Archived from groups: rec.games.video.nintendo,alt.games.video.nintendo.gamecube,uk.games.video.gamecube,alt.games.video.nintendo.gameboy.advance (More info?)
http://www.gameinformer.com/News/Story/200406/N04.0618.1846.53631.htm
While Nintendo touted their "revolution" at E3, they also touched on
"innovation." This mainly came in the form of their highly ambitious
dual-screened DS portable system. But, for all the good change can
bring, it can also end up backfiring on you when you least expect it.
The GI editors got together and wracked their collective brains on the
pros and cons of Nintendo's little handheld and we present you with
the concluding chapter in our series.
Dual-screens, wireless gameplay, instant messaging…what's not to love?
Here's what we're all looking forward to from the DS.
Two words: two screens. Never before has a portable system, or
non-portable system, ever utilized the use of two screens for gaming.
It's a truly innovative idea and one Nintendo is really banking on to
draw gamers in with.
Wireless capability is the name of the game for the future of portable
gaming, and Nintendo is hoping to cash in on the idea with their own
proprietary Bluetooth-like wireless technology as well as an as yet
unnamed wider area wireless system.
No system can live without good games, and Nintendo seems to have a
nice cache of games lined up for the DS. While not much has been
outright confirmed, WarioWare and Mario 64x4 definitely got everyone
at E3 excited.
Chat functionality. Being able to walk down to your local park and
start chatting away with a friend via your DS sounds like a cool idea.
Awhile ago, Nintendo announced a special deal with AOL, stating that
if the company did go online with their games, they would do so with
that internet giant. Perhaps we'll see an AOL-branded instant
messaging feature for the DS?
Graphics processing is more and more important in games nowadays, and
the DS is shaping up not to disappoint. The unit will be able to
handle some pretty complex 3D graphics, taking the world of portable
gaming out of the restrictions of the 2D world.
The touch screen. No other system has tried to use a touch screen for
portable gaming (at least no mainstream portable system) and Nintendo
is hoping to create some truly innovative game titles using the
technology.
Potential innovation. The opportunity to really use the DS's two
screens lies in the hands of the game developers, and if they can
create some truly innovative titles that take full advantage of using
two screens, the DS could go down as the most revolutionary portable
ever (much to the happiness of Reggie).
GBA backwards compatibility. Being able to play your old Game Boy and
Game Boy Advance titles is a very smart move on Nintendo's part, at
once giving themselves a huge market of gamers who have brought their
previous products, as well as those looking for something new.
The headphone jack. It's sad that we have so say that this is a
positive, but the glaring omission of a headphone jack on the GBA SP
enraged many a gamer. Thankfully, Nintendo has decided to include a
jack in the DS, and will hopefully also include a pair of headphones
bundled with the unit.
Expansion possibilities. While the DS can handle Game Boy and GBA
carts, it's also been mentioned that the cartridge slots could also
accommodate other things, like a camera. Could the idea of gamers
running around, snapping pics and then wirelessly messaging them to
friends soon be a reality?
Like Newton said, "every action has an equal and opposite reaction,"
meaning that for every good quality of the DS there are potentially
drawbacks and negatives. Here's what has us worried.
The stylus. Many a gamer at E3 walked away from the DS with a sour
taste in their mouth thanks to the unit's stylus, which proved to be
innovative, but sometimes annoying. The biggest culprit was Metroid
Prime: Hunters, which featured a control scheme that used the stylus
for both strafing and shooting, a combination that ended up being far
less than intuitive. Also, currently there's no place on the unit
itself to store the stylus, which could lead to many a lost styli (if
that's a word).
Size, no matter what other people may tell you, is always an issue.
While the GBA SP was a nice palm-sized portable system, the DS is
looking to be a behemoth when compared to that pint-sized offering.
Either you're going to have to buy pants with gigantic pockets or
Nintendo will need to shrink the DS a bit.
Age demographic. Take a look at the publicity shots of the PSP and
you'll see hip, young teens and early twenty-somethings running about
town and generally acting cool with their sexy little device. Check
out publicity shots for the DS and you'll likely spot four young girls
sitting on a picnic table, having all sorts of girly fun. Nintendo has
always gotten struck in the rut of being deemed a "kiddy" system, and
desperately need to break out of that image. Unfortunately, girls on
picnic tables don't help them out too much.
Wireless support. We all know how Nintendo's approach to online gaming
turned out (or didn't) with the GameCube, which leads us to worry
about their dedication when it comes to the DS. True, instant
messaging is cool, but we were hoping to see a much more direct online
approach from Nintendo when it come to the DS, as well as games that
really make use of the feature.
Tiny buttons. Unless you're a tiny-handed freak of nature, your meaty
grip will likely cover the entirety of the face buttons on the DS.
Nintendo needs to either spread the button layout out a bit, or
increase their size. Nothing is more annoying than accidentally
pushing a wrong button, especially when it's not your fault because of
a faulty layout.
Too much emphasis on touch screen use, not enough on actual "dual
screen" use. While the touch screen feature is indeed cool, we need to
see more game titles that make use of both screens at once. And no,
we're not talking about games that use the second screen as a map or
inventory hub. We want to see games that take the "dual screen" idea
to a whole new level, and hopefully Nintendo can deliver.
No analog stick makes Game Informer Online very cranky. The PSP
features a tiny, sexy little analog stick, making the unit not only
even more sexy, but also more user-friendly when it comes to 3D
gaming. So far, the DS doesn't sport an analog stick, which has us
worried.
The GameCube track record. While it shouldn't necessarily be a
determining factor, the lackluster reception of the GameCube could
ultimately hinder what sort of games we see on the DS. While ardent
GameCube and GBA developers will likely strongly support the DS, what
about the developers who either canned GameCube development or never
supported the GBA? Will there be much reason for them to jump on board
or will they simply go with the big dog Sony and get behind their PSP?
Price could end up being a touchy subject, although Nintendo hasn't
released any official price points yet. While the original Game Boy
launched in 1986 for about $150-200, today's discerning gamers seem to
be more comfortable with a $100 handheld. Ultimately, it all comes
down to the price that Nintendo announces, but we're starting to get
the idea that it could be in the $150-200 range.
A successful launch is something that Nintendo really hasn't seen
since the days of the N64, and frankly we're a bit worried that
Nintendo can pull one off for the DS. We're mainly worried that
Nintendo may be rushing the system and its games to better compete
with the launch of the PSP. Nintendo NEEDS to have a launch line-up
with some notable games like Mario or Metroid. Gamers have gotten fed
up with waiting months and months for new titles on the GBA and
GameCube, and hopefully this trend won't translate over to the DS.
http://www.gameinformer.com/News/Story/200406/N04.0618.1846.53631.htm
While Nintendo touted their "revolution" at E3, they also touched on
"innovation." This mainly came in the form of their highly ambitious
dual-screened DS portable system. But, for all the good change can
bring, it can also end up backfiring on you when you least expect it.
The GI editors got together and wracked their collective brains on the
pros and cons of Nintendo's little handheld and we present you with
the concluding chapter in our series.
Dual-screens, wireless gameplay, instant messaging…what's not to love?
Here's what we're all looking forward to from the DS.
Two words: two screens. Never before has a portable system, or
non-portable system, ever utilized the use of two screens for gaming.
It's a truly innovative idea and one Nintendo is really banking on to
draw gamers in with.
Wireless capability is the name of the game for the future of portable
gaming, and Nintendo is hoping to cash in on the idea with their own
proprietary Bluetooth-like wireless technology as well as an as yet
unnamed wider area wireless system.
No system can live without good games, and Nintendo seems to have a
nice cache of games lined up for the DS. While not much has been
outright confirmed, WarioWare and Mario 64x4 definitely got everyone
at E3 excited.
Chat functionality. Being able to walk down to your local park and
start chatting away with a friend via your DS sounds like a cool idea.
Awhile ago, Nintendo announced a special deal with AOL, stating that
if the company did go online with their games, they would do so with
that internet giant. Perhaps we'll see an AOL-branded instant
messaging feature for the DS?
Graphics processing is more and more important in games nowadays, and
the DS is shaping up not to disappoint. The unit will be able to
handle some pretty complex 3D graphics, taking the world of portable
gaming out of the restrictions of the 2D world.
The touch screen. No other system has tried to use a touch screen for
portable gaming (at least no mainstream portable system) and Nintendo
is hoping to create some truly innovative game titles using the
technology.
Potential innovation. The opportunity to really use the DS's two
screens lies in the hands of the game developers, and if they can
create some truly innovative titles that take full advantage of using
two screens, the DS could go down as the most revolutionary portable
ever (much to the happiness of Reggie).
GBA backwards compatibility. Being able to play your old Game Boy and
Game Boy Advance titles is a very smart move on Nintendo's part, at
once giving themselves a huge market of gamers who have brought their
previous products, as well as those looking for something new.
The headphone jack. It's sad that we have so say that this is a
positive, but the glaring omission of a headphone jack on the GBA SP
enraged many a gamer. Thankfully, Nintendo has decided to include a
jack in the DS, and will hopefully also include a pair of headphones
bundled with the unit.
Expansion possibilities. While the DS can handle Game Boy and GBA
carts, it's also been mentioned that the cartridge slots could also
accommodate other things, like a camera. Could the idea of gamers
running around, snapping pics and then wirelessly messaging them to
friends soon be a reality?
Like Newton said, "every action has an equal and opposite reaction,"
meaning that for every good quality of the DS there are potentially
drawbacks and negatives. Here's what has us worried.
The stylus. Many a gamer at E3 walked away from the DS with a sour
taste in their mouth thanks to the unit's stylus, which proved to be
innovative, but sometimes annoying. The biggest culprit was Metroid
Prime: Hunters, which featured a control scheme that used the stylus
for both strafing and shooting, a combination that ended up being far
less than intuitive. Also, currently there's no place on the unit
itself to store the stylus, which could lead to many a lost styli (if
that's a word).
Size, no matter what other people may tell you, is always an issue.
While the GBA SP was a nice palm-sized portable system, the DS is
looking to be a behemoth when compared to that pint-sized offering.
Either you're going to have to buy pants with gigantic pockets or
Nintendo will need to shrink the DS a bit.
Age demographic. Take a look at the publicity shots of the PSP and
you'll see hip, young teens and early twenty-somethings running about
town and generally acting cool with their sexy little device. Check
out publicity shots for the DS and you'll likely spot four young girls
sitting on a picnic table, having all sorts of girly fun. Nintendo has
always gotten struck in the rut of being deemed a "kiddy" system, and
desperately need to break out of that image. Unfortunately, girls on
picnic tables don't help them out too much.
Wireless support. We all know how Nintendo's approach to online gaming
turned out (or didn't) with the GameCube, which leads us to worry
about their dedication when it comes to the DS. True, instant
messaging is cool, but we were hoping to see a much more direct online
approach from Nintendo when it come to the DS, as well as games that
really make use of the feature.
Tiny buttons. Unless you're a tiny-handed freak of nature, your meaty
grip will likely cover the entirety of the face buttons on the DS.
Nintendo needs to either spread the button layout out a bit, or
increase their size. Nothing is more annoying than accidentally
pushing a wrong button, especially when it's not your fault because of
a faulty layout.
Too much emphasis on touch screen use, not enough on actual "dual
screen" use. While the touch screen feature is indeed cool, we need to
see more game titles that make use of both screens at once. And no,
we're not talking about games that use the second screen as a map or
inventory hub. We want to see games that take the "dual screen" idea
to a whole new level, and hopefully Nintendo can deliver.
No analog stick makes Game Informer Online very cranky. The PSP
features a tiny, sexy little analog stick, making the unit not only
even more sexy, but also more user-friendly when it comes to 3D
gaming. So far, the DS doesn't sport an analog stick, which has us
worried.
The GameCube track record. While it shouldn't necessarily be a
determining factor, the lackluster reception of the GameCube could
ultimately hinder what sort of games we see on the DS. While ardent
GameCube and GBA developers will likely strongly support the DS, what
about the developers who either canned GameCube development or never
supported the GBA? Will there be much reason for them to jump on board
or will they simply go with the big dog Sony and get behind their PSP?
Price could end up being a touchy subject, although Nintendo hasn't
released any official price points yet. While the original Game Boy
launched in 1986 for about $150-200, today's discerning gamers seem to
be more comfortable with a $100 handheld. Ultimately, it all comes
down to the price that Nintendo announces, but we're starting to get
the idea that it could be in the $150-200 range.
A successful launch is something that Nintendo really hasn't seen
since the days of the N64, and frankly we're a bit worried that
Nintendo can pull one off for the DS. We're mainly worried that
Nintendo may be rushing the system and its games to better compete
with the launch of the PSP. Nintendo NEEDS to have a launch line-up
with some notable games like Mario or Metroid. Gamers have gotten fed
up with waiting months and months for new titles on the GBA and
GameCube, and hopefully this trend won't translate over to the DS.
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