Are DS games REALLY better than PSP games?

[Soulquarian]

Based on IGN scores over the past 4 months the PSP not only has more higher rated games, but PSP games are more consistant in terms of quality. The majority of its game hover from mediocrity to excellent, while DS games are all over the place, including a recent game getting as low as a 2.0 out of 10.

In the past four months, the PSP has had 11 games rated in the 8.0 range, and 3 rated in the 9.0 range. The DS has had 6 games rated in 8.0 range and none rated in the 9.0 range.

Even the lineup for future releases shows PSP games at an early lead. Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories will be a huge seller and a definite critical success, as well as Lumines II, and SOCOM Navy Seals: Fireteam Bravo II.

On the DS side, Fullmetal Alchemist: Dual Sympathy is shaping up pretty well, but other than that, a lot of licensed products are being released (i.e. That's so raven, Biker Mice from Mars, Over the hedge, etc.). A few classic games are going to be released including Final Fantasy III, but the PSP is going to have an Official PS1 Emulator, which will allow PSP users to download PS1 games via wifi.

So I don't know. I think the DS has the MOST games releasing every month, but as for them being better, I'm not really seeing it. I suspect that the new DS lite is pushing sales as well as Mario, but as we get to the Christmas season, I see the PSP gaining a lot of steam. Especially with the reprice of UMD's, release of the 3.0 firmware, PS3 connectivity, the release of the PSP Camera and GPS (which is already sold out on Japan's Amazon.com), and adverts that highlight the PSP's multimedia capabilities.

[sir clinksalot]

Re: Are DS games REALLY better than PSP games?

The DS and PSP are two totally different markets.

The DS is more of the kids/family system ... the PSP is for 20 and 30 somethings with no lives.

These are the same people who play WoW that South Park was talking about.

But seriously:

I was discussing this with some friends at work last night. Talking about the 360, Wii and PS3. I've said all along that ALOT of new games are more about the "wow" factor and not gameplay. I don't need to see real people kicking the crap out of each other. I like that Nintendo games are basically still "Cartoonish" and not so realistic. That's fine with me.

[TikiRoomLiz]

Re: Are DS games REALLY better than PSP games?

I actually traded in my PSP for DS! But then again I got the PSP at teh start when they had limited game titles and all they were bringing out was a bunch of UMD's. It was fun on road trips, but that's about it. I find I like the type of games the DS brings out as opposed to the PSP games personally - so that's why I'm sticking to the DS. I'll just stay with the PS2 for now.

[Soulquarian]

Re: Are DS games REALLY better than PSP games?

The DS and PSP are two totally different markets.

The DS is more of the kids/family system ... the PSP is for 20 and 30 somethings with no lives.

These are the same people who play WoW that South Park was talking about.

But seriously:

I was discussing this with some friends at work last night. Talking about the 360, Wii and PS3. I've said all along that ALOT of new games are more about the "wow" factor and not gameplay. I don't need to see real people kicking the crap out of each other. I like that Nintendo games are basically still "Cartoonish" and not so realistic. That's fine with me.[/quote]

I don't believe that to be true. Realism is a great thing, but so are cartoony games. It's all about balance. If all Disney did was make silly shorts, they'd be Warner Bros. As a result of their diversity, they dominate (or used to) the market.

The same goes with gaming. The majority of gamers are adults. This is why the past two Nintendo consoles failed. When the N64 was around, the biggest complaint was a lack of Mature games. Everyone didn't want to play Mario all the time. Nintendo dabbled a little in it, but ultimately dropped the ball. The best way to describe Nintendo games is "quirky". There's a game coming out where you cook food using the stylus! No doubt it will be a high seller.

The PSP is just an all around better system that suffers from vague advertisement. Sony has failed to inform the public of why their portable costs almost $300 and why is such a ridiculously great value. While in the first year or so, games were sparse, Sony has been cranking out a lot of quality games with great re-playability. SOCOM on the PSP is hands down the best online multiplayer game bar none. The ability to jump on wifi, communicate with up to 16 players via headsets, and form clans is fantastic.

There's a giant market out there that needs to be included, and it's obvious now that Nintendo doesn't need to go after that market. The portable gaming system has always been known as a kid focused market, and it's good to see something come along to provide more variety.

[Mr Ness]

Re: Are DS games REALLY better than PSP games?

First of all, trusting IGN for review scores is a mistake. I mean, you can see how idiotic their thinking is when you see http://top100.ign.com/2006/

However, I won't discredit that the PSP has been getting consistantly higher scoring games than the DS. Accoridng to Gamerankings, the DS has 23 games averaging above a score of 80%, whereas the PSP has 25.

However, I think the biggest difference is because developers are used to developing for an interface like the PSP over the DS interface. A lot of developers want to use the DS features, but don't know how to base a game around that. I think the Wii will have similar issues; the early games will be good but not great, and then down the line, as developers become accustomed to the interface, we'll see some brilliant games.

[sir clinksalot]

Re: Are DS games REALLY better than PSP games?

^ I see your point on that list.

WarioWare is 93 - Seriously, that has to be one of the most addicting games EVER
Super Mario Bros is 82 - Your kidding right? (This is EASILY top 20)

It will be interesting to see how the rest of the list turns out.

[flynnibus]

Re: Are DS games REALLY better than PSP games?

I'm playing my wife's DS right now.. and have no desire for a PSP

Will be buying a wii too. The franchise titles get me to Nintendo every time

[Zorro825]

Re: Are DS games REALLY better than PSP games?

Nintendo has done a better job marketing the DS. Their new tagline is especially good. ("This only happens on Nintendo DS") Not to mention that their games are appealing to a broader audience.


I witnessed this first hand this past weekend when my g/f and her friend and I played "Big Brain Academy" in vs mode. They arent exactly hardcore gamers, but I'd be lying if I said it wasnt the most fun I'd ever had playing against other people. And to think they're love affair with the DS started when they tried it out at a in store kiosk a few months ago, they just had to have one.

Sony on the other hand has done a poor job marketing what the PSP can do. Especially in TV commercials with those annoying dustballs or whatever they are. They need to get their message out to the masses better.

[Soulquarian]

Re: Are DS games REALLY better than PSP games?

First of all, trusting IGN for review scores is a mistake. I mean, you can see how idiotic their thinking is when you see http://top100.ign.com/2006/

Faulty logic. The top 100 list is a reader's choice list. Not IGN editors. And besides, IGN is the largest gaming multimedia source. Because one list doesn't line up with a person's particular opinion doesn't discredit the whole company. If that were the case, Disney would be up a creek.

However, I think the biggest difference is because developers are used to developing for an interface like the PSP over the DS interface. A lot of developers want to use the DS features, but don't know how to base a game around that. I think the Wii will have similar issues; the early games will be good but not great, and then down the line, as developers become accustomed to the interface, we'll see some brilliant games.

On the contrary, it's widely known that the PSP has the issues when it comes to developers. That's the reason why most of the games that were released early on were simply ports of PS2 titles. Sony's developers made games for consoles, while Nintendo has over 10 years of developer experience with handheld titles. Such relatively simple things as "mission length" were hard obstacles to overcome. How do you make an engaging and exciting level and then pack it into 3-4 minutes while allowing story and presentation to be relevant?

The problem with DS games is the same as all these CGI movies. Novelty. Developers are focusing on the fact that the stylus is still a relatively new technology in terms of gameplay. As a result ANYTHING using a stylus is deemed cool, no matter how badly designed. The DS flirts with the gimmick/innovative line as a result.

Nintendo has done a better job marketing the DS. Their new tagline is especially good. ("This only happens on Nintendo DS") Not to mention that their games are appealing to a broader audience.

I agree with the assessment of marketing but not with appealing to different audiences. The PSP has racing, sports, hack and slash, third and first person shooter, platforms, RPG's, puzzle, etc. The DS doesn't have a third of the titles, and some genres just simply don't work well with the DS. The DS may appeal to more non-gamers as the gameplay is simplistic, but not to the average gamer.

I witnessed this first hand this past weekend when my g/f and her friend and I played "Big Brain Academy" in vs mode. They aren't exactly hardcore gamers, but I'd be lying if I said it wasn't the most fun I'd ever had playing against other people. And to think they're love affair with the DS started when they tried it out at a in store kiosk a few months ago, they just had to have one.

I see this as a potential problem. It's the end of challenging gameplay. Take KH II for example. The game was exceptionally well done except for difficulty. It was ridiculously easy to beat. Almost no effort of you've ever play Prince of Persia, God of War, Devil May Cry, or the Onimusha series. However, it's a high seller, and many non-gamers (including Micechatters) really enjoyed it. So are we going to see more games from Nintendo that aren't that challenging but are extremely fun to play? I hope there's a balance. I like beating opponents with skill.

Sony on the other hand has done a poor job marketing what the PSP can do. Especially in TV commercials with those annoying dustballs or whatever they are. They need to get their message out to the masses better.

I HIGHLY agree. I see PSP owners everywhere in between classes, and when they see me checking my emails, or watching movies from my memory stick, or reading magazines and streaming podcasts, they always say they never knew that could do that. Even the PSP instructional book says very little about what the PSP can do! If they stopped being so cryptic and juvenile with their marketing, they'd certainly get more sales.

[Zorro825]

Re: Are DS games REALLY better than PSP games?

I agree with the assessment of marketing but not with appealing to different audiences. The PSP has racing, sports, hack and slash, third and first person shooter, platforms, RPG's, puzzle, etc. The DS doesn't have a third of the titles, and some genres just simply don't work well with the DS. The DS may appeal to more non-gamers as the gameplay is simplistic, but not to the average gamer.

The DS has games for all those genres you mentioned. Racing (Mario Kart DS, Need for Speed series), sports (Basically the entire EA sports lineup), hack and slash (What do you classify as hack and slash? ;-) ) shooters (Metroid Prime Hunters) platforms (New Super Mario Bros., Rayman, etc) puzzle (Tetris DS, the Brain age games etc) RPGS (Dragon Quest, Mario and Luigi: Partners in Time, Harvest Moon, etc).
The games are there.

I see this as a potential problem. It's the end of challenging gameplay. Take KH II for example. The game was exceptionally well done except for difficulty. It was ridiculously easy to beat. Almost no effort of you've ever play Prince of Persia, God of War, Devil May Cry, or the Onimusha series. However, it's a high seller, and many non-gamers (including Micechatters) really enjoyed it. So are we going to see more games from Nintendo that aren't that challenging but are extremely fun to play? I hope there's a balance. I like beating opponents with skill.

I hear what you're saying. I mean I like playing people that are on the same skill evel as I am in games. Especially FPS games and fighting games. But at the same time, I like the fact that I can play against someone that might not play games as much (ie my girlfriend and her friend) and not be bored because the game is so simple.
I think in the end, Nintendo is going to find a balance. For every "Brain Age" you're going to have a "The Legend of Zelda: The Phantom Hour Glass".

I HIGHLY agree. I see PSP owners everywhere in between classes, and when they see me checking my emails, or watching movies from my memory stick, or reading magazines and streaming podcasts, they always say they never knew that could do that. Even the PSP instructional book says very little about what the PSP can do! If they stopped being so cryptic and juvenile with their marketing, they'd certainly get more sales

And thats the problem they've had since day one. I seriously hope someone got fired for that marketing campaign. Look, I might come off as pro-Nintendo or whatever but honestly I think the PSP is a great handheld and is really being overlooked. If Sony wouldve just had a clear message on what its portable could do, it would be doing a heck of a lot better in sales. I still think Nintendo is going to be on top of the handheld market but Sony can seriously give it a run for its money if it trashes the dustballs and says "This is what happens on the PSP" or something.

[Mr Ness]

Re: Are DS games REALLY better than PSP games?

Faulty logic. The top 100 list is a reader's choice list. Not IGN editors. And besides, IGN is the largest gaming multimedia source. Because one list doesn't line up with a person's particular opinion doesn't discredit the whole company. If that were the case, Disney would be up a creek.

You are correct. I did miss that it was a readers choice award. I never visit IGN, so I wasn't aware of that.

On the contrary, it's widely known that the PSP has the issues when it comes to developers. That's the reason why most of the games that were released early on were simply ports of PS2 titles. Sony's developers made games for consoles, while Nintendo has over 10 years of developer experience with handheld titles. Such relatively simple things as "mission length" were hard obstacles to overcome. How do you make an engaging and exciting level and then pack it into 3-4 minutes while allowing story and presentation to be relevant?

The problem with DS games is the same as all these CGI movies. Novelty. Developers are focusing on the fact that the stylus is still a relatively new technology in terms of gameplay. As a result ANYTHING using a stylus is deemed cool, no matter how badly designed. The DS flirts with the gimmick/innovative line as a result.

That was my point. Third party developers don't know what they are doing when it comes to the DS. Only recently have we started seeing more and more innovative games from 3rd party developers (Trauma Center, Phoenix Wright).

I agree with the assessment of marketing but not with appealing to different audiences. The PSP has racing, sports, hack and slash, third and first person shooter, platforms, RPG's, puzzle, etc. The DS doesn't have a third of the titles, and some genres just simply don't work well with the DS. The DS may appeal to more non-gamers as the gameplay is simplistic, but not to the average gamer.

I completely disagree. Certain games on the DS have simplistic gameplay. It is a mistake to assume all games on the DS have simplistic gameplay. I dare you to play Trauma Center and tell me that is simplistic. Certain Nintendo 1st party titles (Mario) have always about simple gameplay. Attack Nintendo on this point, not the system.

Also, the genres you listed as being on the PSP already appeal to one specific audience: gamers. Each genre of game has it's fans, but they all fall under the same audience. I also can't think of any genre that does not work as well on the DS as on the PSP. I can only come up with genres that work better on the DS than on the PSP.

I see this as a potential problem. It's the end of challenging gameplay. Take KH II for example. The game was exceptionally well done except for difficulty. It was ridiculously easy to beat. Almost no effort of you've ever play Prince of Persia, God of War, Devil May Cry, or the Onimusha series. However, it's a high seller, and many non-gamers (including Micechatters) really enjoyed it. So are we going to see more games from Nintendo that aren't that challenging but are extremely fun to play? I hope there's a balance. I like beating opponents with skill.

Again, Nintendo has never been about difficult gameplay. They have had difficult games, but it has never been their focus.

I HIGHLY agree. I see PSP owners everywhere in between classes, and when they see me checking my emails, or watching movies from my memory stick, or reading magazines and streaming podcasts, they always say they never knew that could do that. Even the PSP instructional book says very little about what the PSP can do! If they stopped being so cryptic and juvenile with their marketing, they'd certainly get more sales.

Oddly enough, I've never seen a single PSP in public. I got to a college which is a huge gaming school (WoW, CS, etc.), to whom the PSP is marketed, yet I see over a dozen DSs a day. In fact I had a 4 person chat through pictochat during a lecture, all with people I didn't know.

[Magus]

Re: Are DS games REALLY better than PSP games?

The DS and PSP are two totally different markets. AGREED!

The DS is more of the kids/family system ... the PSP is for 20 and 30 somethings with no lives. Um I'm 17 and are you saying I have no life?

These are the same people who play WoW that South Park was talking about.

But seriously:

I was discussing this with some friends at work last night. Talking about the 360, Wii and PS3. I've said all along that ALOT of new games are more about the "wow" factor and not gameplay. I don't need to see real people kicking the crap out of each other. I like that Nintendo games are basically still "Cartoonish" and not so realistic. That's fine with me.

[Magus]

Re: Are DS games REALLY better than PSP games?

Someone remind me to reply to this with a seirous REPLY! I'm way too tired but I'm glad someone started a topic like this.

[sir clinksalot]

Re: Are DS games REALLY better than PSP games?

I disagree on the whole "Easy games" get boring.

I go back to Wario Ware. The gameplay is farely simply. In fact, it's VERY simple. It's still a great game. We sat on a 4 hour flight to Philly last year and played that game the entire time.

[Magus]

Re: Are DS games REALLY better than PSP games?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homebrew_%28video_games%29) true I know have a DS so homebrew is not that useful to me but still!
Also with the new PSP to PS3 connectivity thing should be awesome.
I own 8 games to date on the PSP each I love and have beaten I also plan on getting plenty more (right now it is slow for games) but that will kick up.
The movies thing is pretty cool I own a 2GB memory stick and decrypt my DVDs onto it all the time.
You can also read text files on it through the web browser now.
Music I have an IPod now but used to use it for that.
Photos definitely useful for magazines and cool stuff.
THE UMD is a failure but for games no one cares the loading times are usually at maximum 7 seconds they used to be bad but no one cares now.
Sony fails in all advertisement when it comes to the PSP sad to say but it does.

[Monorail Man]

Re: Are DS games REALLY better than PSP games?

You’re all forgetting about the bad part on the PSP. They keep updating it to lock out HOMBREW!

The big problem with the homebrew community was that they got out with a bad start: ISO emulation. Homebrew isn't bad itself, but it opens up a load of issues (see: Piracy, Support, Etc.). It's better for Sony to nip it in the bud, and make it harder for the casual user to do it.

[migitmouse88]

Re: Are DS games REALLY better than PSP games?

keep in mind that different people rate these games based on theyre opinions upon first playing them, and true the DS does seem to have a hit or miss kind of thing going on but when you try to top mario party with crash party or whatever they called it you know that is going to happen.

[migitmouse88]

Re: Are DS games REALLY better than PSP games?

that ign top 100 list is readers choice...sorry guys but im afraid the popular motto "you cant spell ignorance without ign" is useless here, unless it rubbed on the readers...which may be true.

[Magus]

Re: Are DS games REALLY better than PSP games?

The big problem with the homebrew community was that they got out with a bad start: ISO emulation. Homebrew isn't bad itself, but it opens up a load of issues (see: Piracy, Support, Etc.). It's better for Sony to nip it in the bud, and make it harder for the casual user to do it.

I know some ISO users all they do is buy the game and use a homebrew program to DUMP the contents of the game onto a memory stick. All it does is copy the game so they do not have to update to use them. It is not illegal in any way and anyone who tells you so is a Sony reprsenative lol.

[MickeyMania]

Re: Are DS games REALLY better than PSP games?

Let's make a home console comparison with the same two companies:

GameCube gets almost no new games, and most of the games they get come from Nintendo, who is known to deliver high quality at an almost glacial pace. There's very little third party support.

PS2 has new games coming out for it every single week. While there's a few companies who usually release good games (Rockstar, Capcom, sometimes Namco depending on the year), EVERYONE brings out their game on PS2 and that means every crummy movie/anime license game and every poorly thought out piece of shovelware pieced by comittee is released for PS2. Although there's certainly killer apps in the mix, they are outweighed by mountains of okay games and a hill-full of utter turds bringing the average review score down.

So would you pick a Cube over PS2? Because that's what you're comparing here.