Actually, buy both if you can. 

Hello everyone! I missed you guys.  It’s me, and I’m back. 

During my absence, let me prove to you that never have I sidetracked into the diverse, fun and complicated world of gaming.  In fact, it even gave me good training in broadening my perspective on how games and consoles should be treated as most of my free time was spent holding a DS to my right and a PSP to my left.  If the batteries go out, I spend my time whacking evil with my Wiimote and Nunchuck, rock out with Tom Morelo in Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock, and sometimes lay on the couch reviewing whom to assassinate next (chill, I’m just playing Assassin’s Creed) XD.

But let’s narrow down the topic to PSP and DS.  I want to lay out the facts and help the still undecided which to buy. 

For starters, let me say this: I challenge the general assumption that the DS is ONLY for casual gamers and the PSP is ONLY for the hardcore ones.  And to make it clear, I’m not saying that hardcore gamers don’t enjoy playing casual games cause I’m a living proof of it.

I remember when I was 4, I played Contra for countless hours after doing my homework.  As I grew older, I started playing out different genres and among my favorites were RPG and Action games.  As I assess myself now, I think it’s quite safe to say that almost every game that came out in different consoles were familiar and played by me, making me fall under the hardcore gamer category.  Yup, I am one of those people who spend countless hours in the arcade and as if I haven’t had enough, spend a lot of time playing video games upon arriving home. 

As a hardcore gamer, I find it hard to ignore the fact that many believe that the DS wouldn’t appeal much to the hardcore gamers out there.

The DS, I must say, really appealed to me.  Games like Phoenix Wright, Nintendogs and Harvest Moon were reasons enough to buy a DS.  Though graphics wise it isn’t as advanced as the PSP, the games I mentioned have game play that is enough to make you sit on the couch an entire day or make you miss your stop when you’re on the train.  During my gaming experience, I see no reason why the stylus-driven handheld should only focus on the casual market.  

PSP on the other hand (yeah, literaly on the other hand), rivaled the DS with it’s ginormous capacity to hold features like being able to play quality movies and being able to use Skype in an IT area.  What’s more, is that you can play games in a bigger screen without sacrificing the quality of the video like what happened in Resident Evil 1 when it was ported to the DS.  But how about the games? Did they release a generous amount to be enjoyed by gamers? Dang right they did.

Final Fantasy: Crisis Core and Dracula X for me were reasons enough to buy a PSP.  Me and my Katamari and Patapon were nice alternatives if you want a break from the heavier games.  The inital games that were released for the PSP may be for the hardcore market, but slowly, it seems that PSP is slipping in games for the casual market as well with Lumines Plus, Harvey Birdman: Attorney at Law, and the two alternative games I mentioned above. 

So, should it be the DS or the PSP?

Get the DS if you want something fresh.  Fresh meaning game play you’ve never seen before.  Poke the screen, speak through the mic, make it your personal organizer, a health checklist by playing Brain Age, etc.  From what I can see, it has the same concept with the Wii, breaking the traditional wall of game play experience.

Buy the PSP if you’re happy with having a gadget that can do a lot of things other than gaming and if you’re already satisfied with the traditional way of how games are made. 

What I’m really trying to say

Don’t base the games to be played solely in deciding which handheld is for you if you’re confused with what to get between the two.  Instead, a better way of discerning which is which is to study how the console works and decide which fits your lifestyle, because both has an outstanding library of games you’d really want to play.  Unless of course your mind is already set on that particular game as a "reason enough to buy the DS or the PSP," considering the handheld’s prowess might be a better idea to help you out.

This entry was posted on Monday, February 18th, 2008 at 8:59 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.