Mantech Proj 4 - PSP and NDS

For my 2 Technological Products, I choose PSP and NDS. These 2 products are often compared because it’s a favorite among the gamers and consumers alike.The balance of power in the handheld game market experienced a significant upset two years ago when Sony used their press conference at E3 2003 to announce the development of the Playstation Portable.

At the time, Nintendo held utter dominance of the portable game market with over 90% market share thanks to the Gameboy, and now, the Nintendo DS. Just by the very announcement, though, Sony kicked the gaming media into overdrive. In the hallway outside of Sony’s studios, where the press conference was held, you could hear comments like, “It’s going to be great,” and, “Way better than the DS,” from the gathered journalists. This was before anyone had seen pictures of the unit, product designs, or even a suggested retail price; the game industry was ready to buy it on Sony’s say-so alone.
Now that the Nintendo DS has released in the U.S., the PSP in Japan, and a with a late March 2005 PSP launch date for those of us over here in the States, a lot more is known about both systems than was known then. While it’s still difficult to do a full-blown comparison prior to having an English version of the PSP in hand, there is enough info to make some pretty solid early comparisons between the two. Gone are the days when you could mention Nintendo and assume you’d covered the significant players in the handheld market; now it’s Sony and Nintendo, and you can’t consider buying either system without knowing both.

The PSP (short for PlayStation Portable) is a handheld game console released and currently manufactured by Sony Computer Entertainment. Its development was first announced during E3 2003, and it was officially unveiled on May 11, 2004 at a Sony press conference before E3 2004. The system was released in Japan on December 12, 2004, the United States and Canada on March 24, 2005 and in Europe and Australia on September 1, 2005. It is considered the first handheld video game system to use an optical disc format (Universal Media Disc).

A new slimmer and lighter version of the PSP, appropriately titled Slim and Lite, was announced on July 11, 2007, during Sony's press conference at E3 2007. It was made available in the US, Europe and Japan in September 2007 with various colours and a very different box packaging to the original PSP. Among these versions three were physically shown at E3 2007: a white version with a Star Wars imprint, a piano black version and an ice silver version.

The Nintendo DS (sometimes abbreviated NDS or DS) is a handheld game console developed and manufactured by Nintendo, which was released in 2004 in Canada, U.S., and Japan. The console features a clamshell design, similar to the Game Boy Advance SP, with two LCD screens inside - one of which is a touchscreen. The Nintendo DS also features a built-in microphone and supports wireless IEEE 802.11 (Wi-Fi) standards, allowing players to interact with each other within short range (10–30 m, depending on conditions) or online with the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection service. This was the first Nintendo game console to be released in North America prior to Japan.

The system's code name was Nitro.The console's name officially refers to "Dual Screen", the system's most obvious feature, and "Developers' System", in reference to the new game design the system was meant to inspire.

On March 2, 2006, Nintendo released the Nintendo DS Lite, a redesign of the Nintendo DS, in Japan. It was later released in North America, Europe, and Australia in June 2006. The DS Lite is a slimmer and lighter version of the Nintendo DS and has brighter screens. Nintendo of America refers to the older model as the "original style" Nintendo DS
A Brief Overview of the Two Systems:
Nintendo DS: Known as the Nintendo Dual-Screen, the DS is a handheld game device with two screens, a stylus pen, and the ability to play both Nintendo DS and Gameboy Advance games. Equipped with wireless technology, a touch sensitive screen, and a microphone, the DS has many characteristics similar to a specialized PDA, but with awesome gaming ability. It was released in the U.S. in November of 2004.
Sony Playstation Portable (PSP): The Playstation Portable is Sony’s answer to Nintendo’s handheld market dominance. With a large wide-screen display, more powerful innards than the DS, and a media type capable of storing 1.8 gigabytes of data, the PSP is well positioned to change how we think of portable gaming.
Prices:
Nintendo DS: $150.00
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Sony Playstation Portable: $200 – 250
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Detailed breakdown:

Technically, the PSP dominates the DS in terms of horsepower. With far superior hardware under the hood, the PSP is capable of pushing out graphics that fall somewhere between the PS and the PS2. This means that the PSP has about the same graphical advantages over the DS that the Playstation 2 has over the Nintendo 64 (sorta). However, other hardware differences make this a different story than that of the doomed N64. Whereas the PSP is basically a portable version of the current PS2 home console, the Nintendo DS includes a number of features that have never been seen in a handheld gaming unit. The PSP’s strength lies in its graphic ability, and the DS’s strength lies in its additional features and creativity. Let’s compare the two units point by point.
Screens:
PSP: The PSP has a 4.3-inch screen, which is gigantic in terms of handheld systems. The screen uses a letterbox resolution of 480 x 272, and has 24-bit color, meaning that it’s capable of displaying millions of colors with a quality that is unparalleled in terms of portable game units.
DS: The DS has two separate screens that run simultaneously depending on the game you’re playing. While both screens are smaller than the PSP’s single display, they can be used in tandem to provide varying information, such as a map on one and your playable character on the other. Additionally, the bottom screen on the DS is touch-sensitive, so in addition to being a display device, it can be an interface. The included stylus pen allows for a great deal of variety in approach to game design and control.

The screens on the DS and the PSP are equally cool, in my opinion. The PSP is certainly going to have more wow power with its wide-screen gaming, but the DS is going to be capable of more in the long run. This is a good example of the difference between Nintendo and Sony’s approach to the market; Sony offers the current home console experience on the go, while Nintendo offers a different approach all together.
Connectivity:
DS: The Nintendo DS comes wirelessly enabled, meaning that DS games with a multiplayer feature are capable of linking together without cables for some co-operative or competitive fun. Many DS titles allow multiple DS systems to play together with only one physical copy of the game. The disadvantage of the DS wireless is that while it is technically able to connect to an 802.11b network, there isn’t any software available that allows you to do it. While the DS will be able to connect to wireless hotspots somewhere down the road, it doesn’t do it out of the box, making any future over-the-internet style gaming an accessory or game dependent option.
PSP: The PSP uses Wi-Fi 802.11b communication protocol to enable wireless gaming for it as well.
This serves the same function as the wireless in the DS. The PSP is also capable of connecting to existing Wi-Fi hotspots, and may be able to download firmware upgrades over the Internet when they're released sometime in the future. While the Japanese units are not capable of surfing the Internet at the moment, there is a possibility such features will be included with updates or additional software that comes down the road.

Online gaming for the DS and PSP are both equally possible, and just a matter of time. How they are implemented is pure speculation until it happens. What is concrete is that the DS is built to allow at least some wireless gaming with a single cartridge; you don’t need four friends with the same game in order to enjoy the experience, just four friends with one DS each. The DS’s touch pad and stylus also allow users to send text and graphic messages back and forth wirelessly, which the PSP can’t do for lack of an easy way to input messages. Based on what the systems are capable of doing at this moment, the DS is better designed to let the user do more with the system’s capabilities.
Controls:

The only significant difference between the controls, besides the DS’s ability to use the touch screen, which opens all sorts of possibilities, is that the PSP has an analog stick as well as a traditional directional pad. Since most games on the home consoles use analog sticks for control now days, it’s a good bet the PSP’s will see a great deal of use. However, it’s a specially designed analog control that doesn’t extend far from the front of the unit, and it may or may not be really useful. We’ll see when the PSP launches how this feature works.
Game Media:

The PSP and DS utilize different types of media for storing games. Games for the PSP come on what’s called Universal Media Discs, basically miniature DVDs created with a certain type of laser, and can store up to 1.8 gigabytes worth of data. This is substantially more than the Nintendo DS, which clocks in at a maximum of about 128 megabytes per card. In short, the media capacity for the PSP is an order of magnitude greater than the DS. To give you a comparative idea of how much memory 1.8 gigs is, keep in mind that the Xbox version of Morrowind IV: Elder Scrolls, one of the most complex games ever made, is roughly only 900 megabytes (less than one gigabyte), less than the 1.8 gigabytes of the UMD. In fact, so is Beyond Good and Evil, GTAIII, GTA: VC, Soul Calibur 2, Time Splitters 2, The Sims: Bustin’ Out, and The Urbz. At that size, the PSP discs are fully capable of holding pretty much anything the PSP is capable of playing.
Battery Life:

The disadvantages of having a DVD-style media device is that accessing it is more power consuming than the card-based media of the DS. As a consequence, the battery life of the DS is substantially greater than that of the PSP. According to reports on the actual Japanese version of the PSP, the system runs for roughly 3.5 hours per charge, depending on what you’re doing with the system. The DS, on the other hand, lays claim to between 6 to 8 hours worth of gaming life on a single charge.
Games:

The PSP and the Nintendo DS will both have great games, each with their fair share of exclusive titles. The DS will have Zelda, already has Mario, and the PSP will tout Sony exclusives. Though I’m cheering for the touch screen capacity of the DS (see below), only time will tell which system wins out in the software war. There is, however, a huge advantage that goes to the Nintendo DS: backwards compatibility. With the PS2 and the GameCube, the home consoles, Sony’s system has hundreds of more titles than the GameCube when you include both PS and PS2 games. In the handheld market, though, Nintendo has the situation reversed. The Nintendo DS is capable of playing Gameboy Advance games, which are about as good in terms of graphics as the old Super Nintendo game system

At this moment, two months after launch, this gives the DS around 800 announced titles, 63 of them designed from the ground up for the DS, compared to the PSP’s 75. These titles include classic games that are amazingly addictive, with games like Zelda: A Link to the Past, Four Swords, and Minish Cap. Not only is Mario 64 available for the DS, but you can also play versions of Super Mario World, Mario Brothers 2, and Mario Brothers 3. There are tons of good games that can be picked up for cheap, and they’re all available right now, off the shelves, for the Nintendo DS. It’s an advantage that simply can’t be ignored.

For me, PSP is still better than NDS because its much flexible in terms that it can do more than just regular gaming.

References: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PlayStation_Portable, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nintendo_DS