100 Classic Book Collection Review

By Ellie Gibson Published 12 February, 2009

Read it and weep.

Version tested: DS

Can you imagine what Nintendo's head office looks like these days? Rows of employees sit at solid platinum desks, writing on notepads made from 100-dollar bills and using former America's Next Top Model finalists as office chairs. Their main task is to sort through the lorryload of riches that arrives each morning, throwing any diamonds smaller than watermelons straight in the bin. For the rest of the day they just roll around laughing, or sometimes sit in solitary contemplation of just how much money they've made, and wipe it on the curtains. Which are made of polar bear pelt.

So what with all those pound coins swilling round their ankles, it's disappointing to learn that Nintendo couldn't stretch to spending a little bit on copyright fees for 100 Classic Book Collection. Or, as someone so succinctly described it in the pub the other night, A Load of Old Books on a Cartridge.

At least the selection of titles is comprehensive; it reads like a Greatest Hits of classic literature, with something to suit all tastes. There's romance (Jane Eyre, Wuthering Heights), adventure (Treasure Island, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea), mystery (Sherlock Holmes, Yet More Sherlock Holmes), books based on successful musicals (Les Miserables, Phantom of the Opera) and books which are viewed as being politically suspect in retrospect (Uncle Tom's Cabin, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland).

There are great fat dollops of Austen, Dickens and Shakespeare. There is plenty of rollicking boys' own stuff (Rob Roy, Moby Dick) and a bit of tiresome girly old toss (Black Beauty, What Katy Did). Plus there are more Anthony Trollope novels than anyone could ever need (one). You can find the full list over on Amazon.

Plenty to be going on with, then, providing you're only interested in books written more than a hundred years ago. The copyright on novels expires 70 years after the author's death (thanks, the BBC), meaning anyone can then reproduce and distribute the text free of charge. It would have been nice if Nintendo had coughed up for a few modern classics - The Catcher in the Rye, say, Love in the Time of Cholera, or Jilly Cooper's Riders - just to mix things up a bit.

'100 Classic Book Collection' Screenshot 1

Charles Dickens tests out Logitech's new "Fetherlite" DS stylus at the Tokyo Game Show.

Still, if it's classic literature you're after, you can't fault the quality and quantity of the books on offer here. The real question is whether you'll want to read any of them on the DS. The answer is probably not, due to the fact the DS is of the wrong size and dimensions to comfortably accommodate this sort of thing.

You hold the DS vertically and text is displayed on both screens. The default font setting is "small", and although the text appears a little fuzzy around the edges, it's perfectly legible at this size. However, only around 50 words can be displayed on each screen at a time. Unless you're an extremely slow reader and/or massively thick, you'll find yourself having to turn the page far too often. This is easy enough to do - just swipe the stylus along the button of the screen, or use the d-pad - but it still becomes tiresome when you have to do it every 15 seconds or so.

It doesn't help that too many of the words are split up with hyphens to make them fit on the screens, breaking the flow of sentences. Plus, the page-turning animation, though nicely done, lasts just a touch longer than it ought to. Once you've seen it a dozen times in the space of only a few minutes, you start to wish it wasn't there at all.

In short, reading a novel on the DS is possible, but it isn't pleasant. The text, though readable, is slightly fuzzy, and the narrative flow is constantly interrupted by all the hyphens and page-turning. But are the other features on offer enough to make up for this?

There's the rather obvious advantage that it's easier to carry a DS cartridge around than a hundred books. Also, books don't come with wireless options. 100 Classic Book Collection lets you download additional titles free of charge - though there were only 10 to choose from at the time of writing. You can also download rankings to find out which titles are most popular with other readers. The rankings are divided into categories so you can check out the top ten "happy", "exciting", "scary" books and so on. Shakespeare can rest soundly in his grave knowing that Nintendo DS readers find A Winter's Tale to be more "profound" than The Casebook of Sherlock Holmes. Although not by much.

In addition, there are options to send a trial version to other DS handhelds, and exchange books with people who already have 100 Classic Book Collection. It's hard to see why you'd want to exchange books you've both already got, though, or could download anyway.

The offline features aren't much more exciting. You can search through the books on your shelf by title, genre or length. There are decent introductions and author biographies for each book. You can keep your place with electronic bookmarks, but there are no options to underline passages, add footnotes or scrawl pictures of male genitalia in the margins. When you finish a book, you'll be asked to mark it out of ten and can then choose a ranking labels to describe it - but only one, so a book can't be both "romantic" and "funny".

If you can't decide what you fancy reading, there's a stupid quiz to help you decide. A blinking owl asks you a series of questions, having first advised, "Please don't think too hard about your answers." He clearly hasn't thought too hard about the questions; they range from things like "Do you prefer thinking about things or taking action?" to "What do you like to drink after a meal - tea or coffee?" and "Do you prefer pop, rock or classical music?" (Turns out lazy tea-drinking Scooch fans are best suited to Hamlet, by the way.)

Then there are the hilarious background music options. Why not enhance your reading experience with the terrible plinky-plonky electro-harp of "Easy Listening", or hark back to the most boring text-based conversational interludes of the PSone Final Fantasy games with "Classic"?

'100 Classic Book Collection' Screenshot 2

That'll really appease the hardcore and keep the kids entertained.

"Beach" and "Moving Train" are at least vaguely reminiscent of the thing they're supposed to sound like. "Stream", however, is just white noise, making you feel like you're reading a book while trapped inside a broken television. "Forest" is like being trapped in a broken television with a load of birds. "Summer Day" is the terrifying and unending wall of noise which shall be the only audible sound once the nuclear holocaust is at an end and the cockroaches have conquered the Earth.

And that's about it. So for 20 quid, you're getting a hundred copyright-free books that are a pain to read and some fairly rubbish electronical features. It's not a brilliant deal, especially when you consider there's a similar application for iPhone which is free to download. It's much better, too, with more text on the screen at a time, sharper fonts and the option to choose white text on a black background.

Alternatively, at the risk of sounding like a hilarious old fuddy-duddy who goes round shaking their fist at lamp-posts and smashing up looms, you could just buy a book. You'll never have to wait for it to boot up. The batteries will never run out. You can read it in the bath. And if you live in Lewisham, you'll never have to worry about whether you can get it out on the bus without getting mugged, because no one will know what it is anyway. Joining a library is approximately 20 pounds cheaper than buying 100 Classic Book Collection, and besides - it's not as if Nintendo needs the money.

4 / 10

Read the Eurogamer.net scoring policy
Picture of Ellie.

About Ellie Gibson

Since joining Eurogamer in the mid 2000s, Ellie has written about subjects as diverse as the fall of Gizmondo, the rise of Hollyoaks actresses in Red Alert games and the noise a bear makes under NSFW circumstances.

Read more articles from Ellie by visiting the Ellie Gibson archive page.

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Comments (77) Latest comment 1 year ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Agent_Llama #1 3 years ago

    First! (And ouch! Grouchy reviewer!) ;o)

  • dr_faulk #2 3 years ago

    Yes, but is it a good game?

  • Jamo777 #3 3 years ago

    What's wrong with people from Lewisham?

  • Pirotic #4 3 years ago

    Needs more waggle then?

  • KujiGhost #5 3 years ago

    Libraries FTW!!!

  • Scimarad #6 3 years ago

    "electronical"? What kind of an effing word is electronical?

  • DUFFMAN5 #7 3 years ago

    Now if they were to cram all the unabridged Sherlock Holmes stories onto a cart I would be more than happy to sit fouling my ruff shag while holding the ds.
    Good ref to the Charlie dick pic.
    Edited by 1 at 12/02/09 @ 07:30

  • Krelle #8 3 years ago

    I love this "game". I bought the japanese version and basically use it to improve my japanese.
    I dont know much about japanese literature so it isgreat to just have 100 works on the go, w/o having to do any research etc.

  • HuggyAtHome #9 3 years ago

    100 Scan mag collection?

  • UncleLou #10 3 years ago

    It's not a brilliant deal, especially when you consider there's a similar application for iPhone which is free to download.


    Yeah - if you have an iPhone or Touch, get Stanza - you can download thousands of books from several catalogues directly to your device. It's awesome.

  • Jasugun #11 3 years ago

    @Aspic
    "see it as an alternative to carrying a few books each day on the train"
    Are you reading more than one book at a time on the train?

  • sickpuppysoftware #12 3 years ago

    Does it have a health bar or the more traditional lives system?

  • JohnnyWashnGo #13 3 years ago

    I had the Japanese version of this and found it really quite useful.

    Sure, its not the same as using Sonys ereader or actually having the book, but then that isn't the point is it?
    It meant to be a simple way to read a ton of books on the DS. And I found it achieved that goal admirably.

  • JinTypeNoir #14 3 years ago

    Yeah, I really loved the Japanese release of this. Not only did it expose me to some great stuff I've never read, but it was convenient -- quite apart from the inconveniences she states - I didn't have to have a light to read with it, I could read any of the many books on there at any time or anywhere I pleased and more importantly than anything else, it allowed me to FIT more books in my room than I can otherwise -- I live in a room that's probably as big as some of you guy's closets and there's no way I could cram as many books as are included in this collection into if I want to move. If I want to read more and more books, I have sell all but my favorite after I'm done with them as because they won't fit.

    As a portable e-reader, it was great and I welcome all the other releases that came after it that also shrunk down books to DS side. I hope it's a trend that doesn't stop, as I think it's great.

  • DFawkes #15 3 years ago

    I'd very much like Dynasty Warriors: Read! It'd just be Romance of the Three Kingdoms (authors long, long dead) with electro-rock music throughout. Might not want to call it that and only have 1 book on it, but it'd certainly be different to the rest of the series.

  • oreillymj #16 3 years ago

    Read a very interesting presentation/article by Lawrence Lessig about how "big media" are trying to extend copyright to protect their own ip while these same companies are happy to make money from out of copyright material.

    The biggest offender is Disney. Half of it's early work was based on out of copyright Grimms brothers stories.

    Seems like Sony (e-reader) & Nintendo are just as happy to profit from other peoples hard work. Wonder if they even made a token donation to the Guthenberg project.

    BTW - Since these works are out of copyright, is it legal to pull this down off bitorrent?
    Edited by 1 at 12/02/09 @ 08:52

  • gallow #17 3 years ago

    Spot the typo on page 1:

    "This is easy enough to do - just swipe the stylus along the button of the screen, or use the d-pad - but it still becomes tiresome when you have to do it every 15 seconds or so."

  • clockworkzombie #18 3 years ago

    I just ordered an ebook reader, a bebook. [link url=http://www.mybebook.com,]http://www.mybebook.com, [/link] they are based in Holland and it gets good reviews. Their exchange rate calculation may be dodgy as it is only $400.00 AU.

    It should arrive in a week or so.

  • FairgroundTown #19 3 years ago

    > BTW - Since these works are out of copyright, is it legal to pull this down off bitorrent?

    If you mean "d/l the ROM" then no - the reader software itself is copyright.

  • thedaveeyres #20 3 years ago

    Is the Necronomicon included?

  • moggsy #21 3 years ago

    BTW - Since these works are out of copyright, is it legal to pull this down off bitorrent?

    Feel free to download the text of the books but the software reviewed here will have taken many man hours to create and so should be paid for.

  • woodyrulesok #22 3 years ago

    Hey, I live in Lewisham!

  • ianegg #23 3 years ago

    Not to mention that because they're all in the public domain, so you can download them all (and more) for free from gutenberg.org

  • kangarootoo #24 3 years ago

    @Scimarad

    "What kind of an effing word is electronical?"

    A sarcastic one? Maybe sarcasm isn't the right word. Its a "getting into character" comedy mechanic. As it happens, its a word I've heard quite a lot. Sort of a modern version of elastic-trickery :)


    @Aspic

    It seemed to me that Ellie's review was basically saying "its not a very good e-book reader". She even made reference to an iPhone app that does the same job more efectively. When Ellie was questioning the whole idea of an e-book reader, I figured it was clear there was a degree of comedic license creeping in.


    @Jasugun

    I think I have three books in my own Commuting Backpack (tm).

  • mcmothercruncher #25 3 years ago

    I'm really enjoying 100 classic books- it does what it says on the tin, is convenient and portable. Winner. Turning pages is a problem? C'mon! This is the age of waggle-a-cise ffs!

    Like the little snippet of info about the book and the author that accompanies each book too.

    4/10 is way too low.

  • Krelle #26 3 years ago

    lol, how many EG'ers live in japan? I take it JINTYPE is one? Anyone else?

  • Bennicus #27 3 years ago

    lewisham lol nice1!!! seem to remember those sort of jokes being tired back when Your Sinclair was making them

  • DrR0b3rts #28 3 years ago

    What's the cover system like?

    (Sorry!)

  • JinTypeNoir #29 3 years ago

    "lol, how many EG'ers live in japan? I take it JINTYPE is one? Anyone else? "

    Err, where else should I live? *scratches head*
    Edited by 1 at 12/02/09 @ 09:37

  • fiery_jackass #30 3 years ago

    "There is plenty of rollicking boys' own stuff ... Moby Dick"

    That is an absolute shocker of an error, Ellie. You might as well dismiss Pride and Prejudice as "sissy, teen mag angst letter stuff"

    Moby Dick is quite different from what you seem to think it is (unless the DS version is a 40-page precis), you should read it. It's a multi-faceted, thought-provoking wonder of a book, and quite rightly held as a classic of modern literature.

  • andromeda #31 3 years ago

    what the hell is up with that hideous "mind your language" advertising around this review? That two frame schoolgirl animation is so freaky , i'm almost aroused..
    Edited by 1 at 12/02/09 @ 09:58

  • iokthemonkey #32 3 years ago

    How can a (bad) games reviewer give 4/10 to some of the best books ever written?. This is not a game for fucks sake. Stick to shaking your ass at stuff like Wiifit and leave the grown up stuff people who know what they're doing

    ----

    I'll admit I'm not a fan of the "let's make fun of a project to make me look witty" school of review, but if you read it you'll see the point she's making is that the execution is poor: too-slow page turning animations, horrible sound, a screen that's not ideal for reading text and so on.

    Oh and for the elitists out there, Jane Austen is balls. Utter, utter balls. Mills and Boon-level fwappery for fat Dido-listening spinsters with cats whose idea of a good night is sitting in pink fluffy slippers with a bar of Galaxy reading "Pride and Prejudice" and imagining Colin Firth in a wet shirt coming to rescue them from their tedious "life" who when they're not reading this balls read shit like "Bridget Jones' Diary" because "it's so much like my life, too!"

    Balls to the lot of them.

  • mingster #33 3 years ago

    If the hyphenation is bad then this only deserves 4/10

  • fiery_jackass #34 3 years ago

    @iokthemonkey
    you should take that well-formed opinion of yours and put it on your GCSE paper next year

    I really like Jane Austen and have had sex with even more people than your mother has.
    Edited by 1 at 12/02/09 @ 10:21

  • iokthemonkey #35 3 years ago

    Yeah, I would, except I passed my "A" Level in English Literature a number of years ago, Fiery_jackass.

  • groovychainsaw #36 3 years ago

    anyone who owns a DS must realise that the screens are too small for reading comfotably. That, for me is the fundamental issue here. If the screen(s) were the size of a paperback page (with suitable resolution and brightness) they'd be on to something, but the key problem is having to turn the page 5-10 times more often, and having too many words broken up with hyphens. Sound terrible to me. Just carry a book instead, surely...?

  • TheComedian #37 3 years ago

    Charles Dickens is the spitting image of my dad.

    My dad has better hair though...

  • chicknstu #38 3 years ago

    Yeah, I'm not really into text heavy games. Too much reading, not enough action.

    The game mechanics are quite ameturish.

  • kinky_mong #39 3 years ago

    And if you live in Lewisham, you'll never have to worry about whether you can get it out on the bus without getting mugged, because no one will know what it is anyway

    Some of you are dismissing this joke but considering I spent a year working for Lewisham Libraries it is extremely close to the truth. In fact when I used to commute to work I would deliberately put my DS away when I got close to Lewisham and pulled out a book instead.

  • Obiwanshinobi #40 3 years ago

    (not to mention what to do with them once you've finished them)

    In fact reading books has very little to do with collecting them. Libraries collect books for people. I'm not even being ironical. Surely not everyone has time to visit a library, but when it comes to reading, e-books are still no match for traditional books comfort-wise.
    Edited by 1 at 12/02/09 @ 10:45

  • Amicus #41 3 years ago

    I'm really not sure a proper review is appropriate in this case. Some people who aren't necessarily into games (Nintendo's main target audience at the moment) have given good 'reviews' of this product. I don't think is meant for adrenaline addicted game heads who can't cope with having to nudge a d-pad every 15 seconds. 100 classics on a DS that has a back light and doesn't way a ton and take up space in your bag is enough to sell this to the majority of people. I mean ffs, what is the point of sticking 4/10 on the end if it's easy to use and you can read the bloody text? Completely irrelevant.

  • canIdoyabombsforya #42 3 years ago

    Slaves to the technology and all that. Paper actually has a certain charm these days.

  • LiamK #43 3 years ago

    Nick_Nikem: "How can a (bad) games reviewer give 4/10 to some of the best books ever written?. This is not a game for fucks sake. Stick to shaking your ass at stuff like Wiifit and leave the grown up stuff people who know what they're doing"

    Probably because she wasn't reviewing the books, she was reviewing the software. This isn't EuroReader, after all.

  • iokthemonkey #44 3 years ago

    I mean ffs, what is the point of sticking 4/10 on the end if it's easy to use and you can read the bloody text?

    ----

    Because the review says that it's NOT that easy to use and the text isn't readable.

  • Jasugun #45 3 years ago

    @aspic and kangarootoo
    OK then. That was just to know if some people read several books at time (personally I read one untill it's finished then proceed to the next one). Both ways are fine to me, i was just asking.

  • Golgo #46 3 years ago

    4/10 for Shakespeare, Dickens and Austen? Sounds about right to me. Must try harder...

  • sneetch #47 3 years ago

    @iokthemonkey
    @Nick_Nukem
    How can a (bad) games reviewer give 4/10 to some of the best books ever written?. This is not a game for fucks sake. Stick to shaking your ass at stuff like Wiifit and leave the grown up stuff people who know what they're doing

    ----

    I'll admit I'm not a fan of the "let's make fun of a project to make me look witty" school of review, but if you read it you'll see the point she's making is that the execution is poor: too-slow page turning animations, horrible sound, a screen that's not ideal for reading text and so on.

    Oh come now, iok, surely you're not proposing that people read the review rather than the first and last paragraphs, glance at the score and go into "criticise the critic" mode? Preposterous, we're all far too busy for that and would be able to work up so much self-righteous indignation if we actually knew what we were talking about! ;)

    From actually reading the review (yeah, I know, I'm real cutting edge) I got the very strong feeling that Ellie was reviewing the software rather than the books which is what she should be doing, one of the biggest clues to this was the part where she said "if it's classic literature you're after, you can't fault the quality and quantity of the books on offer here" of course perhaps you couldn't read it from way up there on your high horse, Nick_Nukem.

  • iokthemonkey #48 3 years ago

    I look forward to a future when all reviews are simply


    HALO 4
    8/10

  • jonfon #49 3 years ago

    "Alternatively, at the risk of sounding like a hilarious old fuddy-duddy who goes round shaking their fist at lamp-posts and smashing up looms, you could just buy a book."

    LOL! Brilliant.

    Yep, the idea of this just didn't appeal to me simply because the screen seemed a bit too small. I read fast anyway so I'd literally end up going "Next page", "Next page"...

    I agree with iok on Jane Austin too. God damn Emma. Possibly the most dreary book I've ever had the misfortune to read.

    Pity about the range of books too. It'd be nice to have things like To Kill a Mockingbird, The Catcher in the Rye or The Grapes of Wrath there too but I guess we'll have to wait until Nintendo doesn't have to pay anyone royalties on them.

  • AgentCool #50 3 years ago

    As others have said, the iPhone/iPod Touch application 'Stanza' is superior, mostly because the screens on the Apple devices are better than that of the DS. Not only that, but there are more titles and, best of all, it's free.

  • HolyJebus #51 3 years ago

    How can some people be so stupid as to think that Ellie is actually giving the quality of the books a 4/10 review? Really, I want an answer, how can ANYONE be that stupid?

  • Dermoth #52 3 years ago

    Catcher in the Rye is the worst book in the history of the English language.

    I'm not even joking. If I ever hear someone say "yeah, I really identified with Holden Caulfield", I punch them in the face on principle.

  • rhubarbandcustard #53 3 years ago

    I like reading, but read a single average sized book over a calender month. A few pages here, a few pages there...

    In theory this product would give me over 10 years value.

    But, I don't read 'classics'.


    A Neal Asher collection though, and I might show some interest.

  • LowEnergyCycle #54 3 years ago

    "How can some people be so stupid as to think that Ellie is actually giving the quality of the books a 4/10 review? Really, I want an answer, how can ANYONE be that stupid?

    I strongly suspect there will be no answer to this question, what with the shocking amount of cranky dickheads around here, but I was wondering the same thing.

    Seems like a fairly informative and witty review to me. Obviously, a lot of folk wont know this because they've hardly read it.
    Edited by 1 at 12/02/09 @ 12:53

  • izak #55 3 years ago

    I'm surprised nobody has mentioned the quite excellent homebrew e-reader, DS Reader. It allows you to load any txt file (hallo <a href=http://www.gutenberg.org>Project Gutenberg</a>;) to enjoy infinitely more than 100 classics for free on your DS. In fact there are many <a href=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Ninte ndo_DS_homebrew#Text_readers> e readers available for free</a>.

    Provided you have an R4 or something similar. Then again, I'm probably one of the few people that actually use my R4 for homebrew as opposed to its more nefarious functions...
    Edited by 1 at 12/02/09 @ 13:09

  • jonsaan #56 3 years ago

    How is Alice in Wonderland politically suspect?

    I genuinely do not know. I'm not trying to be funny!

  • Raz76 #57 3 years ago

    @jonsaan

    I don't know about "politically", but I know its author Lewis Carroll is suspected to have been a paedophile by some, maybe painting the book in a bit of a different light.
    Edited by 1 at 12/02/09 @ 13:46

  • warlockuk #58 3 years ago

    Looks like you'll spend most of the time flicking through pages as it only has about 20 words on screen at once.

  • jonsaan #59 3 years ago

    Thanks Raz76!

    Oh dear. :(

  • Daryoon #60 3 years ago

    How is Alice in Wonderland politically suspect?

    I genuinely do not know. I'm not trying to be funny!

    It was satire, in a sense. Carroll populated the stories with caricatures of various people he knew (usually fellow academics et al).

    Also, it really should be "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland". Stupid Disney.

  • Bremenacht #61 3 years ago

    The truth about Lewis Carroll is that he claimed to have 'clocked' Defender. His critics believe this to be untrue. There's an article about it on Kotaku.

  • sneetch #62 3 years ago

    @jonsaan
    How is Alice in Wonderland politically suspect?

    Apart from the whole disagreement with the Queen part I'm not sure.

    From Wikipedia (take salt as required):
    In 1931, the book was banned in Hunan, China because "animals should not use human language" and it "put animals and human beings on the same level."

    Take that Carroll, if that even is your real name: your subversive pro-animal agenda will no longer endanger Hunan! ;)

    BTW, before some (other) clever-clogs feels the need to point it out, I know Lewis Carroll was a nom de plume.

  • TheVoice #63 3 years ago

    "Read it and weep."

    it's not too often I laugh aloud at the sub-titles on Eurogamer articles, but this one got me.

  • Captain_Jono #64 3 years ago

    How exactly does this constitute a game?

  • shotgun44 #65 3 years ago

    If they're not going to include any Jonathan Tropper then I'm not buying!

  • LastAngryMan #66 3 years ago

    How about 100 Classic Ellie Review Collection??

    Worth it for the Golden Balls review alone. "This is the worst game I've ever played".
    Edited by 1 at 12/02/09 @ 17:54

  • Setaro #67 3 years ago

    The guy who said that Jane Austin is utter balls is 100% on the money.

    Honestly, the fact she's held up there with Dickens et al as a lesser-God of English Lit is a travesty. Her novels are absolutely fucking atrocious.

  • frankfurter209 #68 3 years ago

    Worse than Halo

  • Rodney #69 3 years ago

    I agree, I tried to give Jane Austin a go with an open mind, but it was too shit. 19th version of chicklit.

    Dickens and Dumas are where its at in 19th cent literature for me.

    Counte of Monte Cristo and the Three Musketerrs, better than Halo!

  • local_celebrity #70 3 years ago

    I read a book once. I can't remember what it was about, but I definitely enjoyed it. It had some bloke or other, doing stuff.

    Can anyone ID it for me?

  • EmiliasHorse #71 3 years ago

    I did think the DS screen would be a bit small to do any great text justice. I also did think what about some modern classics that could be licensed?, if the system worked I might even like to pay a fee for good books.....OR...Better yet I could just borrow them from the library or buy it.


    So...nice idea but a bit pointless really.

    Has anyone reviewed that exciting looking Stop smoking game on DS, I was wondering if it would be an ideal accompaniment to the stunning Chrono Trigger.

  • BastoJ #72 3 years ago

    I can't see the appeal of E-Readers, or indeed paperback books (well I like paperback books for use on the train etc), but I guess theres a market for it. Still it seems the execution is poor, which is a shame. Oh well.

  • iokthemonkey #73 3 years ago

    I can't see the appeal of E-Readers, or indeed paperback books

    ----

    Scrolls and tablets FTW! ;)

  • Azazel #74 3 years ago

    Libraries gave us powerups.

  • mcmothercruncher #75 3 years ago

    Lots of comments about "thinking the screen might be a bit small" from people yet to use the title. Fair enough, but, um, I'm 3 books into the 100 now and it's absolutely fine. If I can pop my Graphic Designers hat on for a sec too, I'll add that the typeface is legible and the anti-aliasing fine.

    As for page turning, I dunno, I press one key every 40 seconds or so. How does that compare to hammering away on the controls in just about any other game?

    If you've been considering this, for a bit of commuting or holiday portability or whatever, don't let the review put you off.

  • bionutz #76 3 years ago

    people! the review is about the mechanics of the "game" and not about the quality of the books. To be fair that should also be included in the review (as it was in singstar), but this is not the issue here.
    the software is the vessel of books, if it got 4/10 it means there are no innovative features and generally a bland application.

  • kittygal137 #77 1 year ago

    "The real question is whether you'll want to read any of them on the DS. The answer is probably not, due to the fact the DS is of the wrong size and dimensions to comfortably accommodate this sort of thing."

    I've found that the DS fits into any purse I own pretty well.. I love this game and found I use my DS more because of it. Sad the reviewer only gave it a 4/10. I really hope they release more titles. Mainly, I think it's a good purchase if you don't want to buy a kindle, but already own a DS.

    I'll definitely check out Stanza like everyone is suggesting though. Thanks!