PSP VS. DS

[WesternEstates]

While were on the subject of video games which of these are most looking forward to? I'm going to wait until DS comes out and if it's halfway decent I'll get it but I'm deffinatly getting psp no matter what (that is if it has decent battery life.)

[WesternEstates]

I just heard on Pulse that the PSP won't be released in the states until fall 2005. BAD SONY, BAD ! This is going to give Nintendo a huge head start. Looks like I'll be getting myself a DS for christmas. I can't wait to play metroid prime: hunters and super mario 64X4 anyway.

[GameShowFan04]

I waiting until November 23th until Nintendo DS coming out and I'm not excited about the PSP because it is just another PS2 but smaller...

[WesternEstates]

GameShowFan04 said:

I waiting until November 23th until Nintendo DS coming out and I'm not excited about the PSP because it is just another PS2 but smaller...

That's not the only problem. The PSP is also going to have two pricing points. One is the barebones system that is going to cost somewhere between $250-$350 then there is a souped up version which is to included among other things GPS which is going to cost between $350-$500. As a gamer I don't mind paying good money for a great system but that's just too expensive. This is the main reason why I'm going to get the DS over PSP.

[Grey]

WesternEstates said:

That's not the only problem. The PSP is also going to have two pricing points. One is the barebones system that is going to cost somewhere between $250-$350 then there is a souped up version which is to included among other things GPS which is going to cost between $350-$500. As a gamer I don't mind paying good money for a great system but that's just too expensive. This is the main reason why I'm going to get the DS over PSP.

Good grief... the bare-bones system is gonna be way over what I consider an acceptable price point for any new console system (but my price point is set at $150). Two words: forget it until it comes down in price. Look at what the warehouses full of GameCubes did to its price. I think the DS will be expensive when it first comes out, but hopefully the price of it will come down quickly. Either that, or I'll be trading in more games for store credit at the local GameStop. ><;;

[WesternEstates]

I just heard more bad news about the PSP. The battery life is suppose to be somewhere between 6-8 hours however that's only if it's set the right way. By right way they mean if you are wearing headphones listening it at really low volume and if the screen brightness is at the right setting (Probably not being that bright) and not using the wireless connection. If all the bells and whistles are on they say the battery life could be as low as 2 hours. Sony said they are going to try and improve this problem.

Once again this is my personal oppion but one of the major factors in buying a portable system for me is long battery life. I don't want to go to the trouble of changing the batteries (even if they are rechargeable) every couple of hours. That for me is a major inconvience which is why for me the DS is looking better for me as time goes on. I so despertaly want to buy the PSP but I won't buy if it has that short of battery life. Hopefully they'll improve on it before it's released .

[Todd Robinson]

WesternEstates said:

I just heard more bad news about the PSP. The battery life is suppose to be somewhere between 6-8 hours however that's only if it's set the right way. By right way they mean if you are wearing headphones listening it at really low volume and if the screen brightness is at the right setting (Probably not being that bright) and not using the wireless connection. If all the bells and whistles are on they say the battery life could be as low as 2 hours. Sony said they are going to try and improve this problem.

Once again this is my personal oppion but one of the major factors in buying a portable system for me is long battery life. I don't want to go to the trouble of changing the batteries (even if they are rechargeable) every couple of hours. That for me is a major inconvience which is why for me the DS is looking better for me as time goes on. I so despertaly want to buy the PSP but I won't buy if it has that short of battery life. Hopefully they'll improve on it before it's released .

Sony should have made a concious effort to ensure their dream handheld system would have a decent battery life from the get-go. When you think about it, a laptop running on an Intel Centrino processor can last four times as long as the PSP running at full throttle. FOUR TIMES!! I know laptops have more room for larger capacity batteries and the comparison I brought up is of the apples-to-oranges variety but just think about it. How much fun is it going to be to ride down the road on a long car trip or use it where electrical outlets are not available where you're constantly worrying about how much playing time you have before your system farts out after draining its batteries? That's why I didn't enjoy my Game Gear when I had it.

[Grey]

Todd said:

That's why I didn't enjoy my Game Gear when I had it.

Speaking of the Game Gear, I think one of the reasons for the short battery life was, indeed, the processor itself. Instead of using a "compact" language like C or C++, it used some strange coding language where one line in C++ was equivalent to about 9 lines of Game Gear language. When you think about it, trying to pile through 9 times the amount of information as another language makes the processor work more and ... actually does relate to what the current thread was talking about.

Wow. I never thought I'd be able to say that I actually stayed on topic.

[Todd Robinson]

Grey, you're usually pretty good at sticking to topic so don't fret it!

I think probably the main reason the Game Gear has such a short battery life was the lit screen. Back then, you didn't use the much more energy efficient white LEDs to illuminate screens like we use now. Small incadescent light bulbs were used which take much more energy to give off the same amount of light LEDs do. The processor was probably a close second, though.

I still have my Game Gear at my parent's house somewhere. I'm going to have to look for it when I stop by to visit them tonight!!

[WesternEstates]

I was just thinking, it was about a decade ago when Sega thought they could pummel gameboy with their creation the game gear. Sega thought if you put a game system out there with better graphics and sounds that everyone would flock to it. The formula for reasons why people buy a home console systems are completly different for people who buy a portable system.

These are the top 5 reasons why people buy a home console (Survey says.... ;D):

#1 : great graphic & sound capibility
#2 : Library of games available
#3 : Price of console
#4 : Realiabilty
#5 : Reputation

These are the top 5 reasons why people buy portable consoles:

#1 : Long battery life
#2 : Price of console
#3 : Realiabilty
#4 : library of games available
#5 : Great graphic and sound capibilty

I think the reasons Nintendo has been able to stay on top of portable console wars has been they know what the consumer wants. The target audience Nintendo goes for is kids. So when parents go to the local Toys R Us to buy there kid a portable system they want the battery to last along time and to be cheap. Why? because who wants to hear a kid halfway on the drive to Washington D.C. say "Mom, my batteries dead!" also if breaks it can be replaced realitively cheap. This is why Nintendo has been able to stay on top. They've been doing this since there game & watch series since the late 70's.

The problem that Sony has is they assume like Sega did that is if the graphics and sound are better they will come and that's not always the case. Also maybe it's me but the PSP looks like it'll break easily.

Now am I saying Nintendo DS is perfect? No. One of the things I noticed is there are only 6 games available at launch which I think is pretty weak. Also I can imagine alot of complaints from parents with the stylus. It small and looks like it can easily break also since it's so small it can easily be missed placed. The lower screen on the DS is the touch screen which means you don't always need a stylus (In matter of fact in Namco's Ridge Racer DS you have to use your fingers on the touch screen to steer your car) which brings up these questions:

1. How difficult will it be to clean the touch screen? (Because if you use your fingers on some games the screens going to get smudged.)

2. If I press the touch screen to hard will I cause any permanent damage?

[Todd Robinson]

WesternEstates said:

1. How difficult will it be to clean the touch screen? (Because if you use your fingers on some games the screens going to get smudged.)

2. If I press the touch screen to hard will I cause any permanent damage?

To answer both of those questions, ask no further than the common PDA owner. ...Oh, I'm a common PDA owner! While I don't make a habit of touching the screen with my fingers, using some readily available screen wipes work just fine. And concerning the screen stength, as long as you don't go overboard you should be okay. They're pretty sturdy. I'd actually worry about scratching the screen with the stylus more than whether it'll break or not.

I'm sure Nintendo will come up with a user-friendly way to keep the screen clean, though. When I think back to the SNES days when they releases the mouse, they included a cleaning tool. Very nice of them, those Nintendo people.

We'll have to see what the magazine reviews turn out to be. I'm sure they'll put it to the test and give us the skinny on it.

[WesternEstates]

Todd said:

To answer both of those questions, ask no further than the common PDA owner. ...Oh, I'm a common PDA owner! While I don't make a habit of touching the screen with my fingers, using some readily available screen wipes work just fine. And concerning the screen stength, as long as you don't go overboard you should be okay. They're pretty sturdy. I'd actually worry about scratching the screen with the stylus more than whether it'll break or not.

I'm sure Nintendo will come up with a user-friendly way to keep the screen clean, though. When I think back to the SNES days when they releases the mouse, they included a cleaning tool. Very nice of them, those Nintendo people.

We'll have to see what the magazine reviews turn out to be. I'm sure they'll put it to the test and give us the skinny on it.

That's nice to know. I've never really used PDA's before so the technology is completly unfamilar to me. I'm really excited about trying it out as I'm sure everybody is ;D.

[WesternEstates]

I was out Christmas Shopping today. As I was shopping I passed by EB games and decided to drop-in to see that they had the DS set up for people to try out. Of course I had to rush over and try it. I can safely say it's exceeded my expectations.

First off I was playing the new Metroid and the graphics we're very beautiful. I was very much expecting graphics that we're N64 style. If I were to compare the graphics to any other system they are very much like the Dreamcast. They are full, vivid, lush and the animations are very smooth. The sound is also very good almost CD quality if I dare say (Although there was a little distortion is you had the volume up really loud.) The button layout is quite nice also.

Now for the touch screen. All I have to say is it's FREAKING AWASOME. It's something you have to experience yourself to know what I'm talking about. When you use the touch screen and top screen at the same time it will overwhelm your senses at first. It does take a little time to get used to but when you do it's pure heaven.

My only complaint was the screen brightness is not quite as bright as it should be. otherwise I highly suggested you get it. I know I'll be saving my nickles and pennies to get this .