PSP or DS...

[ArchAngel777]

I am looking into getting a portal gaming device. However, I really do not know much about the Sony PSP or the Nintendo DS. I do travel occasionally for my job and would really like a nice versatile device. Music, Video, Web Surfing, Gaming, etc...

I know these are some pretty open ended questions and possible am asking for a huge ammount of information... So a simple rehash and perhaps pointing me to a site that has some information for me to research on it would be great...

One thing I am interested in is ripping my DVD's to a format that the PSP can handle and view...

 

[mc866]

If you are looking for something to play music and movies that also plays games the PSP is probably the better bet out of the box. IMHO the game lineup for the DS is better than the PSP but it isn't as functional out of the box. If you are looking for a portable game console with a great game lineup, including the GBA titles the DS is the way to go. The DS does have 3rd party items that allow the playback of movies and music, I just don't know much about them.

 

[GundamSonicZeroX]

Do you have any consoles now? That would help you decide which handheld to get.

 

[ArchAngel777]

I have an Xbox 360 and an Xbox

 

[StevenYoo]

the DS is, at its core, a gaming device.

the games are the main draw and they're really good.

the PSP is more of a portable media center. Its games suck.

 

[Aikouka]

From what I've read and will agree to with my own experiences.

Games:
PSP - Has more average titles with very little that stands out from the crowd (Loco Roco, Lumines, etc).
DS - Has a very 'diverse' scaling of titles from crappy to good. Some devs just don't implement their controls well on the touch screen.

Music:
PSP - Out of the box, it's a good music player.
DS - You have to buy some device and I have no idea how much it costs, because I already have a PSP for that.

Movies:
Same as music.

Surfing:
PSP - Has a browser built in, but it's kind of hard typing in addresses and such. Probably best to save them as favorites.
DS - You have to buy the browser and it isn't out in the US (only in Japan at the moment).

 

[mad0maxx]

Get a Nintendo DS because I had a PsP and I hated the slow ass loading times and litterally it was like in the middle of the game and the ****** pauses on some games while others are really hard to play on that damn cheap-o analog stick the PsP has...

Get a DS

 

[SoundTheSurrender]

DS is better.

 

[troytime]

DS rocks

 

[Thraxen]

Given your desire for something that can play music and movies... I'd have to say PSP. The DS just isn't good for multimedia type applications. The problem with the PSP is many of it's games are strip down ports of PS2 games, where as the DS seems to have more original titles. BUT many people exaggerate when they say the PSP games suck, it actually has a fair number of good titles. I'm currently anticpating the release of Ratchet & Clank: Size Matters next month. IMO, the best games for either system are the Castlevania games on the DS. Tough choice you have... we have 3 DS' and 2 PSPs in my home

 

[Kromis]

Are PSPs still sold out?

 

[warcrow]

I have both and have played a ton of games on them.

In short, considering your requirments, get a PSP and a 1 or 2GB Sony memory stick. If you upload your movies to the memory stick, you can extend the battery life when watching movies since the optical drive isnt being used.

The PSP doesnt do any of the things you mentioned extremely well (games, music, and movies) -but it does them at acceptable levels.

If you're looking for some good games, I recommend any of the following:
- Metal Gear: Portable Ops (playing it now, and it's alot of fun)
- Me and my Katamari
- GTA: Vice City Stories
- Daxter
- Killzone
- Loco Roco

If you can do without the music and the movies, get a DS -without a doubt. It has an amazing library of games with more to come. Not to mention -the system is just plain fun to use.

.....have fun.

 

[SunnyD]

Just bought a DS for my wife this weekend. nufsaid.

 

[oogabooga]

I want to buy a DS (mainly cheaper.. wooo) but I don't think there is a release of NHL2k7 for it

 

[Czar]

own a psp

good for some light webbrowsing in the tub (the browser is not good, not good at all, and slow, but ok) I suggest you try it out first
awsome for in flight entertainment, games and movies, recemend thought that you dont buy umd movies ( I own all of little brittain though ) but better get some memory sticks and encode your own dvd's
has some really good games in my opinion, but a whole lot more of bad ones, my favorites, katamari, locoroco, lego starwars, gta ... own as well, lumens(just ok), gangs of london (bad bad bad,waste of money), daxter(soooo overrated)

awsome device but I think its mostly limited by sony, because of the firmware, they keep limiting it to sony only products
want streaming audio, buy an existing sony product
want ps1 games, buy a ps3
both should not require some crappy sony products.. arggg... sony

 

[secretanchitman]

ds hands down.

 

[Czar]

Originally posted by: warcrow
I have both and have played a ton of games on them.

In short, considering your requirments, get a PSP and a 1 or 2GB Sony memory stick. If you upload your movies to the memory stick, you can extend the battery life when watching movies since the optical drive isnt being used.

The PSP doesnt do any of the things you mentioned extremely well (games, music, and movies) -but it does them at acceptable levels.

If you're looking for some good games, I recommend any of the following:
- Metal Gear: Portable Ops (playing it now, and it's alot of fun)
- Me and my Katamari
- GTA: Vice City Stories
- Daxter
- Killzone
- Loco Roco

If you can do without the music and the movies, get a DS -without a doubt. It has an amazing library of games with more to come. Not to mention -the system is just plain fun to use.

.....have fun.

agree

 

[QuantumPion]

DS, but good luck finding either. I haven't seen any store, online or brick&mortar with them in stock, ever.

 

[xcript]

PSP with 3.03 OE-C custom firmware and a nice big (> 1gig) memory stick is the way to go. There are full speed PSX (you can rip/convert your own discs) and GBA emulators (as well as SNES, NES, etc.) which increases the selection of games quite a bit.

Ripping DVDs for the PSP is easy enough. There are plenty of guides around, this being one (note: it's now possible to use the full resolution of the PSP's screen when encoding as AVC, but only with custom firmware).

ALL current (up to 3.03) PSP firmware versions are downgradable (and then upgradable to OE-C), but downgrading >fw2.8 requires a certain exploitable version of GTA:LCS (the original release with the fw2.0 update on the disc).

The browser works well I think. It has 3 tabs, supports flash (to some extent), allows you to download files to the memory stick, etc. I use it quite a bit in bed as I can be browsing in any comfortable position and not have to twist my neck to view the screen as I do with my laptop.

The MP3 player does the job. It displays album covers if it finds them embedded in the MP3, has some pretty spiffy visualizations you can enable (but who's going to sit there are watch them? ), etc.

There are quite a few fun PSP games; a few I can think of right now are: Killzone, MOH:H, NFS:MW, SOCOM FTB 1 & 2, The GTAs, Ridge Racer, Wipeout, Syphon Filter. Many of these have support for online play.

Lastly, the PSP supports WPA (for the wifi) which is nice as many people are enabling it on their routers these days.

 

[pauche]

DS lite + supercard + 1 gig micro sd = lots of fun.

 

[zerocool84]

DS is a better gaming machine and has much better games a more of them as I have a DS Lite but if you want something that plays movies/music/browser out of the box, you would have to go with the PSP. With the DS you have to buy 3rd party stuff to make those functional but the PSP you do not. So if you want a do it all system with only a few good games but has media capabilities out of the box, get a PSP. If you want a system that has more great games and innovative gameplay and better battery life, get a DS Lite. Remember, you can play Game Boy Advance games on the DS also which means it already has hundreds of great games already too. If I were you, I would get a DS Lite to play games but get a separate MP3/MP4 Player to listen to music and watch movies and not have to buy "expensive for little room" Memory Sticks. Have 2 things that do what they are meant to really well, or have one thing that does everything mediocre???

 

[Noema]

Like others said:

PSP if you want a portable Browser / Emulator / Media player / pr0n box with (mostly) crappy games.

DS if you want great gaming on the go.

I have an iPod 5G and a DS so I have no need for the PSP at all, though if you don't have a portable media player already, the PSP has a nice screen and might be worth a look.

 

[VIAN]

Originally posted by: ArchAngel777
I am looking into getting a portal gaming device. However, I really do not know much about the Sony PSP or the Nintendo DS. I do travel occasionally for my job and would really like a nice versatile device. Music, Video, Web Surfing, Gaming, etc...

One thing I am interested in is ripping my DVD's to a format that the PSP can handle and view...

It looks like you're looking for the PSP. The PSP can do everything you listed. The DS is really only a gaming machine. And I'm not very fond of it's titles or it's gimmicky touchscreen.

PSP Cons:
Screen has ghosting.
Loading times.
Less battery life.
And Ipod and a dedicated portable gaming machine would have been better.
Price.
Need a pricey memory stick to really enjoy music and video capabilities.

PSP Pros:
Graphics.
Muli-media machine.
PS2 ports (somewhat).


DS Cons:
Gaming with the touch screen can be painfully uncomfortable.
3d engine isn't very capable.
not many good, in-depth games available.
touch screen can get scratched from normal use.

DS Pros:
Battery Life.
Price.

 

[Noema]

One thing that hurts the PSP in my opinion is that, although most of its games are PS2 ports (not necessarily a bad thing), the lack of a second analog stick really degrades gameplay in those games.

 

[ArchAngel777]

Originally posted by: xcript
PSP with 3.03 OE-C custom firmware and a nice big (> 1gig) memory stick is the way to go. There are full speed PSX (you can rip/convert your own discs) and GBA emulators (as well as SNES, NES, etc.) which increases the selection of games quite a bit.

Ripping DVDs for the PSP is easy enough. There are plenty of guides around, this being one (note: it's now possible to use the full resolution of the PSP's screen when encoding as AVC, but only with custom firmware).

ALL current (up to 3.03) PSP firmware versions are downgradable (and then upgradable to OE-C), but downgrading >fw2.8 requires a certain exploitable version of GTA:LCS (the original release with the fw2.0 update on the disc).

The browser works well I think. It has 3 tabs, supports flash (to some extent), allows you to download files to the memory stick, etc. I use it quite a bit in bed as I can be browsing in any comfortable position and not have to twist my neck to view the screen as I do with my laptop.

The MP3 player does the job. It displays album covers if it finds them embedded in the MP3, has some pretty spiffy visualizations you can enable (but who's going to sit there are watch them? ), etc.

There are quite a few fun PSP games; a few I can think of right now are: Killzone, MOH:H, NFS:MW, SOCOM FTB 1 & 2, The GTAs, Ridge Racer, Wipeout, Syphon Filter. Many of these have support for online play.

Lastly, the PSP supports WPA (for the wifi) which is nice as many people are enabling it on their routers these days.

I read about flashing the firmware and there is a small chance to "brick" the unit. I have ethical issues about returning a product because I made a modification to it. So, for instance, buying one, attempting to flash it, bricking it and returning it isn't something I would do. Secondly, I don't like taking risks, so even though the failure rate is less than 2%, it still gives me the willies. Just my thoughts...