first news on Nintendo DS (1 Viewer)

[Matt Broeska]

click.

best features:

"The DS also has Bluetooth wireless communication to connect with other units within range for cordless competition. DS has separate slots for current Game Boy Advance cartridges and new, smaller DS game cards."

and...

"The DS has slightly more processing power than the Nintendo 64 console released in 1996."

 

[Chris Bardon]

Yeah, I figured it would just look like the old game & watch systems...

Could be cool though, and back-compatability is smart. If they can under-price the PSP, and build some limited PDA style functionality into it, then they've got a winner!

 

[Philip_S]

After watching most of Nintendo's press conference I'm still on the fence for the DS. The technology is great. The two games they showed looked good, but the 2nd screen just looks like a glorified map/status screen at this point

 

[Morgan Jolley]

I'm interested in feeling it. How big will it be for real, though? Anyone have dimensions?

 

[Sean Moon]

Supposedly its about the size of two GBA SPs side by side. And thats not the final model either. Overall I am impressed by the DS, more so than the PSP. The psp is great in concept, but I am worried about price and battery life for it to be a viable gaming machine to me. The DS on the other hand, looks to fit in the middle of the GBA PSP in terms of power and price. Nice indeed.

 

[Jonathan Carter]

I like the DS. It's a little bigger than I would like compared to my GB SP buy it's still a good idea. As for the PSP, I think it is about the worst idea Sony could have come up with. I don't think they understand what people who own a handheld want. I don't need PDA capability, I don't need to be able to watch movies on a super tiny screen, amd I don't want an MP3 player or any of that other crap. I want a system with servicable graphics (GBA is great) and some very nice games. This is what Nintendo understands. It may be the only thing they understand but they get it.

If I want to play near PS2 quality games I'll play them on my TV, not on a handheld that will cost as much as a full blown console. Wake up Sony.

 

[Jason Seaver]

I, on the other hand, would much rather carry one portable device that has gaming, PDA, and MP3 capacity than three different ones. But that's cool; maybe Nintendo and Sony are just targeting different markets.

 

[Neil M]

That's exactly what they are doing. I don't think the market that Sony is targeting is very large. The N-Gage wanted to do the same thing and look where it is now. Handheld's are a kid's market and Nintendo is successful because of this. The DS will probably fail for the same reason. People don't want a gimmick. To me, that is what the N-Gage, DS, and PSP are.

 

[Jason Seaver]

Of course, that's what was being said about all videogames ten years or so ago. I certainly think that the market is ready to evolve past that, especially if a good all-in-one device can be made.

The trick will be to market the PSP in a way to make it appealing to those who perhaps only want one of the devices it replaces. I might be willing to spend $300 for a combination game/PDA/MP3 player, but that's not a big market. There are folks who would pay $150 for a PDA that also plays games and MP3, or an MP3 player that you could take notes on, etc.

 

[Ryan Wishton]

I will most likely be getting both, so I dont have to worry about differences, etc.

One of these (maybe both) will probably be one of the hottest selling items of the Holiday season.

I am thinking of pre-ordering because you may not even be able to get one.

 

[Morgan Jolley]

I'll probably get both, but I do think the PSP is going to be more like a portable PS2 than a unique handheld. It seems like everything is going to be put on it, but the same problem is going to haunt the DS.

I like the DS' ingenuity and creative concept, but I like the PSP's power.

 

[Ryan Wishton]

I like that the DS is backwards compatible as well.

I was going to buy the vintage Nintendo Gameboy SP next month, but will most likely just be holding out for the new system now.

Just news on the all new Mario game in the vein of 2D platformers makes this a must for me.

I loved Mario 3 as a kid.

Mario 64 looks like much has changed. Doesnt seem to be a straight port at all which is a good thing IMO.

I am looking forward to both systems.

 

[Tony Kwong]

I've never seen the PSP or the newer N-GAGE, but Hopefully the display is better than the portable Game Park 32. It's my current favorite system for playing old games. I can actually see the enemy fire on the old 8bit Contra on the GP32 as compared to the GBA were it's too small.

 

[Philip_S]

I'll probably wind up getting both the DS and the PSP, but at this point I'm far more interested in the PSP. The DS has great technology with great potential, but the games.... so far it looks like the same old Nintendo. A Mario game, a Mario Kart game, a Metroid game..... same old same old, but now with a constant map/status screen. For all of Nintendo's talk about innovation, game-wise, the DS seems like rehash-city.

And yes, I'm aware that the PSP looks to be full of ports as well...

 

[Sean Moon]

The DS could have so many innovations if it wanted to. So far it looks like things that could be done with a control pad are being put to the sylus screen just for the novelty, but there is so much more to be done on this thing.

Just imagine an RTS on the DS with a stylus? It would work very well. Or Rainbow Six, drawing your teams paths to take. Or create a play on Madden?

And the dual screen idea could be used to resurrect all those old arcade shooters that had the vertical screens instead of horizontal.

Lots of potential in both systems.

 

[Chris Bardon]

I thought that the stylus thing is a bit of a gimmick, but Sean has some interesting ideas for it. The best application I can think of is allowing you to use your DS as a basic PDA (address book/calendar etc), which is actually NOT unprecented (Anyone else remember the Workboy?).

Still, I'm looking forward to being able to get my hands on this at some point. Not sure if I'll buy one at launch yet, but I'm sure I'll replace my Afterburner-modded GBA with one sometime.