Friday, January 12, 2007

So who has the worst games?

Much hay is being made over at Digg regarding an article discussing the "Worst 10 PSP games."

Article: http://www.pocketgamer.co.uk/r/PSP/feature.asp?c=2132
Digg comments: http://www.digg.com/gaming_news/The_10_worst_PSP_games_so_far

But here's the thing nobody is talking about... the absolute worst portable games are on the DS platform (lists from http://www.gamerankings.com)

1. Elf Bowling 1 & 2 12.3%
2. Sudoku Mania 21.5%
3. Monster Trucks DS 24.4%
4. ATV: Quad Frenzy 25.7%
5. Peter Jackson's King Kong: The Official Game of the Movie 26.0%
6. Dino Master DS 28.8%
7. Ping Pals DS 29.0%
8. Marvel Nemesis: Rise of the Imperfects 31.1%
9. Crash Boom Bang! 33.0%
10. Superman Returns: The Videogame 33.8%

It's interesting how the worst of the DS library is actually much, much worse than the low end of the PSP library.

1. Reel Fishing: The Great Outdoors 21.0%
2. World Series of Poker 38.8%
3. Dave Mirra BMX Challenge 40.4%
4. Pocket Racers 42.2%
5. The Sims 2: Pets 43.5%
6. Street Supremacy 43.6%
7. Bliss Island 45.6%
8. KAZooK 45.9%
9. Smart Bomb 48.4%
10. Rengoku: The Tower of Purgatory 48.6%

In fact, if one were to combine the two lists and come up with a "Worst 10 Portable Games" you would find that only one PSP game is bad enough to be ranked with the DS titles. The other 9 are all for Nintendo and they can have them.

DS. Elf Bowling 1 & 2 12.3%
PSP. Reel Fishing: The Great Outdoors 21.0%
DS. Sudoku Mania 21.5%
DS. Monster Trucks DS 24.4%
DS. ATV: Quad Frenzy 25.7%
DS. Peter Jackson's King Kong: The Official Game of the Movie 26.0%
DS. Dino Master DS 28.8%
DS. Ping Pals DS 29.0%
DS. Marvel Nemesis: Rise of the Imperfects 31.1%
DS. Crash Boom Bang! 33.0%

Wednesday, January 10, 2007

"The PSP battery life sucks!" - Intro.


It's taking some time to pull together all the data on this one. There are lots of different ways to play with the PSP while the DS Lite is pretty much just a game machine. It's necessary to compare the different play modes on both machines and that involves a lot of playing, battery draining, recharging and playing again.

So far the data is showing that the PSP battery (mine is also almost 2 years old) lasts about 4 hours and 15 minutes. The DS Lite battery (5 months old) is lasting around 4 hours and 45 minutes to 5 hours.

In the end, the difference is not appearing significant, but I hope to have full data (with charts, and graphs!) posted soon.

"The PSP is too big to carry around!"

I know Americans have a reputation for being out of shape, but it's surely not that arduous to carry around an electronic device.

Here are the basic dimensions of the PSP:

17 cm ( 6.69") long.
7.4 cm (2.9133") wide.
2.3 cm ( 0.91") thick.

It's actually only slightly larger than the DS Lite:

13.3 cm ( 5.24") long. (21.6% smaller than the PSP).
7.39 cm ( 2.9094") wide. (.1% smaller than the PSP).
2.15 cm (0.85") thick. (6.5% smaller than the PSP).

In fact, the PSP is smaller than the original DS which was 5.8in x 3.3in x 1.1in.

If you measure volume the original DS was 21.054 cubic inches, the PSP is 17.736 and the DS Lite is 12.958.

Weight? Original DS was 275g (9.7 ounces), the PSP is 260g (9.17 oz.) and the DS Lite is 215g ( 7.58 oz.)

All in all, yes, the DS Lite is smaller. But to say that it's significantly smaller or that the PSP is too large to carry around is simply nonsense.