DS vs PSP

[SanAndreasX]

Cerebralbore101 said:

d21lewis said:
I think the biggest drawback for the original DS was that it did 3D gaming but it didn't do it nearly as well as the PSP. Lots of games, while still good, were 2D or 2.5D. I constantly found myself looking for a graphical showcase and too often found myself with underwhelming games like GoldenEye. Its strengths were creative game design and accessibility.

I championed the DS for years and I guess it deserved to beat the PSP in sales. I'm glad it did, actually. I hated Sony's arrogance. But when I got that PSP, my whole world changed.

I understand where you are coming from, but I think we've all gotta remember what the landscape was like back then. In 2004-2005 the PSP was a handheld that cost more than most consoles. Today's comparison would be a GDP Win 2 for a whopping $740. The fact that PSP sold at all, at the $250 price point, back in the early days blew my mind.

Most people at the time expected the PSP to sell even at the higher price point. In fact, a lot of them expected the PSP to beat the DS purely on the strength of the PlayStation brand, which at that time was considered invincible coming off of the PS2 outselling both of its competitors combined nearly 4:1. Not to mention the multimedia capabilities and Grand Theft Auto. Pundits saw the price difference between the DS and the PSP as a case of "you get what you pay for."

Nintendo itself was worried that the PSP would win and knock Nintendo out of the hardware market completely. The DS got a lukewarm critical reception at first and Nintendo kept insisting that the DS was a separate product line that would be sold concurrently with the Game Boy line, not a replacement for the Game Boy line. They kept saying that a direct successor to the GBA would be released. Then the DS took off thanks to NSMB, Mario Kart DS, Brain Age, Nintendogs, and Pokemon D/P/Pt. 

Last edited by SanAndreasX - on 24 May 2020