portable games consoles-which is best??

mummyyummy_2

was thinking of either getting my son a psp or a nitendo ds...in your opinion, which is best? im not too up on these things, but am i right in saying you can download movies on psp too? and where are the best bargains?? thanks

pennypuppy

What age is your son?What has his mates got?
My boy is nearly 7 and he adores his ds and his friends all play them and they can connect and play games together or send messages. This was really good on hols because lots of the kids had them and they message each other at the tables.
My nephews have psp and they are 9 & 10. It seems to reach an older market. They have better screens but are bulkier. In fact another nephew who is 17 recently bought one.
I got games cheaply for the ds by joining littlewoods and getting a discount voucher (codes somewhere for £30 off an over £60 spend).

tubbies74

My son has both he is 9 and well there are different games for different systems the games are slightly more expensive for the psp so the running costs are higher, the graphics are better on the psp there are plus and minus for both but I would say the psp is better overall because you can watch films download photos etc

P1NSEEKER

Definately the DS.

The DS is a dedicated games machine (although they are going to release an mp3 player attachment) whereas the psp is trying to pass itself off as a multimedia device.

With the DS the games are on cartridges so no need to buy expensive memory sticks. Its smaller (when folded) lighter and because it folds up its screen is less likely to become scratched.

Plus if they already have a gameboy advance it will play those games too

robmcdougal90

I believe the game gear is the best, for value of money

thunderchump

classic

8 mins battery life i believe!

iapetus

You'll find everyone has their own opinions on this, and some of them are held with a religious fervour - at the end of the day, anyone who tells you there's a universally right answer to this question is trying to push their own preferences on you.

Most of what needs to be said has been covered already.

PSP has more non-gaming functionality out of the box. You can play UMD movies (though they're mostly extortionately expensive for what they are), you can rip DVD movies to watch on them (though it's not a trivial or quick process), you can play MP3s, you can view photographs. All of this (other than the UMD movies) will require a relatively large memory stick to get the most out of it, which is an additional expense. You can browse the internet and download podcasts if you've got a suitable wireless network.

The games for PSP are skewed to an older age range than DS - not to say that there aren't any child-friendly titles, just that there are more games that aren't. Visually they're not too dissimilar to PS2 titles. A fair few seem to be ports/remakes of PS2 or PlayStation titles.

Price-wise, PSP is more expensive, and games come in at a higher price in general, though I've had better luck with bargains/sales for PSP than DS.

DS is often described as a purer games system, though I believe you can buy web browser and MP3 player software for it. The touch screen is a blessing and a curse - for games that use it well it's brilliant, but some titles try to shoehorn it in, and end up the worse for it. It's an option that isn't there on the PSP, though, and provides for some great games.

Games for the DS tend to give the impression of being aimed at a younger market, though as with all Nintendo systems there's plenty there to engage the older gamer too, if they can get past the happy colourful look of things. 2D rather than 3D is the order of the day - although DS can do 3D it's nowhere near the standard of the PSP on this front. That said, 3D isn't always the ideal solution for such small screens. There's more of a variety of quirky games as well.

It's worth pointing out that the DS hardware seems far more physically robust as well - I'm not sure whether this is actually the case, but the PSP can feel terribly fragile at times. Dropping a closed DS, on the other hand, doesn't seem like a terrible disaster. It has a nice chunky feel to it.

You can probably find some good bargains on the original DS hardware since the Lite version has come out, making the DS a much cheaper option.

A few of the better games for each platform:

PSP
Tekken: Dark Ressurection (classic fighting game)
Lumines (puzzle/music game)
Ridge Racers (still the best handheld racing game, IMO)
Daxter (a good platformer)

Nintendo DS
Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Blue Rescue Team (because no Nintendo handheld is complete without a Pokemon game)
Castlevania (Series of platform games, probably the best handheld platform titles out there)
Advance Wars: Dual Strike (cutesy war strategy game)

At the end of the day, your best bet is to see if you can ask your son in a subtle way - if he's got a preference then it's probably best to go with that.

jim2k23

from my point of view and I've had both handheld's although i've recently traded in my psp for a ds because it was just collecting dust, there have not been many good titles out for it in the year and a half, ive had it, I brought a ds last week and already have 8 games now bear in mind that im an older gamer as such even though im only 20, games such as phoenix wright ace attourney are great but thetre aimed for the older market I would say and the new super mario bro's is a game for everyone as is the new yoshi's island, the new pokemon game blue rescue team I have found quite fun and there are loads of games out there for the kids, the psp although its looks better, is not in my point of view although graphically its better, that dosent necesserly mean the gameplay is better, in the long run the ds would be your save bet, I know you can play movies on the psp but seriously who is going to sit there for 90 mins+ watching a small screen when you can get the films cheaper on dvd and watch them on a normal sized television, with the recently release off the wii which is great fun, and talk of them making compatible games between the ds and wii, id say personally the ds is the best option to go for and even for value for money.

Skye32

My son, who will be 7 on Tuesday, had a DS for Christmas. He didn't like it and ended up playing with my other son's PSP. Guess what he wants for his birthday!

cmorgan

I would say if you are after the shoot em up action type arcade games then go for the PSP.

Personally I think the DS games that are designed to use the DS functionality are much better and have more longevity. I like Brain Training and am also very addicted to Advance Wars (I am 40 something) my son likes the pokemon and Mario Kart games (he is 10).

phanco

I'll back this up - dd got a pink DS for christmas (plus a supercard so I dont have to buy any more games) - and after I "tested it" I found the games had much more of the fun factor than my PSP. PSP games are generally for the more mature market - DS tend to be more children oriented BUT MUCH MORE FUN.

I hadn't picked my PSP up in about 4 months. I sold it and bought a DS which I havnt put down since the end of december. Theres nothing like a mario playoff aghainst your 7 year old daughter ! Sometimes I even win

jim2k23 wrote:

from my point of view and I've had both handheld's although i've recently traded in my psp for a ds because it was just collecting dust, there have not been many good titles out for it in the year and a half, ive had it, I brought a ds last week and already have 8 games now bear in mind that im an older gamer as such even though im only 20, games such as phoenix wright ace attourney are great but thetre aimed for the older market I would say and the new super mario bro's is a game for everyone as is the new yoshi's island, the new pokemon game blue rescue team I have found quite fun and there are loads of games out there for the kids, the psp although its looks better, is not in my point of view although graphically its better, that dosent necesserly mean the gameplay is better, in the long run the ds would be your save bet, I know you can play movies on the psp but seriously who is going to sit there for 90 mins+ watching a small screen when you can get the films cheaper on dvd and watch them on a normal sized television, with the recently release off the wii which is great fun, and talk of them making compatible games between the ds and wii, id say personally the ds is the best option to go for and even for value for money.