The Truth Is Revealed

SONY PSP vs NINTENDO DS

We all hear the same thing "ds is better for gaming", "ds has a better games library", "psp only has graphics, ds has gameplay".

This is rubbish. Why? Because we all know psp is the superior system power-wise and thanks to this, it has games that ds could not run in it's wildest dreams. Gameplay is not "how addictive" something is. Because you can't quantify or measure what game is "more fun" or "less fun", as every gamer has different views on what's fun and what's not. This site is total proof of that. Search for a game and look at the user ratings. They're all over the place! The only way we can categorise how good a game is, is how much you can do in it. How much it gives you over another handheld's iteration or version.

Now, a lot of you people will bring up ratings. You'll say, "ds has more games with high ratings than psp!!". Why do you think that is? I'll tell you why. The ds came out earlier than psp and raised standards. No one had seen such impressive stuff from a handheld before, considering game boy advance was the king of handhelds at the time.

Shortly after it's release, ds got lots of praise and many of it's games got high ratings. After many months of the ds being available on the market and a lot of positive reviews were posted on all of the major sites, suddenly the psp pops up and shows gamers there is no need for a compromised or simplistic gaming experience when playing on the go. The PSP featured the most graphically and generally impressive games ever seen on a handheld console that really blew ds games out of the water. Not only in terms of graphics but also animation, physics, game mechanics and varied gameplay that matched ps2 games. Of course, after rating so many ds games generously, if critics and the media were to compare each psp game to a ds counterpart or similar game, there would be few psp games to get low ratings/negative reviews. With games like Grand Theft Auto Liberty City Stories coming out and many direct ports from superior consoles on the Playstation Portable, the best solution was to compare the system to the superior Playstation 2. As a result, each time a psp game performed to the standards of a ps2 game (which should be absolutely worshipped considering it's running so smoothly in the palm of your hand), but lacked perhaps one or two features, it would get scrutinised and criticised much more that seems logical for a handheld system. It is clear that when a system is ambitious and tries to perform like a powerful system but perhaps falls short in one or two areas, it is a bad game but when there's a game that is simplistic like a generic side scroller that may have a lot of content but lacks in interaction, immersiveness and such, it is a good game because it achieved what it was aiming to achieve.

I think it's misleading to rate games in that kind of way, especially when expectations of hanhelds is far less than that of a current/last gen console game.

Take games like Assassins Creed Bloodlines, for example.

Most critics established how it plays strikingly similar to the PS3/XBOX 360 game, which is a technical marvel! But of course, there had to be hindrances, eg: the short story, smaller locations and occasionally stupid AI. You would think though, that a system inferior to a ps2 at least deserves some credit for managing to pull of the core gameplay of a current-generation (more like next-generation) game. But no, that was not the case. In actual fact, the average rating was just above 6/10.

What about multi-platform games? Well, let's have a look at some ds and psp game ratings. Now, if the psp and ds were considered equal systems then surely you would see the exact same ratings for the games on both systems but is this the case...?

No.

Here's one of the most extreme examples:

Asphalt 2 on ds got approximately: 6.5 average score

Asphalt 2 on psp got approximately: 3.0 average score

Also, user ratings for the ds games are almost always higher than that of psp. They seem to overrate all of their games, eg:

Harry Potter & The Half Blood Prince on ds, gamespot users gave it: 7.6

Harry Potter & The Half Blood Prince on psp, gamespot users gave it: 3.8

Spiderman Web Of Shadows for ds, gamespot users gave it: approximately: 8.0

Spiderman Web Of Shadows for psp, gamespot users gave it approximately: 5.0

Spongebob Squarepants: Yellow Avenger for ds, gamespot users gave it approximately: 7.5

Spongebob Squarepants: Yellow Avenger for psp, gamespot users gave it approximately: 6.5

The Golden compass on ds, users gave it: 6.2

The Golden compass on psp, users gave it: 3.1

Unlike ds owners, psp owners actually have standards.

Do you people understand? Ratings mean nothing in the context of PSP vs DS.

As for sales, we've all seen who the ds is targetted at. After getting it's first M-rated game ages after it's launch, it's clear it's very children-aimed. Also, it's a novelty! Of course all of the kids would want to get it because of the touch screen and dual screen layout and which system would the parents rather get for their children? Obviously the cheapest one or the one with doesn't have violent games like God Of War and Resistance but instead, Pokemon and nintendogs. Also, brain training would come in useful.

The media would have you believe the ds is on top, but no. For the hardcore gamers, the psp is the one who is on top. It can actually handle ports from current-gen systems. Ds cannot.

It's time to stop living in a world of delusion. Sure, play what you prefer but give props to Sony for making this truly magnificent system known as the PSP.

Not sure on this one.

I'd definitely buy into PSP if I can get me some analogs and L2/R2 buttons. But that might ruin the 2nd "P":)

Anyways, a family member of mine bought a DS, it sucks. Last time I played PSP was when Battlefront 2 was on display at best buy, quite good compared to the PC title I had at home, it was spot on I believe.

Just not a portable kind of guy, but I can agree PSP is better.

Interesting read. I like the part where you said, "Unlike DS users, PSP users actually have standards."

That's nice, but the DS still has more games that interest me.

I loled when you said Psp gamers are more "hardcore'

Darkspire alone destroys anything on the PSP

That's nice, but the DS still has more games that interest me.

Yandere

I like your' "bullet hell" sig Yandere

Because we all know psp is the superior system power-wise and thanks to this, it has games that ds could not run in it's wildest dreams.

pokolvrolok

Could the PSP play a game like Phantom Hourglass or Spirit Tracks? No.

Face it, the DS is 500 times better than the PSP will ever be.

(I have owned both the PSP and DS from launch, so I'm not a fanboy).

[QUOTE="Yandere"]

That's nice, but the DS still has more games that interest me.

Kandlegoat

I like your' "bullet hell" sig Yandere

Thanks, I wish I could put it on repeat.

so it seems the point of your argument is that the PSP is better because it has better graphics than the DS. Disregarding the fact that the games aren't as good, and the PSP doesn't have touch screen controls in addition to standard controls which allows for a more unique experience. It really just comes down to graphics for some people.

so it seems the point of your argument is that the PSP is better because it has better graphics than the DS. Disregarding the fact that the games aren't as good, and the PSP doesn't have touch screen controls in addition to standard controls which allows for a more unique experience. It really just comes down to graphics for some people.

Jamisonia

That's nice, but the DS still has more games that interest me.

Yandere

Interesting read. I like the part where you said, "Unlike DS users, PSP users actually have standards."

Phoenix534

I love how everyone comes in here saying things like, 'The DS is way better than the PSP', 'The PSP has worse games', etc. It's all opinionative. Yandere seems like the only one who realizes that.

Not sure on this one.

I'd definitely buy into PSP if I can get me some analogs and L2/R2 buttons. But that might ruin the 2nd "P":)

Anyways, a family member of mine bought a DS, it sucks. Last time I played PSP was when Battlefront 2 was on display at best buy, quite good compared to the PC title I had at home, it was spot on I believe.

Just not a portable kind of guy, but I can agree PSP is better.

HavocV3

tc maybe you were suppporting tha fllop known as gamegear to make that statement

when you make a powerful handheld it neverpays off,

until the batterys are big enough and its profitable to developefor and so on ,

ds has a run time of 10 hrs +
psp only hasa lousy run time o 3 hrs no matter what model including the small psp go lol

the price to own a psp go is higher then a ds and the psp cost 20 more then dsi

and 40 morethen a dslite

all of these factor in dses favor including games

while psp is just seeing ports ,

ds gets original titles from third party as well as first party

so ya the onlythin psp has against ds right now is graphics ,

but lets just say graphics have never been the sell factor of any console or handheld gameboy proved this long ago

and ps2 and 1 and wii are proving this now

i dont know how many times you make arguments about pspactually bein better

until i see sales through the roof ,

games piled uphigh

and originality psp is just another handheld on the block ,

Youre kind of wrong. Lets take a 9/10 ds game like Mario and Luigi 3. If that game was realesed for psp, it wouldve been better than the ds version, because of graphics and all that other stuff. Same thing with pokemon, if they were realesed for psp, they to wouldve been superioir than the ds versions. Those games didnt really utilize the stylus that much, so if they were on psp, it wouldve not affected their ratings. Heres the thing, those games arent available on the psp. The ds has more good excusives to offer than the psp does. You were only naming multiplat games, while you shouldve been naming how many good exclusives the psp has, compareed to the exclusives the ds has. Of course the psp multiplats are going have more quality than the ds ones. The psp does has standards unlike the ds. But the multiplats games you named dont even matter becaouse no one even cares about them, they got low ratings, ds and psp versions. The ds has more good exclusives than the psp does.

all of these factor in dses favor including games

while psp is just seeing ports ,

mariokart64fan

Another fanboy claim.

Youre kind of wrong. Lets take a 9/10 ds game like Mario and Luigi 3. If that game was realesed for psp, it wouldve been better than the ds version, because of graphics and all that other stuff. Same thing with pokemon, if they were realesed for psp, they to wouldve been superioir than the ds versions. Those games didnt really utilize the stylus that much, so if they were on psp, it wouldve not affected their ratings. Heres the thing, those games arent available on the psp. The ds has more good excusives to offer than the psp does. You were only naming multiplat games, while you shouldve been naming how many good exclusives the psp has, compareed to the exclusives the ds has. Of course the psp multiplats are going have more quality than the ds ones. The psp does has standards unlike the ds. But the multiplats games you named dont even matter becaouse no one even cares about them, they got low ratings, ds and psp versions. The ds has more good exclusives than the psp does.

bowser3

DS has more high quality games, fact. Owning both, I've had a better experience with the DS than the PSP, fact.

DS has more high quality games, fact. Owning both, I've had a better experience with the DS than the PSP, fact.

2-10-08

It's not a fact. It's an opinion. A lot of PSP fans prefer the PSP's games.

pokolvrolok

This is a GBA game, not a DS game

The ds is unique because of the touchscreen, psp games look like ps2 rehashes and don't interest me.

[QUOTE="2-10-08"]

DS has more high quality games, fact. Owning both, I've had a better experience with the DS than the PSP, fact.

Phoenix534

It's not a fact. It's an opinion. A lot of PSP fans prefer the PSP's games.

[QUOTE="awssk8er716"]

[QUOTE="pokolvrolok"]

Because we all know psp is the superior system power-wise and thanks to this, it has games that ds could not run in it's wildest dreams.

pokolvrolok

Could the PSP play a game like Phantom Hourglass or Spirit Tracks? No.

Face it, the DS is 500 times better than the PSP will ever be.

(I have owned both the PSP and DS from launch, so I'm not a fanboy).

Who said it can't run it? They ported over mario64 with enhanced graphics.

[QUOTE="2-10-08"]

DS has more high quality games, fact. Hmm, yeah fact.

Owning both, I've had a better experience with the DS than the PSP, fact. Hmm, no. That isn't a fact, it's an opinion. Fail.

Desmonic

LOL!! People with modded psp's can run Ocarina Of Time. Even ds can't run that and that's from N64. pokolvrolok

[QUOTE="bowser3"]

Youre kind of wrong. Lets take a 9/10 ds game like Mario and Luigi 3. If that game was realesed for psp, it wouldve been better than the ds version, because of graphics and all that other stuff. Same thing with pokemon, if they were realesed for psp, they to wouldve been superioir than the ds versions. Those games didnt really utilize the stylus that much, so if they were on psp, it wouldve not affected their ratings. Heres the thing, those games arent available on the psp. The ds has more good excusives to offer than the psp does. You were only naming multiplat games, while you shouldve been naming how many good exclusives the psp has, compareed to the exclusives the ds has. Of course the psp multiplats are going have more quality than the ds ones. The psp does has standards unlike the ds. But the multiplats games you named dont even matter becaouse no one even cares about them, they got low ratings, ds and psp versions. The ds has more good exclusives than the psp does.

mariokart64fan

What the heck r u talking about? Im sorry but did you even read what i put. I was saying that the reason the psps library isnt as good as the ds is because it dosent have as much as good exclusive as the ds has. I wanst saying that Mario or Pokemon games should be on the psp. I was saying that if they were thay would be better, but since their not on the psp, the ds has more good exclusives than the psp. Dude wtf, when did i ever say i was running ds games on my psp, you can barely even play them, theres no sound, NO TOUCH SCEEEN, its super slow, and u have to hold the psp sideways.

I believe the DS is simply a better portable system. Key word, portable. Better battery life, screens are protected, not as obtusely shaped, and better games

[QUOTE="Phoenix534"]

[QUOTE="2-10-08"]

DS has more high quality games, fact. Owning both, I've had a better experience with the DS than the PSP, fact.

2-10-08

It's not a fact. It's an opinion. A lot of PSP fans prefer the PSP's games.

Game quality is all opinionative. People have different tastes in games, and to some, Rogue Warrior could be higher quality than Call of Duty 4.

Syphon Filter Logan's Shadow + Chains of Olympus+Resistance Retribution+ LittleBig Planet> DS.

Sorry Tim Allen. "MORE POWER!" does not make a better system to me. The PSP has games I am not interested in. I find God of War series 1 dimensional, bland, and silly. Assassins creed....eh, theres versions on the DS and from what I've heard, neither portable version is good. If your only arguement to it's superiority is "more power", then you don't have much to stand on. The DS simply has more quality games than the PSP. All the power in the world doesn't help if there arn't alot of good games. Look at the Atari Jaguar. It had more power but few decent games.

I personally think the DS not only beats the PSP, but the PS3 as well.

It boils down to games. The DS has better games. Thus we can conclude that DS>PSP

A platforms library is 100x more important than the technical prowess. As a PSP owner i can safely say that piracy completely destroyed dev support and that 90% of the decent-good games are ports and remakes from the PS1/PS2

Creating a big budget IP for one of the worsed sold and most pirated handhelds that also hold the highest development costs simply is not happening.

tc maybe you were suppporting tha fllop known as gamegear to make that statement

when you make a powerful handheld it neverpays off,

until the batterys are big enough and its profitable to developefor and so on ,

ds has a run time of 10 hrs +
psp only hasa lousy run time o 3 hrs no matter what model including the small psp go lol

the price to own a psp go is higher then a ds and the psp cost 20 more then dsi

and 40 morethen a dslite

all of these factor in dses favor including games

while psp is just seeing ports ,

ds gets original titles from third party as well as first party

so ya the onlythin psp has against ds right now is graphics ,

but lets just say graphics have never been the sell factor of any console or handheld gameboy proved this long ago

and ps2 and 1 and wii are proving this now

i dont know how many times you make arguments about pspactually bein better

until i see sales through the roof ,

games piled uphigh

and originality psp is just another handheld on the block ,

mariokart64fan

As a owner of both DS and PSP I can say DS is slightly better than PSP but both of them got many great games, but for some reason GS always downrate PSP games like you said.

Youre kind of wrong. Lets take a 9/10 ds game like Mario and Luigi 3. If that game was realesed for psp, it wouldve been better than the ds version, because of graphics and all that other stuff. Same thing with pokemon, if they were realesed for psp, they to wouldve been superioir than the ds versions. Those games didnt really utilize the stylus that much, so if they were on psp, it wouldve not affected their ratings. Heres the thing, those games arent available on the psp. The ds has more good excusives to offer than the psp does. You were only naming multiplat games, while you shouldve been naming how many good exclusives the psp has, compareed to the exclusives the ds has. Of course the psp multiplats are going have more quality than the ds ones. The psp does has standards unlike the ds. But the multiplats games you named dont even matter becaouse no one even cares about them, they got low ratings, ds and psp versions. The ds has more good exclusives than the psp does.

bowser3

battery life absolutely matters in a portable console. If I just were to plug it in all the time to play it, why would I just play a console?

tc maybe you were suppporting tha fllop known as gamegear to make that statement

when you make a powerful handheld it neverpays off,

until the batterys are big enough and its profitable to developefor and so on ,

ds has a run time of 10 hrs +
psp only hasa lousy run time o 3 hrs no matter what model including the small psp go lol

the price to own a psp go is higher then a ds and the psp cost 20 more then dsi

and 40 morethen a dslite

all of these factor in dses favor including games

while psp is just seeing ports ,

ds gets original titles from third party as well as first party

so ya the onlythin psp has against ds right now is graphics ,

but lets just say graphics have never been the sell factor of any console or handheld gameboy proved this long ago

and ps2 and 1 and wii are proving this now

i dont know how many times you make arguments about pspactually bein better

until i see sales through the roof ,

games piled uphigh

and originality psp is just another handheld on the block ,

mariokart64fan

The gamegear didn't flop, it had a full length, profitable lifespan.

DS has more high quality games, fact. Owning both, I've had a better experience with the DS than the PSP, fact.

2-10-08

battery life absolutely matters in a portable console. If I just were to plug it in all the time to play it, why would I just play a console?

Jamisonia

I agree with this. Sony needs to invest in larger battery life. Even their upgrade kit doesn't last that long.

[QUOTE="pokolvrolok"]

kolkov01

This is a GBA game, not a DS game

[QUOTE="Phoenix534"]

[QUOTE="2-10-08"]

DS has more high quality games, fact. Owning both, I've had a better experience with the DS than the PSP, fact.

2-10-08

It's not a fact. It's an opinion. A lot of PSP fans prefer the PSP's games.

battery life absolutely matters in a portable console. If I just were to plug it in all the time to play it, why would I just play a console?

Jamisonia

Because consoles can't play portable games? And with the PSP why not just hook it up to your PS3 and pretend that it's a console if you care so much?

[QUOTE="pokolvrolok"]

[QUOTE="awssk8er716"]

Could the PSP play a game like Phantom Hourglass or Spirit Tracks? No.

Face it, the DS is 500 times better than the PSP will ever be.

(I have owned both the PSP and DS from launch, so I'm not a fanboy).

topgunmv

Who said it can't run it? They ported over mario64 with enhanced graphics.

[QUOTE="topgunmv"]

[QUOTE="pokolvrolok"] LOL!! People with modded psp's can run Ocarina Of Time. Even ds can't run that and that's from N64. Psp has ports or iterations of LittleBigPlanet, God Of War, Assassins Creed, Resistance, etc. Ds could never handle them in a million years. Open your eyes or keep your mouth shut along with them.

pokolvrolok

Who said it can't run it? They ported over mario64 with enhanced graphics.

I wasn't talking about power wise... I was talking about control wise...

Also, the DSi is more powerful than the N64. Look it up.