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Kasavin Weighs In On PSP, DS Battle
Thanks to GameSpot for its Greg Kasavin-authored 'GameSpotting' editorial discussing comparisons between Sony's PSP and Nintendo's DS handheld systems, in a piece subtitled: "Five Capital Letters, Two Little Systems, One Big Bloodbath". Kasavin points out: "It's very, very easy to jump on Sony's bandwagon... it's also very, very easy to root for the relative underdog that Nintendo's lately turned into. But... neither of these companies expects your loyalty or necessarily deserves it. They're both these big, huge Japanese firms designed to pull a serious profit year in and year out." The piece continues: "There's a lot of evidence to suggest that the Nintendo DS is a reactionary device that lacks focus", although concedes: "To be fair, Sony has also done its fair share of double-talking with respect to the PSP", before marginally favoring the PSP, "designed with an 'if it ain't broke, don't fix it' mind-set." Elsewhere, Game Informer also weighs in, with a two-part series "analyzing the upcoming handhelds".
He also seems to think you're going to be REQUIRED to use the touch screen. I doubt a fighting game will require touches on that pad while trying to kick ass.
There seems to be a lot more consumer excitement about the Nintendo DS. It might be some sort of geek bias, since I'm going off what I've seen on internet forums, but I can see how the DS would be much more successful.
Obviously the big issue will be what games are available for each system. This remains to be seen, but the backwards compatibility seems like a very big advantage for the DS. The DS will have a massive previous-generation game library, just as the PS2 does. This is less of an issue as a system reaches maturity, but it's important for a newly-launched system.
The other major issue is the price of each system. The DS will cost (so we've been told) $150. That's only $50 more than a GBA SP. The PSP will be priced around $250, resulting in significantly slower consumer uptake. Combined with the earlier launch date of the DS, the PSP will have a difficult time breaking into the market.
I think Sony would have done better to create a PSone-sized machine capable of playing PS1 and PS2 games, as well as audio CDs and DVDs. Sure, it couldn't really be considered a handheld system any more, and you'd need a carrying case for it, but they're trying to market the PSP as an all-in-one media player/game system. Why not make something that actually plays your media? Creating a new disc format specific to the PSP and only allowing it to play Sony's DRM-encumbered music files seems like a mistake to me.
On a not entirely related note, how many of you have thought about the possibility of running Linux on the DS? The features seem perfect for it. We just need a port.
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I honestly don't see the PSP's multimedia capabilities being all that widely used. Their coice to go to a proprietary media, the UMD, means that people with extensive DVD or CD collections will have to purchase their music and movies all over again if they want to use them in the PSP. If you start a collection on the PSP, you're going to have to buy it all over again to use it on your home entertainment system, or be left hoping that Sony evetually releases a standalone player.
Secondly, none of the music labels/movie studios have adopted the UMD as an approved format, meaning there's a strong chance that Sony Pictures and Sony Music will companies producing content on it.
Thirdly, in terms of movie playback, the PSP is severely harmed by battery life. The numbers I've read say it will have less than 3 hours' worth of power in movie playback mode. That means if you want to watch a long film like, oh say, any of the Lord of the Rings trilogy, you'd better have an outlet nearby. Additionally, it means that after watching shorter movies, you're not going to have much battery left to play games, meaning you'll have to choice on which you want on each outing.
Finally, there's the backlit screen. On first thought, the idea of laptop style screen technology in a handheld, but if you've ever tried to use your laptop outdoors on a sunny day, you'll know just how easily that backlight is drowned out. Chances are good that on any given car/train trip you're going to pass through a patch of sunlight, severely imparing how easily you can see the screen. Oh yeah, and let's not forget the color shift issues that occur when you view a laptop screen from any angle except straight on.