[fromthelane]

Ok, I do a lot of flying and while a decent MP3 player is good entertainment, I'm thinking of getting a handheld gaming device as well. Only questions is, which one. The PSP 3000 or the DS lite? There's pros and cons for each, but I'd be interested in the general opinion of the board. Post your reasons as well if you fancy.

 

[Kirosia]

If you prefer more casual/easy games and touch-controls, the DS. (There's actually a newer revision coming out, with a slightly bigger screen and dual cameras for upskirt pics)

If you prefer meatier, console-like games and homebrew, the PSP. With custom firmware installed, you can emulate certain older consoles (snes, genesis, gb, etc). It's also a decent video player, but you have to transcode files first.

Personally, I'd get neither unless you really to game-on-the-go.

 

[fraseyboy]

I had a PSP for a long time but when I got the DS Lite I found I wasn't using the PSP any more and so I sold it.

DS Lite just has more fun games. They're not as 'console-like' but if I want console-like I'll play a console... Console-like games really aren't suited for the main purpose of a portable handheld, portable gaming. The one thing the PSP has going for it though is the emulation. The web browser is also faster than the DS one.

But overall I much prefer the DS Lite. It also has much longer battery life and is smaller and lighter in size (although I had the original fat PSP so I'm not sure about the new ones).

 

[Kirosia]

Quote:

DS Lite just has more fun games.

I had a lot of fun with the DS early on, but so many new games were just over-glorified shovelware. (I was not happy with the recent Zelda) I loved New Mario Bros, Ouendan/EBA, Megaman, etc, but now Nintendo seems to be on a mostly casual/"widely-accessible" binge. The PSP has it's fair share of crap, but there are some really good titles on the system, even if you don't like console-style games.

Quote:

Console-like games really aren't suited for the main purpose of a portable handheld, portable gaming.

I disagree. Console-like gameplay can just be as fun, it just depends on individual tastes. As for battery life, and I've never run of out of battery. I guess if you're going on 5+ hour trips it is a big deal, but you can always just get a spare.

As for the web browser, they're both pretty unusable. Hardware just can't handle it.

 

[evilking]

The PSP 3000 is lighter than the DS lite (189g vs 218g) and thinner (18.6mm vs 21.5mm). Also the new screen on the 3000 series is very impressive, ghosting has been eliminated, colours, brightness, contrast, have all been improved, you can play outdoors. The new screen really pushed the console forward. Although people pretend to complain about the new screen (scanlines or some nonsense), they're really complaining about the inability to use custom firmware so they can't pirate games like they used to. If you're not a pirate and you don't have a yearning for emulated games (like the PSP is the somehow only place you can play them) then get the PSP 3000.

To decide between the PSP and the DS, the simplest method is to go through a game review site (or two) and make a quick list of the games you really want to play (as opposed to kinda/sorta want to play). Limit search to games rated 7 or above and inevitably one console will reign over the other. For me it was the PSP and I have not been disappointed.



EK

 

[Kirosia]

Quote:

Although people pretend to complain about the new screen (scanlines or some nonsense)

The scanlines are actually quite annoying, and the colors are oversaturated. I'd consider them valid complaints.
Quote:

To decide between the PSP and the DS, the simplest method is to go through a game review site (or two) and make a quick list of the games you really want to play (as opposed to kinda/sorta want to play).

I'd recommend checking out metacritic, even though I'm not a big fan of review scores.

http://www.metacritic.com/games/psp/
http://www.metacritic.com/games/ds/

 

[Suntory_Times]

To me the PSP kills the DS Lite. i don't own either but have friends who have them, and I don'ty think there comparable, with the PSP bieng so far ahead. (PSP is basicalaly a play-station 2, and a ds is basically a nintendo 64, but without the great number of the games the 64 has).

You could always try and buy a portable dreamcast that some make (check out Lumenlab (Powered by Invision Power Board))

 

[evilking]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kirosia /img/forum/go_quote.gif The scanlines are actually quite annoying, and the colors are oversaturated. I'd consider them valid complaints.

Don't see the big fuss at all, I guess YMMV etc. Also you can turn down saturation in the system menu if you want, it's a noticeable difference. There is absolutely no way I could go back to the old screen, just awful in comparison.

Although you can still buy the PSP 2000 if you want the original screen and it's the same size and weight as the 3000.



EK

 

[evilking]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Suntory_Times /img/forum/go_quote.gif You could always try and buy a portable dreamcast that some make (check out Lumenlab (Powered by Invision Power Board))

Or you could learn how to make your own: The Official Site of Benjamin J Heckendorn

Here's an N64:

EK

 

[Kirosia]

Quote:

Also you can turn down saturation in the system menu if you want, it's a noticeable difference.

But how's the color accuracy? I have the Phat, and even with fiddling, the screen never looks anything close to the source image.

 

[evilking]

Colour accuracy? Source image? Remember this is still a handheld portable games console, compared to every other portable console screen, this is the best so far. I already said it's a great improvement over the phat, but this is no 22 inch WUXGA professional design monitor, I'm not sure what you want out of it.

I took some pictures of my PSP against my monitor. Remember it's 3am, I have two ceiling lights and I'm using the 2 megapixel camera in my Nokia 6120 (not even autofocus).

Or you could go look at it in a store...

EK

 

[Kirosia]

Quote:

I'm not sure what you want out of it.

Color accuracy?

I know I shouldn't expect much from a mobile LCD, but I do watch videos on it, so image quality is fairly important.

From your images, it doesn't look to bad. Though I still wish I had a 3000 on me to compare myself.

 

[-=Germania=-]

iPod Touch.

The games are becoming PSP quality and it will be supported for a long time. you get productivity apps and much more (Like WiFi) which is uber useful.

Check out some of the Homebrew jailbreaked iPod games you can get - nice stuff.

 

[fromthelane]

Interesting discussion so far.

This is going to be for plane and train use not quick 20 minute sessions here and there. Also, I went into my local Gamestop and had a look at them both. My personal impression was that the PSP looked fantastic and the DS looked very toy-like, and not very well built. That said, the guy in there told me he'd reccommend a DS over the PSP, mostly due to battery life.

Intersting you raise the Ipod touch Germania - I was the under the impression the games on this were way below par. I might be wrong though in which case that would be the obvious choice.

 

[Kirosia]

Quote:

The games are becoming PSP quality and it will be supported for a long time.

Er... where did you hear that? The ipod can never compare to the DS or PSP as a true gaming machine, because the hardware wasn't specifically made for it.