What he said. I have both and like then equally. Though I'm currently using the DS to play GBA games as there is nothing of interest out on the DS yet, and will be playing some of the PSP games and watching a few films while I head home for the holidays.
It comes down to one question really. What franchises do you want? For MGS, GTA, ect go PSP for Mario, Zelda and the like go DS.
PSP is the way to go if you're looking for racing, RPG, and GTA type games the most. Its a better system, more powerful, plus the extra options are nice add ons. I've had two PSPs, first one was stolen. Loved the system, plus nothing is better than GTA while pooping.
The point of handhelds is portable gaming. Gaming on the go. To me the PSP shoots itself in the foot with this sole purpose. With its ridiculous load times, and short battery life, you will spend just as much time waiting to play the games as actually playing them. By the time you get a satisfying gaming session the batteries die. I sold my PSP for two reasons. 1. Smackdown's loading screens had loading screens. Most of my matches were shorter than the time I had to wait to play them. 2. Constant firmware updates in attempt to squash the homebrew and emulation scene. PSP has barely any games to keep my interest, and now they want to completely make the PSP joyless buy getting rid of the chance to play good games. I don't regret selling my psp at all.
DS has a much larger selection of good games, but get the system with the games you want. If you wanted a PSP for its games library, you'd probably already know, and there's no other reason you'd want a DS besides games. If you want a PSP for anything other than games, you're probably better off with a different portable media device rather than a portable game system. Also, PSP isn't necessarily the way to go for RPGs, like b_ack51 says it is. If the Dragon Quest IX news wasn't indication enough, multiple DS games in the Final Fantasy franchise might be a hint.
If you want racers & GTA, then there really is no option but a PSP. Sadly, that's about all it has to offer, even after two years. Dungeon Siege: Throne of Agony & Valkyrie Profile: Lenneth are the only decent RPGs out for the PSP right now. But it has TWO Grand Theft Auto games as well as a ton of great racers: Need for Speed Carbon ATV Offroad Fury Pro MotoGP NASCAR MX vs. ATV Unleashed Burnout Legends Midnight Club 3 ATV Offroad Fury: Blazin' Trails Need for Speed Underground Rivals Ridge Racer It's getting *some* RPGs, like a similified version of Oblivion. (Which is more like Diablo that an Elder Scrolls title.) And there's yet another remake of Final Fantasy Tactics #1 coming out next year, as well as a FFXIII spin-off game. But that's about it. The DS kicks it's ass as far as RPGs goes. Not only does it get much better new RPGs, it has the enormous library from the GBA to choose from too. So you'll get to play: Final Fantasy I & II (two-game cart) Final Fantasy III DS Final Fantasy IV Advance Final Fantasy V Advance Final Fantasy VI Advance (will be out next Spring) Harvest Moon DS Deep Labyrinth Lost Magic Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time Contact Super Robot Taisen: Original Generation Super Robot Taisen: Original Generation 2 Tactics Ogre: The Knight of Lodis Yggdra Union Shining Soul Shining Soul II Summon Night: Swordcraft Story Summon Night: Swordcraft Story 2 Riviera: The Promised Land Dragon Quest Characters: Torneko's Great Adventure 3 Advance: Mysterious Dungeon Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories Children of Mana Dragon Quest Heroes: Rocket Slime Dragon Quest IX: Protectors of the Sky Dragon Quest Monsters -- Joker Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Ring of Fates Final Fantasy XII: Revenant Wings Seiken Densetsu: Heroes of Mana Tales of Phantasia Golden Sun I & II and the entire Pokemon series, if you're so inclined If you like turn-based strategy games as well you'll have: Final Fantasy Tactics Advance three installments of Advance Wars (all of which will easily take 80-100 hours to beat) Age of Empires Panzer Tactics and a remake of Front Mission coming out next year-ish. Sadly, the system's only solid racer is Mario Kart. And the only GTA style game that it has is the old GBA version of GTAIII, which ran with the top-down view of the first two installments. These are my favorite game genres as well, so I had to make a similar choice, and grabbed the DS because of the RPG and GBA library. However, if Oblivion turns out to be a decent reworking of the Xbox 360 version, I'd probably go with the PSP for that and the GTA & racing games if I had to make the choice again, even with DQ9 coming out.
I too have both, and I would have to cast a vote for the DS. But in the end, it is all boils down to: 1) Which system currently has the most titles you are interested in 2) Which system shows more potential for titles in the coming months/year 3) How much money you are willing to factor into this 4) Is there a change on the horizon? With the last one keep in mind that Nintendo has a track record of releasing a new updated version of their handhelds every so often, and there has also been rumors of an upcoming PSP update as well. Then again if you continue to wait you will never be satisfied, there is always something newer and shinier right around the bend.
I'm in the camp who has both. It really depends on what type of games you are looking for. For what it is worth, I play with the DS way more than the PSP. In fact, I do not even know where my PSP is right now.
Personally speaking, the DS has a far superior library available and is at much more attractive price point.
Go for the DS. If you're a big FF fan, you might consider doing like I plan to and pick up the FFT Remake and Crisis core, then wait for the PSP system to either drop in price or finally die before picking up the thing itself. Also, SE is about to release a crap load of games for the DS this next year.
Wow! Thanks for the input, guys. I did some additional research on the system's respective capabilities last night, and I must admit that I'm still torn. I'd like a system that does more than just play games (leaning toward PSP) but I'd also want to get one that actually has a decent selection of good games (leaning toward DS). How's the web surfing capability on the PSP? And, what does the DS's "802.11" wireless system allow you to do? Is it only for head to head games/communication with other DSs? (I noticed that the tech specs said it was a proprietary Nintendo format). Thanks!
From my point of view (not a portable gaming fan, no real preference on either) my first choice would be the DS.
With either a wifi set-up at your home (or work, library, hotel, etc.) or Nintendo's USB wifi connector (which goes for $40) you can play many of the DS' wifi games online. Games like Metroid Prime, Tetris & Mario Kart can be played this way, as well as local play. Others like New Super Mario Bros are only playable with a local DS. There's a Opera-based web browser out in Japan for the DS, but it's reportedly not a very good browser for much beyond simple text & graphics. No flash or movies. Maybe someone here has the imported version and can post a screen shot of this site on the DS browser.
Opps copied & pasted, forgot to delete the RPG part. Personally not a fan of RPG games so don't know those. But for racing and GTA type games, PSP is better. But again it comes down to personal preference, just like all video game systems.
PSP - currently playing Aces Combat:Sky of Deceptions and Lumines 2. DS - Super Robot Taisen 1 & 2. Not many of the DS games interest me. I might pick up a rpg just to check it out. (FFIII or Mana-something) PSP wins for me. Quick and easy way to show hi-res photos I take on my digital SLR camera. Internet is pretty easy to use too. Only issue I have is that it can't handle large internet jpg pictures as the onboard memory is too small. Large jpg's run fine off the memory stick though. DS has more games but I prefer higher res graphcis for sims(racing, fps, etc.) But it's alot of fun when you get 4 player Mario Kart going.
There's a version of Opera for the DS that one can purchase in Japan (and I think europe). PSP's browser is free and built-in with the current firmware, and runs rather well so long as you avoid downloading enormous pages. Personally prefer browsing on the PSP screen myself, it's quite gorgeous. I watched a video review of the DS Opera browser, and while it looks cool enough it just doesn't appear to show as much as the PSP one can at once. Will pick up the DS Opera thing if it comes out over here, and post a comparison review if I get the time.
