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Portables (Games)

Nintendo DS Launches 57

Posted by Zonk from the dualing-marios dept.
The DS system has launched today, allowing everyone with a interest in dual screen action to get their fill. Gamespy has a Beginner's Guide to the system available, while Gamespot has a detailed page reviewing the system and some of the first games available. Bionic_Baboon wrote in with a press release about the sale of the system at EB Games on Businesswire.
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Nintendo DS Launches More

Nintendo DS Launches

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  • I've been waiting forever for the competitor to Nintendo's DS to come out.

  • WOW! (Score:1)

    by Mooga ( 789849 )
    WOW! I didn't relize that it would come out so soon.

    The only think I have agest it is that it looks in the pics to be quite large for a gameboy. You would think that they would try to make it smaller before they put in the 2nd screen...

    • Re:WOW! (Score:2, Insightful)

      by Anonymous Coward
      Large for a Gameboy? I take it you've never seen the original Gameboy... :)

      I'm not sure how you could make a DS much smaller without shrinking or removing a screen or controls. There isn't a whole lot of wasted space in the current design (with the exception of the lid, but that size is mostly dictated by the size of the bottom half, which is pretty well miniturized)

    • Re:WOW! (Score:4, Insightful)

      by prockcore ( 543967 ) on Sunday November 21, 2004 @03:04PM (#10882249)
      The only think I have agest it is that it looks in the pics to be quite large for a gameboy

      I picked my DS up this morning, it's not that large. It's smaller than the original 1989 gameboy.

      My biggest complaint with it is that Pictochat should've been internet-enabled.

      • Re:WOW! (Score:5, Informative)

        by MBCook ( 132727 ) <foobarsoft@foobarsoft.com> on Sunday November 21, 2004 @03:28PM (#10882380) Homepage
        It's almost exactly two GBA SPs next to eachother.

        I got one this morning too. My only real complaint is that I think it should have had an analog stick. The touch pad works well in Metroid Prime Hunters, but it just doesn't do it for me in Mario 64. The analog stick just worked better. Or have made the directional pad analog (like the buttons on the PS2).

        Still, great little system. I can't wait for more games!

      • Re:WOW! (Score:2, Interesting)

        by Phisbut ( 761268 )
        I picked my DS up this morning, it's not that large

        It's slighly bigger than I expected it to be, but dang are those game cards (or cartridges... what are they really?), I didn't expect them to be that small! God, how can they fit so much information on something so small?!?

        I'm really impressed here.

      • Re:WOW! (Score:3, Informative)

        by MyDixieWrecked ( 548719 )
        I waited outside of GameStop, here in manhattan for 2 hours this morning (first in line of about 40 people) since I wasn't on the waiting list...

        At first I was a bit surprised that it was so large (I had played a demo unit in Best Buy last week, but it didn't seem this big), but it's actually still pretty small. I kinda wish it wasn't so thick, but I'll live. it still fits in my pocket.

        Anyway, my only complaints about it are:

        A) lack of games (I had to buy mario64 and my friend got feel the magic). I want
        • Picked mine up today as well (thank goodness I preordered early - in my area people who preordered late are gonna have to wait for the next shipment - it's the new tickle me elmo of this year) I only have on thing that makes me wary of the stylus: I'm afraid how how much abuse the touchpad can take before I end up denting it with force.

          I only say this because while I was trying out Metroid, I noticed that when things started to heat up I've been tapping the screen harder and harder in order to jump. I'm t

  • That's embarrassing.. (Score:4, Informative)

    by grm_wnr ( 781219 ) on Sunday November 21, 2004 @03:03PM (#10882246)
    ...editors, please please fix that headline. Someone might read it, you know.

    Hint: The company is actually called Nintendo.

  • Defective :( (Score:2, Interesting)

    by Ransom342 ( 170969 )
    Mine has a bad pixel on the top screen and they tell me it will be 3 weeks before they can exchange it... with eb's 2 week exchange policy they will probably try to screw me :(

    Other than that its very large but more comfortable to play.
    • Other than that its very large but more comfortable to play.

      I'm finding the buttons on the right side are a bit close together. I'm sure that was intentional to allow the buttons to act as a gamepad for left-handers, but it's a bit cramped.

    • Try contacting Nintendo directly (Score:1, Informative)

      by Anonymous Coward
      Nintendo is usually very good about responding when there is defective hardware.

    • Re:Defective :( (Score:3, Informative)

      by bconway ( 63464 ) *
      Why are you waiting to exchange it? Just return it, get your money back, and buy it there or somewhere else soon. They won't charge you a restocking fee on defective hardware, and Best Buy had them in stock this evening.
    • mine was defective as well, had a bad pixel on the bottom screen, i went back an hour later to eb and they exchanged it for me, she told me that she had set aside a few units just in case of preorder returns.

  • well (Score:2, Funny)

    by Sv-Manowar ( 772313 )
    Now everyone will be speculating on when the rival
    • nintendo
    will launch ;)
    • I don't get it. Did the editors edit everyone's joke comments when they edited the title as well? Or was it simply that they failed to capitalize "Nintendo"?

  • What are Gamespot on about? (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Weirdofreak ( 769987 ) <weirdofreak@gmail.com> on Sunday November 21, 2004 @03:17PM (#10882316)
    While [kidnapping them] is admittedly not the best way to get a girl's attention, it certainly doesn't leave much room for misinterpretation.
    (From the XY/XX review)

    Doesn't anybody else think it would be the other way around? Kidnapping somebody is bound to get their attention whatever chromosomes they have, but it certainly doesn't scream, "I want your babies", even if you rape them.

    • explanation (Score:3, Funny)

      by Anonymous Coward
      The Japanese have "interesting" courtship strategies?

  • Graphics? (Score:1, Interesting)

    by polyp2000 ( 444682 )
    For what is tipped at a next-gen handheld im a little dissappointed at the quality of the graphics in those screenshots - looks kinda like a low resolution N64 - lots of primary colors I cant say it blows me away.

    Im sure even so it will sell after all its still a "Gameboy" and thats not just a product its a brand. Things should hot up a little when the PSP arrives on the scene which technologically blows the DS out of the water. I doubt sony will compete on price though, it remains to be seen what happens-

    • Re:Graphics? (Score:2, Insightful)

      by Anonymous Coward
      Things should hot up a little [sic] when the PSP arrives on the scene which technologically blows the DS out of the water.

      If by "technologically blows the DS out of the water," you mean, "will never be able to play the same kind of games as the Nintendo DS because of the DS's dual screens, dual networking options, and touch screen capabilities," you might be right. It's possible that the release of the PSP will get those who were on the fence about either system to jump out and grab a DS, due to the arch
    • Proving a few recent rumors surprisingly true, Sony Computer Entertainment confirmed the Japanese price and release date for its new PSP handheld last night. The unit will hit Japan on December 12 at a price of 20,790 yen including tax ($194), and Sony will be offering some attractive bundle deals as well. The basic package will include the PSP hardware, an AC adapter, and a single battery pack. For the price of 26,040 yen including tax ($244), consumers will be able to pick up the PSP Value Pack... -extre

    • Re:Graphics? (Score:5, Insightful)

      by SetupWeasel ( 54062 ) on Sunday November 21, 2004 @09:17PM (#10884493) Homepage
      Nintendo could have given the DS better graphics, but they chose not to. This is not because they hate their customers as some people have suggested.

      They had to make some choices. There were some constraints.

      One was battery life. The Nintendo DS's 6-10 hour battery life is at full load. Sony has admitted that the PSP's 4-6 hour quoted battery life is at a certain brightness, using headphones, without using wireless, and playing games that are not that graphically taxing. Tokyo Game Show people were reporting 2 hour actual battery life.

      Another was media. Optical media is less durable, and it takes more power to run, so they chose cartridges. 128 MB per cartridge will likely increase over the life of the system as it did with the GB and GBA, but you need a certain amount of space for the code for the better graphics.

      There is the screen resolution itself. At .24 x .24mm for each pixel and a 3" screen, better graphics would not necessarily look better anyway.

      Then of course there is the cost--the cost to the company and the cost to the customer. Sony may be selling the PSP at $190 in Japan (without any memory card I might add), But it is costing them a lot more to make. Nintendo expects to make a profit immediately.

      Other challengers have fallen to the Gameboy, because they were too power hungry, too costly, and simply too ambitious for the technology of the day.

      The DS blows me away with what it gives me for the cost, battery life, and innovation. I knew going into EB this morning that the graphics would not be better than I had ever seen. It is the package that impresses.
  • It was under 6 months ago that I bought a Game Boy Advance SP... why would they release the SP if their new system is coming out so soon? Oh well, I'm sure there will still be games coming out for the GBA.

    I hope.

    - dshaw

    • Re:Well this is annoying (Score:5, Informative)

      by TheKidWho ( 705796 ) on Sunday November 21, 2004 @03:31PM (#10882393)
      DS is a third system not a replacement for the GBA according to nintendo. Basically, they will still be introducing a ton of new GBA games, and DS games too.
      • Thank goodness. As much as I love Nintendo, I'm just not that interested in the DS - too big and too feature-dependent (i.e. touchscreen). I love my GBA SP and eagerly await its successor, whenever that might be.

        VERY interesting to know that they will still be releasing GBA games, though! Didn't know that!

        • Thank goodness. As much as I love Nintendo, I'm just not that interested in the DS - too big and too feature-dependent (i.e. touchscreen).

          It's smaller and lighter than the orignal GB, and easily pocket-able. As for the touch screen, that may be a love-or-hate thing, but I love it, and most other people seem to also. Just try it and see, at least once, in the store. Metroid is pretty damn good, and exceptional at showing how advantagious the touch screen can be for precise control, since you can play with o

      • according to nintendo.

        Don't believe everything you read in press releases.
      • DS is a third system not a replacement for the GBA according to nintendo.

        That'll all depend on how well it sells of course.

    • It has been known that he DS was going to launch before Xmas for almost a year now - well before you bought your GBA SP. You should have done some research first. Though, take some comfort in the fact that the DS is backward compatible with all Gameboy and GBA games, so the upgrade will be smooth if and when you do.
    • Shit, I also bought the GBA SP a few months ago. I bought it mainly because it's a very easy game system to develop homebrew games on. (See gbadev.org or my web page, above.) At the time, I did not even know about the Nintendo DS. Anyway, I ended up picking up the DS today because it looked too good to pass up.

      I am hoping that the homebrew community can get together and quickly figure out a way to get our own binaries to run on this thing, because as a hacking system, it looks sweet. It's got WiFi and
      • That's what's making me hold of a bit. There aren't really any launch games I want coming out, but if we get a flashcart(or some way to use our old GBA flashcarts), the types of things we'll be able to do will be sweet($150 PDA that plays Nintendo games, officially, with their support). I'm tempted to get one just to play around with the supposed network boot functions.
    • The SP is able to play GB Advance games, so it's not totally backwards compatiable, but it's still really good.

  • Comment removed (Score:4, Interesting)

    by account_deleted ( 4530225 ) on Sunday November 21, 2004 @11:22PM (#10885064)
    Comment removed based on user account deletion
    • Why would you want to invert your aiming when you have your stylus right on the cross-hair so you can place it right on the enemy? Anyway, did you try the other options for controls? I know that there's isn't many to choose from. As for games right now, ign.com has rated Super Mario 64 as the highest rated of the releases. They gave Urban GT a stinky 5.5 or something like that.

      I do agree with the size of it, and I think you're right.. accomodating the GBA cartridge. From a marketing standpoint, I thin
    • and the wireless is neat

      If there was an open SDK for developing apps for it, people could come up with some pretty neat stuff to run on this

      a wifi beowulf cluster of linux handhelds! ph33r the p3nguin...

  • Excited about the DS? I am. (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Zen Punk ( 785385 ) <cdavidbonner@NospaM.gmail.com> on Monday November 22, 2004 @12:56AM (#10885511) Journal

    I just picked one up today. The DS kinda snuck up on me, I didn't even know about it until a few months ago. While one reason I got is because I trust Nintendo to support the hardware well and release the best first-party games(as well as developer support from companies like Sega), the real reason I wanted one is the potential of the hardware crammed into this little package. There is already a pretty good community of amatuer Game Boy Advance development using flash cartridges and neat doodads like the GBA Movie Player. I beleive that a lot more could be done with the capabilities of the DS. A touch screen, integrated wireless networking, microphone, and 3D hardware in a handheld system for $150? Think of the possibilities...PDA functions, web browser, MP3 player, emulators, homebrew 3d games...

    There was a site recently called DSLinux that claimed they would give $1000 to the first person who could successfully run Linux on the DS...unfotunately, the site seems to be no more...while I find that odd and a bit disheartening, I hope others will take up where they left off. After all, wouldn't it be so much more fun to hack on a sleek portable system like this than a clunky XBox that can't do that much more than your average low end PC?

  • The real critics..... (Score:2, Interesting)

    by peterbu ( 697957 )

    ....all I can say is my 9 year old daugher and 13 year old son are thrilled. As consumers of the Game Boy Color, Game Boy Advanced, then Game Boy Advanced SP, and now the DS they are in a better position to judge than I. And, they are completely thrilled by this unit; particularily the graphics, second screen and wireless capability.

    I am certain word of mouth on the unit at elementary school and middle school will ensure the success of this system.

    I am just curious what Nintendo will do next. The a

  • OK, it seems that every store and mail order shop is already sold out, but a few are taking orders to ship when they get new units.

    Does anyone know if this is an "artificial" shortage to build up "Tickle Me Elmo" type hysteria leading into Christmas, or is Nintendo really having trouble producing enough units for the Christmas season?

    I missed my chance to pick on up at the local Target. I was trying to buy two (one for each of my kids), but when I got to Target at 1:30PM on Sunday, a woman in front of my
    • I think it is legit. At the Game Stop where I pre-ordered 2 in Sept, they had a huge stack of them behind the counter on Sunday and they stopped taking orders in October.

      So, that(the big pile) tends to support demand outweighing actual supply. I would say they had a couple hundred of them.

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