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Nintendo DS Review and Internal Pictures
OctaneZ writes "Lik Sang couldn't help themselves, and have already torn open their Gameboy DS. Among other things they found, the DS shares both its power and battery with the GB, and the 802.11b range is 10 to 30 meters, depending on the surroundings."
http://games.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=04/11/20/ 2351253&tid=207&tid=137
It's the Nintendo DS. Gameboy is a completely different product line.
OK, so I have my Nintendo DS, and so far it's great, but what I was *hoping* for was that Picochat could be configured to go over the internet via 802.11b. Unfortunately that doesn't appear to be the case.
;)
The graphics are *amazing*. I've been playing the demo version of Metroid. The DS is somewhere between the N64 and GC in graphics quality. Gameplay is a little hard at times with the touch screen. You have to use the same thumb to move that you use to make contact with the screen. Oh well.. I guess it's time to evolve a third hand..
I also got Super Mario 64DS. No surprises there, per se. The split screen does give a nice perspective of the playfield while you're playing, however.
All in all I think Nintendo has the foundation of a truly classic gaming system.
Polymorphism -- It's what you make of it.
The official line was that the DS had both a 'proprietary Nintendo communications protocol' ala the Wavebird, and 802.11b for Wifi.
You're probably right though, As there are reports of Pictochat transmitting a MAC address when it's searching for other DS's.
And for the record I have no idea why my grandparent post was a troll. I own a DS and am extremely pleased with it.
It can do whatever any other device with an 802.11 wireless ethernet repeater can, as long as you can get software that does it.
... can be daisy-chained?
At this exact moment there is no software available for the DS which uses the wireless to connect to the internet. The only announced software so far which is known to use the wireless to connect to the internet is Nanostray, a shooter by the Iridium 3D people, which uses wifi to connect to an internet high score board.
Nintendo representatives seemed enthusiastic about the idea of a web browser for the DS, so I assume if someone goes to Nintendo asking for a license to make a DS web browser they'll get it.
and can its 802.11b hardware act as a repeater, so wireless games
This can be done; there's a DS game (I think Japan only right now) called "ping pals" that repeats in such a way that up to 128 people can connect to each other over the wireless, so long as there's an unbroken chain of DSes between them to relay the signal. I think most games require all the players to be in a 10-30 yard radius though.
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From what I've heard so far:
:(
It seems the shortages are real, not hype, but it is not really something to worry about. Basically there are serious shortages in some areas but no problem whatsoever in others. It seems that outlets of the big video game chains (EBGames/Gamestop) often had shortages, and sometimes didn't even get enough units to cover their preorders, but more general stores that don't generally do the preordering thing (Best Buy, Target) you can just walk in and buy one.
There are also reports of shortages of a couple of the games, specifically Feel the Magic and Mr. Driller. I don't know how accurate these reports are. It's unfortunate it seems there's been a shortage of the good games but no problems getting the EA stuff
Now, whether there will be shortages after Black Friday is another question altogether.
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