Gaming-Age interviewed Karthik Bala, CEO/Chief creative officer of Vicarious Visions regarding the various aspects of handheld development. Vicarious Visions is in development with the upcoming Nintendo DS title Tony Hawk's American Wasteland. The full interview can be found here, while an excerpt is below.
GA: Which is more difficult: developing a game for a handheld that demands an innovative control scheme (DS), or developing a game for a handheld that has superior graphics capabilities (PSP)? KB: Both systems are challenging in different ways. :) PSP games cost a lot more to make than DS because of the production and technology costs involved in making an "almost" PS2 quality game in terms of graphics. The DS requires us to spend more time on design, innovative control schemes and mechanics and substantive use of the hardware features like the microphone and touch screen. Overall though, PSP development is definitely more complex than DS.