Stat clash: Nintendo DSi vs Sony PSP Slim & Lite vs iPhone 3G

Apple’s iPhone may be forcing its way into the handheld gaming market like the N-Gage never managed, but consoles kings Sony and Nintendo are hitting back, with the Sony PSP 3000 released in a fortnight, and Ninty announcing the new DSi just today.

The iPhone may have top class games like Spore on the system, but can it match up to the re-tooled, reloaded offerings from the Japanese giants? We pit these handheld heroes in a fight to the death to find out.

Number of games
Despite scrapping the Game Boy Advance cartridge slot, Nintendo’s dual touchscreen foldable is the hands down winner, in number of game available and sheer variety, with everything from platformers to cooking covered.

While it will be some time before games taking advantage of the DSi’s new features emerge, the back catalogue of more than 630 original games beats the PSP’s 570, and the 1,128 games available on the iTunes App Store - twice as many, but mostly rubbish chess games and Tetris clones.
Winner: DSi

Exclusive titles
The DSi comes at a time when handheld exclusives are beginning to turn in Nintendo’s favour, with Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars heading to the fold to bolster the classic catalogue of Zelda and Mario games, leaving the PSP with the forthcoming Little Big Planet.

But sneaking up rapidly on the outside is the iPhone, which has bagged several flagship exclusives in the past few months, including Will Wright’s evolution silly sim, Spore, as well as Real Soccer 2009, boasting a touchscreen D-pad, and Need For Speed Undercover (Not an exclusive per se, but the only version that’s tilt controlled).

After a photo finish , we’re going to have to call this one a dead heat.
Winner: DSi and iPhone 3G

Size and weight
If being skinny was a race, the iPhone would be Usain Bolt. Granted, that’s a strange analogy, but Apple’s smartphone smartie is in a league of its own here, weighing in at just 133g. Wheezing in in second place is the PSP Slim & Lite at 189g, while the DSi proves to be Ricky Fatton, dropping only 4g from the DS Lite to 214g, despite a 12 % reduction in thickness.

The iPhone wins at the waistline too, measuring just 12.3mm from front to back. The PSP Slim & Lite lags behind again at 18.6mm in girth, but the DSi is most likely to have people saying “Is that a handheld gaming device in your pocket, or are you just pleased to see me?”, being 18.9mm fat when shut.
Winner: iPhone 3G

Playability and ergonomics
The PSP may be sporting a slim new look, but it’s still got edges in all the wrong places, making it difficult to play for more than an hour at a stretch without your hands turning into claws. With its svelte, minimalist look the iPhone’s ergonomics meanwhile may still be best, but a lack of buttons means any games that aren’t motion sensitive will leave your fingers sticking out in all sorts of funny directions.

The DSi combines the best of both worlds with two 3.25 inch touch screens and traditional tactile buttons, making it the most comfortable commute option. Just don’t lose the stylus on the tube.
Winner: DSi

Price
Price is all important, and Apple really dropped the ball here in branding the iPhone a games machine. When it’s released here next year, the Nintendo DSi will cost roughly the same as an iPhone in the shop: £100. Unlike the iPhone however, the DSi won’t require you to pay £30 a month for the next year and a half, making it up to £540 cheaper in the long run, and putting the PSP in second place at just £130 upfront. You could buy a PS3 and a Wii with that extra money.
Winner: DSi

Multiplayer
Snaking along against real opponents in Mario Kart DS via Wi-Fi is an unrivalled experience when it comes to portable gaming. Metal Gear Ops says otherwise on the PSP, but both are ahead of the iPhone, whose 3G connectivity has only been taken advantage of by a few racing games. Spore is single player on the PC, but for a lower-spec version on a mobile there’s no excuse to have to play solo.
Winner: PSP and DSi

Media abilities
Nintendo are finally entering the multimedia foray with the DSi, which now has a web browser and SD card slot, as well as an integrated 3.2 megapixel camera which you can use to share snaps on the Wii photo channel. It certainly shows up the PSP, which despite a glossy wide screen STILL has no built-in camera, and with movie distribution online from Sony still in the works, just puts it ahead for now.

That’s a moot point mind, as the iPhone leaves both in its wake. It only has a 2MP camera sensor, but it deftly juggles any media you throw it, offering perfect mobile movie viewing on its sparkly 3.5 inch screen. And no DVD-rippipng hassle is needed, now that the iTunes Store is serving up video. Find a Wi-Fi spot and you can even download music tracks straight onto it. This one’s a first round KO.
Winner: iPhone 3G

Overall winner: Nintendo DSi and iPhone 3G

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