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Nintendo DS Hands On
The Big N's media event went off well, and people have finally had a chance to experience the playability and feel of the DS system. Penny Arcade has commentary from Gabe and Tycho, and Gamespot gives it a look as well. Quoth Tycho: "The final analysis: I am overjoyed that Nintendo isn't completely nuts, which was my fear initially. This is a pretty cool little machine. But the opening salvo is a little soft in the genres I prize most, and there's no stand-out title that forces my hand on the system."
Built-in lithium battery, buddy. Supposedly with as long a life as the one in the SP (about 8 hours, give or take).
.. Minidisc drive, cartridge port, dual analog sticks, d-pad and twin shoulder buttons.
Goodbye 10 hours (PSP)
Very little in the gaming world requires you to actually *watch* two screens.
It's called innovation, it's a great idea that's been improperly utilized up to date. I know a lot of people who would love to have multiple views in an RTS, one being a touch interface for troop management. The creative options are endless..
The second screen isn't nessesary. In fact, they probably would have done better to make a portable with a larger screen with a better 3Dchipset.
See PSP. How long you want this thing to run for? Also notice the phenomenon that we're currently playing SNES games at least 2 generations behind on the GBA, and having a hell of a time doing so. Sure it would have been nicer to have at least DC quality, but I'm not complaining.
It's cheap, powerful, innovative, and backwards compatible with the biggest selling video game machine ever made. That's worth something.
Using the bottom screen to look around is a really innovative approach to a mouse replacement. Not only can it be used in future console games, using a pen on a touch-screen sound like a good alternative to the mouse on the PC. I've seen peripherals like this on the PC before, but it doesn't seem to be catching on.
Very little in the gaming world requires you to actually *watch* two screens.
Perhaps, or perhaps you just have no imagination. People once thought that a mouse would be useless as well.
// file: mice.h
#include "frickin_lasers.h"
hm..
yes it does open new avenues of gaming, but since DS is the only one with dual screen like this, how many game producer/publisher/developers would invest into developing a game only for DS? I'm not sure the $$ figures needed to develop games for DS but it wont be small..
if the games cant be sold in multiple platform, in near future i see lots of Marios and Pokemons and other Nintendo-produced games..
Ever think about just not buying that one game rather than give up on the whole concept of "Nintendo"?
Username taken, please choose another one.
lol big man, do you think that components for a gaming system like the DS will only be made by Nintendo? expect all the 3rd party peripheral companies to offer replacement styluses (styli?) for cheap. of course kids are gonna lose them, and there's gonna be loads of companies on board to replace them. since pda users (usually older people who won't throw their stylus out the window while driving or something) are less apt to lose a stylus and most pda's would require a stylus from a first party, the price stays high. With so many companies that create the peripherals for consoles, the competition should drive the price down.
Sorry, you're about 2 years too late for this particular gripe. People said the same thing about Metroid Prime, and it turned out perfect. It's a metroid game, and I have no doubt Metroid Hunters will be as well.
Gamespot Movie
In this movie, it's incredibly clear that not only does the device work, but Metroid Hunters actually has more PC like control than any console based FPS I've seen - essentially, the stylus acts as the mouselook, and the d-pad works like your standard WASD keys. I'm convinced; that's all it comes down to. I can also see things like Flight sims, which, with the stylus, will now have enough area for complete controls, and can do more than one plane. For more "innovative" games, I'm sure we can rely on Sega and Nintendo, but I'm happy if this is what we get.
Lots of companies have developed single-platform games for GB and GBA. I don't see why the DS would be any different.
It's hard to be religious when certain people are never incinerated by bolts of lightning.
I actually like the larger size a lot, for one reason: the touch-screen. A smaller screen would make it difficult to draw and use things like Pictochat.
Hopefully it'll be big enough that I can sketch on it....
As for crack in the R&D department, Nintendo has a much better track record for left-field successes than failures, of which the Gameboy is the overreaching example.
if the games cant be sold in multiple platform, in near future i see lots of Marios and Pokemons and other Nintendo-produced games..
Well, thank god. I don't know if you have a GBA(SP) or not, but if you've ever played any of the games, you'd know that the only good games for it are designed for it. Being a portable adds many unique challenges. Games that fail to meet the standards are not needed or welcome. That includes all half-assed multiplatform games, which generally are so poorly done that they are not wanted on any system, much less a portable system.
Random and weird software I've written.
"Very little in the gaming world requires you to actually *watch* two screens"
Bullshit. Plenty of console games would benefit dramatically from dual screens. Zelda comes to mind. You have to pause in order to equip yourself with whatever weapons you want to use. In the same vein, so does Final Fantasy. Now you can have that screen up + have a much better interface for changing things around. Panoramic views are not the only thing you can achieve with multiple screens. Since the bottom one is a touch screen, it's actually very intuitive. Don't believe me? Go look at an ATM or a telephone. Display up top, interface right below. Not a biggie, and not unimportant.
"This looks like a future Virtual Boy, truth be told. "
No it doesn't. How can you compare the VB to a system that's an enhanced GBA?
"Instead, add a simple IR eye tracking monacle that would do the job of the touch pad..."
That is less Virtual Boy'ish than a tried and true stylus interface that has single handedly made PDAs a common item?
"If Nintendo had any sense, they would market the DS as a PDA that has the additional bonus of playing high resolution 3D games, which, most PDA/Smart Phone manufacturers have yet to claim."
What kind of sense would that be? Why would they leave the portable market with a device that plays their current lineup of games to a market they have no business being in where they wouldn't sell that many games? Sorry for the run-on sentence, but that's one of the dumbest things I've ever heard. I suppose you've never heard of the CD-I?
"Derp de derp."
"So, did anyone else want to cry at seeing that Nintendo has finally taken the most wonderful game series ever created by Humankind (ie, Metroid), and made it into a multiplayer death-match-style FPS?"
And that's a bad thing because....?
"Derp de derp."