Game boy ds vs psp

The systems also offer ad hoc play modes, meaning you and your friends can play together wirelessly in the same room. Nintendo's Wi-Fi Connection WFC service will be free for all first-party games, and should differ slightly from game to game. You'll have to input the Friend Code, as well as connection settings into every game you play, as the console doesn't store that information. If you choose to reset your WFC ID instead of transferring it over, you'll end up with a completely new Friend Code that you'll have send to all of your buddies.

That means features like friends lists and messaging will run on the game-card level. Instead of saving a universal friends list to your DS system, you have to maintain a separate friends list for every WFC-enabled DS game you have.

In addition, you can use your Nintendo DS at participating McDonald's for free online gaming access, or at just about any open wireless connection you come across. Don't fret, though, because you should expect to see more online-capable games in the future, with Metroid Prime: Hunters among them. Many DS games support game sharing which lets you and your friends play together with a single copy of the game although, some games offer limited gameplay options.

For instance, in Mario Kart DS, the person without the game cartridge can only use the Shy Guy racer, and the number of playable tracks is greatly limited. Unlike the DS, the PSP's internet connection settings are stored on the console itself, so you won't have to set everything up all over again if you decide to play a different game. However, both Sony and Nintendo could stand to learn a great deal from Microsoft's Xbox Live implementation. SOCOM is unique because it allows up to 16 simultaneous players and voice communication via headsets, a feature no other handheld comes even close to offering.

Your online experience will change considerably from game to game on the PSP. SOCOM offers a server browser, where you can find your friends and even visit message boards, but most games don't give this level of support. Depending on the title, you might be able to choose whom you play against, or you might get a random pairing.

The PSP's ad hoc mode also allows for local game sharing and multiplayer action. Neither console truly has an edge when it comes to Wi-Fi implementation, unless you go to McDonald's a lot. We're expecting that line to firm up a bit more in the coming year, as both consoles will be offering numerous online-capable games.

Both systems are game machines, but there's no denying you can use them for other applications. The PSP's UMDs allow for on-the-go movie-watching, its built-in browser can use an Internet connection to decent effect, and the Memory Stick expansion slot makes the system a playback device for videos, pictures, and music. The DS, on the other hand, is quite limited in terms of extracurricular activities.

Nintendo has a not-yet-released Play Yan peripheral that can add video-playback capabilities to the system, but the DS's low screen resolution is a far cry from the image quality that the PSP provides. If you're looking for a jack-of-all-trades portable device, the PSP is the better bet. When it comes to style, there's no arguing the PSP's good looks. If appearances were the only concern, the DS would have died an untimely death sometime around March. Nintendo is putting more effort into style, if the Game Boy Micro and Revolution are any indication.

Given the fact that Nintendo has redesigned the Game Boy Advance countless times, we're betting that we'll have a better looking DS system soon enough. To say that one system is clearly better than the other would be flat-out wrong. Both systems come with their own set of advantages and disadvantages. If you're after innovative games that you can't find anywhere else, the DS would suit you well, not to mention save you a bundle of cash.

The PSP has raw graphical power in the form of a beautiful screen and a powerhouse of a processor, but it comes at twice the cost of a Nintendo DS. The great screen is perfect for watching TV shows or catching a movie while on the go. While the PSP does have an equivalent number of solid games, it doesn't have nearly as many of the exclusive must-have titles that the DS has. It all depends on what you're looking for, as both systems offer very compelling arguments for your dollars.

Got a news tip or want to contact us directly? Email news gamespot. Again, D-pad control and the familiar triangle, square, X and O buttons, with a set of shoulder buttons lining the top of the device. Though the system lacks a touch screen, it does feature something that current generation consoles have enjoyed and utilized: an analog stick. Or rather, an analog nub, which extrudes from the left side of the unit to give gamers more precise control than the D-pad can offer.

The PSP analog stick's nice, but the touch screen offers far more control potential. Nix: DS. I still have a feeling that even the good games that use the touchscreen well might still lose their luster quickly control will be the star of the games, and I don't see that becoming invisibly immersive the way a joypad becomes second nature , but the potential is there for unknown kinds of fun. I'm not convinced the touch-screen is going to add an element to gaming that I want.

I know what an analog stick offers. I want to play console games on a road trip and for that an analog stick is a big help. Analog on a handheld? I'll take that in a heartbeat. Besides, as a lefty I'm a little worried about using the DS stylus and hitting the buttons at the same time. Though both systems were shown in playable form at this year's Electronic Entertainment Expo, which gave players an idea of exactly what both systems are capable of pulling off in hardware, Nintendo has yet to step forward with official specifications of what the Nintendo DS' hardware can do.

We do know that it has two processors, one ARM7, one ARM9, and that the system is capable of pulling off 2D and 3D elements on either screen at the same time. Unofficially, leaked documents have put the Nintendo DS somewhere just above the Nintendo 64 in 3D capabilities, having the ability to pull off as many as , polys on-screen every second at a framerate as high as sixty frames per second. The system is made for battery efficiency, though, and Nintendo's expecting the DS to last nearly as long on one battery charge as the Game Boy Advance SP does Sony, on the other hand, is pushing the system abilities into the spotlight.

The specifications are indeed impressive For the layman, the company's gone as far as saying that the PSP will be nearly as powerful as a PlayStation 2, and capable of PS2-quality game engines. And that, my friends, is incredibly powerful. Sony's system is way more powerful, no question. It's a drag about battery life, but hopefully Sony will figure this problem out before launch. It's funny how this is even a question -- it's comparing PS2-quality to Nquality, and not being sure the answer.

But handheld goers have never held system power as a priority, so we'll see. Battery life will definitely be an issue, but who cares? In just about every way you cut it, the PSP outperforms the DS in just about every technological way. If the DS could play PS2-quality games on a plane trip, it would definitely win. But it can't. Its all about the battery life. Once a system dips under eight hours it becomes annoying very quickly. Game Gear anyone? Both Nintendo and Sony are not showing their hand when it comes to price, but it's clear after hearing both company's strategies that, while both companies are shooting for a cheap as possible tag, Nintendo will end up having the cheaper system on the market.

The company will most likely put as much bang in their system for that buck, putting in as much functionality, like industry-standard movie and music playback, that can fit into the system. Sony's looking for trouble if it expects to steal a handheld market at that price. This is where Nintendo's "cheaper" strategy will work.

I think it's going to be OK to have a higher-priced handheld. In fact, Nintendo has said that they're planning on going higher than normal with DS. Nintendo has been doing this for so long that I suspect that it will know how to bring its unit out at an affordable and attractive price. The rumored price of the PSP reminds me why I never owned any of those expensive handhelds as a kid. My personal spending limit for a handheld hovers somewhere around dollars. For dollars I would expect an all encompassing mega device.

Not to mention a bundled game. The Nintendo DS will, once again, be a cartridge-based Nintendo system. The unit will actually feature two cartridge slots: a specific DS slot for proprietary and very tiny DS cartridges that can be as large as megabytes 1 gigabit , or possibly even bigger as time moves on.

The second is a GBA cartridge slot that not only gives the DS the ability to play GBA games right out of the box, but it can also be used for an expansion slot; if, say, Nintendo wants to release a camera for the device, this is where the unit will plug in. Nintendo claims that DS cartridges will be much cheaper and much quicker to manufacture than current Game Boy Advance cartridges, which will benefit third-party developers and publishers in the long-run.

The Sony PSP is ambitiously moving to a proprietary disc format. Discs are also much cheaper to produce than cartridges, though the addition of a caddy shell around each and every disc may add a bit more to the cost. The disc media will also require power to spin the drive, which will definitely affect playtime depending on data access. The system will also feature a Memory Stick slot, most likely used for game saves since the UMD is not a writeable media, but it may also be utilized for other functions that require faster data access than the UMD can handle.

In essence, the Memory Stick slot can be considered a traditional gaming cartridge slot if Sony and developers feel the need to use it as such.

A tough one, but I'm going with cartridges. Most of the extra disc space will be used for extraneous FMV anyway. I'm as leery as the next guy as to whether discs will hold up under the stress of a wrathful child, but it's a whole lot of storage and multimedia options -- more fitting for a next-gen portable. The extra space provided by the UMD will allow developers a lot more freedom when it comes to game design and presentation values.

Plus, it's cheap! Didn't Nintendo learn from the N64? Cartridges are too expensive. Consumers like discs. It looks hip. I'm in favor of anything that lengthens the battery life. Besides, handhelds are for quick engaging games, not epics. Nintendo's always been about creating a system for its own needs first.

But regardless, companies still follow Nintendo's lead, and in the case of the Nintendo DS, there have been several dozen who've announced interest in making games for the system. The issue is, of course, that the system is new to the scene. In an untested market. Developers are currently having a tough time anticipating their development since not only do they have to create new and unique elements for the Nintendo DS' new display and controls, but they also have to factor in budgets since it's currently unclear where Nintendo will price its games.

The PlayStation's appeal has always been its third-party support, and with the upcoming PlayStation Portable, Sony has brought on board a lot of big name companies really quickly.

The appeal is the promise of quicker development time due to the power of the system -- developers already familiar with the PlayStation 2 platform can more easily move development tools and engines to the portable system.

And since the controls of the system aren't much of a change from the PS2 system minus 2 shoulder buttons and a second analog stick , tweaking control for the PSP versions of existing games isn't a big deal either. More companies are comfortable jumping onto the PSP because it's not such a drastically different portable system. Nintendo is the big guy on Nintendo's systems, and that's left a lot of third parties out in the cold.

The inclusion of so many new elements into the hardware means that developers will have to put a little more thought into their designs and whether it's worth bringing to the DS system. This may also affect just how much money and resources it will take to create a game for the platform, but Nintendo kept the expectations low even during the show, giving them the opportunity to sneak in under the radar with some seriously impressive looking final software when it ships at the end of this year.

I think both platforms will do extremely well when they launch, but I'm way, way more excited to experience the Nintendo DS. Sony, at the very least will keep Nintendo on its toes since Sony's the first company to truly fight for dominance in the handheld market. After years of the Game Boy racking up impressive sales but garnering no credit in the straight world of gaming fans, this is a system so powerful, it cannot be denied. But the PSP is portable gaming on that next level, that mass market, everybody-must-play, super-cool-even-to-chicks game system experience that we were hoping the GBA would have been when we all saw those amazing shots of games like the GBA THPS.

Unless something catastrophic happens between the hands-on experience with the temp hardware that we had at E3 and the final hardware with games fully playable, on battery, off the UMD some time before , then the PlayStation Portable is, to put it bluntly, the real deal. I sure hope people go for it The PSP's biggest hurdle is the fickle mass audience's neglect of the handheld market. They get the system, but then they put it in their pocket and forget about it.

That's why Sony looks to be the one company capable of keeping eyes glued to the system and wallets jumping out of pockets.

They're masterminds of marketing, hype and public relations, and with the power of Sony's giant music and movie studios behind it, the PlayStation Portable stands a better use of becoming a permanent pocket or purse accessory than anything else before it, and likely anything else to come until Sony comes out with something new, that is.

That beautiful, bright screen -- kicking out glorious presentations of games, movies, music and more -- is just too much to ignore. We've had Stendhal Syndrome all week, and we can't imagine this feeling fading.

But, when it comes to gaming platforms, the fact remains: it's all about the games. And when it comes to portable gaming, Nintendo has time and again proven that hardware is hardly an issue. This is immediately apparent when you look at the PSP's crop of games: it looks uncomfortably close to the PS2 line-up. Between the ports and the sequels, the PlayStation Portable already stands a chance of losing its impact in just a few short months. Perhaps that's not the crowd that Sony is going for -- after all, even with its amazing liquid graphics and intriguing gameplay, only people like myself and the folks on this message board post will likely put down money right away for such a game.

Nintendo, on the other hand, just had demos -- many of them not even that playable Metroid Prime: Hunters looked nice, but you can probably guess the problems with an FPS played with a stylus -- and yet every one of those demos was unique and captivating. I'm not sure if Nintendo's third parties will be able to sustain the level of innovation Nintendo has brought to the table already and, to be honest, I'm not sure even Nintendo will be able to keep this kind of gimmick fun forever , but at least Nintendo is carving out a clear market.

When it comes to PSP, unless they've got great original games, I'm just not sure how much I'll spend on new titles -- would you buy the next Gran Turismo for play with a 4" screen, or would you rather own it for play on your gigantic home pro-scan system with surround sound and all the rest of the bells and whistles?

There will be a few where you buy both, but there won't be many As far as feel of the systems go, it's not even a question to me at the moment -- the PSP feels like butter, whereas the DS left me a little leery to see how it'll finally work out.

Almost everything was right about the PSP -- the pad was better than anybody would imagine, the system's size and heft seemed friendly, and even the oddly-placed analog nub was in a much better spot than imagined almost well-placed enough to wish for DualNub so we can play Ape Escape just like we did with a DualShock.

That little analog rocker, it was an instant hit for me -- I had wondered how PSP would deliver analog control while still coming down to a low profile, but this gliding nub is beyond my wildest dreams. The Nintendo DS is something of another story. In theory, a touch screen is great -- there's some cool gameplay that can be explored with a touch screen. But when you realize that you always have to have that stylus in your hand while you're also jumping back and forth between the side buttons, and when you put together that even in games that ignore the buttons and just use stylus play, the need to support the system with your left hand will make keeping a hand on the D-pad somewhat difficult and may also make reaching that left trigger a bit more awkward You basically have that one big screen for control, with the rest of the buttons and controls taking a backseat for all the really special games.

Also, the DS screen simply cannot compete. Thank the Lloyd if you are a PlayStation gamer, because they came up with something incredible here. Both portables have bright futures ahead of them, as far as I'm concerned.

The War of the Portables may be the best thing that's ever happened to handheld players. Competition will bring new standards, rising quality will keep the players captured, and an invigorated fanbase will encourage rivalry and, thus, more competition. My money is on the PSP -- and not just my joking "bet money", but my actual cash as soon as possible when we find out from Sony what the price is. It's the gold standard of handhelds. But Sony really has to use all of the magic tricks in its bag to make sure that this gold still glitters with new, must-own gaming experiences in the months after -- it's never the gold that keeps them married to you, but the heart that it reflects.