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PSP Vs. DS One Year Later
1up has a feature revisiting the ongoing struggle for supremacy in the handheld market. The PSP and the DS have had many ups and downs in the past year, and the column lays out the successes and failures for both systems. From the article: "And then there were two. The DS is cleaning up in Japan -- the sheer demand for the console there has siphoned every single unit from the marketplace, while PSPs sit unloved on store shelves. But here in the U.S., it's a neck-and-neck race. And, since the PSP launched one year ago on March 24th, 2005, we thought it'd be an excellent time to revisit the past year and gauge the situation as it stands today."
Gonna pull you up on three things..
1. The DS's main screen doesn't scratch easy.. on the other hand the Stylus's are slightly sharp when held at an angle, so you must have a screen protector. I've had my DS a year and the screen protector is honestly scratched to all hell. Get screen protection for your DS.
2. Graphics capability are underwhelming? Gameboy colour = NES, GBA = SNES, DS=N64. Seems to be a natural evolution to me. The DS looks better than the N64 with Mario 64 but doesn't play quite as well as the N64 did (D-pad isn't so great as a stick). As for the speakers.. well turn the DS up to full, it's louder than I'd have my TV on.. you hear everything fine. If anything I think the DS maybe a little too loud.
3. You've just hit the nail on the head. PSP is a portable console, complete with loading times and "Oh we can make better graphics than you!" ideals. Nintendo know full well that doesn't work, you must make a handheld console, a handheld console. While GTA may be great for an evening in, doing 30-40 minute missions after a 5 minute loading is just a bad idea for most people going places. I went to the hospital a few days ago and had to wait to see a doctor (1am emergency clinic), I was in pain and rather restless, so I took my DS and when I felt like playing I just turned on Mario kart, when I wanted to stop I turned it off. 4-5 minute bursts when I needed to distract myself from the pain. That's how most people play handhelds. 10-20 minute journeys, waiting in line, going to the bathroom etc.
The PSP tries to be a shark in a fish pond. It's big, bad, oh so pretty and can beat anyone up in the pond. But it's so big and bad it can't get around the lake, so it loses out to the little fish who can just side step it. The PSP has been side stepped over and over. It hasn't quite figured out why it's being beaten yet and as soon as it does, it'll see that a shark just doesn't work in a pond full of tiny gold fish.
I like muppets.