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Journalism of Courage
I once saw a picture of Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi playing touch tennis in a hotel lobby, in happier times of course. If they had a Nintendo Game Boy DS, would they still resort to touch tennis?
The Sony PlayStation Portable PSP and Nintendo8217;s Game Boy series are top-of-the-line portable gaming devices. Like their PC variants, they put a range of fantastic games at your fingertips. And unlike their PC variants, you can play at any time, any place. With their prices tumbling in the past six months, they have become a more affordable on-the-move indulgence. There are basically two players in the market.
Nintendo, once synonymous with video games, has three handheld gaming devices: Game Boy Micro, Game Boy Advanced and Game Boy DS. These are not legally imported in India, but you will find them at all major toy stores and in smuggled markets. It won8217;t come with a warranty, but these devices usually don8217;t trouble in their early days.
The Game Boy Micro is the oldest of the three models and has basic games. It offers a lot of titles, but these can8217;t run on its next-generation devices. The display quality is the poorest of the lot and its screen is the smallest, which explains its least expensive tag. Game Boy Advanced came next. The games made for it can run on Game Boy DS, the latest model, but not vice versa.
Both Advanced and DS have folding screens, which makes for a larger screen and protects it against scratches. The DS screen is the brightest and has the best graphics. It also gives two screens, one that focuses on the action your car in a road race while the other shows things peripheral to the action the track layout.
The games are expensive, though pirated versions are available. The DS has an in-built wireless functionality. So if you and your friend own a DS , you both can play wirelessly.
Sony PSP
At Rs 9,990 for legal, warranted import, the PSP is a good deal. A 4.3-inch screen is as big as they come. Compared to Nintendo games, it can do a lot more: play movies and videos, and view digital pictures fed through memory cards or bought on UMDs, Sony8217;s proprietary format. An in-built browser helps access the Net and a News Reader facility streams in news, but typing on the onscreen keyboard is uncomfortable.
It has a great speaker and an in-built wireless system, which lets you play with other PSP users and connect wirelessly to the Net to play with PSP users the world over. Sony PSP games are costlier than the Nintendo ones. The pirated versions are there, but to load these you have to tamper with the device which makes the warranty void. Though Sony claims a battery life of eight hours, I guess it8217;s in perfect conditions; everybody I know says it lasts up to three hours.
So, if you want more than games, go for the PSP. If not, Nintendo is way ahead.
The writer is chairman and CEO of System 3 gagandeepsystem3group.com
