About gameusurper Expertise TOPICS I can answer questions about:
Game Strategy, Recommendations (based on age or genre preference), History of a game, Recalling a game you played, Game music, Company or Creator info, and System troubleshooting
GENRES:
My specialties are Adventure, RPG, Survival Horror, Action, and a small amount of Strategy and Puzzle. I avoid sports games like the plague, and have little interest in any racing games save for a few, F-Zero, Mario Kart and Wipeout being the main ones. Nor do I know many fighting games, mainly Bushido Blade and a few others. I am not much of a fan of First Person Shooters either. I am especially well versed in RPGs, particularly Final Fantasy and most of SquareEnix's other titles.
GAMES:
Not limited to the following. These games are series, and I know them all. There are MANY other individual ones. Feel free to ask and I will let you know if I can help you.
Actraiser, Alundra, Breath of Fire, Bushido Blade, Castlevania, Chrono Trigger/Cross, Donkey Kong, Dragon Warrior/Quest, Drakkhen/Dragon View, Final Fantasy, Kingdom Hearts, King's Field, Legacy of Kain/Soul Reaver, Mana, Mario, Mega Man, Metal Gear Solid, Ninja Gaiden, Metroid, Parasite Eve, Resident Evil, Rygar, Silent Hill, Spyro, Star Fox, Suikoden, Tomb Raider, TMNT, Wild Arms, Xenogears/Xenosaga, Zelda, and Zone of the Enders
SYSTEMS:
I have recently added the Wii and PSP to my collection. NES, Super NES, N64, Gamecube, Wii, Gameboy Color, GBA, DS, PS1, PS2 and PSP plus computer, but I'm not really a big computer gamer.
Systems I plan on getting in the future are XBOX 360 and eventually PS3 (When the price goes down...a lot) I am also a big fan of emulators on the PC. I have many of the old 8-bit and 16-bit systems and ROMS for my computer and know a lot about them. These include NES, Super NES, Genesis, Turbografx, MSX, Gameboy, Gameboy Color, and GBA.
Experience I have been a video gamer for nearly 20 years. I started with the original NES way back in 1988 and have owned or played nearly every popular console since then. I have completed hundreds of games and played thousands. I have a large file cabinet filled with hundreds of hand-made maps, lists, and various stategies for many of the games I have conquered in the past two decades. I subscribe to 5 different game magazines to keep up to date on the newest stuff out there. I would officially call myself an expert on the subject of videogames. And if I don't know the answer, I can find out about it and direct you to someplace that does.
Publications Nintendo Power magazine, and I am thinking of writing for Gamegrene and GameFAQs in the future.
Education/Credentials Experience with games baby, and lots of it. Nothing formal if that's what you're wondering. Just good old playing and reading.
I have two 10 year olds, that want some kind of hand-held game console for Christmas.. I would have two, to buy, and know nothng about any of them.. Can you tell me what’s the best buy for the lowest price? They also have an IPOD on their wishlist. I believe some consoles have this feature too. Dollar for dollar, which way should I go… We don’t have a lot of money and never spend this much on 1 gift at Christmas, but I thought I’d at least look into it.. Ebay has reburbished PSP consoles for $50..
Are there any consoles that come with a number of games?
Can you help me?
Dennis
Answer Alright Dennis, here's the scoop. You came to the right place by the way as I own both of these systems.
As is the norm when anyone asks me to choose between two systems for them, I always state that my main focus when deciding to purchase a game system is the games themselves. I am much less concerned about price or technical specs. But I am also single and don't have kids either :) In your case though, I think this will be the deciding factor. That and any additional functionality the system has.
Before I begin, I would ask if your kids have had any home game consoles in the past and if so what games did they seem to like the most? Each portable has their own exclusive titles as well as strengths when it comes to the types of games they can play. Unlike most home consoles that suffer from extreme cases of Port-itis, (this is my term for having the same game on different systems) The PSP and DS are drastically different with the types of games they have available. Very few of the titles on one system are available for the other. And the styles of the games vary quite a bit.
For the record, I bought my DS for full price at $130 in November of 2005, when Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow came out for it. (I am a big Castlevania fan) This was the first title that justified me buying the thing. I did not purchase a PSP till about 2 months ago (in September 2007), and even then I didn't get it for full price. I got it off a friend, along with a game and a handful of UMD movies for the bargain price of $100. I had not bought one until then simply because it didn't have any of the games I wanted to play for the price that they wanted at the store. But I now own 8 games for my DS and 6 for my PSP.
The PSP is currently $170 brand new and the games tend to range from $20 for greatest hit titles and those that have been out a while, to some as high as $40. Most are in the $30 range. The PSP is also a portable media center. It has upgradeable, removable memory cards that can hold pictures, movie clips, music and downloadable games. It also has local wireless connectivity with other PSPs. Upgrades to the operating system are made via new games when they are first loaded. The PSP game will update your operating system and add any new features such as types of playable file formats for the media center, little tweaks and additions to existing features and so on.
The PSP also has the ability to play system exclusive UMD movies. I personally don't really care about this, since I don't travel much and these little UMD discs are usually $10 more expensive than their DVD counterparts and can't be played in anything but a PSP. But if you like portable entertainment other than games, you might want this feature.
There are also plans in the works to integrate the PSP to be used with the PS3 and Playstation Network. I have not used this side of the system yet. But rumors are saying that you may be able to play PS3 games through your PSP from anywhere through the Playstation Network.
Many of the games available on PSP are sequels to existing PS2 franchises as well as remakes of older games, some going back to the Super NES and Nintendo era. But you will not find Nintendo first party titles like Mario, Zelda, Metroid, Donkey Kong, Pokemon, Advance Wars, Animal Crossing or Starfox on the PSP. So if these are some of the games that your 10 year olds like, the DS is a better choice for you. It is also worth noting that the PSP pulls off 3D games far better than the DS does, so any PS2 sequels or ports of 3D games are infinitely superior and more likely to be made for this system compared to the DS.
Some of the standout games for the system (in my opinion) are:
Ape Escape
Castlevania: Dracula X Chronicles
Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII
Daxter
Disgaea
Dissidia: Final Fantasy
Dragoneer's Aria
Dungeons & Dragons Tactics
Exit
Final Fantasy
Final Fantasy II
Final Fantasy Tactics: War of the Lions
Generation of Chaos
Innocent Life
Legend of Heroes 1,2 & 3
Lumines
Me and My Katamari
Megaman Maverick Hunter X
Megaman Powered Up
Metal Slug Anthology
PoPoLoCrois
Puzzle Quest
Ratchet & Clank: Size Matters
Riviera: The Promised Land
Sega Genesis Collection
Ultimate Ghosts 'n Goblins
Valkyrie Profile: Lenneth
Wipeout Pure
PSP is also home to Death Jr., God of War: Chains of Olympus, Grand Theft Auto series, Metal Gear Acid series, and Silent Hill Origins. Though these are teen and mature rated games and may not be appropriate for 10 year olds.
The Nintendo DS is currently $130 new with similar costs for games to the PSP, $20-$35, with most not exceeding $30-$35. The DS does not have media center capabilities like the PSP, but it does have a limited WiFi connection ability. This allows DS' that are near each other to play together or if you have wireless hotspot access or wireless WiFi on your computer, to hook up to the internet and allow multiplayer gaming that way. Be warned though that connecting DS' together requires the use of short passwords called friend codes that you must input for DS's to recognize each other. The DS also has a built in Pictochat function to play around sending short messages and drawing pictures as well.
Although I have not had experience with this feature, there is supposedly a game card available for the DS that turns it into a fully functional web browser as well. I have never had need for this though, so I don't know much about it.
The big draw of the DS over it's competition is the fact that it has two screens, the normal one on top and a touch screen on the bottom. This opens up a whole new way of playing games since a lot of the DS library includes some form of touch screen integration and some (like Trauma Center, Wario Ware and Yoshi Touch & Go) are built entirely around this feature. It also has a built in microphone that gets used every once in a while too. The DS can also play all Gameboy Advance games since it has a slot for the cartridges as well as the DS card slot.
It is also worth noting that game sequels or ports that began life on the PS1 or PS2 tend to not be made for this system as it has a hard time handling 3D games. You will also not find any first party Sony titles here either. However, this tends to be a lot less of a concern than all the first party games that Nintendo makes. Also, there are a few games for the DS that are not really traditional games, but little mini game affairs that are made specifically with the touch screen in mind. These include such titles as Nintendogs, Brain Age, Big Brain Academy, Cooking Mama, and others. Nintendo is becoming notorious for using the DS as a lab rat for experimenting with weird and unusual game concepts.
Some of the standout games for this system (again, in my opinion) are:
Advance Wars: Dual Strike
Animal Crossing : Wild World
Big Brain Academy
Brain Age 1 & 2
Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow
Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin
Children of Mana
Contra 4
Diddy Kong Racing DS
Dragon Quest Heroes: Rocket Slime
Etrian Odyssey
Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Rings of Fate
Final Fantasy Fables: Chocobo Tales
Final Fantasy III
Final Fantasy XII: Revenant Wings
Front Mission
Geometry Wars: Galaxies
Harvest Moon DS
Heroes of Mana
Hoshigami Remix: Ruining Blue Earth
Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass
Lunar Knights
Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time
Mario Kart DS
Megaman ZX
Megaman ZX Advent
Meteos
Metroid Prime Hunters
Metroid Prime Pinball
New Super Mario Bros.
Nintendogs
Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney
Pokemon
Puzzle Quest
Rune Factory
Star Fox Command
Super Mario 64 DS
Super Princess Peach
Tetris DS
Trace Memory
Trauma Center
Wario Ware: Touched!
Yoshi Touch & Go
Yoshi's Island DS
So, that's a summary of the features and some of the games available for each respective system. I guess when it comes down to it, which way you want to go would be dependent on the games and what each system offers. Neither portable comes with games unless you find a pre-made bundle at a specific store.
The PSP is definitely the choice if you want the ability to hold media other than games like photos, music and audio files and movie clips as well as if you think you might care about having the ability to play portable UMD movies. You can get cables to connect it to a computer or a Memory Stick Pro DUO card reader and make it into a little mini media center. I don't know much about IPOD, so I don't know what features it has, but this would probably be a good stand in.
The DS has its innovative control method and general Nintendo 'family fun factor' going for it. It also has a lot more to offer someone who is into casual games with it's digital versions of some classic puzzles and educational games. It also has a slew of first party Nintendo only system sellers you will never find on PSP. It has the backward compatibility for all GBA titles as well. It may also be a little more resilient since it folds together when not in use to protect the screens. However, due to the touch screen, you definitely do NOT want to drop it when it is on. Trust me on this.
In either case I would recommend investing in screen protectors for whichever system you decide on, particularly the DS because of the touch screen. You'll thank me later.
Since I realize that I have given quite a grocery list of titles for these systems, if you wish to know more about any of the games I listed here, you can go to several sites.
gametrailers.com for video previews and reviews
1up.com for the same as well as text reviews
playstation.com for the PSP, as well as full game lists
nintendo.com for the DS, as well as full game lists
gamefaqs.com for straight text reviews and gameplay walkthroughs and cheats when you get stuck.
Of course you can always ask me as well as I am happy to give any info I can. I make it my business to stay with the program concerning new games and systems.
I hope this response was informative and if you need anymore help, feel free to look me up again.
