Travel Technology - Nintendo DS or Sony PSP?

I want to get my brother (mid-20's) a portable gaming system for Christmas as he will be doing alot of travelling this comming year and has been a gamer since our Grandpa put an Atari under the Christmas tree during the Reagan administration.

He has always been really into Nintendo so my first blush impression would be to just get him a DS since it would already play his Gameboy games, but the Sony PSP seems on the surface to be a much more capable machine and from a glance at Wal-Mart has a much greater selection of affordable games an adult might want to play.

I'm driving myself half-crazy with this one... I looked at more gaming oriented forums but Nintendo and Sony fans seem to be just as hardcore as Mac users.

Anyone?

The DS is like the Wii; the games are much simpler, graphics are poor and it has no multimedia support. But at the end of the day, it's all just more fun than the PSP. PSP games are fairly serious, including a lot racing and shooters. But to me, Super Mario on the
DS is just a ton of fun.

I can't speak to the Sony but I do have a Nintendo DS on which I have enjoyed many (many) hours. The primary games I really like and spend the most time with are Super Mario, Brain Age2 and Club House Games. Before getting the NDS, I hadn't played anything for about 15 years. I now remember why I had to give it up (way to much time wasted!) but since I now have lots of 'free' time on my MRs, I don't feel as guilty about it. Also, at this point, these games are probably good for the old brain and dexterity.

JMHO but I really like the NDS. If you buy the NDS and give it to your brother along with a gift receipt, he can always exchange it if it turns out he'd prefer the Sony. As long as he doesn't open it, it shouldn't be a problem.

Good luck!

DD

Nintendo DS would be my choice, though I'm finding the games (some of which are free) on my iPhone to be a lot of fun!

What kind of gamer is he? Both the NDS and PSP have their strengths/weaknesses.

If your brother has really been into Nintendo, then I'd suggest the NDS as they've released classics such as Super Mario Bros, Chronotrigger, and others.

The NDS does have multi-media support, just not natively.

In case you're interested in hacking, I'd suggest you Google "DS flashcart". For the PSP, I'd suggest Googling "PSP update BIOS". ;)

I didn't like the dual screen of the Nintendo DS, so I kept my PSP. In general, I have been happy with it. There are quite a few games and, as others have said, they are a bit more "gamer" oriented. The major thing that drives me up a wall with the PSP is that it takes a long time to load and it loads pretty often. The games are on what they refer to as a UMD, which looks a bit like a minidisc. Like a minidisc, it's an opto-magnetic device, which is read by a laser. With the speed and lower costs of flash memory, I do not understand why PSP doesn't switch. There was some speculation that Sony would be coming out with a PSP2 last year to make this change amongst others, but it didn't happen. Doesn't look like it's happening this year other.

That being said, I really like that the PSP is a computer. With the correct software, you can convert television or movies to PSP format, which is watchable from the flash memory. It has built-in wireless and a built in internet browser. You can view photos and listen to music on it. In my opinion, it's much closer to a computer than a video game system. I don't use the PSP unless traveling, but I use it almost constantly when I am.

What Darren said.

We have two here, and we both take them on trips. Can place against each other with some of the games. (I'm still losing at WipeOut Pure to the bearded guy. )

I have both, and I travel with both, at least on long trips. Short trips don't deserve a handheld console. :)

The PSP games are all smooth and flashy. The DS games (at least the ones I prefer) are more engaging and addictive.

If I had to pick one, I'd go with the DS - but this is jut my personal preference.

Oh, and one thing I heard, some frequent travelers will buy an R4 or similar card for the DS, which allows them to load many game ROM files onto the device. This way there's no need to carry multiple game cartridges around. Of course these travelers will only download ROMs they've purchased via regular channels.

Similar technologies exist for the PSP, where it's actually an even bigger boon. The DS carts are fairly small, and the PSP UMD discs are ridiculously bulky in comparison. If one or two game is all you need then this is not an issue of course.

What kind of gamer is he? Both the NDS and PSP have their strengths/weaknesses.

He is into everything really except for the shoot everything that moves games like Quake and Doom etc.

Interestingly enough everywhere else I have seen this question fielded it seems the discussion came down to ease of piracy... which I really think he is too lazy to bother with.

At the moment I am leaning towards the DS just because I know he will be happy with the Nintendo franchise games - but the PSP seems like a much better device to me.

It will probably be an impulse or coin toss decision at Costco.

Yeah, tough decision. The old Ninty games are a lot of fun. However, I'd seriously consider buying the PSP just to play God of War.

Both are good. ^

I went with the DS, matters were helped greatly by him specifically telling my sister he wasn't interested in a PSP