I didn't get a DS when it came out because I was pissed that the first major title was a port of Mario 64. I still think that was stupid. I got a PSP after my tattoo artist showed me his, because it looked incredible. However, yesterday I traded in my PSP for a DS. Some of you may be thinking "he's a fag," but hear me out.

What is the PSP? Is it a gaming-dedicated system, or is it more? With the mention of every movie coming out on UMD, as well as the countless hacks that people are trying to make, it's obviously some kind of multimedia behemoth. I think it's a cool idea, but I don't need that; I need fun and games, not teeny movies. Second, what is the PSP trying to do in terms of gaming? After having one for about 5 months, I realized what they were doing, and what the problem was: they were just trying to make a tiny PS2 that you could carry around. However, since the system wasn't as powerful as the PS2, the games would never be as good, and since most of the games that come out for it are ports of console games, it really makes the whole shebang kind of pointless. They aren't taking advantage of anything unique that a handheld system - or any system with a new name - could offer.

That's what the DS does. This sexy little number doesn't try to be a console at all; it tries to be a DS, because that's enough. It's got original games - many of which couldn't even be made for a console, due to the touch-screen interface - and it reminds me of the days when fun came before physics. Great times, man. It can't play movies or mp3s, but it can do so much with gaming that those who are only attracted to the gaming aspect of any system won't even care about that extra stuff The only thing the DS has really been ridiculed for is its gaming selection, but I personally like much of it (since I'm old-school), as do I like that it can play my GBA games. I couldn't for the life of me find another PSP game to buy, and I hadn't bought a game since the day I bought the system. The few that I thought I'd want to buy turned out to suck in the end.

I guess it all really depends on what you're looking for, but I'd have to give the upper hand to the DS. It's still beating Sony in sales so far, but we'll see what the holidays bring. I'm sure the fact that iit's cheaper and doesn't require memory cards is attractive, too. Oh, and for you Castlevania fans, the new one for DS comes out tomorrow. That and Metroid were another 2 reasons why I got the system

I got a PSP and my brother got the DS. I prefer the PSP because I like having the extra menu features. I got my ROMs and EMUs to play on it and I got movies and games. The only problem it hass right now is that theres more movies than games which pisses me off.

DS is ok, I guess. But like all nintendo stuff its regressing in age to go after kids. And I dont want to play Kerby or Mario anymore. Not to mention i despise the split screen. I absolutely abhor it.

i don't need to fight about it as i have both.

I would have both, but my PSP was collecting dust I felt guilty for it.

I don't like the concept of having the same thing on both screens. however, I LOVE being able to have maps and stuff on one screen, and the actual game on the other. makes life way easier.

I like my PSP for two reasons. 1) I got it for free. 2) I can put porn on the memory stick.

I've never held a DS so I can't give you an opinion on it. When I have, I will.

I'll leave the thread now.

I have neither. Though i will be getting a PSP when the price drops and sony refines the batteries like they promised.

The double screen of the DS is a nice gimmic but in the end its just another gameboy with too much 'child friendly' games.

The PSP's extra stuff is what makes it intresting, if your sick of gaming you can watch a movie and if your sick of that you can listen music while on the move.

tell me about it, i think i bought mines a little too soon, there isn't any real games i want till november time, and ive completed the one that i got.

still just need to wait a month and i should be sorted for games!

that's my problem with nintendo in general, most of their games are just too cutsey and bairnish..where as sony pretty much cater for everything.

really i like my ds for my puzzle games because i like how they have incorporated the touch screen and i think that works well, but the psp will work for everything! plus the graphics kick ass!

the dual screens isn't a gimmick. a gimmick is something snazzy with no real purpose or useful functionality. this definitely isn't the case. and, as far as the child-friendly games thing goes, it really depends on the person. almost all my console games are rated M, but i like having something different to play around with. Handheld systems are a totally different ballgame to me; I'm not about to sit around and play a 50+ hour Grand Theft Auto game on a handheld.

I also doubt people are going to use their PSPs all that much for movies, except when they travel. However, to get a nice movie collection going, you'd have to be someone who travels a LOT. Or you'd have to be someone who goes to coffee shops a lot

One last thing: if the extras make the system interesting, then why not get an iPod and one of those cheap mini-DVD players? That could cost you less in the long run. Obviously, the games aren't what appeals to you the most.

The DS has pretty sweet graphics, too. And I also like puzzle games for the DS and PSP; I just think the DS adds an extra dimension to it, as it does something that no other system can. As for the "Barney-ish" games; don't ever say that again. Barney..... fuck that! People are so scared of theh kinds of games that came out when we were younger. It's like a form of homophobia or something.... cutesophobia. When I had my old-school gameboy, Mario and Kirby and Zelda and Donkey Kong and all that stuff was the SHIT. But now since Rockstar showed us that games can be gross, the classical fun aspect of games is too cute and shit.

I hate you.

did you know that i wrote bairn-ish, or did you actualy read that as barney?

i love all the old games, i just want some other types to choose from, it just seems dumb to make such a cool hand held when you're just going to bring out really one main type of game.

however i do think the monkey island and discworld games would kick ass on the ds.

Yeah, it does serves its purpose but i havend seen any games that had me go "wow, now thats a good use for the touch screen". Its kinda like sony's eyeToy. Cool idea, poor implantations. It may have a few good games but by far not enough.
Also dont forget that Sony is the one with better 3rd party support so its bound to have a wider variaty of games.

Why not play them on portable? And picture this, you have go to your girlfriends folks for 2 days due to fucking christmas and you KNOW your gonna be bored out of your mind and bringing your PS2 and your entire game libery is not an option. believe me, you'll be very happy with GTA on a hand held...

You can dump those movies on the memory stick and watch them. you really think i'm gonna buy UMD movies i can only play on my PSP?
fuck that, my video store is called the piratebay.

Why would i haul along an iPod, portable DVD player (that prolly wont play downloaded movies and is pretty bulky) and a dedicated portable gamesystem if i can get the 3 devices in one package called the PSP?

after a couple of months, i've traded in my DS and the games i had for it to go towards my deposit on my xbox 360.

i did find that the ds is a awesome bit of kit, that the way it works is excellent and it has lovely graphics, and sweet gameplay. specially using the touch screen for FPS games. which is a first because playing FPS's on any console is hard because you have no mouse. but the touch screen is smoother and great for aiming.

i had mario 64 (i'm a sucker for platform games) and obviously metriod demo, and splinter cell.

i loved playing the mini games on mario and i liked splinter cell for the use of the screen and controls and everything, switching between tab and pen, using all buttons and being an awesome game with great graphics for a handheld.

but.

metroid, the game i really wanted, and i bought my ds for. well, a year on from it's announcement, hasn't arisen. and having a look around the planned games for ds, there are 2 semi decent ones. and no news on metrioid. have nintendo dumped the ds to develop the revolution? or did the ds just die to the psp. i don't know.

i had a bit of kit i wouldnt really play much, i don't know many people with them so the wireless gaming sucked, the awesome 16 or so player mariokart never arose, and well, it sat there collecting dust.

yes i loved playing sonic advance on it, and having mario in the top, switching between the two (it also felt wierd given the 1990's rivalry between sonic and mario and felt kinda nostaligic and funny playing sonic on a nintendo.... well it still did when playing it on my gc) but yeah, i've traded mine in, i got a nice price for it, about £20 less than what i paid for it a few months ago which is cool, and i have put the money on my tab for my 360. which i'm thoroughly looking forward to getting.

after sampling the psp, i don't really want one. sure it can do this this this and that, play movies, play games, mp3's surf net, make me a fried breakfast and use irc, but i don't want one. the graphics on some of the high calibre games are shit. take NFS for example. it's grainy, its crap. not what i'd expect. so what it can play mp3s... so can my mobile phone. and i'm gonna have that everywhere with me anyway. and that takes photos too. so i don't need something that can play music or show photos. it plays wireless games with my friends. well, you know what, i'd rather sit in my bedroom playing xbox with a bunch of my mates or hell, sega megadrive with my mates on my surround sound system, than being crouched over a teeny screen in a circle with other people. oh and the psp doesn't have live does it.

and if you go to your girlfriend's mom's house, and you're bored to shit, the last thing you should do is whip out your psp and start bashing buttons. specially if you wanna make a good impression on the family. if you're bored, you say "hey, dad in law, wanna go for a pint? lets leave the girles to chat girly talk" and hey presto, you're in the local with a jar in your hand, getting wasted and talking man talk. same with visiting aunt sophia or whatever.

ok and the games, well, ok theyre mostly recycled ps2 games. most of which i don't like. i don't care about awesome graphics if theyre on a screen the size of a matchbox. (and yes this does mean i don't want a gb-micro)

i did love my ds, and i'd still have it. but i don't have the dough to just let it sit on a shelf and only have a couple of games for it. i'm doing a complete clear out at the moment, only thing i'm not selling games wise, is my MegaDrive (genesis) or MegaCD (segacd) and the games i have for them.

like i said, i'm a sucker for platform games, i love the retro, i love the sonic. sonic pwns that fat pasta slurper any day.

so virdict, psp = nice idea, nice components, silly in one. just a gimmick.

ds = great idea, love the backwards compatibility yet again, shame it doesnt do GB or GBC games, but never mind. it's a great console, love the graphics, metroid looked sweet and played sooo well, sonic ds looks fucking awesome. wish i had seen that before i sold my ds because i eventually wanna collect all sonic games on all consoles. no emus, no "megagames" (though i did have that on my cube) no gem collection. all originals.

oh and i havent mentioned the umd vids.

"did that guy just blow up a building or did he just fart"

you can't watch movies on a tiny screen. plus i own a vast dvd collection, i own quite a few laserdiscs and vhs too. even some old betamax. i'm not buying my shit again. fuck off. if i wanna watch films on the go, i'll get a portable dvd. sure i'll have to carry the discs around, but its better than shelling out another £20 per movie.

My ex inlaws were more the, "lets all stick to the tv and watch game shows in awkward silence" type. Besides exInlawsmom would prolly not aprove that i went drinking with exLawsdad because that would mean she had to detach her leash from her man for a while.
i gave up on making a good impression, exInlawmom never liked me and exInlawdad went with whatever exInlawmom thought to avoid conflict....

Oh and they lived in the middle of fucking nowhere...

Metroid's out in January I can't wait! And yeah, my overall problem with the PSP was that I just wasn't getting enough use out of it. I'm not going to say it isn't it cool, because that's total garbage; the PSP itself is ridiculously sexy. However, that sexiness wasn't being put to any good use, in my opinion. Plus, those memory sticks pissed me off I hate paying extra money for stuff; I like money.

OK, most of you wrote to much for me to bother reading it. But here is my two cents.

I have an iPod and a portable DVD system, so I don't waste space on my stick with either, nor do I go out and pay an absurd amount for a gig stick of Duo Memory. My iPod also happens to be the photo iPod, so really my PSP is a gaming thing.

Now, the PSP is lacking in a few areas. One being the battery life on movies. I do have a few movies for the thing, just to see how they did and what not. The only two complaints I have is that the batteries have a hard time keeping up with the demands of the UMD movies, and that it's a bitch to hold the thing in a decent position and watch the movie. I could buy the little theater stand, but I think it's bullshit that I have to buy something to make it bareable.

The games that are out for the PSP at the moment suck a dick. Most aren't even accurate ports of console games, they're hacked up, shorter, "portable" versions of the console game. Dynasty Warriors is a perfect example. Gaming is hacked into many shorter levels that compose one larger level, you don't have all the people on the latest version (I think 5 wasn't out yet, but you don't even have all the people from 4), and the items/weapons/level up system was drastically changed. This goes for the likes of Metal Gear Ac!d as well. They do have good games coming out soon though, such as GTA: Liberty City Stories (GTA III remake for the PSP), X-Men Legends II (perfect port with more than original game), Marvel Nemisis, and Madden NFL 06. So while there are no great games for it yet, they look to be getting more serious about the games.

Now to reasons of why I despise the DS (And oh how I hate it...)

The two screens. Ok, it's nifty, I'll give it that. But it's nothing I haven't seen. I have a Gamecube, I have a GBA, and I've done the whole two screen thing with that. Not that great. In fact, it usually causes me death, or to piss off whoever I'm playing with, because I constantly have to look elsewhere for something.

The stylus. Worst idea they could've had. It's easy to lose, easy to break, and in no way superior to the control of a D-Pad, Thumbstick, or even a mouse and board. I'll put it on step ahead of a cell phone games controls, barely.

The games. Also mostly ports, with nothing shinning. Nintendo is a kid-teen based system, and the game reflect that for the most part. However, I'd buy one to play the Zelda/Link games that I know they must be coming out with at some point.

The only things I really like about the DS is the battery life (which is impressive) and the fact that Nintendo once again comes out with something that doesn't follow the norm. I just hope that it doesn't go the way of the Dreamcast (even though it's not their system) or the Virtual Boy (Shudder).