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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."
But here in the U.S., it's a neck-and-neck race.
A lot of people purchased the PSP because it was new and cool, and for its multimedia features. Now that the PSP isn't so new anymore and the UMD format is falling out of favor, I fully expect that the DS will begin to pull ahead of the PSP in sales. The reason is that DS sales are driven by the titles themselves (e.g. Nintendogs, Metroid Prime, Mario Kart DS, Tetris DS, etc.) rather than the hype of the hardware. As a result, the Nintendo DS is likely to gain momentum as long as Nintendo keeps producing blockbuster titles for it.
In addition, the Nintendo DS targets a far larger market (adult men, teenage men, children, and women) than the PSP (young adult men with disposable cash) and competes heavily at a lower price point. Customizations like "pink" hardware help push it with the alternative markets.
Basically, Nintendo has a winner on their hands, and will do well as long as they don't screw it up. Sony has a first attempt on their hands that did exceptionally well. We'll see if they follow it up with a more focused device.
Javascript + Nintendo DSi = DSiCade
I haven't read the article, I try to avoid things like this because of the insane fanboyism but..
In the community it seems the PSP is mostly being used for emulation and the DS is being bought for DS games. The PSP might be a good jack of all trades machine, but the DS is for games and in the gaming community it's wiping the floor with the PSP.
To quote a message I saw once "I love my PSP, but it's collecting dust while I play my DS". This seems to be the general feeling around the two handhelds. One is worth playing and the others great, but it's not being used as a handheld, more as a portable PS2. Which is not what people want.
I like muppets.
Warning: the article's data is 75-80% ads, the server is slow, and it's broken up into tiny little pieces. I couldn't find a printer-friendly link.
Translation: reserve most of the afternoon to read this baby if you must.
It's difficult to ignore, though, that the PSP seems like the most attractive prospect right now for Western developers making "mature" games.
[...]
But in the U.S., the DS is seen as more like the successor to the Game Boy. Far from the brief flirtation with adult games like Sprung, Western devs are looking at the DS and thinking, "kids."
I still don't buy the "maturity myth"--or rather, I'm increasingly convinced that the "mature game" demographic is rapidly shrinking as a percentage of the overall gaming population. I genuinely don't think that either system's success or failure hinges primarily on the availability of "mature" games.
I wish the author had provided some support for his assertions--for example, which Western developers are shunning the DS because they think it is for kids? What makes the PSP inherently more attractive to the makers of "mature" games?
I think that Sony not releasing US sales figures is telling--if they were outselling the DS, don't you think they'd be shouting that fact from the rooftops? Of interest, too, is the slow-death of UMD movies. The DS is flying off the shelves--is the same true for the PSP?
Obliteracy: Words with explosions
When first evaluating my next portable hardware purchase, I was intrigued by the PSP appearing to be a portable "Playstation 1.5" as far as graphics and other capabilities go...
:) but still play the games on the DS.
But I ended up going with the DS for three main reasons.
1. ~$120 USD cheaper
2. GBA-compatible -- I have a decent GBA library so I could give the GBA to my son
3. Mario Kart DS -- 'nuff said
At first I was also dubious about the dual-screen thing, but now I think of it as a great idea. It's nice for even simple things like in Mario Kart where you can glance down to check the overhead view of the other cars, etc.
For future RPG games it seems like a great thing as well to always have map or inventory available on another screen. I'm also looking forward to the recently announced Zelda game.
Not trying to sound like a "fanboy", just my $.02.
I bought myself a PSP a few weeks ago. I was attracted by the homebrew scene, and thought it just looked like an interesting piece of kit.
Then, I noticed the problems in the PSP gaming community, and felt a little buyer's remorse. But I think things are looking up.
The PSP was done no favours by the Playstation development community. Games seemed to be ports of PS(not P) games. Porting an existing franchise is a safe bet when a new platform's released. The Nintendo world did better out of this: Nintendo have a legacy of great games targeted at portable play. Developers saw the PSP's pretty damn awesome abilities and gave in to the porting temptation. But not straight ports from regular console games rarely survive 100% intact after the move to a portable. Even if the portable's got all the tech to make it an almost seamless port, many games just don't feel right on a portable. The controls are odd. The 'style' of play feels wrong. _Splinter Cell_ is a great example of this: the original was great, the PSP version's technically gorgeous.... but it's a bastard to play.
I think Playstation development world needed a taste of failure to make them take a step back and actually develop _for_ the PSP. Continuing along the 'Splinter Cell' vein, Syphon Filter: Dark Mirror is what SC on the PSP should've been. The 'stealth-combat' genre reworked for the portable format... and it's fantastic. Nintendo already knew how to make great portable games, and the DS has some brilliant titles. Looking at some upcoming PSP games, I'm a bit more happy with my purchase. It's taken a while, but I think the PSP's on its way towards getting out of the shadow of the PS. I hope we'll see some games that are both great to play on a portable, and make full use of the PSP's abilities.
What's the frequency, Kenneth?
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.