, we'd be no doubt squirting up all over those dual screens with an ominous, sticky glue, but ultimately the DS' graphics are a victim of poor timing...the PSP just wipes the floor with it.
Gaming Innovation
Winner: DSAs far as games alone go, the DS has far more capabilities than the PSP. The touch screen and stylus afford it wonderful new avenues of exploration we haven't really seen in games before, and the included microphone is even being utilised in some of the newer titles too.
You can draw paths for characters to move around, or train pets to obey your voice commands...and all this stuff is great sodding fun. The touch screen also doubles up brilliantly as a first person shooter controller, somewhere between a mouse and an analogue stick as far as accuracy goes. However while these control options and additions are unique, bizarre and somewhat interesting, their use has been hit or miss so far. Games like Another Code make awesome use of it, while others feel completely forced (Revenge of the Sith comes to mind).
The PSP lacks hugely in innovation. On the one hand, it's incredible to see near PS2 quality games alive and kicking on a handheld, but at the end of the day they're just that...scaled down ports. When it comes to originality in its software, there's very little we haven't seen before here, thus the DS dominates it firmly in this category.
Other Capabilities
Winner: PSPThe DS comes bundled with the wireless chat program Pictochat, a cute and amusing way for kids to waste time at school. Sneaky hacker types have also found a way to get basic homebrew running on the machine, although it's still in its early days. Finally there's the concept of flashcarts, and the media content they can potentially deliver. These additional features feel very gimmicky and lightweight though compared to the PSP.
Sony's machine is built from the ground up as a multimedia device, not just a games machine. MP3s, movies, pictures - all these capabilities are pulled up with just as much panache as the games themselves, and with the recent 2.0 upgrade, it's even a sodding good web browser too. The future promises e-mail abilities, keyboard attachments and much, much more.
Not only this, but the homebrew scene is considerably more fleshed out and active than that of the DS, including everything from MSN messenger to ports of fucking
Quake.
With all this in mind, there could be only one winner. The PSP is considerably more than just a games machine. In fact, the DS feels like a toy in comparison.
Battery Life
Winner: DSThe PSP's UMD format is essentially a mini-DVD, read by laser. This drains the battery like you wouldn't believe, and means both watching UMD movies, as well as load-intensive games will zap your battery in less than four hours. This isn't particularly good news for a handheld, and murder on long trips.
On the plus side, other capabilities such as reading MP3s and videos off the memory stick, use up the battery at a much slower pace, essentially meaning you could double that length depending on what you use your machine for.
Either way, the DS batters the PSP in this area. Even powering two screens at once, the machine can last as long as 15 hours if you're lucky. An easy win for Nintendo.
Value For Money
Winner: DrawI think this ultimately depends on what you use your unit for. The DS is unquestionably very cheap and good value for money, but while the PSP is almost double the price, you could argue it has almost double the features.
The ultimate question is whether or not you'll be using those features. If so, the PSP Is indeed good value for money. If not though, ?180 is a lot to pay for a handheld games machine - one with a library made up mostly of ports and "best of" titles. Decide this category for yourself based on these facts.
Final Verdict
 | | Mario Kart is destined for greatness. But where the frack is it? |
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I must admit the PSP's future looked desolate after E3. Sony barely mentioned the machine once in its presentation, opting instead for flashy CGI renders of PS3 games, and one had to wonder if they had anything at all lined up for the handheld's future. The previously mentioned 2.0 upgrade alleviated some of that fear, proving Sony is indeed hard at work at improving the PSPs features behind closed doors though, and the recent software releases have gone on to cement that.
Six months down the line we'll know for sure what kind of staying power Sony's little box of wonders has, but with more and more games starting to trickle through, the future certainly looks a little brighter for the PSP now. If the scores in these various categories are anything to go by, it's the superior machine by a small margin.
Don't count the DS out of this race just yet though. Nintendo have not only dominated the handheld market for oh so many years, but they practically invented it. Even more powerful and advanced rivals like the GameGear and Atari Lynx couldn't hold a candle to the much more basic GameBoy at the end of the day, eventually dieing a painful death while Nintendo's more simplistic and scaled down system went on to do great things. Will history repeat itself with the PSP?
I doubt it, but I do think the DS holds some decent value never the less. It's not in the same technical league as the PSP, true, but arguably its in a more interesting league gameplay-wise.
The stylus, touch screen and voice recognition features give games an extra dimension, and as a result you'll experience things on the DS you never knew games were even capable of...even if it does look somewhat uglier in the process. For this reason, picking up both machines isn't a crazy off the wall concept, as they are both so amazingly different.
Still, we aren't all made of money, and although I recommend the PSP over the DS myself, you however, may have different requirements out of your handheld, and I hope this face-off has shed some light on which machine is the one for you.
No? Well fuck off.
