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DS Pre-Orders Stopped as Sales Soar
GamesIndustry.biz has the story that major retailers Gamestop and EBGames are likely going to stop DS Preorders because they're coming so fast that they won't be able to meet demand when the system launches. From the article: "It appears that six games will be available on day one - Nintendo's Super Mario 64 DS, Sega's Feel The Magic XY/XX, Activision's Spider-Man 2, Ubisoft's Asphalt Urban GT and two from EA - Madden NFL 2005 and The Urbz: Sims in the City." Gamespot also has details on the handheld shortage.
I don't know if this is called smart or stupid marketing campaign.
On one hand, it's good to create (even an illusional) high demand on DS, but on the other, it might have missed the golden opportunity to lock consumers in before other rivals starting coming up with new consoles/games.
I read no mention of increased production before the release, they just promised to ship 4 million units by end of March 2005. This could be a good thing, as rushed products are usually bad ideas.
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Who else is reminded of the PS2 launch? There were no where near enough consoles to meet the need and it caused a huge buzz and lots of high priced ebay sells!
Well, atleast I have mine already preordered!
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The DS is Nintendo's new fangles dual screen handheld. One screen for games. The second for adverts which will run continuously whilst viewing the first.
Following the links in the article is too much work, eh? It's a new Nintendo handheld, which you'd know if you actually read a paragraph or two.
The PSP has been riddled with plausible problems since its inception - a high cost to manufacture, attempting to reach out to a market that's not there (not many older people aside from the hardcore gamers play handheld systems), and low battery life. Now, customers have spoken and they want the DS... I don't think there's much room in the marketplace for both systems, maybe Sony should hold off on the PSP till it becomes a bit more plausible and cost-efficient to develop.
Some might blow off this question. Why would a company create a shortage when the other option is to sell more product? Simple answer- it creates consumer excitement. The N64 definatly benefited over its lifespan from having an initial shortage, the free advertisement from news outlets interested in parents fighting over a video game machine probably boosted the longterm sales of N64 by a few million systems (and they needed it- that was their weakest console system to date). Nintento knows that it has to survive not only this Christmas, but the next two or three as well with the same hardware. Next year when there isn't a shortage all that free advertising from the shortage will pay off.
I think that Nintendo is trying to do it in the U.S. at this point (will Japan have a shortage too?). The only reason to avoid the shortage was if they were newcomers in the biz and they needed the numbers from Christmas to pick up developers. But since Nintendo is assumed to always win in that market, they already have developers lined out the door.
Its a win win situation for them. The only losers are gamers who didn't preorder in time (shame on you!).
Open Source Sushi
Nintendo's new handheld, featuring a pair of screens, and a new control scheme, relying on a D-pad and stylus.
But I've been wondering two things: Why is it so popular that they can't manage all the pre-orders? Nintendo has gone on record saying it's not going to replace the GBA, nor directly compete with it. So it's not just people buying the next-gen (unless, that's what they think it is). Is it the style factor, the wireless connectivity? The hope that it will become so much more?
Also, what is Nintendo's strategy with this device? Testing a market? Trying to figure out what a gamer/consumer wants, so they CAN implement it in the next GameBoy? I mean, it was first revealed this year's E3 (I believe. I don't remember the TGS), and it's already out for the holiday season. It doesn't look like it needed extended hype to get it moving. If someone could just answer the question "What the hell is going on?", I'd really appreciate it.
Try actually following the links or spending about 10 seconds searching on Google...Crazy concept, isn't it?
... The Nintendo DS -- short for dual-screen -- will be unveiled Tuesday morning at the annual Electronic Entertainment Expo game industry gathering. ... "
Google for "nintendo DS". 3rd result on the first page -
"USATODAY.com - Nintendo unveiling a new portable
Can someone explain to me what Feel the Magic XX/XY is like?
I have my own ideas about feeling the magic with an xx but i'm not sure anyone here will believe me.
Know what I like about atheists? I've yet to meet one that believes God is on their side.
Prophecy.
What else is the wireless networking for? You sit and play in the food court, and then start seeing ads for Manchu Wok and Second Cup show up in the game.
If I was the right kind of person, that idea would give me a wet dream.
Here I was getting ready to laugh at the obvious spoof on stupid video game ideas, when I hit paragraph two. Now my head hurts and I want my mommy.
"You're older than you've ever been, and now you're even older."
To those talking about the DS shortage as a marketing strategy, I highly doubt it. Two reasons:
1. The system is launching Nov. 21st here and Dec. 2 in Japan. That's the closest international hardware launch Nintendo has ever done. I assume Japan will get unit priority after launch to make sure there are units on the shelf to combat Sony's PSP which launches Dec 12.
2. Hardware was finalized only a few months ago, which means production has only recently begun. Add to this that each unit has 2 LCD screens (one being a touch screen), and you can see a possible kink in the supply chain here.
So while shortages always generate a frenzy, and thus free marketing in a sense, I think the shortage here is genuine.
Also, it is unclear whether or not this will hurt Nintendo. With PSP on the way sometime next year, having an install base of 4-5 million never hurts. Look at the wonders that did for PS2.
It's not the official Gameboy replacement because Nintendo knows it's a risk. But it plays GBA titles along with DS ones, which makes it a de-facto GBA successor. Wireless capability, a fast ARM9 CPU, good battery life and the Nintendo brand add to the appeal - even though the quality of the launch lineup is uncertain.
But since the GBA compatibility is there, it's not as vital for the DS to blow people away with its launch titles either. As with most new consoles, it's the promise of future titles that gets people to buy them now.
Ita erat quando hic adveni.
I wonder if this might prove advantageous for Sony; if the DS sells out (supply can't meet demand), then maybe consumers will settle for the PSP in lieu of a DS.
I'm on a road shaped like a figure eight; I'm going nowhere but I'm guaranteed to be late.
I like new hardware as much as the next guy, but I still don't see what the killer app of the second screen is/will be! Project Rub sounds interesting in a salacious sort of way, but no way is that title coming to the U.S.! In the short run, it seems that the DS will be a more expensive way to run your SP games. Right now I'd say that the wireless connectivity offers more compelling gameplay possibilities than the second display.
The only other issue I'll raise is the potential awkwardness of games that use a stylus. How are you supposed to operate the D pad while scribbling with the stylus? Maybe this is a dumb question, but I just don't see it yet. You can put it down on a table top, but it really looks like it was designed to be held with both hands.
To the making of books there is no end, so let's get started
Reading a newsticker from games.slashdot.com and not knowing what the DS is is like watching ESPN's scoreboard and not knowing what sport the 'NHL' section is for.
If you are ignorant of the domain of discourse, it's your job to educate yourself. News tickers are supposed to be short and to the point.
--Jeremy
Jesus was a liberal
We spoke with some people in Nintendo's media/analyst relations department as well as a vice president who said that the company is shipping 1 million units for Nov. 21. This shortage doesn't appear to be an illusion.
If demand really is so high that retailers are stopping pre-orders then there may be a problem on the manufacturing side with a possible component shortage, or a simple lack of manufacturing capacity to produce more. There are a limited number of suppliers for some of the components that go into the DS and those suppliers have other customers besides Nintendo.
A few weeks back, we spent a couple of hours in a hands-on preview of the Nintendo DS and previewing/playing Metroid Prime Hunters: First Hunt, Super Mario 64 DS, Spider-Man 2 DS and the onboard PictoChat instant messaging software.
We also checked out a few more titles yesterday, and will publish first impressions of those games soon.
Funnily enough, I got mine through the main Slashdot RSS feed so there was no indication of any shape or form that it was under "games". Precisely:
:)
DS Pre-Orders Stopped as Sales Soar -- Zonk -- 6.45pm
As you can see, that doesn't give you any clue what it's about, and besides, even if it *was* under the games section there's a fair contingency of single-platform gamers (e.g. PC-only) who wouldn't know what a DS is. Visiting the Slashdot "summary" post should then clarify it is, but it doesn't. (Though now one of the mods has appended the word "handheld" at the end, and it's in the Nintendo topic so it's not too hard to grasp.)
Still, the complaints are somewhat valid, the moderators overly harsh, and the followup posters somewhat arrogant. Typical Slashdot, then
...until it comes with that cool Calculus game, Feel the Magic DY/DX.
Dear Slashdot: next time you want to mess with the site, add a rich-text editor for comments.
MP3 player developer here :)
CPU is way too slow for DivX - main CPU is just a 66MHz ARM, and the second CPU (33MHz ARM) is dedicated to running the OS services. (Really wacky design.)
The 4MB of RAM is pretty small by PDA standards nowadays. Also, it uses a very proprietary memory card format for its ROM storage, though it has 32-bit addressing, and it'll probably be reverse-engineered quickly anyway. The hardware-level implementation is kinda crappy though, and although there's a basic MMU I don't know if it'll be useful enough for "real" Linux (uCLinux maybe though)
That's a pretty mediocre system spec. Most of the MP3 player CPUs we look at these days are ARM7-90MHz or ARM9E-133MHz and up. Most of the time they're only running at about 20-30MHz or so for decoding, but the headroom is great for the occasional burst of UI activity or database access etc. And they still manage enormous battery life like that. About 30-100mW is the power consumption you get these days. I find it ridiculous that most MP3 players probably have more more CPU power than the DS.
I'm really quite confused by Nintendo's choice of platform. The only reason I can think of for them using:
Actually, this reminds me somewhat of a CPU I've worked with *cough* PortalPlayer *cough* that was seemingly designed around being highly efficient and low power. Trouble was it didn't work out efficient in practice and it just made development incredibly difficult instead.
Here's an example: why didn't they just use a highly integrated ARM-9E 133MHz CPU like you can find from many vendors (i.e Samsung)? Perhaps the answer lies in no-holds-barred cost cutting...
Wal*Mart is still taking pre-orders.
"We make our world significant by the courage of our questions and by the depth of our answers." Carl Sagan
I have a feeling that the PSP is going to go the way of the Sega Game Gear. The Game Gear had the flashy colour graphics, was more expensive, had less games, and poor battery life. I mean, so far the PSP is fitting the mould. It will be too expensive, and even if you do buy it you'll be scared to take it anywhere... that screen is wide open for scratching. Even if you DO take it somewhere, the battery life will just give up on you unless you strap on a battery pack. Nintendo got it right with the original game-boy. It was cheaper, had more games, and had exccellent battery life, worthy of being called portable.
READY.
PRINT ""+-0
Left-handed gamers have already been considered. The layout of the four buttons on the system's right side mirrors the position of the D-pad. In the Metroid Prime Hunters demo that they gave a few weeks ago, they demonstrated different control schemes that you could select for the game. Two of them were for left handed people, and made the right buttons behave as a D-pad and the D-pad as the right buttons. No worries!
Light is filtering down from above. Would you like to use DIVE?