DS or PSP?

[Rahvin]

A modded PSP can play all PSOne games as well. I bought my PSP way back at launch, used it only a few times...and then modded it, and now it's an excellent system.

Others have already mentioned the emulators, which are huge. You can store thousands of old classics on a memory card.

If you have a PS3, you can wirelessly access your PS3 through Remote Play - which lets you watch movies or play music from a media center, etc (all pretty easy to set up, only took me minutes, literally).

There are quite a few really good games for the PSP. God of War was mentioned; other excellent titles include Marvel: Ultimate Alliance (simplistic but fun, kept me occupied while visiting my family), Castlevania, Wipeout, Lumines...that's jsut off the top of my head.

When you add in the fact that you can play every Nintendo, Super Nintendo, Sega, PSOne, and most Capcom arcade games as well...I really, really like my PSP.

The PSOne games you can even convert yourself. And the hacked firmware allows you to grab the .iso of any UMD games so that you can copy them to the memory card - no need to rely on pirates if you want to stay legal.

Hacking it is almost necessary, though, since it more than doubles its usefulness, and allows you to play any of your games from a memory card instead of the UMD (the card is faster, uses less power, and can store multiple games on a single tiny stick). All you need is a tester battery (it's a battery with a specific serial number - I modded my own since it just requires opening the housing and bending a single connector on the original batteries, but pre-hacked batteries are only like $10) and the firmware, which is easy to get.

[General Zod]

The PSP can already play PS1 titles without hacking, you just have to purchase them off the PSN store. For $10 a pop for most titles that's not really a huge expense, so the only reason to hack is if you're a poor cheapskate who doesn't want to buy them legally.

[Rahvin]

The PSP can already play PS1 titles without hacking, you just have to purchase them off the PSN store. For $10 a pop for most titles that's not really a huge expense, so the only reason to hack is if you're a poor cheapskate who doesn't want to buy them legally.

I was more suggesting it for those who still have PSOne games lying around. I don't like being asked to pay for something I already paid for, just to play it on a different system without any changes, and my understanding is that such activity doesn't violate Fair Use copyright laws.

[General Zod]

The PSP can already play PS1 titles without hacking, you just have to purchase them off the PSN store. For $10 a pop for most titles that's not really a huge expense, so the only reason to hack is if you're a poor cheapskate who doesn't want to buy them legally.

I was more suggesting it for those who still have PSOne games lying around. I don't like being asked to pay for something I already paid for, just to play it on a different system without any changes, and my understanding is that such activity doesn't violate Fair Use copyright laws.

It's not as if most people that hack the system to play PS1 titles actually rip their own games, which makes it even more trouble than it's worth. Modding the PSP in such a manner might also well be illegal depending on your location.

[GuppyShark]

What sold me on the PSP over the DS was that the PSP can handle 'real' games and has very impressive video playback capabilities (not really beaten until the iPod went video). I was pretty anti-Sony until I got my PSP.

By 'real' games I mean full-featured titles - for example, GTA: Liberty City Stories is the same sized game world as GTA3, with an improved engine and different missions. A lot of the games on the PSP are the same as the console version.

DS games seem more like browser minigames that you'd play using Flash. When you compare multi-platform releases the DS title always seems like the neglected son. It's just not as grunty a piece of hardware so their software has to be scaled back greatly.

[Lord Woodlouse]

The extra power of the PSP is definitely a draw, but my understanding thus far is that only a handful of games out there take advantage of it. l also feel comparing the DS to flash browser games is a touch unfair. A DS seems to be more on par with an N64, while the PSP is on par with a PS2.

Cross-platform games are a poor place to look for examples of what the DS can do. By rights most of these games shouldn't even be appearing on the DS, the only reason they do is because so many people own one. l don't think any of the top echelon of DS games on metacritic are cross-platform games, they're games designed explicitly for the DS for the most part.

[Andrew_Fireborn]

The PSP's only recently drawn me away from the DS because of Monster Hunter. (MHFU specifically. Strangely enough I own but didn't play MHF1 & 2. U -is- 2, but with more content.)

I also have about 3 times the games for my DS than my PSP. But, I'm primarliy an RPG gamer. Though the other genres are about equally represented on both

DS has Metal Slug 7, PSP has Metal Slug Anthology.
DS has Advance Wars DoR, PSP has R-Type Command.
The DS also has a fair number of games like Pheonix Wright, though I don't have a similar game on PSP.

As far as utility goes, the PSP has around 3-4 hours of cordless play, but can and will drain it's battery after a week of being unplugged due to the internal clock. (As low as 2 hours if the game accesses the UMD often.) The DS will last a good portion of a day without needing a charge.

Thats about all I have.

[Ypoknons]

For the general take, the DS is more mobile. Longer battery life, but a lot of the better games don't require you to sit down and take time to play. The PSP isn't as much a public transportation / short duration play device; it's much more suitable for playing slightly stripped down last gen full console games more conveniently.

For personal advice, I'd start with the games you play and other console applications. For a mobile console, I think the DS is much more 'logical' because of its mobility. But the truth is, I use my PSP almost exclusively. The 4.3" is great for anime, and I'm hooked on Gundam Battle Universe, Macross Final Frontier etc... (yes, Japanese-only titles) and that happens to be more important to me personally than what the DS offers most of the time.

[GuppyShark]

Probably the best advice someone can give on this subject is to walk into a gaming store and look at the range of titles for both platforms and decide which range appeals to you more. It's totally subjective.

I hate Nintendo. Always have, even back to the NES/Master System days. Stupid cartoony sprite crap on second-rate hardware. So I was never going to get a DS. All subjective, don't even bother 'countering' this 'argument'. Plenty of people I know totally <3 Pokemon or Cooking Mama or Advance Wars... you get the idea. Me, I loved playing God of War in the car on my last interstate road trip.

The PSP is more powerful, has a better screen, is larger, chews through power quicker, and is more expensive.

[Stark]

And has only one stick and thus fails totally.

[Lord Woodlouse]

is more expensive.

That's just the thing, the prices here are comparable. Second hand I can get a DS Lite for about £50-60, or a PSP 2000 for roughly the same, depending on where you go for it.

New DS Lites are around £100, a DSi for £150. A PSP 3000 is about £140.

Which is partly why it's a bit of a fix. I'm definitely leaning toward a DS because it seems to have a better selection of games from a variety of genres. As a secondary feature I'd like internet use and use as an MP3 player, for which the DS can't do music and does the internet less well. The DS is smaller and more portable, which at the end of the day is a lot of the point of me getting a handheld (I already own a console, after all).

This is why I created the thread, really. I have looked into both and the games that seem to be available, and I find it a hard decision to make (bearing in mind we have limited cash to throw around at this kind of thing). At the moment I'm thinking I might just get a preowned DS Lite, and try to get over the lack of bells and whistles it has versus the DSi and PSP, simply because the price difference is so big.