PSP VS DS

[Frozen Phantom]

yeah....I know you've heard this one before, but I need the advice.

I'm planing on getting a handheld system (psp/ds) and I have the money opturninty for either. The problem is, which one?

For the ds, there are some very fun games, such has advance wars duel strike, elite beat agents, and others.

For the psp, there is the port of cave story with uped graphics (which is coming out) , fft, and other great games like vikuray profile.

For you responce, I would like a pro/con of each, no "WHAT? U WANT PSP!!!! U NEWB!!!!!" So please actually use details of each system if you can.

Thanks in advance

[Dreddz]

I guess for innovative and original games, you would be best sticking to a DS. That doesnt mean the PSP lacks any good games, but the majority of the good PSP's games are ports, there are still a nice selection of originals titles in there though.

If your a fighting game fan though, I insist you get a PSP. Now you fool !

[Roto13]

DS is the way to go here. Most of the decent PSP games are rehashes and ports. It's ok if you want an mp3 player out of it, too. Not so much for movies any more, since the UMD format is pretty much dead. There's also a decent home brew scene, though it kinda interferes with firmwear updates. (ie: one or the other)

But for fun, original games? Definitely the DS. Get Elite Beat Agents or your life will never be complete. :P There's also an accessory that allows you to play music and videos, but I don't know much about that.

[JKTrix]

I own the Play Yan Micro, the 'device' roto mentioned. It's decent, but not worth spending the money on. Also available is the Nintendo MP3 player, which is a watered down version of the Play Yan. Same cartridge, same software, but can't play videos.

If you want a Portable Playstation, then go right on ahead. There really isn't anything available on the PSP yet that makes the system worth buying on its own merit (Opinion), but there are actually several games available that make good buys if you do end up getting one (Fact). Homebrew is pretty cool from what I've fiddled with, but if you want to play PSP games, you're forced to upgrade the firmware in most cases (which cancels all homebrew efforts). There are ways around it, but they're potentially very damaging.

The DS is currently my favourite 'active' system. I've always been pretty partial to handheld gaming anyway, as I only had a GameBoy to play with from when I was in preschool, right up until I was 16 when I bought my first console (Gamecube). Still, there are several 'system selling' games of varying genres already available. There are a few games that are notoriously stuck in Japan with little/no hope of ever coming out here (Elite Beat Agents was a miracle), but if you're comfortable with importing games you'll have access to a few more (though somewhat nichey) excellent games. PSP of course can play imports too. Plus, you have the entire GBA library available to you.

5 good games for each (ports, rehashes, derivatives or otherwise):

PSP: Daxter, Mega Man (Powered Up & Maverick Hunter X), Tekken 5 Dark Resurrection, 2x Lumines, 2x Metal Gear (but not 2x AC!D)

DS: Elite Beat Agents, Mario Kart, Jump! Ultimate Stars (Japanese), Advance Wars, New Super Mario Bros.

[Dreddz]

Im glad someone metioned the homebrew for the PSP. In the last few months there have been great advances, such as the ability to play PS1 games at full speed. Definately the coolest thing ever to happen to any handheld. That plus many other emulators on the system, most running at full speed also. The DS has some, I havent gone much into them though.

[Erdrick Holmes]

DS all the way. The PSP sucks hard, all it has are crappy racing games and ports of some of the PS2s lamer games.

[Shlup]

I... got both. :o

[Rostum]

DS also has some good RPG's.

There's Final Fantasy 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and soon 6. Which I think is absolutely great to have portable! Then there's the Mario and Luigi RPG's (to be honest, I think they should remake Super Mario RPG for DS), Golden Sun series, Mana series, and more that I can't think of right now.

Then you have some other cool games like Mario Kart, New Super Mario Brothers, Elite Beat Agent, Advance Wars, Yoshi's Island, and a whole range of GBA games.

The PSP looks interesting for me though, for FFVII and Valkyrie Profile, but nothing more.

[Holy Lancer]

I can't wait for the new FF game to come out for PSP but I am really enjoying playing FF 1, 2, 4, 5, and soon 6 on my SP. DS looks really cool though. I want to get it so I can play The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass, the sequel to The Wind Waker.

[Rase]

Right now I'd say DS. It seems to have the most support of the two, plus there are a good number of games that put it's unique features to good use. Plus, there's the high-caliber first-party games from Nintendo, which are a major bonus if you like them.

However, definitely keep your eye on the PSP. This coming year sounds like it'll be the one that PSP fans have been waiting for, and honestly, though I don't own one or plan on buying one soon, some of the games coming out for it have me green with envy (notably Castlevania: The Dracula X Chronicles and Final Fantasy VII: Crisis Core.)

[Maxico]

I guess I'm pretty lucky in the fact that all these "Rehashes and ports" of older games all happen to be classic games that I never got the chance to play, or really want to play again.

Hell, give me Jet Set Radio and (whisper it), Shenmue and I could paint it white and stick a Dreamcast logo on it.

Or a Sega logo at the very least.

[Monster Hunt]

DS. I great fun, Pictochating is really useful when you are some distance away and you nee to talk )or when you need to be silent), you don't need another game to play multiplayer and it looks cool!

I love my DS- always near me!

[The Shoeless Hobo]

Just bought another PSP today. Anyway, if you're going to enter the hombrew scene it's not "one or the other" (games or homebrew) like most people say, you can have both. When you downgrade to 1.5, you can enable homebrew. And there's a homebrew application that makes your PSP thinks it a higher version (eg 3.1) when in fact its still 1.5. Anyway, I bought a PSP for Ridge Racer, Tales of Eternia, Breath of Fire, LocoRoco, Lumines Valkriyne and Sid Meir's Pirates as well as all those SNES/GBA/PSONE games that I can play on my PSP.

[Maxico]

Or you can just intall custom firmware that retains the features of 3.1 without the added security.

[KentaRawr!]

If you don't mind doing something ever so slightly illegal, the PSP is undoubtedly the way to go. However, in the realm of legality, the DS is the winner.