[Deku]

current status: DS > PSP thanks to castlevania

DS > PSP.

I bought the PSP first last year and it was the worst decision of my life. The gigashit announcement today makes me hate Sony even more. I am a recent new owner of the DS and despite its obvious weaker graphics chipset and a less brillaint screen, the games and the other neat things outweight it.

Holding a clamshell designed Nintendo product in my hand, I can actually feel secure enough to put some abuse on my DS. The DS does indeed feel like a higher quality product when you hold it in your hand and you're trying to decide if you should toss it into your bag or gingerly put it in.

But It's all about the games. Nintendogs is by far the most innovative and interesting virtual pet game that I've ever played. I'm seriously hoping a niche developer in japan makes a dating simulation on the DS using the mic/touchscreen functionality. Those two features turn the virtual pet genre from a boring exercise in menu navigation to a fun game. They will make the dating sims interesting again.

I have Lost in Blue and Trauma Center ordered. Mario Kart DS on day 1 and after that Animal Crossing DS. Not time for Grand Theft Auto which to me offer nothing new. It's the same experience all over again, except on a smaller screen.

The DS and the PSP does have to be the dumbest console war ever and yet it's also the most obvious, because they are both so different in their appeal that they represent not just a clash of corporate ambition, but ideology.

PSP represents Sony's unrestrained hubris and how far they will go to squeeze every single dollar out of its consumers with high end poorly thought out products.