Sony PSP vs. Nintendo DS

posted by Zoom-zoom

My second guest blog so far. Anyways, likely this debate has taken place all over the internet dozens of times. So I will be different and ponder instead from a Malaysian's perspective. During my last visit, a colleague asked to get a PSP for his son because Malaysian variants are more 'grey' than local Australian versions. I was curious but after a lot of trawling, information wasn't easy to come by on the net. Makes a good blog topic so ..


I won't go over the specs or their library of games because that information is everywhere. In terms of portability, the NDS edges out with 8 hour battery life against the PSP's 6 hours and both weigh similarly. But if you were really a Malaysian gamer, your essential questions would really be:-

1) What is the initial ownership cost?
2) How and where can I get the copycat games?

Lets get started then ..

No surprise, the Playstation Portable is more expensive to start up. The initial start-up kit consist of the actual PSP unit (RM780), 2GB Memory Stick (RM170), PSP USB cable (RM30) and 1 original game (RM120). So cost of ownership is RM1100. Prices quoted are in gaming shop at Sunway Pyramid, top floor in the Tech Section. The memory stick is necessary to store the copycat games which average over 500MB in size. The emulator software needs 1 original game to trick the PSP and it needs to be loaded into internal memory via the USB cable. The PSP unit itself needs to be firmware version 1.50 to work with the emulator. Later firmware versions have better security so they don't work with copycat games. The Sunway shop will happily change the firmware to 1.50 but not all shops do that so best to ask. You could change the firmware yourself via hacks over the internet but isn't easy and can permanently wreck the PSP.

The Nintendo DS is a friendlier start with the actual NDS unit (RM600), DS Flash Card (RM180) and 1GB MicroSD (RM150). Again the Sunway Pyramid shop will have the complete gear. For non-Malaysian readers, the DS Flash card can also be purchased online.

Operation wise, the DS flash card is also much easier. Games are recorded into the MicroSD then inserted into the flash card which in turn goes into the NDS. All plug and play. No emulator involved.

Where to get the games? ..

The Sunway store sells a DVD with around 8 games for RM20 a piece. I expect other stores would do similarly. The DVD came with installation instructions and emulator software. There are a few hoops to jump through but since I didn't invest in a PSP, I don't have the details. The games are hard to find online and downloading such large files is another downside.

Again the NDS is friendlier because it lacks the PSP's stringent security controls. Simply copy / paste the contents of the included flash card CD and games in the MicroSD. Games are also smaller at around 30MB per download and easier to find online.

I don't game much so the simplicity of the NDS suited me better than the cutting edge security of the PSP. Nonetheless you weigh your own criteria so hopes this helped in tipping the scale one way or the other.