I love my gb sp but its days are drawing to a close as a travel companion. I'm looking for a new portable and it proving to be a tough decision. On the one hand the PSP has a lovely screen, high capacity UMD media and takes expansion cards. On the other hand the DS is a clam shell so protects itself for travel, has a touch screen and carries with it the big N's reputation for addictive and cute games. I'm looking for opinions from previous owners on both consoles: I'm into rpgs, puzzle games and platformers when I'm on the move, which would be the better choice for its range of games? What are your top 5 games for your system? How long do they take to charge? What is homebrew for the PSP and how easy is it to sort out? How good is the wireless functionality? Can you browse the internet using it(and how does it work for the psp without a touch screen?)
Both are really good in each area of gaming your looking for. As for Homebrew, the 1.5 firmware on the PSP is the optimal place to be, however due to Sony's constant patches, Homebrew is slow to catch up and crack the newer updates (but they do happen eventually). If you plan on getting into heavy homebrew with a PSP, you might as well forget playing some of the newer titles because alot of them come loaded with the newest update and won't play without it. You can downgrade it, but I doubt you want to be going through the upgrade/downgrade process constantly to switch between homebrew and UMD Games. I haven't kept up with the homebrew scene with PSP for a while, so I don't how their firmware bypass tricks are coming along these days. For my PSP the top 5 games I enjoyed were: Megaman Maverick Hunter X Monster Hunter Freedom Daxter Generations of Chaos Tales of Eternia for my DS: Jump Ultimate Stars Lunar Knights Mario Kart DS Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin Diddy Kong Racing Both handhelds feature built in Wireless, but If I recall I think the PSP has a stronger Wifi adapter inside of it. The PSP can browse internet most definately. I don't think the DS can browse the internet yet, but it is suppose to be coming soon. I will admit, with my broken PSP (It can no longer read UMD's but still fucntions otherwise) I have a 1gb Memory Stick loaded with Roms and Emulators to play on it since it was a launch PSP that is updated to 1.5 firmware. I get alot more playtime out of that compared to my working PSP and DS currently. The huge backlog of games I play through offers me a crazy amount of gaming options on the go.
Having both a PSP and a DS I would say it entirely depends what you want. I find the DS is far more fun, what with Mario Kart, New Super Mario Bros. , Slitherlink (import only), puzzle quest and other various games. However I also find that the quality of games can sometimes be a little hit and miss but it's played far more than the PSP by far. I have a firmware 1.5 PSP with all the "extra" software and yeah, it's nice to play emulated games or homebrew but the lack of good real PSP games keeps me from playing on it an has done for about the last 3-6 months. If you can, try before you buy
just put dark alex's 3.10 OE firmware on, then you can play your nice new games, and play you back uped iso's aswell. and even convert you collection of ps1 games (that all i do on my psp, FFVII )
As said above, it's just down to what floats your boat - some of the games on the DS look fantastic, that surgery game for one. On the other hand, a massive catalogue of backup-games you can put on your PSP, accompanied by some of the awesome homebrew stuff that's around is very tempting. I went for the PSP, but I'd go for a DS as well if I wanted something for just games.
I got a PSP and the wife has a DS. My fav PSP games are TOCO Race Driver, FIFA, GTA STories, Splintercell, LOCO ROCO Wife only has New Super Mario and Brain Train. She hasnt seen any other games shes interested in and asked me to sell it as she plays on my PSP more with V Tennis, Untold Legends etc Shes borrowed a few USA RPG's from her friends for PSP as she loves those type of games. Cant remeber the names but I not seen them in the UK. May sell it and get her a white PSP.
PSP, better screen, better wifi, better multimedia, better homebrew DS - more fun games, but in very little number, get boring after a while psp for me, going to buy one again
I think if you're not oging to do homebrew stuff than I would get a DS. I have one and I enjoy it more than both next gen consoles I have owned(360 and Wii). My fav games for it ar as follows: Lunar Knights Castlevaniaawn of Sorrow Advanced Wars: Dual Strike Megaman ZX I am very interested in buying myself a PSP now that the prices dropped, there are many remakes I would love to have for it. Power Stone, Valkyrie Profile, and some others I can't remember atm. Not to mention my huge library of ps1 games that I could play on it makes it very tempting.
Had a v1.5 PSP, sold it. Not exactly a travel sized piece of kit, took too long to load, multiplayer was rubbish. Got a DS now, it's much sleeker/lighter, games are more suited to travel as opposed to ported PS2 games, and hence load much quicker. More people have them too which is always good for multiplayer.
They are such cheap bits of kit for what they do in the grand scheme of things you could probably buy both and make your own mind up I have a DS, most games that get good reviews seem mediocre to me apart from the traditional Mario stuff, DS sits mainly and collects dust until we have a console/LAN session at which point a lot of Mario kart is played during breaks but thats it, for most of us the DS just doesn't get used as there is not enough quality titles on there unless you like the stuff for women/kids. One of my mates plays his DS continually as he is into his RPGs but he mostly plays GBA games like FFVI etc. on his DS lite because the screen is so good. I often look at the PSP and think I should pick one up as it has some good content as well as the ability to pop on classic PSX games, I'll probably pick one up after the price drop and GT comes out.
Of the games I do play on my PSP I tend to go more for the game collection type (i.e. Mega Drive collection, Capcom Collection, Midway Treasures etc..) although there are some really good games on the PSP (Wipeout), I seem to play my DS more than my PSP, I've just found that the D-Pad and Analogue stick on the PSP is a bit too akward. On the DS, theres Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow and Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin, Mario64 and Mario Kart, Brain Training/Acadamy, Meteos and Bomberman.
I have DS and wouldnt swap for anything, quality of some of the games suck but just like any console, one thing done belive that DS can to movies in any shape or form its piss poor, I use a gp2x for movies and emu stuff now
I strongly recommend the DS. If you really want a great gaming handheld, you can't go wrong. Also, considering the DS is outselling the PSP like...a million to one (close enough) most of the major developers will throw their support squarely on the DS. Not only that, it's just got a great line-up of games and a lot of games coming out for it. http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3159045 http://ds.ign.com/articles/783/783710p1.html
Thanks for all your advice guys. In the end a bargain deal came up for the PSP so I bought it and I'm loving it. Currently playing 'Puzzle Quest' though I've got Lumines, Metal Gear: Acid, Key of Heaven and Wipeout Pure all waiting for play time. I've also got my eye on a few psp games on amazon and there are some great new releases this year. I haven't looked into homebrew yet as I'm busy at work, but once the summer gets here I'll dip my toe.
i recently picked up a PSP for hacking about mainly. my impressions so far are that it's a nice multimedia machine, but for games it's just too clunky and slow loading to be a viable portable option. some wonderful games though. wipeout pure is stunning.
If you bought a new PSP, then ONLY do homebrew if you are willing to take the chance that it will brick. (its something like a 5% chance, but its still there) Since its messing with the registry files, there are a chance that it will corrupt something (I can't remember exactly WHY they brick sometimes) and turn your PSP into a $300 paper weight. Its not a significant chance, but I've had one brick on me, so make sure your return policy is good (I bought mine at Costco). I LOVE homebrew on my PSP since it expands options for things to use mine for, and load times on ISO's off of the memory card are infinitely better (Monster Hunter Freedom went from about 10 seconds to about 3). I would suggest hacking it IF your return policy is good and you're confident it will work. As for some games you should get, I suggest getting Monster Hunter and Burnout Dominator. Those are my two favourite games for it. Monster Hunter gets very frustrated at times, but its good nonetheless, and Burnout was an addictive game that was very good.
Don't be a fool - get a DS. It's smaller and more portable, the homebrew scene is more varied and fun, with more innovative games. The games are also more suited to your tastes as the PSP tends to consist mainly of old PS ports and crappy 3D games. There are some good ones for PSP, but no must-have titles. Grab a DS lite and a copy of Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin (or Dawn of Sorrow, both are good intros to the series) for some really serious, long-lasting platforming with rpg-lite elements. Mario Kart and Super Mario Bros are great additions too, with Lost in Blue if you want some simulation gaming with a twist and ScummVM DS giving you access to all the old Lucasarts adventures if you want them. Besides, with the DS lite you can get hold of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass soon. The only reason to get a PSP is for the graphics (not much better when gameplay is so flawed), the movie player (Which DS homebrew can support with some compromises), or if you have a PS3 and want to invest in the future of the two products.
but.... wipeout? also, don't be stupid, the DS is complete **** for playing movies on. the PSP piddles all over the DS in this regard (even though the screen has some odd image quality issues) (yes, i have a DS and PSP. yes, i spend almost all playtime on the DS)
