Can Nintendo Really Be Planning Another DS Variant? 187
itwbennett writes "'There was a lot of talk yesterday about an article in the Japanese publication Nikkei which claimed that Nintendo was readying a new iteration of its DS line of handheld gaming systems,' writes blogger Peter Smith. 'The report claims the new unit will have 4" screens (the current unit has 3.25" screens) and is designed for older gamers who have trouble seeing the small screens of the current DSi. This new model is otherwise identical to the existing DSi and will ship by end of year in Japan.' As an 'older gamer' himself, Smith calls on Nintendo to stop this annual upgrade madness and do something truly innovative for a change, and he calls on gamers to put some pressure on Nintendo and not buy the new DS."
Finally ! (Score:5, Interesting)
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They have keep up with the PSP Go...
Re:Finally ! (Score:5, Insightful)
Indeed. This is actually a very good idea, especially because it costs Nintendo very little but could (further) open up a largely untapped market segment.
I'm honestly rather surprised the blogger is upset by this; it's really just a different option, rather than "upgrade". It's like he's saying that a publisher should be out finding new books instead of making a large print version of an existing best seller.
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He's saying Nintendo should do what Sony did. Strip out a bunch of features, and make it incompatible with existing games, while giving it a big hardware boost.
So... I totally agree that Nintendo has the right idea! Nintendo shouldn't put out anything next-gen until they get downloadable games and a patchable/upgradeable OS sorted out.
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Isn't that what Nintendo did with the DSi? They took out the GBA port, losing access to ~1400 game carts, in favor of selling content over the internet, which you can't resell or transfer ownership.
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But forget backwards compatibility for a second. What about the DS games that used the GBA port?
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There's only a few games that used the GBA port - oens that used the rumble pak (a handful of games), and Guitar Hero. Most of the others have clever addons to the slot 1 (e.g., the one with the pedometer) cartridge.
Anyhow, it's not like Nintendo's stopped selling the regular DS lite. You can still buy them brand new, enjoy the
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What's wrong with retro-gaming? The GBA had a ton of A-list games. A lot of those titles will be resold through the DSi store (Nintendo ALWAYS recycles old titles). So, it won't matter that you own the physical cartridge; you'll have to pay for the software again if you want to play it.
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I completely agree, this is a needed option. The screen size is a major factor in my decision to indefinitely delay purchase of any Nintendo portable. If they can also get me past the hand cramping, they may have finally sold me.
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If they do launch a DSi2 with a screen bigger then the original DS screen, I may look into getting one
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It's just another self-professed "gamer" complaining that a game company is focusing its products and marketing at people other than him. Nintendo started making strong plays towards the casual market years ago, and yet there are still nerds out there who refuse to accept that their beloved video game company doesn't exist for the sole purpose of serving them specifically.
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In other news readers were horrified to learn that the latest Dan Brown novel is going to be released in large print format. After already paying out for the paperback, hardback and then the audio book one blogger called on the industry to "stop the upgrade madnees!!1!"
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I'm honestly rather surprised the blogger is upset by this; it's really just a different option, rather than "upgrade". It's like he's saying that a publisher should be out finding new books instead of making a large print version of an existing best seller.
I can see the point. Release the latest iteration. Wait a bit and release one that the only difference is a larger screen. If it is about more choice, they should have made them both available at the same time. Otherwise it is just a mostly cosmetic upgrade. I think the book analogy doesn't work because the book buyer already knows a larger print version will be available if it isn't already available, and/or they already have a solution in place with a magnifying glass or something.
Re:Finally ! (Score:4, Insightful)
If Nintendo decides that it wants to improve upon its current device in a manner that will not change Peter Smith's current DSi in any way that isn't psychological, I have a hard time seeing a problem.
I've noticed that many gamers seem to feel "cheated" if they buy something and the manufacturer subsequently releases an improved product -- even if it's only slightly improved, and even if it's a fair bit later. I think it's silly, but as far as I can tell, they feel that the manufacturer "owes" it to them to preserve their pride in owning the latest and greatest. Or something.
Slashdot should have omitted the silly moaning by the blogger though, and just posted the interesting info.
Re:Finally ! (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Finally ! (Score:4, Funny)
Nothing beats the feeling of finally buying a Mac mini G4 and seeing Apple switch to intel processors a week later.
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Don't forget about the possibility that NVIDIA's Tesla is involved: http://www.pcper.com/comments.php?nid=7876 [pcper.com]
It was posted on Slashdot last month.
Geezer Edition DSi (Score:2)
It's very likely that Nintendo will use NVIDIA in their next generation handheld console. http://www.brightsideofnews.com/news/2009/10/13/nvidia-tegra-wins-contract-for-next-gen-nintendo-ds.aspx [brightsideofnews.com]
But... it's too early for that. It think this 4" screen DSi is probably just that: DSi with a 4" screen. My dad and my uncle both like the DS (particularly chess and puzzle games on it) but they have trouble seeing the tiny things on the tiny screen, the larger screen would definitely help. They should call this th
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i was all prepared with a "your wife seems to think so" smartass retort, then i saw your username...
Re:Good Idea (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Good Idea (Score:5, Funny)
And funnily enough, for once I didn't even think of the pervy connotations of that comment when I made it!
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Yes, I know, portables are supposed to be small... but the original DSi has a footprint barely bigger than an Atari joystick! It looks more fragile than it probably is...
Increasing the screen size will increase the size of a DSi without increasing the depth. This will be good.
Is there any competition? (Score:5, Insightful)
As long as there is no competing hand held on the horizon, Nintendo has no reason to compete with itself by creating a completely new hand held. Also keep in mind that Nintendo is one (the only?) vendor that actually makes money with their hardware, while others sell their's at a loss to make money with games. As long as people keep buying the new NDS deluxe pro 9000 GT Nintendo will keep producing them. Which makes perfect sense, so why bother?
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There is nothing wrong with the DS as is, I just wish there was a way to hook it to my TV.
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I think the sound capabilities leaves a lot to wish for.
I think game songs do to (guess they use sampled music but don't have much space so it gets very repetive.)
Better speakers and higher quality sound output would be good to.
Resolution is decent but could be better.
3D capability leaves a lot to wish for.
Old ones (pre-DSi) didn't even do WPA.
The DS lite (which plenty of us have bought ..) don't do diagonal upper-right movements very well.
Of course lots could be improved.
Personally I would from the beginni
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... oh, and the freaking "friend codes" system should had never been implemented. What fun is Internet enabled games if you have no-one to play with?
And since it has support for a microphone higher specs helping it handle the additional processing for VoIP while playing would had been nice to.
Friend codes keep out the pedos (Score:3, Insightful)
oh, and the freaking "friend codes" system should had never been implemented. What fun is Internet enabled games if you have no-one to play with?
Without friend codes, what fun is Internet enabled games if your kids have sexual predators to play with?
Re:Is there any competition? (Score:5, Interesting)
I think the sound capabilities leaves a lot to wish for.
The DSi has a much improved DAC, allows 16 simultaneous mono voices in hardware (I think, it could be 8 mono)
3D capability leaves a lot to wish for.
True, but it was done this way due to battery reasons. When someone writes a software renderer for DSi, we'll likely see a pretty big jump in graphics (for DSi only)
The DS lite (which plenty of us have bought ..) don't do diagonal upper-right movements very well.
What?
Personally I would from the beginning had preferred one screen with the total resolution of the current two there the developers themselves could had decided how they wanted to use it. And of course better 3D capabilities.
Then you would have a PSP. The second screen is an artifact of the design of the system. I think Nintendo really wanted a clamshell, because it makes the system far more portable. You don't need a case, and can slip one into your pocket without ruining the screen. I own a DS, DSi, and PSP. The PSP remains at home, while the DSi comes with me wherever I go. Reason being that it doesn't require a case, and is a good deal smaller.
Also in the case of the DSi I guess one could argue that at least the loss of the GBA slot is something "wrong" with it. That and the very high price, the DS has been around for like 5 years but still kinda cost as much since each new version starts off at a slightly higher price the the current one.
DSi is Nintendo's new handheld. It has 4x the power of the DS, and is a significantly better system in every way. It's a fair price to pay for the new system. The problem is the lack of DSi exclusive games, because Nintendo is currently selling it as a new DS. This is really not the case. Next year, we will likely see the rise of the DSi, after there's an established market. I think Nintendo is just rolling it out slowly because they don't need to rush, and they don't want people to feel cheated.
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3D capability leaves a lot to wish for.
I actually feel ambivalent about this. While it is true that the DS is essentially incapable of doing many genres of 3D games, I personally am not unhappy about this. As a result of this hardware limitation, the DS has become the main console for people who like 2D sprite-based games. I love those games; there are few of them on "larger" consoles, but on the DS, new 2D games like Mario & Luigi, Advance Wars, New Super Mario or Professor Layton are even more common than 3D games.
Sony's historical 2D bans (Score:3, Insightful)
No-one force people to use higher res or 3D capabilities just because it's there.
At various points during the PlayStation and PlayStation 2 eras, Sony Computer Entertainment America all but banned games with 2-dimensional sprite graphics [livejournal.com].
Re:Sony's historical 2D bans (Score:4, Informative)
you say that like it's a fact (much like the douchebag who wrote the blog you link to) but neither one of you has a shred of evidence, and the list of 2D games for PS2 would seem to directly contradict this ridiculous statement (see http://www.racketboy.com/retro/sony/ps2/2007/10/best-2d-ps2-games-playstation-2.html [racketboy.com] for a list).
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I think the stereo system (or lack thereof) leaves a lot to wish for.
Stability is decent but could be better.
Environmental protection leaves a lot to wish for.
Older ones couldn't even carry much beyond a single rider.
Of course lots could be improved.
Personally I would from the beginning have preferred an enclosed vehicle with room to fit 3 additional people + some extra junk, and a kick-ass stereo system. And of course 4-wheels for better stability.
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And more specifically, why should we be outraged that people are engaging in such rampant consumerism. A fool and his money, and all of that.
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There was a post earlier here on Slashdot about the rumored follow up using Tegra. [slashdot.org]
In the case of this "news" item I don't see why we are supposed to give a shit about this bloggers opinion. It's not like they are forcing someone to buy it and not everyone buy each new iteration of the DS. I think it's rather good that they fix issues and improve it as much as they can. The DSi added more features which somewhat hurt the old DS but except that to just improve it is just fine. The old ones don't get worse bec
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As long as there is no competing hand held on the horizon [...]
No competition? Think again, buddy. The iPod Touch is a strong competitor for the Nintendo DS and the PSP. Not for all gamers, sure, but there is lots of talk for instance by Joystiq [joystiq.com] and C|Net [cnet.com] comparing the two.
The big thing is that the games for the iPod Touch are very, very cheap compared to the prices for the DS and the PSP. The price difference for professional games like Madden 10 [laptopmag.com] are astounding. Tetris is between zero and two bucks on the iPod Touch, while it grosses more than $30 on the DS. Studio Ga
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GameLoft produces games which look and sound good, but are utter and absolute pieces of [poop]. Comparing cell phone games to console games is like pretending that internet fan fiction competes with normal books.
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Comparing cell phone games to console games is like pretending that internet fan fiction competes with normal books.
The quality of games on the iPhone/iPod Touch wildly varies, but NFL 2010 from Gameloft is an NFL-licensed game, and a full-3D game with playbooks and complete league-accurate rosters.
That's not comparable to poop or internet fan fiction.
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Every game I've ever seen from Gameloft had absolutely no concept of gameplay... some actually as far as not being games at all, just something that resembles a game. Granted, I didn't see the NFL game... ... but just having 3D, playbooks and accurate rosters says nothing of the quality of the game as a game.
For a Change? (Score:2, Insightful)
Nintendo has been the only one who HAS innovated. Sony sure hasn't!
Re:For a Change? (Score:5, Funny)
True, PSP brings nothing new in terms of gameplay or fun, and this is reflected on its sparse library and low sales.
Re:For a Change? (Score:5, Interesting)
I've seen so many console wars in various forums that I just can't tell anymore.
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As a NeoGeo Pocket Color owner, I can say this.
You're full of fucking shit on sales.
The PSP is still on *sale*. Do you realize how revolutionary *that* is? The PSP outlived any other portable machine that competed against the Big N, and continues to sell. Except *maybe* the Game Gear, but I predict the psp is going to outlive that.
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The PSP outlived any other portable machine that competed against the Big N
That's only because the iPod Touch hasn't been out long enough.
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wtf is this meme about the iPod touch being better than Jesus?
The iPod Touch is a great iPod, it's a great apps machine, it's great for games, but doesn't compete in the traditional games markets that the DS and PSP work in. Peggle, Myst, and a version of Sonic with God Awful controls are nice, but they're no Metal Gear Portable, Pokemon, or much more recently, Dragon Quest.
What traditional games? (Score:2)
wtf is this meme about the iPod touch being better than Jesus?
Which Jesus? The right-wing footballer from Spain [wikipedia.org]?
it's a great apps machine, it's great for games, but doesn't compete in the traditional games markets that the DS and PSP work in
"Traditional games" like Poker, Go, and Soccer can be adapted quite well for touch control. The GBA has accelerometer-controlled games like Yoshi Topsy-Turvy and WarioWare: Twisted!. The PSP has Loco Roco and a bunch of driving games, which could easily have been accelerometer-controlled. The DS has touch-controlled games like Kirby: Canvas Curse, WarioWare: Touched!, Planet Puzzle League, and March of the Minis. Just because a system lacks a D-pad doesn't m
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In the comment you linked to, he had written one line: "There is nothing wrong with the DS as is, I just wish there was a way to hook it to my TV."
You consider that spreading fanboyism? I think you need to reign yourself in a little bit. Otherwise, I agree with you about the PSP; it certainly wasn't a failure (although I suspect the PSPgo may end up being one). It wasn't near the massive success the DS was, but on the other hand, it may be the first ser
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If you're really going to use sales as a way to debate the merits and quality of a system, then by that logic the PC gaming market is truly a barren wasteland of absolute fail considering how consoles obliterate it.
Re:For a Change? (Score:4, Insightful)
Relax it's slashvertisment for some guys blog and his ads.
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What do you mean... Microsoft has innovated! I saw bill Gates on TV talking about playing virtual golf or virtual tennis at home by swinging your hands and holding a controller!
This is pure innovation! Microsoft will do something that Nintendo cant do!
Don't Pull a Sega. (Score:4, Interesting)
I would really like if you didn't do this, but as long as its still compatible you should be ok. You were there when Sega pulled the constant hardware change and killed their own hardware sector. I kinda like you Nintendo so keep it compatible and the bitching will be a minimum.
Your Fan,
bertoelcon
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Actually Nintendo already pulled it once, from DS Lite to DSi. There was quite a number of years between the two, however. But the DSi has more powerful hardware than the DS/DS Lite, so it's only a matter of time before we see DSi-only games.
bertoelcon is just saying that this new model better be a DSi with bigger screens (but same resolution) otherwise they'll be entering the same path as SEGA once did.
The DSi launched in november 2008 in Japan and april 2009 everywhere else. It's WAY too early to be talki
Absolutely. (Score:5, Funny)
All progress should stop, because a blogger said so.
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Couldn't we just call slashdot "slashblog", and call the commentors "co-bloggers"? That way all our opinions would become newsworthy too.
Nothing wrong with this (Score:5, Insightful)
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But he's terrified about missing out on nuanced features. Terrified! I hope he never finds himself in precarious, life-threatening situation -- he will have no words left to describe his condition.
Does Apple know this? (Score:2, Funny)
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It's once per year. In the summer.
I agree with the no innovation part. (Score:5, Funny)
I mean try something new. Two screens? Touchscreen? My Microvision had that back in '83 after I took a hit of acid. Get with the times, Nintendo!
Why what!? (Score:2)
This is business as usual. Seriously what is wrong with an upgrade? Sony cuts their PS sizes in half every couple of years, and Nintendo has always been about selling hardware anyway. If you don't want it, don't buy it. Just, plenty of people want it, so it will go on sale.
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Yup and everyone I see with a PSP2000 drools over my old PSP1000 because I get 3X the battery life (5200Mah battery in the stock location) Sound is better and louder, the UMD slot is far better built instead of the plastic foil door. I dont have some of the failures of the power switch.... etc....
Sony makes them smaller to make their profit margin higher. the PSP1000 is the best built of the line... I have not touched a PSP go yet, but I'm betting the sliding part has a major failure point waiting to hap
Read before you buy? (Score:2, Interesting)
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"I'm still mad about them taking blood out of Mortal Kombat..."
Just thought I'd add this
Me too!
The real problem... (Score:2)
Let's face it, the shoulder buttons are virtually useless, and all four of the diamond buttons (ABXY) just disappear under my thumb.
Try making a model for adult size hands. Better yet, adult sized Western or European/American hands...
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Try making a model for adult size hands. Better yet, adult sized Western or European/American hands...
They did.. the original model. while the DS lite had a much better screen, the controls became horrid.
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You're doing it wrong. I have big hands, and thick thumbs (Dutch/Indian), and I have no trouble using the DS Lite. In fact, if the A/B/X/Y buttons were further apart, I would find it hard to play games that require you to hold one button while tapping another, or rolling between buttons (e.g. Yoshi's Island). I thing the key is that you have use the buttons in the same way as you use the D-pad: by rolling your thumb from the central position.
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I've never met anyone who had a problem with it.....
Wait a minute........Andre the Giant, is that you?!
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Err, why? (Score:5, Insightful)
"Smith calls on Nintendo to stop this annual upgrade madness"
Why? It's not as if Nintendo are making it incompatible, they are just providing a better product that plays the same games. It's like shouting at Apple to stop with the "annual upgrade madness and do something truly innovative" because they release a new MacBook every year.
It's not as if someone is making you upgrade (or did I miss something). In the case of the DS variants, they have (as with the Gameboy) been largely compatible between minor version changes.
And this cretin seems to be under the impression that designers just sit down and say "right, this morning we need something truly innovative" and it just happens.
Truly innovative ideas come along once in a decade, and both the DS and the Wii are examples of that (whether you personally like them or not).
Both the DS and Wii are also fantastically popular still, why should Nintendo muck around too much with the winning formula? If they did he would probably be complaining because he couldn't play his existing DS games in the new "innovative" system
Re:Err, why? (Score:5, Insightful)
It's a fairly complex issue among Nintendo fans, but I'll try to break it down.
When it was launched, the DS was an experimental console, Nintendo's so-called "3rd leg". Nintendo had no significant faith in it, but threw it out there anyhow as an experiment while working on a proper Game Boy.
One consequence of this is that the components of the DS weren't necessarily picked as they would have been for a handheld designed to match the long life of a Game Boy. Nintendo made the DS underpowered, with a 66MHz ARM9, 4MB of RAM, and a 3D rasterizer that was hard-capped at 2048 polygons per frame with only nearest-neighbor texture filtering. Granted this sounded more impressive in 2004 than it does now, but they could have (and would have) used more powerful components if they expected the console to last.
As it stands, the hardware isn't as powerful as a Nintendo 64 or a PS1, and most attempts at full-3D games are downright pitiful because of this limit (the good ones, like Mario Kart, use a lot of sprites to hide this, but that strategy only works for certain kinds of games). So you're left largely with 2D games. And I like 2D games, but a certain degree of monotony sets in after a while as no one is pushing any boundries, not to mention the sheer amount of shovelware the platform generates.
Compounding this issue is the fact that Nintendo did finally do something about the hardware this year with the DSi, ramping up the clock speed of the ARM9 to 133MHz, and quadrupling the RAM to 16MB. Performance-wise, this is a token change, especially since the 3D rasierizer is still capped at 2048 polygons per frame. The additions were mainly to give the console enough extra umph that it can play with its camera.
But at the same time, it creates a clear difference in hardware classes, one Nintendo is going to exploit. There will be (and in fact may already be released) DSi-only games, which pisses off the DS Lite owners to no end, because they are now faced with being unable to play all new games for the thinnest of reasons. These people aren't going to buy the DSi, both because unlike the DS Fat to DS Lite transition the new console isn't clearly better for their needs (the Lite's screens were much better, and it was actually pocketable), and because they resent the upgrade treadmill.
Meanwhile in Sony-land, manufacturing technology has finally caught up with the ridiculously overbuilt PSP, which was an absolute brick when launched. The Go has some pricing/design issues, but fundamentally it finally gets Sony's near-PS2 hardware down to a size and battery life on-par with the DS. So DS owners are looking across the field at a handheld that's nearly a next-gen part, and they want that - they want some solid 3D games in their handheld gaming diet. Of course the grass isn't really greener on the other side since North American PSP game development has slowed to a crawl (and so few of the games are gems in the first place), but the hardware potential is clearly there.
This brings us to TFA. A new DS variant signals that Nintendo is remaining committed to the DS for at least another year, as they don't want to commission a new design and have it languish on the shelves. So this means that any hope of a "DS2" just got pushed back to at least 2011, which is pushing the frustration level over the top. The enthusiasts see what the PSP, the iPhone, etc are doing, and they want a DS with proper 3D capabilities, while Nintendo is signaling that they don't intend to deliver it any time soon. They don't want to abandon the platform, so they do the only thing they can do given their situation: they complain. And thus you have TFA.
On a side note, some of the complaining in this case is a product of just how silly this change is. The DS screen is only 256x192 pixels, which even at the original 3" size was pretty coarse (dot pitch: 0.24mm, and your head maybe a foot away). At 4" diagonal, this only gets worse. You end up with a screen with a dot pitch of 0.3175mm, and with your head at the same distan
Last gasp upgrade (Score:2)
Nice analysis, but I wonder about one point:
This is a really minor upgrade. It's almost like a "speed bump" on a Macbook. I wouldn't see that as a sign that Apple wasn't going to release a new device in the next year.
Doesn't Nintendo keep selling the old console for a while after a new console is released? After all, that old console has an enormous library so there might still be some buyers left, or some fans needing to replace/dupl
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It was an "experiment" sure, they didn't know it would succeed and likely had some backup plans. But to pretend it wasn't meant
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Oh noes! My pixels are too big! My graphics aren't 3d enough!
I'm sure Nintendo is weeping over your suffering. Or perhaps they're weeping because they got a papercut while diving into their enormous pile of money.
A big chunk of the DS audience is outside of the 18-35 male demographic. It's the 40+ year old women and others. People whose eyes are starting to strain a bit looking at that little screen. People who don't follow the cutting edge of game technology. These are the people who complain that
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These people aren't going to buy the DSi, both because unlike the DS Fat to DS Lite transition the new console isn't clearly better for their needs (the Lite's screens were much better, and it was actually pocketable), and because they resent the upgrade treadmill.
Very true. Let's look back at the Nintendo Handhelds from the beginning.
Game and watch. Simple, but they played only one game.
Gameboy. A reasonably versatile little platform. It was not as powerful as some rivals, with only mono speaker (but stereo headphone support), had only four shades of grey on the screen, and required four AA bateries.
Next up we had the Gameboy pocket. Based on the next generation of circuit components, this was much smaller than its predecessor, and provided similar battery life usin
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If they really want to get the attention of older gamers they should make a "Classic NES" edition like they did with the GBA. That's the only handheld system I own.
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Or every PC maker. I mean really.
They all run Windows and have an X86 cpu. They just get faster. Let's freeze PCs for a few years as well.
DS Improvements a good thing (Score:4, Interesting)
The DS is an excellent piece of equipment. It's small, but not too small. It's light, but heavy enough to be comfortable. It has great battery life and even my original Nintendo DS (pre-lite) still functions for hours on a single charge.
If I were to make any improvements to the DS, I would make the charger USB based and make it so that save games and such could be backed up similar to the iPhone.
There is a fantastic software library for the DS with hundreds if not thousands of titles. The unit still plays Gameboy Advance games and was even quite entertaining to play guitar hero on.
In fact, game play on the DS is wonderful. I've never stopped enjoying playing on the unit. From Mario to Final Fantasy it's an awesome unit. What I'm most surprised about is that no one has developed a gyro/motion sensor that would fit into the advance cartridge slot to make games more Wii like.
The only thing that a "Revolutionary New Design" would bring would be the need to buy higher resolution versions of the same titles. Fact is, for the screen size, the games are more than good enough already. Using classic address hacking methods (similar to the original 8086 LIM/EMS extensions) it's possible to make games bigger and bigger.
I haven't felt an urge to buy a DSi since it doesn't appear to offer anything over what I already have. It might be different if the game store were more like Apple's so that I could install the same game on both of my kids' devices, but for now, switching game cards between devices is good enough.
The Playstation Portable is a much more advanced device and still to this day, I've yet to see any games for it that make me say "Wow I need that". I'm sure that Nintendo could probably build a market for new games on a new device, but really, what's the point? Nintendo makes far more money off of licensing than off of the console. The more games that get sold, the more they make. The console can actually be sold at a loss (like they would actually need to hehe) and they'd still get rich.
I hope that if they ever do come out with a successor to the DS, they make it so that DS games play without any problems. I think if it came down to choosing a new Nintendo device which couldn't play the old games, I'd just get the kids iPod Touches instead.
Now all we need is Pokemon or Bakugan for iPhone.
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What I'm most surprised about is that no one has developed a gyro/motion sensor that would fit into the advance cartridge slot to make games more Wii like.
Oh but they have...
http://nintendo.joystiq.com/2006/12/06/third-party-card-brings-motion-sensing-to-the-ds/ [joystiq.com]
This was a third-party accessory, and because of this only homebrew could take advantage of it. It's not mentioned in the article, but there were versions for both Slot1 and Slot2. There were several homebrew games written that took advantage of this. It seems like the company that made this went out of business unfortunately.
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Each one similar to the last!
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not really. go find a copy of "rub rabbits" that one will freak you out and make you wonder what the hell is wrong with Japan as a whole.
http://reviews.cnet.com/ds-games/the-rub-rabbits-ds/4505-10068_7-31481766.html [cnet.com]
It is completely freaky and nothing like anything I have ever played.
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If I were to make any improvements to the DS, I would make the charger USB based and make it so that save games and such could be backed up similar to the iPhone.
Having had to replace the case on my son's DS for exactly the same reason, hinge failure, I think you missed an important potential upgrade. Metal hinges. Or at least significantly beefed up ones. The DS takes a lot of abuse, and the only place it seems to really fail is those hinges that deform almost like they are made of butter rather than plastic.
But thank goodness for 3rd party resellers that have those replacement parts. We had ours for maybe 2 weeks when his hinges failed the first time. They ar
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What I'm most surprised about is that no one has developed a gyro/motion sensor that would fit into the advance cartridge slot to make games more Wii like.
They did, at least for the GBA:
WarioWare [wikipedia.org]
It used a built-in gyro sensor to detect movement. Althought it was a GBA game, it still worked on the DS.
Pitty they didn't build it into the DSi. I'd MUCH rather have a gyrosensor then yet another camera to carry around. (cellphone/netbook both provide for that non-existant need)
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If I were to make any improvements to the DS, I would make the charger USB based and make it so that save games and such could be backed up similar to the iPhone.
You can get a USB charger for the DS for a couple bucks on DealExtreme. You can also get a DSTT for $6 (or Acekard, etc), play your games on that and make backups of the saves from the sd card.
do something innovative? (Score:5, Insightful)
I don't think it's Nintendo who needs to prove their capacity for innovation, buddy.
of course they are (Score:2)
If you could print money legitimately, wouldn't you do it?
Obligatory picture (Score:2)
It prints money!!! [theage.com.au].
BFD. (Score:2)
A bigger screen? BFD. It's not like old games suddenly break on this thing. It's a feature enhancement, not a completely new platform. Calm the fuck down please.
Innovation. (Score:3, Insightful)
TFA: "As an 'older gamer' himself, Smith calls on Nintendo to stop this annual upgrade madness and do something truly innovative for a change"
Smith, if you can't "see" that this is in fact offering something to appease an entirely new group of older gamers as you claim to be, then it is very well likely you are in fact NOT one of them.
I don't see the difference between a pair of hearing aides that cost $2000 vs. $8000, but chances are those in need do.
Nothing wrong with 'Annual Upgrade madness' (Score:3, Insightful)
Are people going to realistically complain about Sony releasing a 50" LCD TV because they already produce a 40" one? No.
History repeats itself (Score:2)
Game Boy > Game Boy Pocket > Game Boy Color
Game Boy Advance > Game Boy Advance SP > Game Boy Micro
DS > DS Lite > DSi
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Hardware-wise, however, the picture is a lot different.
GB > GB > GBC
GBA > GBA > GBA
DS > DS > DSi
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Seriously, particularly when its merely a minor diversification. Are they complaining that they have to upgrade to have the latest and greatest and be trendy? Sounds like its no different from offering different colors.
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Re:What about the resolution? (Score:5, Insightful)
Of course it is since it's just a new revision and not a new console. I doubt anyone would complain about having bigger screens rather than smaller even if the resolution is the same.
Good enough reason to upgrade? Most likely not.
Still an improved console for those who haven't bought one already? Yes.
Resolution can change, as long as it's a multiple (Score:2)
The current DS (the DSi) has twice the processor speed and 4 times the memory of the original DS. WIth a little tweaking in the 3D hardware, it's not unreasonable to imagine them doubling the horizontal and vertical resolution of the screen on a new version - maybe even on this 4" screen version.
Old DS games would run pixel-doubled, and newer games would get the native resolution. That's what I'd do, anyway...
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ARE YOU SMOKING CRACK
even WITH the less than optimal screen for Sonic, i'd rather play it on the DS/DSi, and I'm a bonafide apple fanboy!
Also, DSi can purchase games over the air via wifi
iPhone DOES trump this because instead of using magic nintendo points, you can use *MONEY*.
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Nintendo really is dead as company. They have so little to offer. The Wii is a disaster hardware and software wise.
I'd love to have a few disasters like that....