Okay, so maybe I was a tad harsh in my dismissal of the Nintendo DS. Both have been launched recently and of the two, the DS appears to be doing better. There are a couple of factors relating to this.

First is that Sony have only launched the DS in Japan while Nintendo have launched in Japan and the US. When Nintendo started selling their DS in Japan, Sony — bold as you like — teased gamers by taking over Subway stations and having functioning PSPs presented behind reinforced plastic with armed guards. When Nintendo furiously churned out DSes for sale in the US, Sony sat on their Laurels and insisted that they were manufacturing 500,000 units, no more, no less. This number barely managed to cover all of the internet pre-orders, with retail units barely getting a slice of the action.

Then of course, you have the battle of the launch titles. In this case, Nintendo have Sony licked. They launched with an update of their most successful and most celebrated titles to date, Mario 64, as well as numerous other first-party titles. To further pile on the pressure, they even resorted to giving out a “demo cartridge” of what was coming with the new Metroid Prime (which immediatley conjured memories of the [Kenner Star Wars “Early Bird” certificate](http://www.toysrgus.com/index.php?action=disp_item&item_id=39696)). Sony could merely present people with a handful of games.

Finally, there are the other factors, such as the much-reported battery status of the PSP. Apparently, despite all best promises, the PSP can still only manage roughly 45 minutes of battery power when playing Ridge Racers, whereas Nintendo with its years of experience of creating handheld gaming hardware, can squeeze something ridiculous out of the DS.

Any or all of these could lead to keeping people away from the PSP.

I recently had the opportunity to play with a DS brought back from the US. I had a mixed bag of first impressions. First was the aesthetics of the thing — it’s big, and ugly. And I mean _really_ big and _really_ ugly. Close enough to two Gameboy Advances sellotaped together to make me want to open it quickly to find something to like. Opening it up, it feels plasticky, but the interface is nice. Starting up Metroid, I got to see what the touchscreen was all about. It works well in Metroid. It feels natural to move your thumb to the place you want to look. It also makes for some logical, intuitive menu options.

But I really wanted to try out Mario 64 in it.

Let me just say this… I play a _lot_ of videogames. Right now, I’m switching between four different games. In spite of this, or rather _because_ of this, I rarely finish games. I finished Mario 64, and it remains the largest game I’ve ever finished. This is because, more than any other game, Mario 64 was able to hold my attention for all the time it took for me to want to finish it. So the DS’s Mario 64 had a lot to live up to.

It’s playful and interesting to use the touchscreen to control it, but ultimately frustrating. I immediately went swimming and found that this wasn’t as obvious or as well-thought-out as the N64 version. Controlling Mario in general had an air of concentration about it, whereas with the N64 controller, it was something that came naturally. I didn’t play much of Mario 64, but from what I saw, it seemed more frustrating than I would have liked.

It might seem like I’m still bad-mouthing the DS, and I’m sorry if it comes across that way. There’s a lot to like about the DS, and most impressively, the forthcoming titles look **fun**. Who couldn’t love a game where you have to shout “I LOVE YOU” as loud as you can to win the level? (The microphone is another feature I’m sure many games developers will have a lot of fun developing with). I’ll buy one, because they’re cheap and I have a special place in my heart for Nintendo games. I’ll wait until its European release in March 2005.

But I’m importing my PSP.

**Note: This was originally posted in my Livejournal, but should probably appear here as well**

A lot has been said about the new Sony PSP since the launch was announced yesterday. So I thought I’d throw my own hat into the ring here.

I’m thrilled to hear the final launch specs of the PSP. Sony have been pushing grown-up gaming since they entered the videogame market with the PlayStation. And they seem to have a firm understanding of what adults want from videogames. Compare this to Nintendo, whose new DS reeks of “Well, uh.. we’ve got a successful platform in the Gameboy Advance.. let’s add another screen! And make it a touch screen! Who wouldn’t want one of them? And uh.. uh.. ah, we’ll just figure it out as we go along”. [In fact, it would seem this feature was added purely to give Nintendo something to use as the cornerstone of their new ‘adult’ marketing campaign – “[touching](http://www.geedorah.com/img/upl/8df3b4b8_NDS.jpg) [is](http://www.cube-europe.com/movies/dscommercial01.wmv) [good](http://www.cube-europe.com/newsgfx/nintendotouch.jpg)” (which, quite frankly, is a little embarassing)].

Adults want:

* __Something Pretty__
The PSP is an incredibly pretty piece of consumer technology. It’s small, has sleek lines and stands out from all other handhelds on the market (although sometimes smacks of the Atari Lynx, depending on the light). Sony demonstrated the kind of peerage they’re placing the PSP with in their decision to provide white headphones with the PSP.
* __Something Functional__
The PSP will be able to play games, music, and videos, as well as connect to wireless networks (whether you’ll be able to browse the internet or collect email from it remains to be seen). On the music side, they had originally planned not to support .mp3 in favour of their own proprietary ATRAC3 format, but finally gave in to consumer pressure.
* __Something Entertaining__
Sony aren’t taking any chances and have encouraged developers to port their biggest-selling Playstation games to the PSP. Within the first year, we will have titles from the following series on the PSP:
* Burnout
* Bust-a-move
* Dynasty Warriors
* Formula 1
* Gran Turismo
* Metal Gear Solid
* Ridge Racer
* Tony Hawk Underground 2
* Wipeout

Each of these will be of a quality roughly equivalent to their PS2 counterparts.

On a personal level, I’m looking forward to the PSP for two reasons.

First is the wireless connectivity. There was some debate as to whether or not this would make it into the final specs of the machine, and I’m glad to see it has. This means that content can be downloaded directly to the machine, as we’re beginning to see with XBox Live. It also provides the means for true opportunistic gaming. For example, say I’m playing with a PSP on a bus, and I see that someone else is also playing with a PSP, we can instantly join our games and play against each other. A beautifully simple idea that, if you’ll excuse the gushing hyperbole, could revolutionise the way the general public views multi-player games*.

The second reason I’m looking forward to the PSP stems from my sense of self-preservation. I live in a house of non-gamers who, I feel, sometimes resent my occasional gaming and accompanying misappropriation of the TV. There was once a threat that my XBox could go out the window if I didn’t turn it off. A PSP could be the answer to this, or at least a happy medium – a non-intrusive way for me to play games without having to lock myself away in my room.

Right now, the Japanese launch price is 20,790 yen (approximately EUR150). MCV are reporting that the European launch price could be around the EUR300 mark.

_Yes, I know the n-gage already has wireless gaming just like the PSP is proposing, but I have yet to meet one person who will even admit to wanting an n-gage, let alone meet someone who actually owns one. Compare this to everyone I’ve spoken to saying how they’re lusting after a PSP_