Clash Of The Titans – Handheld Console Edition

For a self-professed “gamer”, I’m terribly behind the times where games and consoles are concerned (but I’d never admit it out loud and would insist that I am simply “old-fashioned” or “traditionalist”). My console of choice for years was – and still is – my laptop, thanks to my GBA, SNES and NES emulators. Up until last December, I’d only owned an NES (it’s like that crazy ancient relative that just refuses to kick the bucket), a GBA that wasn’t technically mine to begin with (it’s Munchkin #2’s – not that she ever played it, or that I ever gave her a chance to do so), and an N64; on my 22nd birthday we (finally) added a PS2 to the mix. That opened up a whole new world of soul-devouring gaming action for me to explore – or at least it would have if first semester’s exams, a month-long trip to the Philippines, second semester, and other such important things hadn’t gotten in the way. Being out of school for the time being hasn’t helped that at all, as I spend what was formerly considered class time sitting in front of a computer scanning documents until my eyes fall out of my head.

But I digress.

With my financial prospects looking up for the time being, I’ve decided to invest in a new handheld console for several reasons:

• It’s another way to tune out my co-workers – I can’t vouch for whether or not “Frick, you just made me die” is a more valid admonition than “Frick, you just made me lose my page”, but it’s more likely to garner an apology than a command to suck it up, princess.
• I can retire the GBA – probably to trade it in or something, as it has a tendency to eat my Fire Emblem save files. And if I don’t retire it, I can give it back to Munchkin #2… who will probably trade it in anyhow.
• Although I’ve got emulators aplenty on my laptop, I can’t exactly whip it out on a whim if I were, for example, busing up to campus. It’s awkward. Believe me, I’ve tried.

I was eyeing the DS Lite originally; I’ve been known to borrow (read: steal) Munchkin #1’s DS on occasion, so there won’t be any of that awkward “where the frick are my buttons?!” fumbling that usually comes with handling a new console. A friend of mine recently proposed an alternative: the sleek, sexy, shiny PSP. “You gotta get one,” he says, in a way that subtly implies that if I don’t he’ll disown me. Decisions, decisions.

I did a bit of research, but as the original PSP vs. DS debate is a bit outdated by now, the following ramblings are based more on my personal experience and preferences. Ahem…

Exterior Hawtness Factor:

Let’s face it: while both systems come in a veritable panoply of colors, the PSP is sleeker and shinier, and therefore has a significant advantage in the hawtness department, especially in lavender. Unfortunately, at less than an inch thick, it’s not going to look so pretty when I drop it on its face, which, considering my lack of fine motor skills, is a very likely possibility. The most I’ll have to worry about if/when dropping the DS is how big of a dent I make in my floor – the screens are well protected thanks to the DS’s clamshell-like hull, although the hinges have proven to be a problem for other users in the past (although I can’t really see how, unless these are people who were in the habit of whipping their handhelds across the room in a fit of rage).

I’m well aware that yes, there are cases available for both. I’ll get back to that in a bit.

Screen/Graphics:

The PSP boasts a ginormous 4.3″ 124-bit color widescreen display which, when paired with a beast of a graphics engine, gives you the graphic equivalent of something between PSOne and PS2, a clarity and quality virtually unheard-of in handheld consoles. Where the PSP goes for taking a good thing and making it mobile, the DS takes a good thing… and churns out something else entirely. The fact that the DS has two screens opens up lots of potential on its own in terms of game layout and whatnot, but the added fact that one of those is a touchscreen that can serve as an interface all its own is pretty kickass. However, the DS’s graphical capabilities fall desperately short compared to the PSP, looking more like the N64 than much else.

This one’s a draw. Things look ridiculously gorgeous on the PSP, but the DS’s touchscreen and all of its gaming possibilities are just too awesome to ignore. Which brings me to my next point…

Games:

The PSP may have kickin’ graphics, but the DS has backwards compatibility with the GBA, making a massive game library available right from the get-go. My research tells me that while Nintendo’s third-party pickings have always been slim, the DS being no exception, their first-party offerings are top-notch. That’s all fine and dandy, but to be honest, I don’t pay attention to that.

Now, I have very little hands-on experience with the PSP. Occasionally one of my buddies on campus will come in squealing about whatever new PSP-related purchase she’s made and I’ll get to play around with it for a bit (last time I did it was Patapon, and I was intrigued, awed by all the cuteness, and disturbed at watching that cuteness run the other cuteness through the gut with spears – to music, of all things). I also played a bit of this one driving game that involves… um… fast cars. And cops. And that bloody “Ridin’ Dirty” song over and over and over again, even after the game was finished because my six-year-old cousin would walk around singing it. The only other time I handled a PSP was to make a quick inventory of another friend’s songs. Don’t get me wrong, the games are fantastic – visually and aurally stunning and all. They’re also, well, a bit intimidating, to be honest; I worry that I’m too much of a n00b to get through a game in sufficient time and will thus end up leaving it for ages, then should I ever pick it up again I’ll forget where I am and what I’m doing. (I’m kind of feeling that right now with Final Fantasy XII – more on that another day.)

I have far more experience with the DS, and most of the reason why I’m leaning towards buying it is the fact that it’s a system I’m far more comfortable with, and not only in terms of navigating the console. I was weaned on all things Mario, and the DS’s offerings in Nintendo’s flagship franchise are superb, from good old platformer-style games like the New Super Mario Bros. and Super Princess Peach, to the perennial favorite Mario Kart, to Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time, descendant of the timeless Super Mario RPG.

Then there are the newcomers to the gaming table. For a moment, let’s ignore the jokingly-posed possibility that Cooking Mama might have set women’s lib back about fifty years and focus on how fricking awesome it is that I can tap the touchscreen a few times, blow into a microphone, and make perfect tempura, because I know I’ll never be able to do that in real life. The Brain Age series, on top of the fact that it really does keep your brain in shape, makes fantastic use of both the touchscreen and the mic in the various minigames and makes allowances for lefties (you flip the DS over). A few of the non-trainer-based Pokémon games, such as Pokémon Dash, Pokémon Ranger, and Pokémon Rescue Team, make very interesting (if occasionally frustrating – okay, frequently frustrating in the case of Ranger) use of the stylus. And finally, I’m going to throw in Phoenix Wright, because who doesn’t want a random reason to scream “OBJECTION!” into their handheld?

At the end of the day, it all depends on what your gaming style is. I’d suppose the more hardcore folks would better appreciate the PSP’s more “epic” game fare, while casual gamers, drawn to the PSP because of its looks and how much power it packs under the hood, would ultimately go to the DS out of familiarity and the fact that the games are just fun, no matter what the skill level involved.

I will admit, though, that Final Fantasy IV has planted me very firmly on the Nintendo side of the fence. The upcoming release of Dragon Quest IV in September and the promise of DQ V and VI later on, both of which have never been released in North America, have essentially chained me to the DS bandwagon. Now that these games are involved, for me there’s not much of a contest.

Modding:

Okay, I’ll admit it – in all likelihood, I’m going to end up pirating the majority of the games I procure (unless I really, really, really like them) because I’m a cheap scoundrel like that.

For the PSP, there’s Pandora’s Battery – a memory stick/battery combo that downgrades the PSP firmware to the hacker-friendly v1.5 and unbricks PSPs that had been fried by previous failed hacking attempts. There are two options available: send your PSP out to have Pandora installed, or order everything in and do it yourself. Call me paranoid, but modding the hardware on anything is not an option I’d go for as there’s far too much risk involved. The cost of parts, shipping and labour, and the risk of my console being lost in transit, stolen, or fried beyond repair, are in no way outweighed by my not having to dish out $30 a game. On top of that, Pandora’s Battery seems to be just the beginning of the modding process. I’m somewhat lacking in the ability to take things apart, tinker with them, and competently put them back together, so for me it’s a lot more effort than it’s worth.

The hardware of choice for good-for-nothing game pirating DS users is the slot-1 (DS) and slot-2 (GBA) storage device, which utilizes either flash memory or a removable memory card in lieu of rewritable storage. Munchkin #1 uses the slot-1-loading M3 Simply; downloaded games are easily transferred onto the microSD card, which is plugged into the M3 flash card (or you could plug the flash card with the microSD card inserted directly into your computer if it’s got a flash card reader), which is then loaded through slot-1, and presto! that’s that. With the exception of the occasional need to reboot and the even rarer need to reformat and re-download games, the storage cartridges are pretty much problem-free. In terms of cost, the M3 DS Simply and M3 DS Real are about $40-$60 USD, plus the microSD cards – roughly $20 USD for a 1GB microSD and $45 for a 4GB microSDHC. I’d be looking at a grand total of about $60USD, as the 1GB card’s more than enough room for me, even with the added media capabilities. They can, of course, come cheaper – I had a friend selling a whole whack of them for $30 a pop, so we’ll see if that comes up again.

Cost:

Let’s keep this short and sweet. Ahem:

• Unmodded, new PSP: ~$169.99USD – $249.99USD at launch
• Games: ~$30USD each
• Case: ~$15-$25USD
• TOTAL: ~$214.99-$224.99USD

Meanwhile:

• Nintendo DS: ~$129.99USD – given inflation, currency conversion, etc., almost no difference from price at launch
• Games: ~$20-$30USD each
• Case: $10-$15USD
• TOTAL: ~$159.99-$174.99USD

…which gives me nearly enough pocket change to pick up an M3 DS Simply and a 1GB microSD card for the price of a PSP and gear.

And the winner is: the DS Lite, by being cheaper, more creative, and easier for me to use. And to be honest, it had already won with the FFIV and DQIV releases.

And so, that will be mine within the next couple of paychecks. Woohoo!