I cheated, I have one of each (DS and PSP), and the kids have SP's.

Durability wise, the SP wins, with the DS in second, and the PSP has a lot of moving parts, easily scratchable surfaces, etc.

SP positives: Cheap, lots of games that are cheap, small.

DS positives: Runs most of the games that the SP can (It won't run the GB Color or Mono games), the touchscreen has definite advantages in certain types of games. I've seen it for sale as low as $129 at Fry's Electronics.

PSP positives: The screen is gorgeous, uses 'standard' (hah) Memory Stick Duo cards (up to 1GB currently), can play mpeg4/mp3 files off of the memory stick. Analog joystick. You can put it to sleep without affecting the game in progress at any time. Save game files are stored on the memory stick, which you can read on a PC/Mac and backup your saves.


SP negatives: Games tend to be kiddie oriented, its 'old'. :-)

DS negatives: Its impossible to use the buttons, touchscreen, and d-pad at the same time. Its difficult to focus on both screens at the same time limiting their usefulness. Its 2x the size of a SP. Lack of games.

PSP negatives: Fragility (It is going to break, get a warranty). Lack of games. 2x the size of the SP. 2x the price of the DS.

-- Some text removed. Let's not talk about hacked and cracked hardware. OK?! :) ---