Nintendo DS
- Thread starter Pedro
- Start date
I heard Mario 64 was a pretty good port - one of the best opening games that uses the touchscreen. There's a nice review on Ars Technica on it - http://arstechnica.com/reviews/hardware/nintendo-ds.ars that's quite nice.
I've played with one in the store (before they ran out - grr!), and found it much more comfortable than a GBA SP. (GBA SP is more kid-sized, while DS is more adult-sized).
I've played with one in the store (before they ran out - grr!), and found it much more comfortable than a GBA SP. (GBA SP is more kid-sized, while DS is more adult-sized).
Nomad Terror
Rear Admiral
the GBA SP is more cramp-your-hands-after-extended-use size
Bandit LOAF
Long Live the Confederation!
Nomad Terror said:
Playing with a GBA SP is activity I spend the second most amount of time using my hands for, and I've never had a problem with the size of the controls.
ChrisReid
Super Soaker Collector / Administrator
Pedro said:
That didn't stop Hades either.
[10:13] <Cpl_Hades> My DS arrived
[10:14] <Cpl_Hades> It's pretty great
64 with the touch screen takes some getting used to.. but the mini games are great. If you liked the original 64, this is just an improvement. Similar for the Metroid. I wasn't too into the Primes, but most people seem to like the Hunter demo. My favorite so far has been Feel the Magic, a game that uses nothing but the touch screen. Picking up Sprung on Friday. Did you see my comparison last week? https://www.wcnews.com/news/update/5954
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Pedro
Admiral
Already made my decision there, 30 second+ loading times may be fine on a home console, but I tend to fit my portable gaming into bus rides and what have you, 10mins tops, those kind of load times rather defeat the purpose.
I'm thinking load times may be as crippling to the PSP as battery life was to the gamegear.
I'm thinking load times may be as crippling to the PSP as battery life was to the gamegear.
Pedro
Admiral
The GameGear looked much slicker than the GameBoy and look where it got it.
Don't get me wrong, I initially wanted the PSP, I'm a sucker for large screens but...
You can't watch DVDs, you have to buy your movies again for the PSP, assuming the movies you want are released (I currently use the GBA movie player with the SP and it is fantastic, especially for shows like futurama, the simpsons, famlily guy, be great for anime too if I could tolerate dubs or my Japanese wasn't so basic). Its good for movies and shows too except if its dark, hopefully the DS' backlit screen will help with this.
Still waiting on actual confirmed battery length times for the PSP as well.
The touch pad is supposed be an alternative to the analogue stick whilst allowing additional functionallity... from what I've been told this works better for Hunters (FPS) but not so well for Mario64 (but I've been told its VERY playable).
Plus I know atleast two people getting the DS when it comes out in the UK, wireless multiplayer mayhem, yay!
Don't get me wrong, I initially wanted the PSP, I'm a sucker for large screens but...
You can't watch DVDs, you have to buy your movies again for the PSP, assuming the movies you want are released (I currently use the GBA movie player with the SP and it is fantastic, especially for shows like futurama, the simpsons, famlily guy, be great for anime too if I could tolerate dubs or my Japanese wasn't so basic). Its good for movies and shows too except if its dark, hopefully the DS' backlit screen will help with this.
Still waiting on actual confirmed battery length times for the PSP as well.
The touch pad is supposed be an alternative to the analogue stick whilst allowing additional functionallity... from what I've been told this works better for Hunters (FPS) but not so well for Mario64 (but I've been told its VERY playable).
Plus I know atleast two people getting the DS when it comes out in the UK, wireless multiplayer mayhem, yay!
ChrisReid
Super Soaker Collector / Administrator
Gliderboy said:
No, it can't play DVDs. It can play small proprietary UMDs that Sony makes. Do you plan to rebuy your movies so you can watch them on a 3 inch screen? The GBA has shown that there's hundreds of great portable games possible without an analog stick, however, you can use the touch screen and thumbstrap on the DS as an analog stick in such games as Metroid Prime Hunters.
Pedro said:
That may be, but battery life may be crippling as well. With the moving parts associated with the disc drive, battery life with be half that of the DS at best.
Pedro said:Yup saw the comparison, its nice
Now if I can just find out if game regions are an issue for multiplayer I can decide whether or not to import
Well, that would be dependent on the games, not the system. And I don't think most games have any problem with that.
Well, get a DS now. It plays GBA games, so you can get immediate use out of it.
Remember, the PSP is only due for a Japan-only release this Sunday, and most of them are already sold out. It will cross the Pacific well after the New Year, and probably in spring 2005. So between now and then, you've got plenty of time. (Plus, Sony is experiencing production shortages, so...). More a matter of what you can do now, and buy a PSP when they come down in price (DS is $150. PSP will easily be over $300). I would probably wait until Christmas 2005 before realistically wanting a PSP (hopefully the price would be around $200 by then).
Remember, the PSP is only due for a Japan-only release this Sunday, and most of them are already sold out. It will cross the Pacific well after the New Year, and probably in spring 2005. So between now and then, you've got plenty of time. (Plus, Sony is experiencing production shortages, so...). More a matter of what you can do now, and buy a PSP when they come down in price (DS is $150. PSP will easily be over $300). I would probably wait until Christmas 2005 before realistically wanting a PSP (hopefully the price would be around $200 by then).
Haesslich
Spaceman
As noted, the PSP doesn't play DVDs - you'd have to buy the movie again, and I don't know how they'll handle the MP3 playing ability, or if they'll wrap it in OpenMG so you have to convert it to a format the PSP will play, and that'll also let them restrict what IS Played on that. It's a nice idea, granted, but I'm waiting to see how it does in the battery life area first and what games come out for it.
Nomad Terror
Rear Admiral
I thought it was funny how GBA games looks better on the DS than they do on the GBA
Not at all funny. Or unusual.
All it really takes is a better screen. One that has a higher contrast ratio, better backlighting, better color saturation, etc. This ends up making the game look much better in the end because the graphics look nicer.
The SP was released 2002/2003. The DS released recently. Surely quality screens could be had cheaper now than then.
As a side note - the best screen to use on a DS for GBA games is supposedly the bottom one for it uses the BGR subpixel color ordering (same as GBA). The top one uses RGB and any game that uses subpixel rendering for text and stuff would look awful compared to the bottom screen...
All it really takes is a better screen. One that has a higher contrast ratio, better backlighting, better color saturation, etc. This ends up making the game look much better in the end because the graphics look nicer.
The SP was released 2002/2003. The DS released recently. Surely quality screens could be had cheaper now than then.
As a side note - the best screen to use on a DS for GBA games is supposedly the bottom one for it uses the BGR subpixel color ordering (same as GBA). The top one uses RGB and any game that uses subpixel rendering for text and stuff would look awful compared to the bottom screen...
Nomad Terror
Rear Admiral
I should point out that GBC games look better on the GBC than they do on the GBA.