The real battle isn't DS vs. PSP...

[Shifty Geezer]

And I think we know which people will chose when comparing the two systems side by side in stores

No we don't know, your fooling yourself if you think otherwise.

There's a computer fair held every month near me. A friend went one month and said they had PSPs and DS's on import (in the UK). Next month I went with him to check them out.

The guy selling them only had DS's left. I enquired why. He said people lapped the PSP up - it was an impulse buy. The DS was an okay piece of kit. I tried a quick Mario mini game, shooting a catapult. What was obvious from a distance though was the screen - only one was visible. If you open the machine flat both screens are pretty good, but at an angle the visibility suffers.

The guy selling said, which I expected him to say based on reports, that the PSPs screen sung out to onlookers. It's so fine, you can't help but be drawn to it, wondering what's the source of those gorgeous visuals. The same will happen in stores. Stick a PSP and it's 4" hires screen next to an angled screen DS and the PSP will attract all the attention. Show PSP graphics next to DS and the PSP will attract all the attention. The DS's strength is it's gameplay features, which aren't communicated by a demo model in a shop window. Whereas the PSPs strengths lie in graphics and screen quality, which *does* come through on a demo model in a shop window.

I would say it's a dead certainty 'which people will chose when comparing the two systems side by side in stores' - at least the majority. DS will appeal, especially to the many, many GB owners out there. But PSP has pulling power and will be the gadget of choice, as many reviews and articles, in mainstream press and lifestyle magazines as well as specialist gamers press, allude to.

 

[Shifty Geezer]

Try not to think about all the jammy Yanks who'll be watching them when the system goes on sale in North America next Friday for $249.99.

Confirmed PSP UMD Movie Line-Up

Hellboy (Sony)
Resident Evil (Capcom)
Resident Evil: Apocalypse (Sony)
Once Upon a Time in Mexico (Sony)
Spider-Man 2 (Sony)
House of the Flying Daggers (Sony)
Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children (Square Enix)
Kill Bill Vol. 1 (Buena Vista Home Entertainment)
Hero (Buena Vista Home Entertainment)
National Treasure (Buena Vista Home Entertainment)
Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (Buena Vista Home Entertainment)
Reign of Fire (Buena Vista Home Entertainment)
Saw (Lions Gate)
Open Water (Lions Gate)
The Punisher (Lions Gate)
Rambo: First Blood (Lions Gate)
Total Recall (Lions Gate)
House of the Dead (Lions Gate)

Curses! Guess instead of shelling out 20 bucks for these films on a 4" screen I'll stuck watching my DVD collection at home on my 42" screen in 5.1 surround on a comfy sofa!

Seriously, the appearance of a few films does not make movies on PSP a success. These companies are testing the water. They've nothing to lose - they've already made the films so there's not much cost except publishing to UMD. However, they're not going to spend buckets publishing loads of films if people won't buy them. So release a few and see what happens. DVD prices for not-DVDs, films which people probably already own (why do I want to buy Spiderman2 UMD if I own the DVD already?) seems stupid to me. Maybe people are willing to spend that much for a portable version of a film. Personally unless they offer a DVD/UMD bundle for $5 more than the DVD, UMD's a rip-off. I'd rather save that money and get a 1 or 2 gig MemStick and rip my DVD collection.

 

[Shifty Geezer]

IF someone wants to listen to music they are going to get an ipod or another mp3 device and not a psp. If they wnat to watch movies they can get a nice 5inch dvd portable for 100$ now at best buy .

What if you want to watch movies, listen to music and play games? Is it better to spend $200 on an iPod, $100 on a portable DVD player, and whatever, $100/150 on Nintendo handheld for games, and carry all three devices with you? Oh, and GPS when that arrives on PSP. And a langauge translation device.

Of course specialist devices will outperform PSP on their terms (though in some cases, not always. I've a friend with a portable 40 Gb digital video recorder/player. Though he can fit a lot on it, the screen sucks compared with PSPs!). But what device offers the general purpose media capabilities of PSP executed as well as PSP? It's not the cheapest solution perhaps, but it does provided excellent implementation at a reasonable price. I can't see how anyone can see otherwise.

 

[see colon]

These companies are testing the water. They've nothing to lose - they've already made the films so there's not much cost except publishing to UMD.

exactly. and with umd's basicly copy proof at this point (the only thing that can read them is the psp, and nothing comercialy available can write them) the companies have even less worries when migrating to UMD. i don't think it'll fly as a serious movie format, but i see no reason why a person wouldn't pick up one now and again. those gba video carts with poor quality video still sell here and there for $20 and they are only 45min long.

 

[jvd]

What if you want to watch movies, listen to music and play games? Is it better to spend $200 on an iPod, $100 on a portable DVD player, and whatever, $100/150 on Nintendo handheld for games, and carry all three devices with you? Oh, and GPS when that arrives on PSP. And a langauge translation device.

Ipod shuffle 100$ or another 512 meg mp3 player for 75$

5 inch dvd screen for 100$

Nintendo gba sp 75$

275$


Here in the states the knock off memory stick duos 512 megs are 90$ by themselves . That hurt when I saw that haha

 

[PC-Engine]

So how will you type messages? With the control pad?

I'm glad you asked. Go to this website http://www.engadget.com/entry/1234000273034408/

Remember there will be other companies that will make keyboards also, so this will not be the only one avaiable.

Oh another piece of hardware (bulky too) you have to purchase just to be able to IM? Doesnt' sound too great. I think somebody is trying too hard to make PSP into a PDA like device.

 

[rabidrabbit]

Yea, DS has IM input ready as you buy it, that's the advantage of a touch screen.
Had you not noticed it, PSP has no touch screen, nor keyboard. That's why it needs an add-on kb if you want to input words conveniently.
Add-ons are bought separately, they don't come with the machine, and they do add to the bulk of the machine.

Different devices, different features.
Wonder what kind of add-ons the DS would need if you would like to play as graphically and sonically advanced games as PSP, on a 4,5" 16:9 screen. Or play movies with acceptable image quality and screen size.

Besides, that keyboard is not a Sony product. It's not available anywhere to buy and at the moment even if you could get your hands on one you would not be able to get anything on screen with it as there are no softwware that supports it.
It's a concept by some obscure company, so it's just them trying too hard to make the PSP into a PDA.

 

[PC-Engine]

Wonder what kind of add-ons the DS would need if you would like to play as graphically and sonically advanced games as PSP, on a 4,5" 16:9 screen. Or play movies with acceptable image quality and screen size.

I would buy a thing called a portable DVD player that can play DVDs on a 6" widescreen.

It's a concept by some obscure company, so who's "desperately trying to sell it as a PDA"?

I guess you must have missed that clear plastic input device SONY showed for the PSP or the leaked PDA software apps.

 

[rabidrabbit]

Exactly, and if my no.1 priority was instant messaging, I would by a Treo or some other PDA, you can find the older models quite cheap nowadays.
And you can play touch screen games on them too! There are emulators for the also!!

I would buy a thing called a portable DVD player that can play DVDs on a 6" widescreen.

But can you play advanced 3D games on it? Listen to mp3's??

 

[PC-Engine]

Exactly, and if my no.1 priority was instant messaging, I would by a Treo or some other PDA, you can find the older models quite cheap nowadays.
And you can play touch screen games on them too! There are emulators for the also!!

I would buy a thing called a portable DVD player that can play DVDs on a 6" widescreen.

But can you play advanced 3D games on it? Listen to mp3's??

I wouldn't want to play MP3s or 3D games on my portable DVD player, because 1. It's too big and 2. It doesnt' sound as good as my lighter sized dedicated flash MP3 player, recorder, FM radio and 3. My DS has a huge game library, has touch input, two screens, mic, WiFi.

I wouldn't want to listen to MP3s on my DS for the same reason I wouldn't want to listen to them on my portable DVD player ie it's too big. As a matter of fact a GBA SP would be great for listening to MP3s with a flash memory card IF the sound quality was comparible to my flash MP3 player and only because the SP is smaller than both a DS or PSP.

 

[jvd]

But can you play advanced 3D games on it? Listen to mp3's??

This is becoming a boring debate .

I can't listen to mp3s . I have to buy special hardware to do it . I have a rom cart here that fits in the ds gba slot and i can load it mp3s and play them. Does that count ?

I can watch videos on my ds as there is an add on .

I can also play advanced 3d games for 10-12 hours with out needing a charge.

If i bought a portable dvd player i could play my whole existing dvd library for 100$ . For the psp i'd have to rebuy my library .

 

[rabidrabbit]

Yea, arguing on personal preferences and what is good enough for one is very pointelss, childish and boring.
That's why I stop now on my part (even if someone argues they are not just personal preferences.. I still won't argue back )

jvd: I was referring to the portable dvd player, not the DS when I questioned the gameplay and mp3 play capabilities.

 

[mckmas8808]

rabidrabbit and jvd it looks like you finally get it. Some of us guys here are debating you guys because we have to defend the PSP. The psp can do many things now and plenty more in the future and you guys are just scared that one day in the future in could become a big player against your current products. For instance....

1. The ipod comparisons. They're crazy, why even compare the two. Why can't the sony enable the psp to play mp3's without you guys claiming "its not as good as the ipod". Why does the psp have to lose points for something that they can't control right now. They can't control prices or sizes of memory sticks today. Maybe in a few months or years but not today.

2. The portable dvd comparisons. Why say watching movies on the psp will be a bust. You don't know yet. Its possible that UMDs might not work, but that still doesn't stop us from watching movies off of our memory sticks. Sony Connect will one day give us the option to download movies to our memory sticks so isn't that a great thing. I mean that is what made the ipod so successful which is giving the user the ability to download music to their device.

3. The keyboard thing. Now this is straight up dumb to talk bad about. I'm not talking about the keyboard design of the example above, I'm talking about the pure idea of having a keyboard add-on. Some guys here are talking as if its stupid to sell an add-on keyboard for the psp and thats there's no reason to use it. This talk comes from either non educated people on the psp or psp haters. The keyboard will also serve as a screen protector still, so what wrong with that. The add-on keyboard will be a successful accessory mark my words.


Some people need to stop crying about the good things about the psp. Can you actually let the device come out first before you bash everything its trying to do. These things take time. I'm more than sure people talked bad about the ipod before it come out. I for one remember people saying the ipod would never work because it was too expensive and that everyday people didn't need to physically walk around with 5,000 songs. Look at how stupid that comment sounds today.
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Tribute

 

[Teasy]

This seems like the most relivant place to post these pics:

After looking at these I really have to question the decision to go with silver as the defualt colour for DS. Both of those look better then the silver version IMO. But especially the black one which looks really nice IMO.

 

[mckmas8808]

Why do you think Sony picked black. The started with silver with the PSX now look at what color they choose. Black always tend to look more sleek and sexy for some reason.
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Yamaha fs1e specifications

 

[blakjedi]

Black always tend to look more sleek and sexy for some reason.

Unless you call the system the Sega Saturn!

 

[PC-Engine]

rabidrabbit and jvd it looks like you finally get it. Some of us guys here are debating you guys because we have to defend the PSP. The psp can do many things now and plenty more in the future and you guys are just scared that one day in the future in could become a big player against your current products. For instance....

1. The ipod comparisons. They're crazy, why even compare the two. Why can't the sony enable the psp to play mp3's without you guys claiming "its not as good as the ipod". Why does the psp have to lose points for something that they can't control right now. They can't control prices or sizes of memory sticks today. Maybe in a few months or years but not today.

2. The portable dvd comparisons. Why say watching movies on the psp will be a bust. You don't know yet. Its possible that UMDs might not work, but that still doesn't stop us from watching movies off of our memory sticks. Sony Connect will one day give us the option to download movies to our memory sticks so isn't that a great thing. I mean that is what made the ipod so successful which is giving the user the ability to download music to their device.

3. The keyboard thing. Now this is straight up dumb to talk bad about. I'm not talking about the keyboard design of the example above, I'm talking about the pure idea of having a keyboard add-on. Some guys here are talking as if its stupid to sell an add-on keyboard for the psp and thats there's no reason to use it. This talk comes from either non educated people on the psp or psp haters. The keyboard will also serve as a screen protector still, so what wrong with that. The add-on keyboard will be a successful accessory mark my words.


Some people need to stop crying about the good things about the psp. Can you actually let the device come out first before you bash everything its trying to do. These things take time. I'm more than sure people talked bad about the ipod before it come out. I for one remember people saying the ipod would never work because it was too expensive and that everyday people didn't need to physically walk around with 5,000 songs. Look at how stupid that comment sounds today.

I'm pretty sure you'll be the only one to buy into all of these extra functions that cost even more money. Your argument has no logic at all. The PSP doesn't have a HDD.
The PSP can't play DVDs.
The PSP will have a limited library of UMD movies that cost the same as DVDs and cannot be played on any other device.
The PSP requires proprietary MS to be able to store MPEG4 movies.

The only thing the PSP does well is play games. People don't want a jack of all trades and master of none device. Of course anything is possible even time travel...

After looking at these I really have to question the decision to go with silver as the defualt colour for DS. Both of those look better then the silver version IMO. But especially the black one which looks really nice IMO.

Yeah I agree. Same goes for the SP.

 

[Shifty Geezer]

People don't want a jack of all trades and master of none device.

As evidenced by the appalling sales of PSP. Sony must be gutted no-one want's their multifunction system! And of course all those mobile phones that are now gaming machines, cameras, browsers, etc.

When you say 'people' dont' want such a device, are you sure you don't just mean you?

 

[rabidrabbit]

People do want multifunction devices, but it's a different matter altogether whether all the functions get an equal amount of use.

I'm sure the PSP is bought first and foremost as a gaming machine, the movie and music are interesting features that people are eager to try, but will likely use much more seldom than games.
If the PSP had no, or much more limited gaming capabilities, but had a small (2-4Gig) hdd and played dvd's, with a size to match, do you think it would still sell, even though it would still be a similar "jack of all trades" machine.

 

[London Geezer]

I agree that an MP3 player is smaller and probably easier to carry around than a PSP. However, a PSP is still smaller than a PSP AND and MP3 player. What i'm trying to say is that carrying around 8 different devices that all do a different thing is a pain in the ass, one device will always be preferred.

People don't want a jack of all trades and master of none device.

Says who? You? If anything, it looks like recent trends (consoles, mobile phones etc.) tells another story. People much prefer to spend a certain amount of money ONCE and have ONE little box that does as many things as many separate boxes, even if the quality might suffer. Those who need high quality will obviously buy dedicated devices. But it's safe to say that the people are very happy with jack of all trades kind of devices. Except PSX