DS vs. PSP

Sure, it's been done a million and one times, but you can never pit the two handheld gaming systems against each other enough. Here's my point of view on the two. Please keep in mind this review is opinion, and you have the right to disagree with it.
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Screen

DS: The Nintendo DS sports two screens, a touch screen and normal screen. The touch screen opens up huge possibilites for game makers, allowing them to make more original games. The touch screen also adds to the fun. On the original DS "Brick", the brightness isn't too bright, but it gets the job done. The DS Lite's screen, however, is very bright and even gives you different settings to either maximize battery life or view the screen better.

PSP: The Sony PSP has a beautiful widescreen screen that puts all other handheld screens to shame. The screen is perfect for no matter what you're viewing, whether it be games, pictures, or movies. The major downfall of the PSP's screen is battery life. The PSP gives you three settings for brightness. I usually keep my PSP on the lowest setting for maximum battery life, but even then, my battery only lasts 6-8 hours. I'd hate to see how short the battery lasts on the middle or brightest setting.

Winner: Tie. The PSP's screen is wonderful, but I can never utilize it to the fullest with it's battery eating brightness. The DS's two screens are also far more useful. Because of this, it's a tie.

Battery Life

DS: The DS's battery life lasts a very long time, usually more than 12 hours, even up to 18! Really, that's all I need to say.

PSP: Ugh. 4-8 hours is not good enough Sony. I may not play a game for more than two hours usually, but I don't want to have to recharge my PSP after two or three uses.

Winner: DS. Clearly the Nintendo DS wins this round. Even with the impressive specs of the PSP, I'm sure it wouldn't have been that hard for Sony to improve battery life.

Controls

DS: The DS's control scheme is simple, yet effective. You have a D-Pad for movement, A/B/X/Y buttons, L and R triggers, and Start/Select. Most games also utililize the touch screen for various uses. The buttons are all crisp and responsive. The DS may lack an analog stick, but the d-pad actually works fine for most games.

PSP: The PSP also has a D-Pad, but most games use the analog stick (or pad thingy, whatever you want to call it) for control. I suppose the analog stick is better than nothing, but it is slippery and difficult to use. The PSP also sports four buttons with shapes, cross, circle, triangle, and square. Near the bottom, there is a huge cluster of buttons, which I find to be rather annoying. It just seems like Sony thought "Oh, we need someway to configure these options... why don't we just throw all the buttons near the bottom?". It looks messy and just thrown together at the last second.

Winner: DS. The PSP's buttons are sometimes unresponsive and difficult to push. Unlike the DS, the buttons feel squishy instead of crisp. The whole control scheme feels sloppy and thrown together quickly.

Load Times

I don't even need to do a comparison for this. DS is fast, PSP is slow. On some PSP games you spend more time waiting than playing.

Winner: DS, duh.

Portability

DS: The DS "Brick" isn't the smallest thing out there, but it will fit into most pockets. The DS Lite, however, is quite a bit smaller and really improves on the original design. The DS Brick is very durable, I should know, I've dropped mine quite a few times. The DS Lite is also durable, albeit not as much as the Brick.

PSP: The PSP is friggin' huge. When compared to other handhelds, it's like hauling around a desktop computer instead of a laptop. Sure, they made it a bit smaller when they released the PSP Slim, but 15% smaller or whatever doesn't make me wanna spend another 200 and something dollars to buy it. Also, drop your PSP from more than a couple feet up and you can kiss goodbye to it.

Winner: DS, yet again. The DS isn't exactly the definition of portable, but it sure kicks the PSP's butt in this round.

Graphics

DS: The DS's 68-bit graphics are a large improvement over the 32-bit GBA graphics. It's pretty easy to see that the graphics are better than the Nintendo 64's graphics (4 bits better to be exact), which is impressive for a handheld.

PSP: The PSP's graphics are very similar to the PS2. I don't really need to say much more than the graphics are the most impressive graphics on a handheld to date.

Winner: PSP. The DS's decent graphics are outshined by the PSP's console worthy graphics. The PSP finally wins a round!

Game Choice

DS: The DS has almost any kind of game you can imagine, from platformer to RPG to puzzle. Although it has such a large collection, it doesn't really specialize in any kind of game, so if you only like one type of game, you may only be able to find a few games of that type.

PSP: The PSP's variety is seriously lacking in choice, but what it does have, it has a lot of! If you like racing, shooting, and sports, you're in luck, the PSP is for you.

Winner: DS. It all really comes done to choice, and it turns out the DS has more games that I like than the PSP, and therefore is the winner.

Media

DS: The DS does games, that's it. Media can be expanded by third party add-ons, but nothing much actually comes with the DS in terms of media.

PSP: The PSP does so much more than games. Music, Videos, Pictures, Internet, and Games. PSPs are almost like mini-laptops, storing and viewing practically anything you want. Sure, you have to buy a decent memory card to store anything large, but it's worth it to be able to take movies and other media with you on the go. The PSP is also getting more media features with firmware updates coming out all the time.

Winner: PSP. The PSP has a huge amount of media options and beats out the DS by a long shot this round.

Conclusion

Tie: 1
DS: 5
PSP: 2

The DS wins by a long shot! The PSP isn't bad, and does what it does really well (media and graphics), but the DS does well in so many other areas. Some people may rate the PSP higher than the DS solely for the graphics and media, but I believe that you need more than just that for a good handheld. I find myself playing my DS far my often than my PSP.

~Burnt Waffle

Whaddya think? Good, bad? Discuss in the comments, if you wish.