Nintendo DS to Launch November 21

mcc writes "PlanetGamecube is reporting the upcoming Nintendo DS handheld has been given a launch date of November 21st and a price of $150 ! It is also being reported that the Nintendo DS will ship with PictoChat (a sort of chat/whiteboard software) and some form of the Metroid Prime Hunters multiplayer FPS bundled in. A fact sheet is also available."

Comments

It's nice to hear..

[drunkennewfiemidget]

But is it doomed much like Nintendo's previous hardware? PS/2 and XBox are royally kicking Nintendo's ass at the sport that Nintendo once ruled. I, for one, still find the best games ever to be ones that came on the NES and SNES. Final Fantasy series up until 6 (3 in the US), etc. FF aside, Nintendo is still home to some of the best RPGs ever made. Lets hope the DS does the same.

Re:It's nice to hear..

[Paladine97]

Doomed like the Gameboy which DOMINATES the handheld market? I don't see a changing of the guard anytime soon.

Re:It's nice to hear..

[MadBiologist]

But, the one place Big N has dominated has been handhelds... Let's see launch price of the PSP, but the DS looks like another home run!

Re:It's nice to hear..

[exhilaration]

Nintendo dominates the handheld market, and will probably continue to do so. And the handheld market is what this article is about.

Re:It's nice to hear..

[GFLPraxis]

"But is it doomed much like Nintendo's previous hardware? PS/2 and XBox are royally kicking Nintendo's ass at the sport that Nintendo once ruled." Actually, XBox is losing to Nintendo. The GameCube sold more units and Nintendo raked in more profits than the XBox. But yeah, the PS2 is beating the GameCube and XBox put together. Not only that, but Nintendo still rules the handheld market. The GameBoy Advance SP is utterly unrivaled. And the only competitor to the Nintendo DS- the PSP- costs twice as much ($300), and requires you to buy the same games you might already have on playstation 2 on minidisks. I predict Nintendo will remain in dominance in the handheld market. " I, for one, still find the best games ever to be ones that came on the NES and SNES. Final Fantasy series up until 6 (3 in the US), etc. FF aside, Nintendo is still home to some of the best RPGs ever made. Lets hope the DS does the same." I expect it will. I hope we see a Zelda DS :)

Re:It's nice to hear..

[drunkennewfiemidget]

Indeed. They do rule the handheld market, but look at how well they held the console market in the 80's. Such is my point. I think it's only a matter of time until someone else comes along, and spanks Nintendo with a new handheld product. I didn't know that Gamecube sold more quantities than the xbox. I stand corrected

Re:It's nice to hear..

[PhoenixFlare]

PS/2 and XBox are royally kicking Nintendo's ass at the sport that Nintendo once ruled.

If I had a nickel for every time i've heard this...Look up the sales figures.

The PS2 is slaughtering the other two, but in the US, figures put the GC and XBox running either neck-and-neck in 2nd place or with the GC slightly ahead. And that's to say nothing of Japan, where the GC is beating the XBox by something like 20:1 in total sales atm.

Re:It's nice to hear..

[Anonymous Coward]

Which is too bad, because it actually looks pretty cool, technologicallly speaking. HowStuffWorks put up a new article last week that runs through the specs in detail. Innovative stuff.

Re:It's nice to hear..

[slashrogue]

Maybe... a lot of those games are available elsewhere now, however. FF Anthology & FF Chronicles available on the PS (and hence on the PS2 as well) give us access to FFIV, FFV, FFVI and Chrono Trigger. I also don't know how doomed its previous hardware is... the GBA is the dominating force of the handheld market. I guess we'll have to wait and see how Sony's PSP does, which I'm personally rooting for.

Of course I remember when the PlayStation was first announced and thinking to myself, "Sony? Sony doesn't make video games who are they trying to kid?"

Re:It's nice to hear..

[miu]

if someone throws down in that ring, dont expect Nintendo to last

Bullshit. Many people have tried to enter the handheld market (at least 4 large companies have launched handhelds in the US that I can remember).

The reason Nintendo owns the handheld market right now is the same reason they ruled the console market until technology passed them by by a full generation - they are a game company, not a software company, not a video game company, not a consumer electronics company - they make games that hook kids like crack cocaine.

Re:It's nice to hear..

[MustardMan]

As others have pointed out, nintendo is FAR from getting spanked in terms of actual sales in the market, especially in terms of handhelds.

While it might come as shocking, not all video gamers are rabid 20-something zealots who think the kiddie gamecube games aren't manly enough for their elite skills. Even more shocking... VIDEO GAME SYSTEMS TARGETTED AT CHILDREN STILL SELL. There is, in fact, a video game market outside of the "living in mom's basement" niche.

I don't know who are worse, xbox fanboys or playstation fanboys. The gamecube crowd seems to mostly shut up and just enjoy their games. Maybe because the gamecube crowd is mostly children who go to school all day instead of posting to seven hundred online message boards while "looking for a job" in the aforementioned basement.

My point: stop your silly video game prick waving. All three systems have good and bad games. All three systems aren't going anywhere. And all three systems are going to continue make a shitload more money than you're ever going to see.

Re:It's nice to hear..

[Chess_the_cat]

If someone throws down in that ring, dont expect Nintendo to last.

Oh, other than the crappy Ngage? I guess you mean handhelds like Sega Gamegear, Atari Lynx, Neo Geo Pocket, Turbo Express? They all went up against the original monochrome Gameboy and failed. You'll soon be able to add the Sony PSP to that list.

Re:It's nice to hear..

[PhoenixFlare]

Think again. I didn't see (for example) the Lynx, Game Gear, TurboExpress, WonderSwan, or N-Gage do too much damage to their market share.

Re:It's nice to hear..

[Anonymous Coward]

there is a new era of gaming systems
10 years ago no longer counts for jack

Re:It's nice to hear..

[Anonymous Coward]

Nintendo didn't rule very long, even in the old days. The glory days of NES were in late 80's and at that time you could by an Amiga 500 and play arcade-quality games like Shadow of the Beast (Amiga500 was cheap enough to compete with console systems and it even had PAL or NTCS TV output jack). Also, NES started having severe competition when the 8/16 bit Turbo-Gfx and 16-bit Sega Genesis came out. A lot of people by that time considered the Genesis a better system than SNES, especially if you bought the SegaCD add-on. In fact, at one point I owned a SNES, Genesis+SegaCD and Amiga500 (and later A1200), and eventually sold off the SNES because I wans't using it much.
That said, the old NES was a lot of fun and had lots of fun games. I still prefer them to many of the fancy over-the-top stuff that's coming out these days.

Re:It's nice to hear..

[mod_parent_down]

What is largely relevant going to the handheld market from consoles is not really sales figures, but rather 3rd party support. Publishers have been dropping the GC like a bad habit, and they won't likely jump back on the Nintendo bandwagon until DS proves that it can move units.

So all they'll have to spur sales in the beginning is 1st party stuff. There are 2 problems though:

First, there are some nasty sharks in the water this xmas season in the console game market. San Andreas, Halo 2, GT4... While it's not direct competition, people only have so much time and money to spend, and DS isn't first on anyone's list (except the hard-core nintendrones).

Second, once xmas comes and goes, and PSP comes out in spring, nintendo will have no flexibility in moving their price point to compete. They're betting the farm on massive early adoption. You read $150 and you can almost see the sweat on their brow.

Re:It's nice to hear..

[RyuuzakiTetsuya]

SNK, Sega, NEC, and Game.COM called, they're all rolling in thier graves.

Re:It's nice to hear..

[Clock Nova]

Actually, the XNox is NOT kicking Nintendo's ass. The only place it outsells the Cube is in the US, and that's not by much. The Cube still leads the XBox worldwide.

But yes, the PS2 still trumps them both.

Re:It's nice to hear..

[PhoenixFlare]

First, there are some nasty sharks in the water this xmas season in the console game market. San Andreas, Halo 2, GT4... While it's not direct competition, people only have so much time and money to spend, and DS isn't first on anyone's list (except the hard-core nintendrones).

So you're basically assuming that everyone will want to play the latest violent 3d shooter/adventure games, and leave the DS on the shelves? I think you may end up being suprised.

This kind of "OMG, Nintendo is doomed" stuff has been posted endlessly ever since the Cube came out, and it has yet to come true.

Oh, and if you're actually trying to be serious instead of trolling, drop the "nintendrones" comment.

Re:It's nice to hear..

[Jacer]

Yeah, because the GBA hasn't outsold more units than the top two consoles combined..

Re:It's nice to hear..

[RyuuzakiTetsuya]

I think sony has a real fighting chance. They have alot of good 3rd parties behind them. They dominate the console market for god's sake!

Re:It's nice to hear..

[Clock Nova]

According to the press release, Nintendo already has over 100 third-party developers signed up to develop for the DS. Seems like that bandwagon is more enticing that you might think.

Re:It's nice to hear..

[Lumpy]

f someone throws down in that ring, dont expect Nintendo to last

oh yeah, like the n-gage... that really was popular.
Kind of like the new N-gage2? still sucks compared to a GameBoy Advance.

i have most of the handheld games that tried to unseat the old Gameboy. they are all pitiful failures.

sony MIGHT have a chance if they make a ps-one compatable handheld device. make it larger with a cd drive and play the psone games and it has a chance of kicking nintendo's arse.

but they prefer to make a new platform that will require buying new games.... so we will see how the giant can try to unseat Nintendo.

Re:It's nice to hear..

[Anonymous Coward]

First, there are some nasty sharks in the water this xmas season in the console game market. San Andreas, Halo 2, GT4... While it's not direct competition, people only have so much time and money to spend, and DS isn't first on anyone's list (except the hard-core nintendrones).

This is 100% true and up until today, I planned on finally buying an X-box when Halo 2 came out in November. But since DS will be out in November too, I'm reconsidering getting the X-box. Like you said, I only have so much time and money. Still up in the air, but this took the wind out of my X-box sails.

Re:It's nice to hear..

[robotoverflow]

As someone who worked in an Electronics Boutique here in Australia I can tell you that those trends aren't the same everwhere. Although we're not a very large market, counting at maybe 10,000 home consoles sold each week, the Gamecube is failing miserably, with most retailers not even putting in effort to advertise it. Hell, it's reminiscent of the final days of the DC.

Figures as of April last year stated the GC has something near a 7% Market-share in Australia, whereas the XBox is closer to 50% and the PS2 filling the rest. I haven't bothered checking the numbers again more recently but I'd imagine that they're still at around the same level.

Re:It's nice to hear..

[Anonymous Coward]

I don't know who are worse, xbox fanboys or playstation fanboys. The gamecube crowd seems to mostly shut up and just enjoy their games.

Tztztz... Gamecube kraut is constantly posting like this.

Re:It's nice to hear..

[Anonymous Coward]

All three systems aren't going anywhere. And all three systems are going to continue make a shitload more money than you're ever going to see.

Actually, this one bit is untrue for the XBox. If you look at Microsoft's SEC filings you'll see that the XBox project has been consistently losing a billion dollars a year since it began.

Unless you meant revenues, of course.

Re:It's nice to hear..

[Ayaress]

Sega dominated the console market, and just couldn't pull it off in the handheld market. Heck, some people say their efforts with the Game Gear and Sega CD sank the Genesis and let the SNES win out in the long run. Sony's got a fragile design behind them right now. I don't think they're going to end up with a system that can withstand the punishment a GBA can withstand (and gets inflicted on it regularly). I don't think the PSP will do nearly as bad as the N-Gage did, but ten years from now, I expect we'll all be talking about it like we talk about the Game Gear now. It was around for a while, it was kinda cool, and the Gameboy is still going.

Re:It's nice to hear..

[Anonymous Coward]

20-something zealots? I'm willing to bet there are more teenagers that think the gamecube is for kids than 20 year olds.

Re:It's nice to hear..

[vhold]

I honestly just think it's been their price point, every competitor that tried to touch them came in with an overpriced platform that was vastly superior in nearly everyway but was totally impractically priced. Sony is going to pull the same thing with the PSP, but being Sony, they'll be able to keep the thing alive indefinitely (like minidisc) until it finally comes down in price enough to actually get people to buy it.

It will be interesting if the PSP is finally able to infilitrate the ranks of people too embarassed to buy a gameboy the way the playstation one hooked huge amounts of new customers. By making it more of a gadget, capable of playing movies and such, they stand a good chance to get those kinds of customers to rationalize the purchase..

Re:It's nice to hear..

[RyuuzakiTetsuya]

On both sides of the pond? The Genesis was a flop in Japan. They didnt' even try with the Game Gear in Japan either...

Re:It's nice to hear..

[meringuoid]

They dominate the console market for god's sake!

But that's a different market. Nokia dominate the mobile phone market, and I think Nintendo have more to fear from them as far as the Gameboy goes. To my mind, N-Gage was crippled by the fact that it was a physical monstrosity that you couldn't imagine using as a phone. If Nokia can make N-Gage 2 into something more ergonomic - a phone that happens to play SNES-quality games, rather than an inferior Gameboy that happens to make phonecalls - they could really squeeze Nintendo.

After all, if I can play good games on my phone anyway, why would I buy an extra box to carry round?

Re:It's nice to hear..

[DeadScreenSky]

in the US, figures put the GC and XBox running either neck-and-neck in 2nd place or with the GC slightly ahead

Hey, late-2002 called, they want their sales figures back. :D

Exact specific numbers are hard to come by nowadays (pay attention after the coming holidays!), but all sorts of info is out there showing the Xbox ahead. Gamecube hasn't outsold the Xbox in more than a year. Xbox in this period has even managed to outsell the PS2 in some months. Back in January 2003 the Xbox was already outselling the Gamecube 2 to 1. As of March the Xbox was only video game system to experience console unit growth in 2004 in the United States (it was only 2%, but the Gamecube was down 18%). In June 2004 the Xbox's total percentage of the US console market share was around 33% - with the PS2 in the lead by quite a large margin still, it is obvious that the Gamecube is not "neck-and-neck" with Xbox!

(And selling a whopping half million Gamecube consoles in Japan this year is not a good defense either, unless perhaps you live in Japan or only play Japanese-region games.)

And you know what? None of this console sales numbers garbage should matter! Console sales numbers have nothing to do with how fun its games are, so to defend Gamecube as still selling close to (or even above!) the Xbox in the US is just ridiculous. It is about the games! I mean christ, the original poster (now modded as flamebait) you are attacking was talking about how much they love Nintendo's games and hope they start selling better again - shouldn't you be agreeing instead of spewing old console sales myths?

It is especially silly with how cheap the consoles are now getting. A Gamecube is what, the price of two games? Most gamers in the US can afford at least two consoles now, and the current numbers of existing consoles is high enough to make a decent profit on any of the systems. You don't need to win market share at the expense of another console right now!

(And please don't complain about biased sources, though some of the PR does make me gag too. :) All the stuff I linked to uses the standard NPD data, and it is available on plenty of other sites like Gamespot, etc. I am not going to spend several hours finding perfectly unbiased webpages just because you can't follow basic console news. ;p Or just post some Nintendo PR that states they are ahead with the Cube in the USA in the past year or so - I didn't find any at Nintendo's site, but it could very well be there.)

Re:It's nice to hear..

[miu]

I honestly just think it's been their price point, every competitor that tried to touch them came in with an overpriced platform that was vastly superior in nearly every way but was totally impractically priced.

I'm gonna stick with fun games and excellent design over price (although that has always been very good). I owned a game gear and a turbo express, and tried out the n-gage for a bit. I own all 3 current console systems and a nice gaming PC - and my favorite gaming platform is the GBA, it is convenient, has fun games, a good battery life, and the case is sturdy and lightweight.

I'm a pretty extreme example I'm sure, but there is a lot of the market for which price is not the most important element and nintendo has nailed what is good in a mobile game player. The other systems would often have games with better graphics and tons of action, but who cares - it is a mobile with a screen the size of a postage stamp and controls that give you hand cramps if you try to play a game that requires too much button mashing.

Re:It's nice to hear..

[mausmalone]

Sony would have half a chance in hell, if they even remotely were going to release the PSP anytime soon. Instead, it'll cost at least $50 more than the DS and come out some time in February or March (missing the ever-so-critical holiday season). Even if Sony's bigger, even if they have more of the home console market, and even if they can pump money into the PSP until the cows come home, they're positioned horribly here and will suffer because of their launch date, price, and because the DS is compatable with the entire GB and GBA series of games. Also, parents will buy the DS for their kids for Christmas because they know that that's the system that will have the next Pokémon game. Regardless of which one you'll be fighting for, you've gotta see that Sony's got a couple of major obstacles to face in the PSP launch.

Re:It's nice to hear..

[mausmalone]

wow... that was... uh.... spiteful.

Look, I won't tell you which systems I own, as it doesn't matter much, but let's just call a truce, m'kay? I've seen angry fanboy boasting from every side, and I think we need to all just sit back and chill.

That being said, I think that the DS is gonna beat out the PSP, mostly because there's already a large base of games, the DS will be first to launch, it'll cost less, and it'll come out before the holiday season (I believe the PSP is still slated for Winter 2005). That doesn't make it qualitatively better in any way, just more likely to sell.

Re:It's nice to hear..

[MustardMan]

Microsoft themselves might be losing money on the system, but a whole lot of developers are making a killing from it. Microsoft never expected the system to make money within its first couple of years, and they have pretty much met their goals. Namely, they've established a serious market presense and obtained a wide base of developers.

One company might be posting losses on the system due to the R&D and setup costs of getting into the business, but they are going to make those losses back quite a few times, and in the meantime have made a boatload of money for their developers.

Sony had a much firmer base in home electronics before they created the playstation, hence they had significantly lower costs to get a toe in the door.

Re:It's nice to hear..

[ratlater]

Based on most estimates it will cost at bare minimum $250. I'm guessing $300 or more though.

-matt

Re:It's nice to hear..

[Anonymous Coward]

for that price it had better have a "sucker" attachment/port =)

Re:It's nice to hear..

[Anonymous Coward]

PSP has the PlayStation brand. That's what'll guarantee its success.

Re:It's nice to hear..

[Trejkaz]

I seriously hope they don't. The last thing the industry needs is more developers shafted by a company who change their APIs without helping the developers adapt to the new APIs.

Re:It's nice to hear..

[PhoenixFlare]

Hey, late-2002 called, they want their sales figures back. :D

Uh...No? Assuming is a silly thing to do.

(And selling a whopping half million Gamecube consoles in Japan this year is not a good defense either, unless perhaps you live in Japan or only play Japanese-region games.)

And the XBox has sold only ~25,000. I would call that significant, unless you're claiming that Japan's sales doesn't matter, which is silly.

And you know what? None of this console sales numbers garbage should matter! Console sales numbers have nothing to do with how fun its games are, so to defend Gamecube as still selling close to (or even above!) the Xbox in the US is just ridiculous. It is about the games! I mean christ, the original poster (now modded as flamebait) you are attacking was talking about how much they love Nintendo's games and hope they start selling better again - shouldn't you be agreeing instead of spewing old console sales myths?

Maybe you should take your own advice.

It is especially silly with how cheap the consoles are now getting. A Gamecube is what, the price of two games? Most gamers in the US can afford at least two consoles now,

What's your point? I own a Cube, a PS2, and will probably buy an XBox sometime soon.

You don't need to win market share at the expense of another console right now!

Microsoft doesn't need anyone's help for that, recent reports have their XBox division not exactly making a profit. Not going to be healthy in the long run unless something changes.

(And please don't complain about biased sources, though some of the PR does make me gag too. :)

Easy to tell me not to complain when the biased sites support you, isn't it? :)

am not going to spend several hours finding perfectly unbiased webpages just because you can't follow basic console news. ;p

Awww, poor you. Here, i'll help:

August NPD chart

July NPD chart

June NPD chart

I'm sure you can find more if you actually bother to look - that took me about 5 minutes with Google, and the figures below about 5 more with a calculator.

Looking at the August data, and excluding the GBA sales, approzimate figures are:

PS2: 58.6%
XBOX: 22.8%
GC: 18.5%

If you include the GBA:

PS2: 37.9%
GBA: 35.2%
XBOX:14.7%
GC: 11.9%

So, as I said, the XBox and GC are running quite close together, especially when you consider how much of a gap with the PS2 and GBA sales there is.

Perhaps I should have qualified my initial statement a bit better- the GC has been (at times) both neck-and-neck and slightly ahead of the XBox in monthly sales, and is still neck-and-neck with it in total sales.

If I was wrong, so be it, but there's the full data so you can look at it for yourself outside of a Microsoft press release.

Re:It's nice to hear..

[AbRASiON]

You're quoting old facts,..... the Xbox is really starting to go places, Xbox live is well done, Microsoft or not, it's fucking great and you can mod the unit (as most know) and do a hell of a lot of shit with it.

If you're smart enough, you can have it mod'd and still use Xbox live too (mod off of course)

Re:It's nice to hear..

[squall14716]

the DS is compatable with the entire GB and GBA series of games

Not quite correct on that point - the DS is only compatible with GBA games - it isn't compatible with GB and GBC games.

Re:It's nice to hear..

[RyuuzakiTetsuya]

But that's a bit of a logical fallacy is it not?

Maybe i'm also engaging in one too, but the way I see it, they atleast have a decent foothold with decent third party support as well as decent hardware, unlike SNK, Game.com and Bandai. Bandai did have a few good games and a killer app(FF1/2/3), but nothing that would be killer enough to take the GB empire down.

Re:It's nice to hear..

[phyrz]

I went into EB for the first time in ages the other day and tried to order Tails of Phantasia. It wasn't in the system. None of the sales people had ever heard of it.

This could be why the Gamecube is failing is Oz.

Re:It's nice to hear..

[PhoenixFlare]

You're quoting old facts

Sorry. As I said above, maybe I should have qualified my initial statement a bit more. At any rate, take a look at the NPD charts and decide for yourself.

Microsoft or not, it's fucking great

I'm not saying I agree with you, but where did I say it wasn't? All I was disputing was the original poster's assertion that the XBox is "royally kicking Nintendo's ass", which it's not. They are still quite close in terms of total sales.

you can mod the unit (as most know) and do a hell of a lot of shit with it.

If you're smart enough, you can have it mod'd and still use Xbox live too (mod off of course)

Uh, yes, this is pretty much common knowledge in geek circles by now.

Re:It's nice to hear..

[Anonymous Coward]

You might have tried asking for Tales of Symphonia. :) Tales of Phantasia is the first of the Tales games, while Tales of Symphonia is the most recent.

Regarding Australia, it's true that the Xbox is outperforming the GameCube, reversing the overall worldwide trend. "Westerners" (such as they are in Oz, ignoring geography and arbitrary center-of-the-world cartographical arguments) LOVE their big, black, seemingly powerful things.

Re:It's nice to hear..

[MaverickUW]

You must not remember last Christmas very well. The gamecube sold a massive load of games between Thanksgiving and Christmas, and that's not counting the fact that when Nintendo dropped the price to $99 last Sept/October, there was actually a month where the gamecube outsold the PS2 in the USA.

Now Microsoft can say all it wants about selling its systems faster than even God could do it, but I don't believe MS has ever beaten the PS2 at all in a month, unlike Nintendo.

Awesome...

[GFLPraxis]

...looks like a $25 price drop. And its good PictoChat is bundled- it looks like it'd be a tad fun to fiddle with, but not worth any money, so no one would buy it if it wasn't.

One question:
Didn't they already have a ship date? GameStop has been giving out reservations for the DS for a month.

Re:Awesome...

[Ayaress]

Personally, the best thing I see here is that this might mean another drop in price on the GBA SP, which would be nice, since mine was recently damaged in a still-can't-beat-the-fucking-boss-related accident.

Re:Awesome...

[Anonymous Coward]

No Ship date.
Gamestop has been taking reserves since the thing was formally announced.
We don't have a ship date, or a price, but we can take a reserve for $25 down.

Re:Awesome...

[Lao-Tzu]

Looks like a $50 price increase, to me. The Gameboy SP retails at $99 USD right now. If $150 looks like a price drop to you, be sure you convert it to the native currency you're comparing the prices in...

Re:Awesome...

[Gr33nNight]

He said 'price drop' because as of yesterday, Wal-mart EB, Gamestop and etc were showing it to be $200. The DS being $150 is a nice surprise.

Re:Awesome...

[Anonymous Coward]

I don't think he's comparing the price of the DS and the gameboy.

Maybe he's comparing the price to the previously speculated price of the DS?

Gameboy != DS

Re:Awesome...

[Anonymous Coward]

Actually, the SP sells for $79.99 now.

Re:Awesome...

[mrgreen4242]

I think they just dropped the new ones to $80. You should be able to get a used one from ebgames or some other retailer for $50-60... that's not bad at all for what you are getting!

Re:Awesome...

[Ayaress]

It's not a bad price at all, but I've been hard on my GBA. This is the first SP I've killed, but I've only had it three months. I polished off two of the original version in under a year with simmilar acts of frustration. Either way, I'm going to wait until the DS is out before I replace my SP. I might safe a few more dollars, or I might even decide to step up to the DS, I never know. Worst case secnario, I spend the same amount of money I would right now.

Re:Awesome...

[mrgreen4242]

Laf, you need to calm down and remember it's only a game! :) As something to keep in mind, it doesn't look like the DS will support GBA multiplayer features, so if you are having these fits while playing Mario Kart with your boss or something, you may want to grab another SP =P

Any reliable battery life figures?

[strictfoo]

Anyone seen any reliable battery life figures for one of these?

Re:Any reliable battery life figures?

[Gr33nNight]

Yeah, they said 6-10 hours. Takes an hour longer to charge than the GBA, but still kicks ass.

Re:Any reliable battery life figures?

[Anonymous Coward]

According to the fact sheet:

"Battery: Lithium ion battery delivering six to 10 hours of play on a four-hour charge, depending on use; power-saving sleep mode; AC adapter"

Re:Any reliable battery life figures?

[Cosmos_7]

From the fact sheet:

Battery: Lithium ion battery delivering six to 10 hours of play on a four-hour charge, depending on use; power-saving sleep mode; AC adapter

Re:Any reliable battery life figures?

[avageek]

can't link you to a spec sheet from work, but I read this morning that 6-10 hrs is the expected battery life.

Re:Any reliable battery life figures?

[strictfoo]

Reliable = not coming from Nintendo

Re:Any reliable battery life figures?

[ForestStryfe]

The battery life is estimated to be about 10 hours. (I looked on a few forums and they were consistently saying 10.) My GBA SP has exceeded my expectations in terms of holding a charge, so I hope that the DS will do the same.

Re:Any reliable battery life figures?

[strictfoo]

how is this flamebait?

Look at laptop, cell phone, portable DVD player, etc etc etc etc etc, manufacturers and how they inflate their battery life figures. I realize that Nintendo is a sacred cow around here, but come on.

All I want are battery life figures that aren't coming from the manufacturer. From some game mag or game site that actually has the thing in hand and has been playing games with lots of bells and whistles, not some basic settings with the backlights off in some crappy "battery save" mode or something.

Re:Any reliable battery life figures?

[KevinKnSC]

My GBA SP gets at least the advertised 10 (backlight)/18 (no backlight) hours, so I've no reason not to believe the advertised battery life for the DS.

Re:Any reliable battery life figures?

[Zangief]

All I want are battery life figures that aren't coming from the manufacturer. From some game mag or game site that actually has the thing in hand and has been playing games with lots of bells and whistles, not some basic settings with the backlights off in some crappy "battery save" mode or something.

Why? Nintendo historically has said the truth; They said the SP would have 16-20 hours of battery life with the backlight off, and half that with the light on. It does that. They said the gamecube would move 7-12 millions of polys for second. In fact it moves more.

If Nintendo said that the DS will allow you to fly between countries, I would start making the paperwork to get a passport.

On the other hand, Sony and Microsoft, well, they aren't very reliable about their numbers. PS2 would move hundreds of millions of pollys. Yeah f&cking right...If they say the PSP will have a decent battery life, it means "you will be able to walk from one plug to another, and your battery will last just that".

Re:Any reliable battery life figures?

[Masami Eiri]

Never dropped an SNES off a second story balcony then.. have you? How about spilling a can of soda on a classic Gameboy? Controller lost in the snow?
They all still work. :p

Re:Any reliable battery life figures?

[TheLoneDanger]

Yup, it seems that Nintendo is much more comfortable underhyping the capabilities of its systems. You can also see this back when they presented the Gamecube, they didn't use the inflated possible poly per sec stats and instead noted what they thought it could reasonably put out under game conditions (numbers which have been bettered in actual games since then).

Frankly, with Sony refusing to properly clarify how many hours the PSP can be played on a charge with an actual game, I'm guessing that the DS is gonna last significantly longer than the PSP. And that has been a key factor in the Gameboy systems beating all of its technologically superior competitors. Sony can talk all it wants about the PSP's capabilities but if I am charging for 2-3 hours to play less than 4-5 hours...

Re:Any reliable battery life figures?

[Masami Eiri]

Sorry, should have noted the context of the post. Ignore, please.

Re:Any reliable battery life figures?

[Anonymous Coward]

Heh. I had my gameboy dropped in the toilet, have an ant colony in it, and still work.

Le *sigh*

[Control Group]

Dammit, where was this stuff when I was a kid? All I had for hand-held gaming was "Castlevania," which had a monochrome LCD screen that could display Our Hero in three different positions, four different enemies in two positions each, and a series of flagstones for me to "walk" on.

Nowadays, these things are fantastically cool, and I love them, but man, do I not need another video game platform. Now I drive myself places. My only video game time is at home, where I've got a 65" TV, a PC, and six different consoles. I want a GBA, I'm sure I'll want the DS, but I know I'd never play them.

It's really kind of depressing.

Re:Le *sigh*

[Anonymous Coward]

Damn kids, All we had was a football game with an led display and we felt lucky to have that.

Re:Le *sigh*

[Achoi77]

Speak for yourself. :-)

I'm getting one

The kids will get one too

Here's to wireless multiplayer gaming with your kids. And you call yourself a geek?? For shame!! Where are your roots?

Re:Le *sigh*

[rainman_bc]

You must be young. My first handheld was actually a tabletop game - Pac Man, and then later on, I got Zaxxon. All led driven stuff...

Re:Le *sigh*

[adler187]

Get a Gamecube (if you don't already) and a Gameboy Player. It will only cost you around $150USD and you can play pretty much any GC, GB, GBC, and GBA game out there. Also you might want to try importing the SNES style GC controller which was designed for the player.

Re:Le *sigh*

[Control Group]

*blush*

I am young, but I did have a couple LED-driven tabletop (is that the word? Mini-cabinets?) games. I forget what they were called...joystick on the left, one button on the right...one was a top-down shooter. Little space ship, shooting little lasers at oncoming little space ships...ah, those were the days. I forgot how much I loved those games.

I didn't count them as "handhelds," though, since they had wall warts. Or something like four C cells, IIRC.

Re:Le *sigh*

[barawn]

Now I drive myself places.

You never fly? Flying is when I use my GBA the most. God, it's wonderful for passing time in airports. They even market it to people in airports, so I imagine I'm not the only one...

Re:Le *sigh*

[Control Group]

I suppose if I had kids, it might be different. That sounds like a good time...as it stands, though, I already have more unfinished video games than I can shake a stick at (Metroid: Prime, XIII, Hitman 2, Mario Sunshine, Tron 2.0, Ikaruga...probably more that I'm forgetting). I wouldn't have finished Wind Waker if I hadn't had three friends over for a weekend to race.

Not to mention Doom III and HL2 (if it ever comes out).

I never knew in college how good I had it, with time to finish games as they came out, instead of continually falling further and further behind...

...you're probably right. Where's the registrar? I need to turn in my geek card. ;)

Re:Le *sigh*

[Matey-O]

It's really kind of depressing.

About as depressing as walking into Consumer Electronics 'R' Us and realizing you already have one of everything they sell. (DVD player? check. Desktop computer? Check. Laptop? Check. Mp3 player? check. Gonzo huge T.V. check. Stereo with dozen speakers? check. Game console? check.)

It's so bad I actually spend time shopping in the APPLIANCES section! (Marg blender? Check. Rug Shampooer? check. CPU controlled toaster? check. Programmable dishwasher? check.)

{sob}

Re:Le *sigh*

[Control Group]

Actually, I don't. I don't really take trips of any kind (every time I've got the money to spend on travelling somewhere, I convince myself it would be better spent on PC hardware. This is a very similar reason to why I don't have a laptop).

If I did more travelling, I might have a use for it. But as it stands, I haven't been anywhere I haven't driven to in...oh, my...ten years?

Re:Le *sigh*

[Miphnik]

Game Boy, my foot -- in my time, we had Mattel Electronic Football, and we liked it! Durn young whippersnappers!

Re:Le *sigh*

[Anonymous Coward]

Le *sigh*
Dude, get out and see the world... theres more to it than video games or an upgrade to ur pc.

Re:Le *sigh*

[nazsco]

child: disposition, time, no money
adult: disposition, money, no time
senile: time, money, no disposition

so, it only get worse. enjoy.

Re:Le *sigh*

[Jerf]

There are upsides, too.

Two weeks ago I bought FFX-2 from Target for 16.88. I just bought the PC version of Knights of the Old Republic, the only game that makes me want an X-BOX, for 19.99, also at Target, even though I actually don't have a machine for it yet. (Hopefully soon.)

Being behind the curve isn't all bad. Let others sort out the dross and grab only the good stuff at bargain bin, or in this case, "clearance because the stupid gaming industry releases everything for Christmas", prices.

(On that note, this is definately an excellent time to buy high-quality games for said prices, because the stores are definately clearing out space. My Target no longer has any FFX-2, for instance. Keep your eyes peeled.)

Re:Le *sigh*

[shotfeel]

Spoiled kid!

I got my first handheld when I was in Junior High (OK, it wasn't even mine, it was my brother's). I don't remember what it was called, but it was a football game where the players (4 or 5?) were represented by red LED's. You could tell which one you were because it was the brighter one.

Re:Le *sigh*

[Geckoman]

Back in my day, whenever we wanted to play football, we had to go out and find 6-21 other people to play with. Then we had to find an air-filled animal skin to use for a ball, and we had to go outdoors to do it! And the only red we saw came not from LEDs, but from dozens of cuts and scratches!

Re:Le *sigh*

[Deraj DeZine]

You should go grab yourself an updated American Dream Checklist and then immediately go out and purchase a plasma TV, an LCD computer monitor, and an iPod or similar MP3 player.

Re:Le *sigh*

[Matey-O]

check. check. check.

Got 'em. What's next?

Re:Le *sigh*

[MadChicken]

What's next? Why, a BLENDERPHONE of course!!!

Re:Le *sigh*

[Deraj DeZine]

Got 'em. What's next?

Give them to me.

Re:Le *sigh*

[damiam]

Donate a chunk of money to charity, cause obviously you've got more than you know what you do with.

Re:Le *sigh*

[ribond]

I've got a kid, a wife, a house, a job... the only way I get to play games is on my gbaSP. 10 minutes at a time (waiting for wife @ mall, in meeting/the john @ work, etc) I've put in more than 150 hours of gaming with this toy.

I love nintendo. I will buy the DS.

Re:Le *sigh*

[SirLeNerd]

The Coleco Handheld http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Garage/5979 /lot2.jpg

Re:Le *sigh*

[jandrese]

I remember that. I was young at the time though, I could never tell if I was actually winning or not. It seemed like I could "run" the little sprite down to the endzone fairly well, but there were other things the game wanted to do (field goals for instance) that I never really understood. It might have helped if we hadn't picked it up in a garage sale with all of the stickers pulled off and no manual. The three buttons on the left (up, down, and left/right) seemed pretty straightforward, but there buttons on the right that I never really understood. It might have helped if I knew the rules of football back then...

Re:Le *sigh*

[Toasty16]

I HAVE THAT GAME! It was one of those Tiger electronic handheld games made in the 1980s. I even remember the sound effect when you beat Dracula. it went like this:

"DOOT. doo doo DOOT."

Of course, that was also the "Game Over" sound effect when you lost. Those Tiger electronics handhelds were pretty limited...

Re:Le *sigh*

[MagicDude]

First off, when did being old automatically mean you're senile? There are a variety of neurological diseases that can cause senility, but not everyone gets them. Having the values, beliefs, and interests of a different generation from before your time doesn't mean Grandpa is crazy.

Anyways, on to my main point. I don't think it's been enough time to decide whether people will like video games when they reach retirement. Home consoles have really only been popular for about 20 years. And in the beginning, they were primarily kids toys. You didn't really have guys in their 30's and 40's buying nintendos for themselves; rather it was something you got for your young kids or nephews and such. So now, those kids are in their 20's and 30's and are adults. It's also only recently that the people in their 30's and 40's are getting into video games without having any childhood experience with them, since the release of the current next-gen systems (PS2, XBox, and the Cube). So I don't think that home consoles have been around long enough to see if video games can be popular with retirement aged people. So the question is why isn't it popular with retired people now? Well, it's because it's not what they're used too. Grandpa never played video games except for that one time he popped a quarter into pac-man at the pizzeria. He has no experience and thus no interest. However, I'll bet he does like going to baseball games or jazz concerts or whatever else that he's had a lifetime appreciating. So it's not so unrealistic that if you're played video games all your life, that you would continue to do so after you retired.

Re:Le *sigh*

[Anonymous Coward]

You can trade money for time. My life is a lot better for it. I don't have a lot of "stuff", of course, but stuff wears out, gets old, broken, and eventually ends up in the trash can.

Re:Le *sigh*

[Trejkaz]

Never fear, Doom 3 is only about 15 hours of gameplay on medium difficulty anyway. Do what I did, and finish it over half a week of evenings and a Saturday morning. Doesn't interfere with work at all, except that I swear to god there are zombies in our kitchenette.

Re:Le *sigh*

[WaKall]

Your Target no longer has any FFX-2? I guess that is a big relief for all the gamers in your area ;)

Re:Le *sigh*

[Anonymous Coward]

Ikaruga is never finished until you can chain everything perfectly.

Give up while you still can. It's been over a year and I still play that game every so often, trying to break my meager 8 million. And no, I'm not being modest. It's hard.

Re:Le *sigh*

[hesiod]

> Dude, get out and see the world

Dude, not everyone can afford to take a flying vacation every month... or even every year. There's more to life than expecting poor people to do everything you can afford to do (not saying that guy's poor) and calling them unedumacated when they can't.

Re:Le *sigh*

[hesiod]

Perfect response.

Re:Le *sigh*

[Anonymous Coward]

Better watch out, because before too long, you'll be meeting up with your single serving friend, good old Tyler Durden on one of your flights around the country, working a job earning money you don't need to buy junk you don't need. Time to start a Fight Club, anyone?

Chat... but what about phone?

[192939495969798999]

If it supports a chat/whiteboard/etc. type app, will it eventually have a cellphone cartridge? That would be just sweet! MMORPG's with a phone, that's really a gameboy... much better than the ol' green screen tetris.

Re:Chat... but what about phone?

[ShadowFlair]

Interesting you should say that. MMORPGs on phones has been a huge hit in Japan. For example, my favourite game, Tengai Makyou (aka Far East of Eden) has been re-released on the GameCube and PS2, almost at the same time they did a FOMA version of Tengai Mobile.

Re:Chat... but what about phone?

[Anonymous Coward]

Blasphemy! NOTHING is better than the old green screen Tetris. Tetris is one of the best games of all time, and that was the best version of Tetris ever. Period.

Re:Chat... but what about phone?

[mcc]

There were rumors to that effect, sort of.

Re:Chat... but what about phone?

[mrgreen4242]

I suspect that we will see a NDS MMORPG of some sort next year, around xmas time. However, I suspect it will be something a little different, and will use the 802.11 connectivity only, and not any sort of cell phone connection.

Also, I suspect that there will be some sort of system where you can 'instance' zones and play them solo while offline, or in groups of up to 8-16 players who are on an ad-hoc local wireless network of DS's.

When you connect to the 'real' servers you will be able to engage in trading, pk'ing, etc, as well as access 'special' zones where good eq spawns, etc. Also, you'll have to be connected to the system to get some sort of 'mission queue' going, which will be the zones you are allowed to spawn while offline, and invite friends to come with you, if they are within the 30-100 ft range of your DS.

Now, I haven't seen or heard anything that is at all like this, it just seems like it would be the natural game design for a portable system with built in wireless connetivity. The DS, with its extra touch screen for inventory, stats, menus, chat system, etc, and also a built in microphone (and headset jack) for voice communication seems like the ideal platform for what could be a MMORG genre defining game.

On a related note, I would't be suprised if Nintendo or at least some other 3rd party starts selling a 802.11b USB adaptor with some sort of gateway software that sets your home (Windoze) PC up as an AP, allowing you to play all the internet enabled games while puttering around your house. Seems like an easy money maker, to me.

Re:Chat... but what about phone?

[hunterx11]

The real question is...will it support sidetalking?

Dual Screens, Dual CPUs

[YetAnotherName]

And one screen is touch-sensitive; that could certainly lead to some novel applications--er, I meant games, of course ... :-)

I wonder if you can run Linux on it? It sports an ARM9 and an ARM7 ... built-in WiFi ... tempting ...

Re:Dual Screens, Dual CPUs

[thdexter]

A friend of mine's a developer for a Guillemot subsidiary, working on a DS launch title, and he says that it would be pretty trivial to port Linux to it. So, there you go, straight from the friend-of-an-anonymous-developer's mouth.

Re:Dual Screens, Dual CPUs

[KDR_11k]

Tecmo's Team Ninja (famous for the DoA series) is enlisted for DS development so you're definitely going to see those "novel applications" in retail games.

Re:Dual Screens, Dual CPUs

[Slashdot Insider]

Dual screens, dual CPU's means I finally get to run KDE and Gnome side-by-side!

is it that time of year already

[unit01]

All the games consoles getting prepared for christmas me thinks

Re:is it that time of year already

[IANAAC]

Yes, it's that time of year already.

I just opened a work-email telling me to save the date for the annual holiday party.

Bah humbug. I'm not ready.

Damnit....

[JoeLinux]

Now I have to re-buy it. Curse them for improving it!

Who here wants to make a betting pool for how long until linux is hacked onto it?

Re:Damnit....

[Cutriss]

Since it also runs GBA software...How does "now" work for you?

Re:Damnit....

[theguywhosaid]

Who here wants to make a betting pool for how long until linux is hacked onto it?

what do you mean exactly? a corrupting of the ftp mirrors? a major virus? a worm that shuts down the net? i think the how question should get a pool too.

P.S. sorry you have to re-buy the junk

Re:Damnit....

[NanoGator]

"Who here wants to make a betting pool for how long until linux is hacked onto it?"

Sorry if I'm being unimaginitive, and I hope this doesn't sound inpolite, but why would somebody do this? I'm not trying to shoot it down or anything, I really just can't imagine.

Re:Damnit....

[KDR_11k]

With WiFi, a touchscreen-keyboard and somewhat capable CPUs, I'd say cheap Linux-driven PDA-replacement.

Re:Damnit....

[PurpleFloyd]

It's just for the pure "I've done it" factor. Doing something like running an ancient Unix on a GBA-based PDP-11 emulator has zero practical value, but is an interesting puzzle; essentially, it's adapting a square peg to fit into a round hole.

You might as well ask why some people love diabolical puzzles - it's simply something they enjoy doing. While there may well be a learning experience involved, the sheer joy of seeing a command prompt on some oddball specialized hardware after 90 hours of hacking really is enough for some people.

Re:Damnit....

[NanoGator]

I see what you're saying. Believe me, I understand that aspect of being a geek. I would just expect them to do that with something they already have, as opposed to spending $150 on it when it'd likely be a superior game machine to a *Nix machine. Ya know?

I dun wanna be nitpicky about it, nor do I want to look down at somebody for doing that (hope it doesn't come off that way) I just wanted to understand.

Thanks!

It looks great!

[Zangief]

The price is the right one, and the bunmdle is perfect!

Nintendo has played his cards very well this time.

Re:Games?!

[strictfoo]

Unlike the GBA, the nintendo DS doesn't allow you to play your favorite nintendo games from other consoles... no NES, no Super NES, no N64

Maybe it's just me, but I haven't seen the N64 -> GBA ports.

There's no reason they can't release NES or Super NES games for the DS, and I'm assuming they most likely will considering the huge profits they make on them.

Re:Games?!

[Anonymous Coward]

What? That's not unlike the GBA at all. The GBA does not allow you to play any games from any other consoles except the earlier Gameboys. If you're thinking of the NES and SNES games you can buy for the GBA, those run natively - there's nothing to preclude the same sort of porting to the DS.

Re:Games?!

[thewldisntenuff]

No, probably not.....Nintendo can re-release them in a "retro" gaming pack-

Thus, it will not hurt them, but rather, pay off as people buy the gaming pack

Or you could be a l33t hax0r and boot an emulator onto the DS :)

-thewldisntenuff

Re:Yeah....

[MadBiologist]

I agree... the filters arond here are kinda lame, which one tagged you with something?

Re:Games?!

[orangenormal]

What are you talking about? One of the demos at E3 was Super Mario 64 (with multiplayer abilities added, no less). Due to the success of the NES Classic Series, we're bound to see a lot of SNES ports on the DS as well, due to it's increased capabilities.

Re:Games?!

[Paladine97]

Wait until the homebrew scene gets a hold of it. In a short time you'll see NES/SNES emulators on it in addition to other emulators of the 16-bit era.

The system might get some N64 ports but it won't be powerful enough to emulate them directly (maybe some dynamic recompilation would do the trick however).

Re:Games?!

[tuffy]

Unlike the GBA, the nintendo DS doesn't allow you to play your favorite nintendo games from other consoles... no NES, no Super NES, no N64, no Gamecube compatibility.

The GBA never had NES, SNES, N64 or Gamecube compatibility. But the GBA did have GB/GBC compatibility, and the DS will have GBA compatibility (at least). That built-in library, along with low cost and good battery life give Nintendo the same huge edge they enjoyed when the GBA first came out.

Wireless Chat with Others

[Enigma_Man]

That are from 30 to 100 feet away! Save the energy of actually looking at people, or raising your voice slightly.

Is there some aspect of the chat feature that I'm missing or not understanding? If you're playing a game with someone within 100 feet maximum, shouldn't you be able to see and/or holler (holla for all you kids) at them?

-Jesse

Re:Wireless Chat with Others

[slashrogue]

Not if you're in class and trying to stay out of trouble. ;)

Re:Wireless Chat with Others

[Gr33nNight]

I think they mean, you have to be 30-100 feet to a WAP. At least that would make more sense. The protocol is based on 802.11, and Nintendo did mention that the DS would be compatable with Wireless Access Points.

Re:Wireless Chat with Others

[Anonymous Coward]

Truly useful for the truly lazy. For example, I used to have to get out of bed and walk into the next room to play nintendo with my apartment-mates. Such pains will inconvenience me no longer!

Re:Wireless Chat with Others

[Anonymous Coward]

"Is there some aspect of the chat feature that I'm missing or not understanding? If you're playing a game with someone within 100 feet maximum, shouldn't you be able to see and/or holler (holla for all you kids) at them?" On a bus, whether school/charter/city/whatever. Planes if they ever stop their stupid rules about transmissions. Not to mention yelling 100 feet isn't very fun

Re:Wireless Chat with Others

[Thrakkerzog]

You don't ride trains. I'm not sure if they would be allowed on airplanes... but there are places where it is inappropriate to "holla".

Re:Wireless Chat with Others

[chrysrobyn]

If you're playing a game with someone within 100 feet maximum, shouldn't you be able to see and/or holler (holla for all you kids) at them?

What if the parents are trying to watch the TV in the same room? In a long plane / car ride? Several college students in a lecture hall? The deaf get to play these games cooperatively too!

There are many instances when short distance text chat would be useful to me. Being in noisy or quiet situations are an example. Your comment seems to imply that every DS gathering will be LAN-party-esque. Surely, yelling at teammates and competitors is fun, but not every game-playing environment is conducive to that.

Re:Wireless Chat with Others

[JoshMKiV]

Probably for cheating in class...

Re:Wireless Chat with Others

[mandos]

During class, at work, etc.

Re:Wireless Chat with Others

[42forty-two42]

802.11 supports an Ad-hoc mode without access points.

Re:Wireless Chat with Others

[Enigma_Man]

They're talking about Voice-chat. I can understand text-chatting to someone who's 100 feet away, just being convenient, or polite (I've IMed my roommate at school who sat about 3 feet behind me). But I'm talking about the voice-chat feature. It has a built-in Microphone. Deaf people are still SOVoice-Chat, and you still have to talk into the thing, which isn't cool for places where being quiet is keen.

I think the real advantage, and the point I was missing was the 802.11 functionality, so you can yell at your friends over the intarweb.

-Jesse

Re:Wireless Chat with Others

[Enigma_Man]

Also, unless the DS comes with some kind of keyboard (which I didn't happen to see), good luck typing on a D-pad and a few buttons :D

-Jesse

Re:Wireless Chat with Others

[DrEldarion]

If it's based on 802.11, does that mean that you'll be dropped from the game if your 2.4ghz cordless phone rings?

This happened with my wireless network at home. :/

Re:Wireless Chat with Others

[Radius9]

There are 2 wireless modes on the DS. One is a sort of Ad-Hoc mode, where no WAP is needed (and its not the same as a regular 802.11 AdHoc, its proprietary), where up to 16 DS's can be linked. The other mode is regular 802.11 that connects to a WAP

Re:Wireless Chat with Others

[Jeff DeMaagd]

100ft max seems kind of weak although it might be a power saving measure. I can easily get a practical 900ft range with a standard wireless 802.11 b or g card and access point. The claimed range for the hardware is 1800ft.

Re:Wireless Chat with Others

[KDR_11k]

RTFA, the touch screen provides an on-screen keyboard.

Re:Wireless Chat with Others

[NanoGator]

"You don't ride trains. I'm not sure if they would be allowed on airplanes... but there are places where it is inappropriate to "holla"."

Why is this 'offtopic'? Come to think of it, why is the parent post +5? It's meant to be silly and fun, plus people'll find fun uses for it. If it's bundled with the system (or is it integrated? One site I read said that but I'm not sure if they precisely meant 'no cartridge required') then what's the harm? I remember playing with walkie talkies that only had a line of sight range, if that. Heh.

Re:Wireless Chat with Others

[M51DPS]

You've obviously never been in a situation where you instant message someone, even though they're in the same same room as you. Some people are just so silly....

Re:Wireless Chat with Others

[Anonymous Coward]

...so does this mean that you can just connect via 802.11 to other GBDS users on your local subnet? Or would I be able to enter the IP address of some distant chat partner across the 'net?

Re:Wireless Chat with Others

[Anonymous Coward]

worse than that, it might if someone just simply nukes their food.

Re:Wireless Chat with Others

[ArmpitMan]

And you got this information where?

clueless

[muyuubyou]

You mean like Gameboy Advanve and it's 90-something % share in the portable market?

A cool idea

[iamdrscience]

I think nintendo should make a cartridge with emulations of a couple of those old multi screen game 'n' watch games they had. If you don't know what I'm talking about, here's an example. You can see others on Gameandwatch.com, just click on "multiscreen" on the menu.

Hell, if they don't do it, I might just have to waste my time programming it myself once somebody gets together a free dev-kit for the DS.

Re:A cool idea

[dogbowl]

Better run to the store and make up for lost time

Game and Watch Gallery
Game and Watch Gallery 2
Game and Watch Gallery 3
Game and Watch Gallery 4

Re:A cool idea

[xenocide2]

I think he was specifically referring to those two screen versions. IGN also commented on the game and watch similarities. Its possible that in the future, you'll see a DS with some goofy color scheme and an embedded game and watch game instead, for old time's sake.

Re:A cool idea

[afish40]

Game & Watch Gallery 4 for GBA includes a few dual-screen games. A single button toggles between the two screens.

Re:A cool idea

[G-funk]

I want fake woodgrain on my DS!

Well ain't that handy

[yipyow]

Looks like I'll be getting one of these for my five-year-old after all. I had was going to get him an Advance SP because I figured these new ones would be way over my price range...but $150 isn't too bad! Now to wait for the reviews...

Re:Games?!

[sp1kez0r]

the GBA doesn't allow you to play your favorite nintendo games from other consoles either... just the ones that have been ported... and who's to say they won't port snes or n64 games to DS...

1 PC here...

[youknowmewell]

My sympathy goes out to you.

Butt Ugly

[Anonymous Coward]

I didn't buy a GBA because it would just be too embarrassing to be seen playing games on it in public. The GBA-SP dramatically improved on the cool factor, this thing looked like it was born into the right decade.

Now the DS makes me think - oh look, a retro toy from the 80's. I know it'll have power and games and wifi and chat and probably a SETI client before long that can outperform my home machine, but it's waaaaay ugly and clunky for my likes.

Apple, please create a GBA clone.

Re:Butt Ugly

[Anonymous Coward]

Did you see the updated body style? It doesn't look like a game and watch toy from the 80's any more... Thank $DIETY.

IGN has a couple pictures

Re:Butt Ugly

[radish]

Agreed - too big and too ugly (even the updated look, which is slightly better than it was). The PSP on the other hand....mmmmmmm :)

Re:Butt Ugly

[ObsessiveMathsFreak]

Personally, I want a handheld console with a screen the size of the old gamboy. I'm sick of people calling for smaller and smaller handhelds. This means ever more fiddly buttons, eye wincingly small sprites and crappier tinnier sound.

If you want a micro console, get a game and watch. if you want a good console, go 150% larger than the SP and battery life be danmed!!!!

Re:Butt Ugly

[Anonymous Coward]

If you think the DS is too big but are rooting for the PSP, I think you'll be shocked to see one actually in your hands. the psp is huge!

Re:Butt Ugly

[NanoGator]

"I didn't buy a GBA because it would just be too embarrassing to be seen playing games on it in public."

You must be really borderline if a Gameboy is what you need to accessorize with.

Re:Butt Ugly

[logic hack]

Video games, and consoles, are supose to be fun an functional. If you're too concerned about appearance to bring yourself you buy and use one; then go sit back down with all the other people who are looking for the next slick looking epenis extension.

Ranting aside, I mean how important is it to an educated gamer how the device which your playing the games on look? I don't know about the rest of you, but I would rather derive fun from the DS via the games I can play on it, rather than it looking trendy.

Re:Butt Ugly

[Snowmit]

I look at the PSP and all I can think is "Oh god, the scratches!"

I love the clamshell design. I once dropped my GBA SP on the street and it was RUN OVER BY A BUS. Picked it up, popped the game back in and aside from some wicked-awesome battle scars, it works great.

Given their reputation with the PS and PS2 lasers etc., I doubt very much that Sony will ever make hardware that sturdy

Re:Butt Ugly

[KDR_11k]

You do realize that the PSP and old DS are approximately the same size?

Re:Butt Ugly

[KDR_11k]

Unless you mean a screen as big as the whole device you might be disappointed to learn that the only thing that got smaller on the GB series was the casing. The GBA SP's screen is exactly the same height and about 30% wider than the original GB's screen. The GBC's screen was exactly the same size as the GB's but the rest of the device was downsized.
The SP's casing, however, is slightly narrower than the GB's, much thinner and a bit higher (unfolded).

However, the PSP might offer the screen size you're searching for, unfortunately you have to be serious about the "battery life be damned" bit.

Re:Butt Ugly

[radish]

When folded up maybe. But they're different shapes when the DS is open - (pretty much) square vs (long thin) rectangle. I agree with the practicality of the clam shell design, but for me, the PSP just appeals more visually.

Re:Butt Ugly

[TrekCycling]

I would posit that if you're embarrased to be seen playing video games in public you're possibly not as mature as you think you are.

Re:It's so sad.

[suicidedoll]

It IS in the Games news.

The Price is Right Bob!

[Sergeant Beavis]

$150 US!

Yea, I'm definitly buying one. I guess my nephew will enjoy the GBA he will be getting from me.

This looks like a home run on Nintindo's part.

One more link

[mcc]

Here's a page with some pictures of the DS, if you haven't seen it.

Re:Games?!

[Anonymous Coward]

"the GBA doesn't allow you to play your favorite nintendo games from other consoles either"

Sure, with a big enough flash cart.

just in time for xmas shopping...

[Chuck Bucket]

wow, nice timing, and for what it can do, nice price I think. This should be a winner, regardless, but with the new games and screen config, it really 'raises the bar' as those marketing types like to say. since GB has pretty much taken all of the handheld console market, DS will only build on that I suspect. when will they add a built in cell phone to it? That's when I'll be ponying up for one for sure!

CB*($#

Re:Games?!

[diamondsw]

Well, they've already stated that Mario 64 will be ported, and from this article on the launch (lot more responsive than Smoking-Hulk-Of-PlanetGameCube), looks like GBA games will be compatible (although that goes against everything else I've read).

http://www.gamespot.com/news/2004/09/21/news_61079 96.html

DS will beat PSP

[NickFusion]

in the game market, because the PSP, with it's higher price-point, and moving parts is not really something you're going to want to buy for a kid. The PSP is a portable home-entertainment-center for the idle-rich geek, and that's where it will find it's audience.

Nitendo knows kids, and knows kids games. I expect the DS will clean up there.

Disclaimer: I work for a DS developer...};^)

Re:DS will beat PSP

[vhold]

Especially at first the DS is going to seemingly beat the crap out of the PSP, but Sony is taking the PSP in the same direction they took the original playstation. Instead of trying to win over nintendo handheld customers, they are looking for a totally new untapped market of young adults that previously wouldn't be associated with videogames.

By marketting the PSP as being like a 21st century walkman, they intend to crack upon a whole new set of consumers. Being Sony, they can start it off at the really high end market, people who see the gaming industry as being a closed set of consumers will call it a failure initially and as Sony brings the price down and people who've always been jealous of the early adoptors start to be able to justify it, the market will take off.

Re:DS will beat PSP

[Trejkaz]

You make a good point about moving parts. The lack of moving parts is why I'm happy to carry my current GBA-SP around with me everywhere, with only a thin rubber case protecting it. If I drop the thing on the ground (which has happened from time to time), even without the case, it just clatters, and doesn't break.

Now add a disk drive. Something tells me dropping a PSP the same distance to the floor would not be as pleasant. :-)

The way the PSP has sticks instead of a D-pad doesn't bode well for its resilience either. I imagine that sooner or later, a stick will snap off in someone's bag, and there will be no way to replace it like you can replace a single controller.

Just one console here

[MustardMan]

An xbox, software modded, running about a dozen emulators. There's something very rewarding about playing Asteroids or Burger Time with a groovy modern controller.

UDE is your friend =)

Re:Just one console here

[Control Group]

That's pretty much what I use my DC for, to be honest. The only DC game I actually play is Crazy Taxi 2, and even that I haven't broken out in quite some time.

Partially, though, that's because the 65" TV is rear projection, and doesn't work with the DC's light gun, or I'd play...er...that one game...Confidential Mission, or some such...

Re:Just one console here

[Anonymous Coward]

Also House of the Dead 2. Which is a fantastic game, but pretty short. But those are the only 2 DC lightgun games.

p.s. the guns are in short supply now. Sell it on ebay if you don't use it - let someone else have some fun.

Re:Just one console here

[himitsu]

i think madcatz makes a passable light gun taht can still be obtained at most gamestops. and usually cheaper than the japan only DC official.

This is also to say nothing of

[Anonymous Coward]

Profits. Nintendo is making boatloads of money with the Gamecube and the. Sony's making money, but their margins aren't so good. Microsoft, meanwhile, is consistently losing about a two hundred and fifty million dollars a quarter on the XBox venture.

Who's "winning"? Probably Sony, all things considered. But Nintendo's certainly not "losing".

Re:This is also to say nothing of

[Anonymous Coward]

Microsoft, meanwhile, is consistently losing about a two hundred and fifty million dollars a quarter on the XBox venture.

At that rate, they'll only be able to keep it up for... oh, about another 150 years. It gets a bit annoying seeing Microsoft buy marketshare through sheer inertia. Hopefully it won't happen here.

yeah yeah...

[muyuubyou]

...for your 5-yeat-old right?

Nintendo has Good Games

[ShadowFlair]

My largest rant about games nowadays is that companies seem to spend so much time/money on graphics the contents is, well, lacking. This seems to be slowly changing of late. But, heh, I always get suckered into buying Nintendo stuff because I am a huge fan of the few genres that they have come up with. Zelda and Metroid, even with good graphics, still maintain good game content, and I still buy one after another.

Re:Nintendo has Good Games

[MilenCent]

...because I am a huge fan of the few genres that they have come up with.

- sputter -

Like platformers (Donkey Kong) , scrolling platformers (Super Mario Bros.) 3D platformers (Mario 64), world-exploration platformers (Metroid) and action-adventures (Legend of Zelda)?

If you can come up with even one genre you're a genius. How long has id ridden that first-person shooter pony? Nintendo's come up with many.

Re:Nintendo has Good Games

[Omestes]

Er... ID is a development house, Nintendo is a full scale company that lets development houses make games for them. Nintendo themself have not invented single new genre

Re:Nintendo has Good Games

[MilenCent]

No, I dispute that, and it's easy to dispute it: WarioWare is unquestionably unique. But there are other examples, too. One might be able to find previous examples of game types before Nintendo made them, but in most cases it's difficult to make a case that Nintendo actually copied them but created it independently, and usually Nintendo did it so much better that the previous game's obscurity seems justified.

And, I'm unaware of a game of Metroid's type that predates it. Ditto Zelda. And I can't name one (though it seems like there must be one) for Super Mario Bros.

Consider this a friendly challenge: can anyone name the "prior art" in the single-screen platformer (DK), side-scrolling platformer (SMB), world-exploration platformer (Metroid) and action-adventure (Zelda) genres? I know of at least one 3D platformer before Mario 64 (Jumping Flash), but the others I'm not as sure of.

Re:Nintendo has Good Games

[Omestes]

Wasn't Crash-Bandicoot a 3d platformer before the n64. We're forgetting about TONS of games that predate nintendo, like all the games on c64.

Re:Nintendo has Good Games

[KDR_11k]

Nintendo has different developer studios, but they're all part of the main company. Most of the games Nintendo publishes are actually developed in-house, when you see developer names like HAL, EAD and Intelligent Systems you're seeing the names of the various studios present within Nintendo. They were called R&D[insert number] not too long ago and aren't independant companies. And AFAIK the majority of new genres has been developed by one of these studios (I think EAD) and more exactly one man (Shigeru Miyamoto, though Metroid was the invention of Gumpei Yokoi, who quit the company after iventing the Virtual Boy and died not much later in a car accident). I don't know when those various R&D groups were even founded, but I have a feeling that it was somewhat after they realized that the videogame market is so profitable.

Re:Nintendo has Good Games

[MilenCent]

No, Mario 64 (and thus the N64) predated Crash I'm pretty sure. And it's not even the same thing, as Mario 64 has free-roaming spaces while Crash is 3D only in a narrow path.

"All the games on the C64" isn't enough to upstage Nintendo's innovation, examples and dates are needed. Further, it's unlikely Nintendo borrowed from Commodore games, which for all their popularity in Europe, were less famous in the U.S., and rare in Japan.

Article Text

[Anonymous Coward]

News Article: Nintendo DS Launch Details

News Date: 09/21/2004
Source: Nintendo of America
Link: http://www.nintendo.co.jp/ds/index.html

Discuss it in TalkBack! [32 Comments.]

$149.99, 11/21/2004, PictoChat! We've got the official release date and price for the Nintendo DS in North America and Japan. UPDATE: Metroid Prime Hunters: First Hunt included.

Jump to Japanese launch information!

UPDATE: Nintendo has also revealed that Metroid Prime Hunters: First Hunt is being bundled with the DS. First Hunt is a four-player demo, designed to show off the system's wireless multiplayer function. There is no single-player mode in the demo, but it is expected in the full version of Metroid Prime Hunters which will be released at a later date.

NINTENDO DS LAUNCHES ON NOV. 21 IN NORTH AMERICA - AT $149.99!

New System Comes with Embedded PictoChat Feature, Strong Publishers' Support

REDMOND, Wash., Sept. 20, 2004 - From the very start, Nintendo DS? broke the existing rules of video game play. Two screens, not one. Wireless connection for game play and personal communication for the sheer entertainment of it. Flexible game control by voice and touch, not just with buttons. Nintendo's newest innovation, Nintendo DS, will make its worldwide debut in North American stores on Nov. 21, and then in Japan on Dec. 2. It will sell at an MSRP of $149.99, making it an immediate mass-market attraction. Nintendo DS will become the company's first system ever to make its sales debut outside of Japan.

"Nintendo's mission remains unchanged: expand the game experience," says Satoru Iwata, president of Nintendo Co., Ltd. "Nintendo DS is the road map to the future of video games, and most clearly demonstrates the type of innovation that players demand."

Nintendo DS is the dual-screened, hand-held video game system redefining the idea of interactive entertainment. One screen allows for touch input using a stylus, while the unit includes both voice recognition and multiplayer wireless features. The sleek silver-and-black system sports a sharp, angular design.

Consumers immediately will be able to pick up and play the new system, as it comes with a free software feature, PictoChat, embedded in the system hardware. PictoChat allows DS owners to write messages with an on-screen keyboard or the stylus and send them wirelessly to other DS users nearby. Users can text chat, draw artistic messages or share secrets, all without saying a word. And a Nintendo DS in sleep mode will spring to life if it senses another DS in transmitting range, alerting users to each other's presence and setting the stage for an impromptu conversation or game session.

More than 100 companies have signed on to create games for Nintendo DS, while Nintendo itself is already developing its first 20 titles. Electronic Arts, the world's largest independent software developer and publisher, already has announced that its powerhouse franchises of Madden NFL, The URBZ: Sims in the City, Need for Speed Underground, Tiger Woods and GoldenEye will support Nintendo DS.

"Each time Nintendo creates a hand-held, it introduces new elements of play and sets a new standard for mobile gaming," says Larry Probst, EA's chairman and CEO. "The DS is no exception - Nintendo has another big winner with the DS."

The complete lineup of games planned for the launch of Nintendo DS will be announced in the near future. In effect, Nintendo DS already boasts a library of more than 550 games because it is compatible with single-player modes of games made for the world's best-selling video game system, Game Boy® Advance SP.

Nintendo chose the United States to lead the worldwide launch of Nintendo DS because of overwhelmingly positive and enthusiastic reaction from consumers and to take advantage of the holiday sales season. After the subsequent launch in Japan, the system will be available in Europe and Australia in the first quarter of 2005.

Nintendo DS has a flip-top cover tha

Been On Sell For A While Now

[pwthoma]

This has been on Wal-Mart.com for about 2 weeks now

http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.gsp?produ ct _id=2432473

Re:Been On Sell For A While Now

[pwthoma]

URL Fixed

Been on sell for a while now at Wal-Mart.com

Dude, Tiger handheld games OWNED!!!

[Jakhel]

I remember they ran on like 2 AA batters, and only had about 10 levels per game. Those were the good old days. Forget all of that back lighting crap and swappable game cartridges. If you wanted to play a different game, fine..but you had to go buy a completely different handheld that only stored 1 game on it. There were no saves, you either beat the game or you start over.

I had sooooo many of those things, ninja gaiden 1 and 2, teenage mutant ninja turtles 1, 2 and 3, baseball, football, some sort of racing, excite bike.

Ahh, the memories.
I don't really envy todays kids anyways..at least WE had Saturday morning cartoons (the only thing better than saturday morning cartoons are Christmas and dodgeball..assuming you weren't one of the fat kids).

Uses for 100 ft wireless

[rayde]

Yeah I can see a lot of instances where this would be appropriate. Say, an office of cubicles over lunch break, a school bus full of students who are going on a field trip... and the point another poster made that being within range of an access point means that the distance is irrelevant.

i like it.

Re:Games?!

[Anonymous Coward]

The DS plays all the games the GBA does, which includes the NES and SNES ports.

No, not really

[Anonymous Coward]

That's just a preorder page. The price and date on that page were not accurate-- just wild guessing on the part of Wal-Mart. In fact the price and date on that page are STILL not accurate.

In addition to wal-mart, ebgames and gamestop have had inaccurate preorder pages available for some time as well.

great!

[muyuubyou]

You can preorder it now for 50$ more, and having to wait 9 days more to actually have it! sign me up!

If it can run UNIX v.5, it should run Linux

[exhilaration]

From earlier this month: Running Ancient UNIX On Nintendo Gameboy

Re:If it can run UNIX v.5, it should run Linux

[Anonymous Coward]

The UNIX v5-thing was made possible because someone ported a PDP-emulator to GBA. That doesn't mean that Linux suddenly is going to run on the GBA. Linux is rather different implementationwise than UNIX v5.

Re:If it can run UNIX v.5, it should run Linux

[Anonymous Coward]

erm, yes.. but the gameboy processor the article is referring to is a Z80. The GBA also has one of htese, but only for backwards compatibilty, and even then only while it's ARM7 main processor is not in use.

I guess that doesn't mean that you couldn't make it run on the ARM7/9 combination, but i don't think it's designed for it...

Released first in the US

[AmishMoshr]

It seems rather odd to me that something by Nintendo would be released in the US first. Is this normal for their handheld systems?

Re:Released first in the US

[paxcirca]

You apparently didn't RTFA. This is the first time that Nintendo will be releasing a system in the US first. Japan's DS will be released a few days later, and Europe and Australia will see it in 2005.

Re:Released first in the US

[AmishMoshr]

Nintendo DS will become the company's first system ever to make its sales debut outside of Japan.

Oops, missed that line :-) It makes sense, as the article also mentions catching the holiday season being a big reason for this.

Re:Released first in the US

[rsmith-mac]

I'm sure it has everything to do with Thanksgiving. It makes more sense for Nintendo to ship the first batch to NA in order to make Black Friday, and ship the second batch to Japan, than it would the other way around. Travel time would be a big factor too; unless they fly everything, it's ~2 weeks by ship to NA, but only days to Japan, so a NA release second could have been almost 2 weeks after the current Japan release date.

the inevitable colors?

[rayde]

i haven't noticed any mention of the DS being launched with different colors besides the platinum we've seen in all the demos. Has anyone seen details on what different colors, if any, Nintendo will launch with? A choice in color has been a popular feature of nintendo's handhelds since the Gameboy color, so I'd be surprised to see it missing from this system. The color choice must be a consideration when preordering, right? i'd hate to preorder, expecting a nice Platinum DS and find when I get there that all that's left is Pink or something like that...

Re:the inevitable colors?

[rayde]

to answer my own question, according to this bbc article it will be launched in Silver and Black.

Re:the inevitable colors?

[BTWR]

A choice in color has been a popular feature of nintendo's handhelds since the Gameboy color

Actually, it's since the "Play it Loud" series of gameboys to begin shipping in different colors. Those were the original monochrome gameboys (well, gameboy pocket, the skinnier version) in a number of colors.

Re:the inevitable colors?

[rayde]

you're right...

were the "play it loud" gameboys the same as the gameboy pockets?

Re:the inevitable colors?

[bob_avernus]

Actually the origional Game Boy also was realesed eventually in multiple colors, I know this for a fact because I have the clear one.

Re:the inevitable colors?

[KDR_11k]

Note that this does NOT mean a silver DS and a black DS, but the silver-black color scheme we've been seeing on all those pictures so far (parent post was a bit ambiguous).

Re:the inevitable colors?

[BTWR]

you're right. The play it loud gameboys were quickly followed by the gameboy pocket/gameboy pocket play it loud versions

Where Adults Lost Their Free Time...

[DLWormwood]

Now I drive myself places. My only video game time is at home, where I've got a 65" TV...

There's your problem... you lost much of your free time to commuting to work and watching Cable/Satellite/DVDs.

As for me, I have yet to buy a portable GameBoy, but with my 1 1/2 hour daily commute via passenger train, I may have the perfect excuse. (And business travellers who are frequent fliers also have the "free time" for portable systems.)

They did it right

[wobedraggled]

Nintendo knows the handheld market, and they pulled this off perfectly.

$149 for the DS is sweet, condiering it has chat ablilities and a game demp packed in.

Pictochat actually has some little fun games built in as well

PSP what?!?!

UK

[Turn-X Alphonse]

Will the US DS play my PAL DS games? This is perfect for Christmas (for me) but other wise it may pass by (my birthday is Jan 31st is other option).

I can't live without my GBA but I don't want to buy the Gameboy V3.0 (which seems to be the selling point to most people) more then once or have to import everything to the sunshine island of England.

Re:UK

[tuffy]

Will the US DS play my PAL DS games? This is perfect for Christmas (for me) but other wise it may pass by (my birthday is Jan 31st is other option).

No Nintendo portable has ever had region lockouts. Though there's been no official word yet (that I'm aware of), I'd bet that the DS has none either.

Re:UK

[HAKdragon]

Since all previous Nintendo handheld systems have had no region blocking, It'd be a safe bet that this one doesn't either.

Note: There is no "PAL" version of the DS as it doesn't output a television signal. However, the European version will have a different charger than the North American version, just like on the GBA.

Re:UK

[DavidLeblond]

3.0?

Gameboy
Gameboy Color
Gameboy Pocket
Gameboy Advance
Gameboy Advance SP
Gameboy DS

don't you mean 6.0? :)

I guess Gameboy pocket would be v1.5 though... and in all fairness that would make GBA SP 3.5, and the DS 4.0...

Re:UK

[Anonymous Coward]

The "Color" was the same processor hardware as the original, and had the same display resolution. Adding color is a tiny change as far as the platform is concerned.

The Gameboy Advance was a completely new platform, as is the DS. The SP was just a new take on the hardware and not a new platform at all.

Re:UK

[tuffy]

The "Color" was the same processor hardware as the original, and had the same display resolution. Adding color is a tiny change as far as the platform is concerned.

The Gameboy Color also had a Z80 CPU that was twice as fast as the original and an IR port (I think). Though not major changes, they still go beyond the cosmetic GBA -> GBA-SP improvements.

Re:UK

[Turn-X Alphonse]

I own at least 1 of most of them (no SP or DS since I don't like the SP design).

but it's basicly 3.0

GB 1.0
GBP 1.1
GBC 1.2
GBA 2.0
GBA SP 2.1
DS 3.0

It's like firefox :P

Re:UK

[DavidLeblond]

But you couldn't play Gameboy Color games on the orignal Gameboy, could you? (I'm not sure, I've got rid of my Gameboy long before the GBC came out)

Re:UK

[DavidLeblond]

Like firefox?

So the DS is 1.0 then?

Re:UK

[tepples]

Many of the Game Boy Color games, especially the early ones, had both GB and GBC game engines. The "black" ones worked in both systems; the "clear" ones didn't work in monochrome or SGB because they relied on the GBC's extra DMA channels, extra VRAM, or whatever.

Re:UK

[Anonymous Coward]

Don't hold your breath. It's due out here in MARCH, and will have a £150 price tag to match.

Screw Nintendo Europe, I'm getting a PSP.

Re:UK

[Anonymous Coward]

Actually, the GBL should be 1.2 (it was a monochrome Gameboy, called "Gameboy Light", with a backlight that was only released in Japan).

Re:UK

[unclethursday]

Because we all know the PSP will be out earlier than that in Europe, and cost way less than £150, as well. this, of course coming from the fact that Sony has, of course, released launch dates, price of units and games, and battery life expectations. Oh, wait, they haven't.

Lemme know when the PSP launches over there and how much it costs.

DS Fact Sheet ("mirror")

[BTWR]

The PlanetGamecube site is being Slashdotted, so here are the specs:

Launch Date and MSRP: Nov. 21, 2004, in North America ($149.99), Dec. 2, 2004, in Japan (15,000 yen), Q1 2005 in Europe and Australia

Size (when closed): 148.7 millimeters (5.85 inches) wide, 84.7 millimeters (3.33 inches) long, 28.9 millimeters (1.13 inches) tall

Top Screen: A backlit, 3-inch, semitransparent reflective TFT color LCD with 256 x 192 pixel resolution and .24 mm dot pitch, capable of displaying 260,000 colors

Touch Screen: Same specs as top screen, but with a transparent analog touch screen

Wireless Communication: IEEE 802.11 and Nintendo's proprietary format; wireless range is 30 to 100 feet, depending on circumstances; multiple users can play multiplayer games using just one DS Game Card

Controls: Touch screen, embedded microphone for voice recognition, A/B/X/Y face buttons, plus control pad, L/R shoulder buttons, Start and Select buttons

Input/Output: Ports for both Nintendo DS Game Cards and Game Boy® Advance Game Paks, terminals for stereo headphones and microphone

Other features: Embedded PictoChat software that allows up to 16 users to chat at once, embedded real-time clock, date, time and alarm, touch-screen calibration

CPUs: One ARM9 and one ARM7

Sound: Stereo speakers providing virtual surround sound, depending on the software

Battery: Lithium ion battery delivering six to 10 hours of play on a four-hour charge, depending on use; power-saving sleep mode; AC adapter

Languages: English, Japanese, Spanish, French, German, Italian

Color: Silver and black

Re:DS Fact Sheet ("mirror")

[KevinKnSC]

I'm disappointed that there is no GBA link port. I had been hoping that the DS could be hooked up to a GameCube for FF:CC and Four Swords, but it doesn't look like that's an option. Oh well, I'll still probably have to get one.

ds might not do so well...

[mconeone]

The ds is a cool concept, but the handheld market really caters to kids. The gameboy advance, with a cheap price and cheap games will still be more popluar among kids because they are half the price. For christmas, console systems are the same price as the ds, and many kids(read: parents) will choose the $99 gamecube (with metroid prime, the FULL game), or $150 ps2/xbox over the ds. If your kid drops the ds, you're out $150. I hope this thing comes with a parent's guide because: -it has a touch lcd screen which kids seem to love to hammer on. -kids tend to want to use a regular writing device on a touch pad, like a pen or crayon. So its wireless. Can you not use them on planes? Now, if you can hack them, the possibilities are endless.

Re:ds might not do so well...

[BTWR]

Solid Logic, but here in New York City, you'd be SHOCKED at how many 10 year-olds are walking around with $300+ ipods...

Re:ds might not do so well...

[Agilo]

Quote:

The new media format for games means that Nintendo DS has no moving parts that could be misaligned if the unit is dropped or jarred.

Re:ds might not do so well...

[Moonlapse]

LCD screens can't shatter?

Re:ds might not do so well...

[TheLoneDanger]

If your kid drops the ds, you're out $150. I hope this thing comes with a parent's guide because: -it has a touch lcd screen which kids seem to love to hammer on. -kids tend to want to use a regular writing device on a touch pad, like a pen or crayon.

Yeah, except Nintendo has always paid attention to what kids would do with their products. They have already nixed some game ideas because they cause too much rapid rubbing on the touchscreen. And all GBA screens thus far have been protected behind a plastic shield, that in recent systems has been replaceable. Unless you are getting the system for a child under 4, most are bright enough to learn not to draw on the screen.

Nintendo systems have always been more solid than anything the competition makes. NES, SNES, N64, GC, GB, GBC, GBA, GBA SP, and the only problems I've had was scratching the plastic cover over the screen of the GBA a bit. I've read and would love to hear more of other people's stories about how solid GB (especially original GB) systems are. I am much more worried that I would break the PSP by sitting on it than the DS, but that's just me.

Re:ds might not do so well...

[NanoGator]

"LCD screens can't shatter?"

Not easily, no.

Re:ds might not do so well...

[Anonymous Coward]

LCD screens are moving parts?

Re:ds might not do so well...

[kin_korn_karn]

They have already nixed some game ideas because they cause too much rapid rubbing on the touchscreen

Must have been the Atari-licensed sequel to Custer's Revenge

Re:ds might not do so well...

[bot24]

"Now, if you can hack them, the possibilities are endless."
No, unfortunately. Nintendo has been cracking down on third party developers, because the tools used in developing games can be used in copying games. Sony has done good stuff like the Linux Kit, and has designed a more mature platform that doesn't have worthless features like an extra screen. I will be getting a PSP if I get a new handheld at all. I might just get an IPaq phone and then put Linux on it instead.
Now, if you meant crack, then the answer should have probably started with "Yes, unfortunately," because the DS seems like it is aimed at small children who like Pokemon.

Re:ds might not do so well...

[Anonymous Coward]

If they already shattered, yes. =P

Re:ds might not do so well...

[Anonymous Coward]

You fucking moron. The whole point of the DS was to break OUT of it being a kids' toy.

Re:ds might not do so well...

[Anonymous Coward]

designed a more mature platform that doesn't have worthless features like an extra screen.

Just worthless features like UMD movie viewing with no price announced for disks; or music playing, with no mention of if it will only support UMD media or if people can use Sony Memory Sticks for playback of music, and no mention of if it will actually support MP3 playback this time (remember they promised it with the PSX, then publically announced they dropped MP3 support 2 weeks before release) or just Sony's proprietary ATRAC format.

They also seem to have left out such worthless features like, oh, screen protection off the top of my head.

That, and without a price for the unit (on which they have stated they want to break even or make a profit, so expect no less than $250), or the games Oh, and the sony Linux kit doesn't let you design PS2 games, sorry.

Re:ds might not do so well...

[KDR_11k]

Ask Sega, they called rubbing an exciting new gameplay mechanism. And from what I understand it wasn't Nintendo throwing out game ideas but them reinforcing the touchscreen after seeing what Sega did with the device.

Re:ds might not do so well...

[KDR_11k]

I thought Sony already announced the PSP will only do ATRAC, not MP3?

Gameboy Advance SP still in production?

[xtal]

Is this device a successor to the GBA SP? I like the form factor (and price) of the SP a lot more (in fact I'm buying one very shortly).

Re:Gameboy Advance SP still in production?

[tuffy]

Is this device a successor to the GBA SP?

Officially, the DS is meant to be a third platform to go alongside the Gameboy and Gamecube lines. Unofficially, the DS is the GBA's successor and will soon take its place in the market. Though I have a feeling a lot of people will cling to the GBA-SP's svelte form-factor for as long as possible.

Re:Gameboy Advance SP still in production?

[xtal]

Though I have a feeling a lot of people will cling to the GBA-SP's svelte form-factor for as long as possible.

Considering the last gameboy I owned was the original battery sucking Z80 monster, I would guess you're correct. The form factor is very attractive. :)

Re:Gameboy Advance SP still in production?

[vhold]

Well, the most important factor is how long do you think they'll continue making GBA games? I honestly think that quality GBA games will continue to come out another 3 or 4 years.

I wouldn't be surprised if considerable amounts of GBA games end up with DS enhancements, to lure people over to the DS with their existing library of games. Nintendo pulled that off with 'Gameboy Color'.

Nope

[Anonymous Coward]

What is largely relevant going to the handheld market from consoles is not really sales figures, but rather 3rd party support. Publishers have been dropping the GC like a bad habit, and they won't likely jump back on the Nintendo bandwagon until DS proves that it can move units.

The DS already has third party support. The number of people who've committed to the DS at this point, even with so little we know about the console or the public's reaction to it, is staggering.

Developers have been dropping the GC *as they pick up* the DS. What you have to understand is that Nintendo is #1 in developer mindshare in the handheld market at the same time it has negative developer mindshare in the console market. The console and handheld markets simply behave differently, what's true in one isn't true in another. Comparing the DS to the Gamecube is simply not a logical thing to do.

Second, once xmas comes and goes, and PSP comes out in spring, nintendo will have no flexibility in moving their price point to compete. They're betting the farm on massive early adoption. You read $150 and you can almost see the sweat on their brow.

$150 is pretty normal for a handheld launch price. I believe that's what the original Game Boy was released at. Meanwhile indications are the PSP will probably be more expensive than the DS-- at the very least, Sony does not have the degree of price flexibility Nintendo does just because they've opted to go with more expensive components. Also we can probably expect those confirmed-but-not-elaborated-on NDS multicolored cases to be released around March, I'd bet... Nintendo seems very, very clearly cognizant of the threat the PSP poses.

Re:Nope

[vhold]

Mod parent up, but one thing to consider, $150 seems totally cheap compared to PSP's suspected retail launch price of $300. But the price hasn't been officially announced yet so maybe Sony will knock our socks off with some xbox-esque strategy of losing money on the platform in order to get units out there.

And it seems that Nintendo builds significant price reduction strategy into -everything- they release. Most likely the DS will see the $100 mark eventually, something that seems massively unlikely for the PSP given it's specs.

That would be pretty cool

[mcc]

That's a neat idea.

The thing is though Nintendo's already released several of the single-screen G&W thingies as GB/GBC/GBA games as the Game and Watch Gallery series. So releasing the dual-screen G&W games for the DS would be a very natural thing to do...

Re:That would be pretty cool

[KDR_11k]

At least the 4th version includes a few dual-screen G&Ws. The vertically split are simply merged onto one GBA screen, the horizontally split have two images displayed at once with a button to switch which one gets displayed larger.

It's already compatible

[DougJohnson]

Anything that has been ported to GBA will also work on NDS, so my cartridge with 90 nintendo games on it will still work when I upgrade to the NDS. There's a great package called PocketNES that you can put onto a flash card in a cartridge format that'll allow you to play any NES game that you have a ROM for. I'm just hoping that it's powerful enough to emulate N64 as well (or at least SNES)

Re:It's already compatible

[Anonymous Coward]

Eh, not necessarily. Don't count on a continued lack of copy protection in the new system.

Re:It's already compatible

[Anonymous Coward]

im counting on it! LOL modchips !!!!

Hmmm... Sounds like....

[Chordonblue]

"I've got a 65" TV, a PC, and six different consoles. I want a GBA..."

You STILL haven't grown up yet! That's ok, I likes my toys too. (No, you can't have any of them - their MINE!)

Re:Hmmm... Sounds like....

[computechnica]

Me too. I just bought the Picachu version of the N64 for $19 at game exchange for my collection and 6 games for $5 each. They also had a Colecovision, Jaquar, TurboGraphix16, and Sega Master system w/phaser. Each one was $50. The used game stores are know the first place I go for my old game system fix.

Re:Games?!

[RyuuzakiTetsuya]

And GB/GBC compatability has been confirmed. :) I think the first game i'll play is the old school pack-in tetris when I get my DS. :)

Wha?!

[Anonymous Coward]

Did I read that right? "multiple users can play multiplayer games using just one DS Game Card"

Wow!!! If that's true, it's the most generous thing any game system (and game) manufacturer has done.

This thing just shot up to the top of my list.

Re:Wha?!

[jcuervo]

*nod* That does sound damned cool -- wonder how they do it. Just broadcast the game over the wlan? Wonder if you can get roms with an appropriately placed laptop...

Re:Wha?!

[Anonymous Coward]

The way it works on a current GBA, it sends a stripped-down form of the program over the link. I presume it would do the same wirelessly. Nintendo doesn't really care if you intercept the "demo game" it sends- with a few notable exceptions (Ultimate Card Games, fr'ex), these games only work in multiplayer mode and never have all the features of the cartridge version- because they're much smaller for quick load time and so they fit entirely in the system RAM. Chu Chu Rocket is a good example of a game that works very well over "multi-boot", as it's called- and the quality differences between the system with a cartridge and thsoe without are noticible in the audio department.

So yes, it would work, but it doesn't send the full game, so nobody really cares.

Re:Games?!

[42forty-two42]

For that matter, just put the GBA pack in the DS. No need to redo the porting.

Any kind of parental control on the messaging?

[Gwyn_232]

I'm off down the park to send some obscene messages to children.

ONLY GBA games will work, not GB or GBC

[Randar the Lava Liza]

From Gamespot:

Nintendo revealed a few more miscellaneous details--the system will only launch in the silver/black color shown in currently available pictures, although more colors will probably be added later; battery life is 6-10 hours depending on application; and Game Boy/GB Color games will not be backwards compatible with the DS, although all Game Boy Advance games will work with the system in single-player mode.

Re:ONLY GBA games will work, not GB or GBC

[Jeff DeMaagd]

The thing is that supposedly Nintendo Power says that GBA-DS WILL be backward compatible to all GB, GB-C games.

If N does remove backward compatibility, I think it would be a political decision, not a technical one because the GBA's ARM7 has added circuits to be GB compatibile, and the DS will have ARM7, no full word on whether this compatibility circuit will remain. I think it would be silly to remove it.

Re:ONLY GBA games will work, not GB or GBC

[Queer Boy]

and Game Boy/GB Color games will not be backwards compatible with the DS

That pretty much sucks. I still play a lot of GB and GBC games on my GBA SP. I know the GBA has the old Z80 workalike CPU in it as well. I don't understand why the DS couldn't just emulate the Z80. *sigh* guess after all these years of Gameboy that they have to break with compatibility sometime.

Re:ONLY GBA games will work, not GB or GBC

[poot_rootbeer]

Kind of sad, in a way, that the backward compatibility of Nintendo's latest portable system is limited to only the previous generation. But then again, the original Game Boy is fifteen years old; that's a thousand lifetimes in videogame years. There's really no reason that the Super Mario Land cart I bought when I was 13 should be expected to plug-and-play on modern hardware.

And there's always the possibility that someone could develop an adaptor than plugs into the cartridge port, with the GBC emulated in firmware, to enable that compatibility.

Damn,

[herrvinny]

And I just bought a brand new Game Boy SP to complement the new Pokemon Leaf Green and Fire Red games.

Oh well, just going to have to get the DS for Christmas. Although, it's going to have to have a really excellent killer app (like PictoChat) for me to grab one. Anyone have reviews on PictoChat?

Re:Damn,

[Ian_Bailey]

Gamespot, and others all have initial impressions of the game. There's even a movie of the thing in action. There's also info on the official page.

Re:Damn,

[KDR_11k]

PictoChat isn't exactly a game, but rumors have it that the DS comes with a packed in (demo?) version of Metroid Prime: Hunters called First Hunt. With some luck the DS will do 16 player deathmatches right out of the box.

Re:Damn,

[Zed2K]

Assuming one can find 16 players that actually buy it in the same area to have deathmatches with. The odds of me having people around me that buy a DS when I do to play a multiplayer demo against are slim and none. Wish they would bundle a real game with it.

Re:Games?!

[88NoSoup4U88]

"looks like GBA games will be compatible (although that goes against everything else I've read)."

This has been known, and confirmed, for quite some time though.

Anxious to get my hands on this new DS ; I really hope that the developers will use the double screen for better gameplay ; and not just gimmicky as i've seen it in the mayor titles (eg. being used as a radar/inventory screen) ; allthough Wario Ware showed some fun ways of using the stylus.

Also very cool to see they are including an MP title with it ; and the whiteboard functions could potentially rock.

Re:Games?!

[Anonymous Coward]

Sure, and you'll need an emulator as well. NES emulation works fine from what I've heard, as is GB (though no GBC support yet), but SNES emulation is only so-so.

Re:Games?!

[KDR_11k]

According to TFA (which I read long before this story was posted), the GB/GBC support has been officially dismissed. They said that the DS will only play GBA games and not even have multiplayer capabilities for those.

I've played it and it is good!

[Steeltalon]

I tried out the DS at E3 this year and it was pretty freaking unreal. Metroid Hunters is a blast. I can't wait to try out more of their games.

Sounds good for the price

[xot]

Whatever it might be (as bad as it can get)it definitely is worth $150!! a new age portable gaming console cant come any cheaper.
And the iPod is grossly over priced.

OMG THE CHOICE!!

[Anonymous Coward]

Do I get a GBDS or a PStwo?!?

Please someone help :(

No analog?

[rasty]

Anyone feels the lack of an analog stick on the DS? Ok, we've got the touch-screen, but I don't know if I really feel much like playing all kind of games with a stylo!

Digital pad is ok with the GBA, where most games are still 2D, but today I feel an analog stick is due with 3D systems/games (PSP has it...)

I hope the buttons will be at least semi-analog like these on the Dual Shock 2, but I kind of doubt it..

i cant wait...

[MattyCobb]

/drools i cant wait. better games plus all my GBA goodness? yay! plus if the battery life is anything like the GBA SP it will be godly!

Re:I cant wait...

[Anonymous Coward]

lol this is great point! :) Right now television is the most utilized entertainment technology by retired folks. They are huge consumers for recreational activities. How many older folks play games with each other? Tons! As a matter of fact, a saavy entrepreneur would probably be going after this market via multiplayer computer games with a passion -- and not just Pogo.

Re:Games?!

[RyuuzakiTetsuya]

I'll wait until I have the thing in my grubby hands. At E3 GB/GBC support was confirmed. things change though, I guess. I hope it hasn't been disabled.

Incorrect

[Anonymous Coward]

At E3 we were specifically told only GBA backward compatibility was planned. What is your source for this?

Re:Incorrect

[RyuuzakiTetsuya]

GameInformer? I thought they had cornered a nintendo QA guy who confirmed GB/GBC backwards compatability?

GB, GBC, and GBA are region-free

[tepples]

If Nintendo said that the DS will allow you to fly between countries, I would start making the paperwork to get a passport.

Unlike the TV-based consoles, all Nintendo handhelds have allowed you to pack your system, fly to another country, buy a game, and have it work. I would expect the DS to be region-free as well.

Re:GB, GBC, and GBA are region-free

[Echnin]

Yep. My GB and GBA are European, my GBC is American, and my NDS will be Japanese. I love that I can actually do that with no problems, because I, er, live around.

Easy to explain

[Plutor]

This is very easy to explain. The Game Boy and Game Boy Color used an ~4MHz 8-bit CPU similar to the Zilog Z80 (which was itself based on the Intel 8080). The Game Boy Advance uses a ~33MHz 32-bit ARM7 CPU. In order to make Game Boy backwards compatibility as fast, simple, and (yes) cheap as possible, it's got a second processor: a Z80. They can't be used at the same time, because they're for different architectures for different cartridges.

Since the DS uses a ~67MHz 32-bit ARM9, they either had to 1) have three processors in the thing, 2) abandon the legacy games, or 3) write emulation software into the console. $150 is already fairly expensive for a Nintendo device, portable or not, so they chose option 2. Accordint to the Wikipedia article, there are emulation projects for the ARM9 underway.

Re:Easy to explain

[tepples]

The DS already has two processors: the ARM9 at 64 MiHz and the GBA's ARM7 at 32 MiHz (double the speed of the one in the GBA, which was clocked at 16 MiHz). Both run at once. In DS mode, the ARM9 handles the game, while the ARM7 handles the I/O.

The GBA can already run GB mono software in emulation.

Re:Easy to explain

[Anonymous Coward]

The DS already has two processors: the ARM9 at 64 MiHz and the GBA's ARM7 at 32 MiHz (double the speed of the one in the GBA, which was clocked at 16 MiHz).

Everyone appreciates your attempt at pedantry, but cycle rates are expressed using decimal prefixes, not the binary ones. ``64MHz,'' and so forth.

Bounty Available

[Anonymous Coward]

$5,000 for an X server running on the DS.

Gene Mosher
google me to find my web site.

Re:Yeah....

[Anonymous Coward]

I guess it's the lameness filter not allowing a post to consist of only the word "w00t".

Re:What GBA games?

[Anonymous Coward]

Do you seriously think there will be any new GBA games after the DS comes out? It doesn't matter that nintendo says the DS won't replace the GBA, what matters is if all the game makers will immediately stop making GBA games and go DS (and PSP) only.

But what about the games?

[master_p]

Is there a revolutionary idea that will justify the two screens? I don't think having the game's score/stats in a different screen or having two cameras available is revolutionary enough.

Re:But what about the games?

[Anonymous Coward]

Why would anyone even want two rooms in a house, for crying out loud? or two cars? or two friends? or two nuts, even? Christ! ONE of ANYTHING is ENOUGH, don't we all agree?

mmmm..... two screens....
lesseeee....

One for the game, and one for doing everything else without interrupting the game video.... issat revulushionery enough?

Re:But what about the games?

[prockcore]

Is there a revolutionary idea that will justify the two screens? I don't think having the game's score/stats in a different screen or having two cameras available is revolutionary enough.

In one of their tech demos, they had a game of airhockey going. You used the stylus to play and the puck would go between screens.

Don't know if anyone considers this "revolutionary" but I consider it "badass".

Public transportation ?

[vhold]

It's fairly common around here to see 20-30 year olds playing gameboys on various forms of public transportation. It's about the only time I ever get a chance to play it.

Then.. theres also the bathroom.. :P

GB/GBC support was *not* confirmed at E3

[Anonymous Coward]

nt

Ignoring past trends...

[Thedalek]

Sure, the handheld market caters to kids. That's why the GBA-SP sells at a rate of about 2 units every minute.

Parents balking at $50 extra? You underestimate the number of upper-middle- and upper-class households. Remember, if you can convince 1% of everyone to buy your product, that's over 60,000,000 people worldwide.

Ha! I got you guys all beat..

[Anonymous Coward]

I knew about the launch date last week when the GBA SP came down in price from $139.99 to $99.99 (Canadian funds)!

If anything spells the demise or replacement of a console or handheld, it's gotta be a price drop.

Re:Ha! I got you guys all beat..

[Anonymous Coward]

There have been continuous price drops of the PS2, a product with a 5 year life, just like there were continuous price drops of the original Playstation, a product with a 5 year life. None of the price drops signaled the demise or replacement of the device except, by definition of course, the last one.

this with LIRC

[Anonymous Coward]

you could have the best made home entertainment center remote ever made and cordless phone.

Re:Games?!

[tepples]

The DS plays all the games the GBA does

The DS does not play Four Swords, which took up three-fourths of the Link to the Past cartridge.

which includes the NES and SNES ports.

The DS does not play the NES ports that ended up on GBC instead of GBA, such as Super Mario Bros. DX.

but!?

[focitrixilous P]

Will they port Donkey Kong 64 to it? I remember how much fun item fetch quests were single player, why, with two screens and 4 players, the game but be less than awful...

I'm worried that deathmatch might do bad things to the metroid franchise, but mario kart and tennis turned out okay, so I doubt they can mess it up to badly.

Re:but!?

[Anonymous Coward]

It's got wi-fi, for wireless mario kart goodness!

Obligatory

[Ben Brighton]

Imagine a beowulf cluster of DS's!

Wireless too!

Drawing

[Anonymous Coward]

Hm. It's a collaborative drawing pad that works up to 30 yards away and it's free. That just sounds fun to me. The DS is, after all, a toy.

As for hollering... the Japanese aren't so big on it. Even here in Canada raising your voice enough to be heard 30 yards isn't generally acceptable.

So they made a toy they liked and they left it in the firmware.... great! :)

dropping it...

[Anonymous Coward]

Hmm.. I dunno. I've dropped nintendo stuff all the time. It can take a beating. Or at least My gameboy.

Re:dropping it...

[Mekabyte]

Yeah, and my GameCube rolled down the interstate and still worked. There are dozens of examples of Nintendo survivor stories ranging from a GB in Desert Storm, to games left out in the snow all winter, to a GBA dropped in the toilet, to the guys that hooked their GC to the back of a truck and dragged it down the road.

Mods on crack

[MustardMan]

Offtopic my ass. It's a thread about video games and the parent was talking about the number of systems he has hooked up to his tv and how he'd never use this thing. I was replying to a part of his post.

Would if have been more on-topic if I'd mentioned that my xbox also has a gameboy emulator, you crackheaded mod-nazis?

Oooo maybe this is both offtopic and flamebait, good thing I have karma to burn. Idiots.

Probably a success

[foxalopex]

I suspect this will be a big win for Nintendo. It has the right features and the wireless ability sounds very innovative for a portable system. Personally I've found portable units nice even thou I own a PC and several console units. They're there when you want to play almost anywhere! (Washroom, Train, Bus, Subway) Compared to console and PC units which are fixed. Sadly, I find for a busy person like myself, I get more time into a GBA SP since it's always there compared to my PC or Consoles for gaming!

It has now

[Anonymous Coward]

Mod parent up, but one thing to consider, $150 seems totally cheap compared to PSP's suspected retail launch price of $300. But the price hasn't been officially announced yet so maybe Sony will knock our socks off with some xbox-esque strategy of losing money on the platform in order to get units out there.

News from the last couple hours is saying this isn't the case. Apparently the PSP will retail for 33,000 yen in Japan. The American cost may not be quite the same but that's about $250-$300 or so if you do a straight conversion.

Re:It has now

[Echnin]

Will probably be a bit more... The DS will be 15,000 yen, which thus is less than half of the PSP. And that's totally awesome and I'm getting a DS in December. :)

Re:It has now

[KDR_11k]

According to the converter I use, 33,000 Japanese Yen = 300.985 US Dollar.

Sony announced that it's taking a loss even at that price, IIRC they were originally planning around 380 US Dollar (well, they announced 250 GBP in some slide, which converts to ~450 USD).

Booyah!!

[Zareste]

*Throws his retarded PS2 with the broken CD reader into the lowest depths of the trash where it belongs, then goes and waits in front of Toys R Us*

Back to using a game system made by people who know how to make game systems.

Re:Booyah!!

[Anonymous Coward]

Sega?

Re:Booyah!!

[Anonymous Coward]

Atari.

Re:Booyah!!

[Zareste]

Even 'Panasonic' would have been a better guess than that.

Faster charge times

[Thinkit4]

Popular Science notes a thirty second charge time for a new type of battery (similar in capacity to Li-ion though).

I cant wait...

[Meagermanx]

Can you imagine how much fun the retirement homes of the future will be? we're talking XBOX 7s in every room, game cabinets in the halls, and interesting music playing throughout the place. Boy, I cant wait till my kids throw me in the old folks home...

Nintendo DS vs Sony PSP, additional links, timing

[securitas]

Here's a bunch of links to the New York Times/ CNet, our games pages and the Walmart site which lists some differing information in a rejected post from VERY early this morning:

2004-09-21 09:42:51 Nintendo DS to Launch in N. America Nov. 21 @ $150 (Index,Games) (rejected)

John Markoff at the New York Times (mirror at CNet) reports that the Nintendo DS handheld game system will launch in North America on Nov. 21 with a retail price of almost $150. Apparently Nintendo hopes to avoid a direct sales confrontation with the Sony PSP, which will launch in Japan later this year. However, Walmart still lists availability of the Nintendo DS Platinum on Nov. 30 for $199.82. The retailer was probably caught unaware since Nintendo published its press release on BusinessWire at 1:30 AM Eastern Time.

Rationale for Nintendo DS North America release

[securitas]

The following business reasons might explain why they are releasing the Nintedo DS in North America first:

2004-09-21 09:42:51 Nintendo DS to Launch in N. America Nov. 21 @ $150 (Index,Games) (rejected)

John Markoff at the New York Times (mirror at CNet) reports that the Nintendo DS handheld game system will launch in North America on Nov. 21 with a retail price of almost $150. Apparently Nintendo hopes to avoid a direct sales confrontation with the Sony PSP, which will launch in Japan later this year. However, Walmart still lists availability of the Nintendo DS Platinum on Nov. 30 for $199.82. The retailer was probably caught unaware since Nintendo published its press release on BusinessWire at 1:30 AM Eastern Time.

Apologies for the cross-post but it seems relevant here.

Sleep mode

[AllenChristopher]

From another reply to this post I gather that you meant the "voice chat mode". There isn't one yet.

The only announced chat mode is PictoChat, which is great for drawing and such. Here's the best part:

"And a Nintendo DS in sleep mode will spring to life if it senses another DS in transmitting range, alerting users to each other's presence and setting the stage for an impromptu conversation or game session."

I haven't seen this emphasized elsewhere in the discussion. You're on the bus, some kid turns on his DS, and yours alerts you that you can whip his ass in the bundled Metroid FPS if you feel like it.

For this, wireless chat is brilliant. You can holler at your kids, but will you holler at strangers in the mall? "DOES ANYONE HAVE A DS AND WANT TO PLAY A GAME?"

It creates a whole secret DS club you can join... a nerd's secret handshake. I'm for that!

MiHz

[tepples]

cycle rates are expressed using decimal prefixes, not the binary ones.

I used the binary prefixes because they are simpler in the case of the Game Boy systems, whose master clocks happen to run at a power of two times 1.00 Hz. If the clock speed of a system is specified as 16777216 Hz plus or minus n Hz, then it's easier to say 16 MiHz than 16.7, 16.8, or 16.78 MHz, no?

Re:MiHz

[NeMon'ess]

Not if people reading you don't know what the difference is. Until now I didn't. I guessed it was like hard drives being different on the package from what the OS says. Good thing you spent an extra post explaining it. Plenty of people reading this site aren't geeks, they just like computers and know about them at an intermediate level. As opposed to the masses of novices or beginners who ask more knowledgeable family and friends for help. I'm fine with 16.78MHz since I know the Sega Genesis had a chip at 7.61MHz.

Because of the Metroid Demo

[Anonymous Coward]

It's an unwritten rule that Metroid games gets released in the US first, they aren't as popular in JP.

Woot!

[Anonymous Coward]

Comes out on my birthday!!! Join me in the happy dance!!! *shakes it* Chant with me. PRE-ORDER PRE-ORDER PRE-ORDER!!!

Gizmondo

[urbaer]

How about the Gizmondo (released by Tiger Telematics)?
Sure it's not the same company, but hey... you've seen one tiger, you've seen them all right?

PDRoms also has some nice Game&Watch stuff (here's a list from the comp).

Failing that, go buy a DS and all the Game & Watch carts ;)

An even better idea, original games for a change!

[llevity]

I can't believe someone is actually recommending a rerelease of an old title. Yeah, it's got the game 'n' watch's dual screens, but how bout some new games?

I'm getting pretty tired of Nintendo rereleases for the Gameboy. They've done the original Mario 1, 2, 3, Super Mario World, Yoshi's island, original Zelda, a slew of classic NES games like Balloon Fight, Ice Climbers, Excitebike (and more) etc.

They've just released a new pokemon, which is a remake of the original, which isn't even THAT old. The worse part is these games come out either full price, or at cheapest, $15, which is still way too much for a cartridge with just the old Excitebike on it.

I'd be one thing for them to release bundles, like a collection of original marios, a collection of NES. But no, all seperate.

I really like the GBA SP system, but I can't help but think they're milking the classics way too much, and wasting time that could be better spent on developing new titles.

$150 US...?

[slot32]

I know what that works out in £ (UK Sterling Ponds), but have they actually announced the price for England?