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Official DS Packaging Revealed
OneHungLo writes "Gamespot has posted an article showing the final design of the Nintendo DS packaging. The package design confirms that a "Metroid Prime: Hunters" demo cart is included, and the "Pictochat" software is embedded into the DS."
I believe the most technically correct answer may have been either the Playstation, which never came with a game, as far as I know. Before that, both the Genesis and SNES were available as bundles, since I definitely remember buying the SNES with Super Mario World packed in. So, it would've been in the 32/64 bit era that it stopped alltogether. That being said, there's a pretty good reason they stopped packing in a game; number of launch titles. While the 64 and PS1 only launched with two games (if I recall correctly), Pilotwings/Mario 64 and Ridge Racer/Toshinden, all the systems after that have launched with somewhere near a minimum of 15, the focus on having a great selection available from the get-go. And, while it would have seemed obvious to pack-in Halo with the Xbox, you've got to remember that it's an M-rated game, and would've alienated a pretty large market segment. Plus, they wouldn't be able to continue selling Halo for 30 bucks like it still does today. That being said, if I had gotten some lame pack-in like Oddword: Munch's Oddessy, (which would've been the logical choice) that crap would've been tossed right in the trash.
Whee! Packaging! ...ok, the novelty of that wore off quickly.
I'm going to keep on playing my GBA until I find out if any good games are coming out for the DS. So far all I've seen are the same "let's take this old game and port it to this new console" remakes. In the meantime, no new console purchases for me.
I took it to mean something different.
I see every announcement that Nintendo makes about the DS as a wake-up call to Sony. We don't have nearly the amount of info about the PSP that we do about the DS. The Sony fanboys like to claim that the DS is merely a reaction to the PSP, that it would never have been released if the PSP was never announced. If that's the case, why are we getting the DS first, with so many GAMING features that Sony had never even thought about, and why is Sony so afraid to make revelations about the PSP even at this late point in time? Sony doesn't even want people to know how much PSP is going to cost!
Even the fact that the press can publish what the DS packaging will look like is proof that the DS is here, ready for consumption, and it's worth all the anticipation that's been going on since E3 showed everyone that the DS was THE gaming system to be reckoned with. They shut up their critics by flooding them with information about their product. It's Nintendo laying their cards on the table, as if saying to Sony, "This is my house. Put up, shut up, or go home." And Sony has yet to prove themsleves to everyone who's been paying attention that they deserve consideration.