Nintendo To Start Publishing Ebooks On the DS

Miracle Jones writes "Nintendo is going to start publishing ebooks for the DS in conjunction with HarperCollins. The first cartridge will go on sale December 26th in the UK, will cost around 30 dollars, and will feature 100 classic books — stuff like Charles Dickens and Jane Austen."

Re:DRM?

[spazdor]

Um, basically none. Have you ever tried using pirated content on a DS?

It's easier than easy.

Re:Ah My Eyes!

[rsmith-mac]

I was thinking the same thing. For those unfamiliar with the specs, the DS has 2 256x192 pixel (62mmx 46mm) screens, giving it a dot pitch of .24mm. In terms of resolution this puts it above most 320x240 PocketPCs, but well below newer devices such as an iPhone/iPod Touch at 320x480. The bigger issue is that a .24mm dot pitch is extremely coarse for a mobile device (.24 would be around that of a desktop monitor) - compared again to the iPhone at .16 or so, it doesn't give much room for font anti-aliasing.

You won't quite go blind like the OP is exaggerating about, but as a DS owner I can't say I find reading text particularly comfortable on the device. I'll take an iPhone, a Kindle, a PSP, etc any day of the week over a DS.

Ugh, more propietary formats

[Thaelon]

Is anyone else sick of proprietary ebook formats?

I have an N810 that I bought primarily for an ebook reader since it runs it runs Linux, the theory behind my purchase was someone out there had or would probably would create something that could read most formats, or I could find converters that could convert many things to some format it could read.

And then Amazon released the kindle with it's ultra-proprietary ultra-PITA format. There's mobi, Microsoft's format, and I'm sure Sony has something since they have a reader, and Sony is the biggest proponent of proprietary formats ever.

My personally preferred format is OEB [openebook.org] which is really just html with an xml document specifying book information. That FB reader that my N810 uses renders beautifully and pre-populates author/title information for me.

Does anyone know of a converter for some of the DRMed proprietary formats that convert to OEB? I have Linux (Ubuntu) and windows available to run things on.

Objection!

[arugulatarsus]

I thought the DS had a lot of interactive books already available. Namely all of the Phoenix Wright series.

Re:First ebooks

[Ishin]

He is speaking of the Nintendo Fun Club Newsletter (a free precursor to the subscription magazine Nintendo Power) which was a very small (40-50 pages if I remember correctly)magazine that featured fan letters, short previews for upcoming games, and a few advertisements for varied nintendo games.

Re:DRM?

[Anonymous Coward]

Did you mean carriages? If Austen's books had chariots they might even be marginally interesting...

Re:Objection!

[Sparton]

Two things:

1) This is about normal books on the DS, not interactive novels. One is passive, the other is not.

2) You call four Phoenix Wright games and half a dozen other interesting titles "a lot"? It definitely seems impressive compared to what any other current-gen gaming console or handheld has, but compared to the level of books that are published throughout the world (heck, even compared to the number of book hits each year), that's nothing.