[quote name='Vyse2k3']Few impressions (and some facts) ...
About the DS.
I think after all the news today (well yesterday technically) it looks much more attractive than it did just a day ago. The local networking, WiFi, built in mic, voice recognition and better than expected 3D (though still low level by today's standards) make it a real interesting package IMO. Have you guys seen the movies of Metroid Prime: Hunters running on the thing? Looks nicer than most N64 games. Most sites (including IGN) have said they're surprised Nintendo is trying to downplay its 3D capabilities. Check out
http://gameboy.ign.com/articles/513/513150p1.html for IGN's impressions.
Nintendo announced the battery life is 10 hours, which is about the same as the GB SP with the screen light and volume always on. Nintendo also claims the lighting technology for the screens (and the journalists seem to agree so far) in the DS is supposed to be much better than the GB SP as well, allowing for deeper colors and a sharper picture.
My biggest concern is that too many developers will use the touch screen for gimmicky control (ala Metroid Prime: Hunters) when they SHOULD just be using the control pad and the 6 action buttons. Still, a pretty decent lineup is headed its way. Sort of surprising is Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles... which I guess shouldn't be surprising since the game was made for each player to have two screens to begin with
And I don't care what Nintendo says, this is no 'third pillar' it's the next Game Boy. I mean, the thing has a second cartridge slot JUST for GB/GBA games. Even though EB has it listed at 199.99 and Nintendo hasn't annoucned a price yet (they even say DS won't be the name of the system when it launches) most "industry" people are expecting it to come in at $150.
About the PSP...
Technology-wise, it looks nice. The games announced so far are (IMO) a total snore, but the system isn't even coming out here until sometime in 2005 so they've got time to put some stuff together. The battery life is still a total mystery, but comments from the SONY brass make it seem like it specifically depends on the application being used. In the case of movies where the discs are constantly being accessed, as stated earlier in this thread, Sony did say it would last 2.5 hours. For music its 10. They haven't said anything about the battery life and games, but since games won't have to constantly access and spin the drive, I personally imagine you'd get around 4-8 hours depending on the individual game, which I think is tolerable.
Liek most of you' I'm totally not sold at all on the movie capabilities. Are we supposed to spend $15-30 or whatever it will cost to rebuy movies we already own on DVD? I know I wouldn't do that in a million years. Also, if you can get blanks and fill 'em up with your own movies, who wants to go through the process of ripping and burning their movies and possibly having to buy hardware to do so? Not me. This feature is totally useless IMO.
Again no price was announced. Most "industry" people are expecting $250, but personally I think it's more likely to be $300. And for a system so heavily 3D, I think not including analog control is a huge mistake. They could have had an analog "pad" like the Sega Saturn 3D pad, that would have been perfect. But I'm not condeming the thing.
Personally, if the DS is only $150 at launch, I'll most likely be picking it up. If it's more than that I'll wait. There's no way I'll be getting the PSP at launch . Not because I think it's a "bad" system but I'm not interested in any of the announced games so far and if it's over $200, well, thats just more than I'm willing to spend

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Wow, thank you for articulating my thoughts in most every thing you said. I absolutely agree with your DS comments. I'm looking forward to what developers can do with the system but hope that the stylus doesn't hinder efficient gameplay. On the PSP front i also agree on the battery and movie storage issues but i disagree on the games. I for one am very excited to get my hands on a faithful portable version of Tony Hawk and Tiger Woods (two of my favorite series) and they look fantastic. But games don't mean squat if the battery dies when the game boots up. So far my pick is the DS both for its originality and practicality as a portable.