Nobody is exactly sure as to which is better, the PSP or the DS. This guide compares the 2 systems in a fair manner.

DS -left PSP -right, please note that these pictures are not proportionate

Let me begin by saying that both systems are solid pieces of hardware and both are great for gifts, most people would be happy with either. This guide isn't meant to declare one better than the other, but to give you some insight in choosing between the two.

Nintendo and Sony have been duking it out with eachother for years and years now, but the Nintendo DS and Sony PSP are the first two portable systems competing with eachother, and unfortunatley both are good systems and its hard as a parent to get the right one for your kid. My first point of advice, if your kid has asked for one, get him/her the one they asked for, that, 9 times out of 10, will be the right one for the kid, and its no fun to see dissapointed kids during festivites.

So Lets look at the difference between these two toys. You have Nintendo's Nintendo DS, and Sony's PlayStation Portable. Nintendo's offerings will set you back $129 USD, whereas Sony's system is more expensive, weighing in at $200 USD. With the differnce in price, comes one of Sony's strengths, the sheer power of the system, the PSP has fantastic graphics that the DS just can't compare to. But, Nintendo has done a better job of backing their system with some equally fantastic games.

Sony is known for its "mature" image, and this can be seen with the PSP's grand theft auto games, which while extremley violent and not suitable for younger audiences are solid. However, Nintendo, while not hailed for "mature" games, has some on their own system as well. They also have great games for baby-boomers, like Brain Age, which is used to help train your brain, Nintendogs, which lets gamers raise their own virtual puppies, and True Swing Golf, a unique golf game. Nintendo also has great games for general audiences like the New Super Mario Bros, and Animal Crossing. From the PSP camp, you can see all kinds of great games like LocoRoco, Medal of Honor: Heroes, Tekken: Dark Destruction. Ultimatley though, The Nintendo DS has a good deal of everything, making it more universal than the PSP.

But enough about the games, lets look at the meat of the systems. Both the Nintendo DS Lite, and the PlayStation Portable look great, and as far as design goes they both have a few flaws, but also are generally well designed. The DS, because of its folding design (the system folds into itself) is less prone to damage than the PSP, but a 10 dollar case can solve that problem.

One of the great things that the PSP can do out of the box, is browse the internet from a wireless connection. While a bit on the slow side, and a pain to enter information and URLs into, its a nice function, and with all of the wireless hotspots popping up at places like Starbucks and McDonalds, its a nice feature to have. With a memory card (which is sold seperatley), you can put MP3s on to your PSP, in other words listen to music on it. While requiring a little computer knowledge it is also possible to put videos or movies on it. For the less technically inclined, movies and tv shows are for sale on the PSP, and the video quality is wonderful, especially on the PSP's great display.

As far as built in functions go, the DS is notoriously weak. While it is possible to play movies and listen to music on the DS, the equipment to do so is expensive, and for the price of the DS and adapters like the GBA movie player, or the play-yan, you are getting into the price range of the PSP. A web-browser for the DS is available in Japan, but has not come out yet in the United States. Since the DS has less power than the PSP it can't display pages as quickly, but thanks to the DS's touch screen, typing is done through a on-screen keyboard or through hand-writing recogntion, so that speeds the process up. Another advantage is the increased compatibility the DS's browser has in displaying plain webpages. But unlike the PSP's built in and free browser it can't handle flash.

However, the DS also offers a completley different experience than the PSP. 2 screens, one being a touch screen, and a microphone adds all kinds of possibilities of gameplay. For instance, In Yoshi Touch & Go, the player guides the main character around using the included stylus. By tapping the character the character jumps, drawing lines forms clouds for the character to walk on, and circling bad guys traps them in bubbles. If you have drawn too many clouds blowing into the microphone sends them all flying away. Something like that is completley impossible on the PSP. The popular First Person Shooter genre  (in which the player is given a 1st person view of the action and aims a gun to shoot at enemies) is implemented better on the DS, than on the PSP, thanks to this unique setup.

Both systems can play games online, The Nintendo WiFi connection has been touted as more advanced than the online offerings of the PSP because the WiFi connection is more integrated to the DS than the varying experience brought about on the different PSP games. Ultimatley, they both have shortcomings and as far as online gaming goes the two are pretty much equal.

So which one is better? There is no set answer, and for me to tell you which one is better would be doing you an injustice. I hope that if you have read this far, in your mind, you have an idea of which sounds better to you, or which one sounds like the right gift to give someone else.