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PSP and DSi Feature Comparison

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When the Nintendo DSi launches in the United States on April 5th, it will come with a hefty price tag of $170. Sony PSP fans will notice that this puts the Nintendo handheld at exactly the same price point as the PSP 3000 core pack, which currently retails for $169.99 in the United States. Excitement for the DS successor couldn't be any higher as we wait for it to arrive, but does the DSi offer value at its current price? To find out, we compare the features in both the Sony PSP 3000 and Nintendo DSi right out of the box.


What’s in the box?

The new Nintendo DSi will come with some extra value items right out of the box, but it won’t have everything you need to fully enjoy the handheld. Bundled with the DSi in America will be the console itself, a power connector, a slightly longer stylus, and manual. Strangely absent are the headphones that came with our original DS Lite. The system will also come with more powerful on-board software that provides some cool multimedia functionality, discussed below.

The Nintendo DSi comes with 256 MB of internal storage, but you will probably need to buy a high capacity SD card if you want to take advantage of all of the great paid content that will be available over the Nintendo DS WiFi store. Also, the DSi will not come with a case of any kind, owing to its protective clamshell design. Still, for all that money we wish that Nintendo would provide more in the way of accessories right out of the box … heck, even a wrist strap would provide one additional bullet point on lists like these. The $170 PSP 3000 core pack comes with the console, power cord, and onboard software, but similarly lacks a case or headphones.



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Multimedia Functionality

The DSi upgrades Nintendo’s handheld multimedia capabilities, and puts it on par with the PSP in some areas. Firstly, the system now includes a fully featured music player that supports the MP3 format and can play songlists from any SD card. The DSi also comes with on-board music visualization software with 14 different patterns, and a nifty but not particularly useful pitch manipulation feature.

The biggest new feature on the DSi is, without a doubt, the inclusion of two cameras. One 0.3 megapixel lens points away from the user, while another 0.3 megapixel camera points at the player. Onboard software allows users to capture, edit, and manipulate still photos and video clips, which can be saved on the SD card. However, the resulting resolution is so low (500x500 pixels) that few users will want to do anything other than play with images on their handheld. Still, Nintendo definitely has Sony beat when it comes to image editing software, since the 3 megapixel PSP camera is not available in America, and costs approximately $99 to import.

The DSi also comes with an on-board internet browser, but so far users have complained that it is slow and lacks necessary features like Java and Flash support.


Games Library

By far the most important feature of any handheld gaming system is its library of titles. The DSi shows a lot of promise, since it follows on the coattails of one of the most beloved handhelds in history, which already boasts an impressive back catalogue of more than 1000 titles. For the moment, however, there do not appear to be any games that take advantage of the new features of the DSi. With so many old DS Lites in hands around the world, few publishers are willing to take the risk of creating a DSi exclusive. Based on the popularity of Nintendo consoles, however, we are certain that they will come eventually, and you will want them.

Right now the PSP is going through a bit of a slump when it comes to game releases, but there are some fantastic titles coming up in the next 6 months that are definitely going to be worth a look: Resistance Retribution, Loco Roco 2, Patapon 2, and Phantasy Star Portable are among the titles to keep an eye out for. You can read our full preview of upcoming PSP games for 2009 here.


Our Verdict

It is hard to pretend that we are unbiased with a name like “PSP World”, but our honest opinion is that the Nintendo DSi is simply not worth the exorbitant price tag it commands at launch. We contend that prices have been artificially driven up by the weak Japanese Yen and the massive hype for all things Nintendo here in the States. We think that many new converts will find the DSi to be little more than a cosmetic upgrade to the DS Lite until several months from now when actual titles start to arrive. Our advice is to hold off on buying one until the inevitable price drop comes or an exclusive game catches your eye. For the moment, few handheld devices can match the value of the PSP.



Stumble It!

Comments

deityofanime

 - February 19, 2009 12:02 PM

Well I'll buy one the moment it's out in England... because I have to... my Lite's L button stopped working...

Stubacca

 - February 19, 2009 2:47 PM

I have a PSP whilst my girlfriend has the original DS. I've never liked the ninty handheld but she finds it useful for her simple, girly games. However, there is no point in her getting the DSi. It lacks any REAL improvements and I figure the casual gamer market both in Europe and the States must surely be of the same mind. Will it really be that worthwhile? Anyways, I'll stick with my PSP. Just wish there was more games. And more unique games too.

Lathspell

 - February 19, 2009 5:28 PM

In expansys you can get the european version of the psp camera(Go!Cam) for 53$. By the way the camera is 1.3MP ;-) www.expansys-usa.com

Matthew

 - February 19, 2009 9:17 PM

I don't know what you're talking about with the Yen being weak?! I live in Japan and the Yen is killing the Dollar. Right now it is less than 90 cents to 100 yen.

Wolf26pack

 - February 20, 2009 4:02 AM

I have both a PSP 1000 and a DS Lite and still believe that the PSP is better. It has all the Multimedia features that the DSi will now have but IMHO the PSP does the job better. The only thing that would even make me possibly consider buying a DSi would be if Nintendo allowed owners of the Wii & DSi to transfer virtual console games on the SD card from their Wii's to their DSi's so we could play our Virtual Console games on the go. Anybody for a little Super Mario RPG Portable?

AYEFOO

 - March 14, 2009 10:56 PM

man dat sucks here in texas we are only getting the black a blue DSi and everywhere else u r getting the white one although im getting the blue one cus the bright color is AWSOME!!!

???

 - April 13, 2009 10:12 PM

i have a nntendo ds and im thinking of getting a psp 3000 this weekend ak=lthough that depends on scool at the moment but i want really badly!!! the ds lite is nothing much but a handheld touch screen gaming device. and i think that the dsi is the same but with some tweeks and 2 megapixel cam. which i got on my cell. so take some advice and think of getting a psp or something intead of a dsi cause im switching from ds to psp 3000!!!!!!!!!!!!! inshallah iam

DOh

 - April 20, 2009 9:36 PM

I think with the DS slowing down due to everyone already owning one (sales in JApan had really come down for the DS) Nintendo feared that one day DS sales will come to a halt and PSP will still sell quite well, and with a possibility with a new PSP ugrade or even a PSP 2 sometime, Nintendo had to do somthing. Nintendo have obviously put the the DSi together quickly and added features that will force the current DS owners to buy a DSi if they want these features. Whats great about the PSP is that with all 3 versions, you can still do all the same things on all 3. Because when Sony adds new features, its for all 3 versions and Sony doesn't ask you to buy a new handheld because they've put all these new features on PSP 3000. Nintendo are masters at making you buy all their hardware and peripherals, and making you ugrade to new hardware just for some slight tweak that can't be done on current hardware. Remember the GBA? Why didn't Nintendo add a backlight to it in the first place. They came out with the GBA SP and I bet every single GBA owner bought a SP. Nintendo have added a crappy camera thats worse than a 10 year old camera phone, the worst browser in history and I have yet to hear what the music player sounds like but I imagine its not to clever. All deliberately done so Nintendo can come out with DSii that will improve on these features.

tspideyboy

 - June 7, 2009 8:58 PM

my friend has a dsi it's really cool. i do think that it's a little pricey. i kinda want a psp too. i don't know what to get. if you guys could tell me some of the coolest features of the psp that would be great.

DaHumanBomb

 - July 11, 2009 1:02 AM

I really recommened u buying a psp because u can get mo mem nd play online with pple all over da world.plus internet radio player,costumize ur theme to wateva,make ur photos to ur wallpaper,download stuff from internet,even has a ps store,but u can even check ur email. so yeah buy a psp y not. i wrote all of dis with my psp internet browser..

Black Magic

 - August 20, 2009 11:45 PM

The DSI is for little kids, why would some one over the age of 13 get a DSI when u can get a psp for the same price

Mike Waldon

 - September 26, 2009 11:37 PM

The Psp is a magnet for fingerprints. The DSI's graphics are not the best. I have both my pick is the DSI.

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