Nintendo DSi Comments by Tom Bramwell

I dont recall anyone telling Nintendo to fuck off at the price of the Wii or Gamecube so to say they cop it with each console release is bollocks.

However 150 for the DSi is worth a fuck off Nintendo.

Will probably get a US one so I can still import some games. And in general more stuff tends to be released in the US but not EU than the other way around.

Blimey, Lots of folk up in arms over the DSi.

Folk like myself that are still running an original (brought back from the US) silver DS must be tempted by the new DSi over the older DSlite surely? Still runs your DS titles and will run new DS titles, then there is the specific new DSi titles that will come as well. Okay so there's region locking, which isn't much of a deal breaker for myself since I don't get import titles these days. Not everyone is into that ;)

I'm seriously tempted to replace my old DS now with a black DSi when it comes out (it helps it has WPA wifi support! I might finally get to play some DS online!) Sure, there is a price increase, I'm glad its not stupid thanks to the Global CreditCrunch(tm)

just my thoughts.

Sorry but at £30 a pop for new releases , the DS is becoming hugely irrelevant to anyone who doesn't pirate. Look at the price of stuff on the iphone - that's how mobile gaming needs to be priced; not at a level which is higher than many new home releases I play on PC or PS3.

BTW: the outside camera is a full 3 megapixels (VGA res), while the inside one is 0.3.

It doesn't bother me that it exists (I mean, the Lite is still around, so what's the problem? And how much did people bitch when that came along and slightly modified the DS 1.0?), but I completely disagree when you say that "you don't need this yet, but you will one day". This is the kind of thinking that had me pestering my parents every Christmas for a Mega CD and/or 32X. The DSi won't crash and burn in quite the same way (the pricing model makes money, the various GBA versions did less with similar success), but nothing released on it is ever going to be 'essential'. Touch Screen gaming may have done wonderful things for handheld gaming, but the addition of the Camera is more akin to that of the microphone already in the DS, and how many 'essential' games have you played that required that?

More to the point, touch-screen gaming was basically a new technology. Cameras have been optional add-ons of limited appeal for a while now.

I think what everyone needs to remember is that Nintendo are getting absolutely bumraped blind by the R4 and it's ilk, and this is probably one of the main reasons that the DSi has to exist in the first place.

Like it or not, you can't blame them for doing this even if it's in vain.

No mention of the slashed-in-half battery life? That's the thing that makes it a FUCK OFF NINTENDO for me.

"I think what everyone needs to remember is that Nintendo are getting absolutely bumraped blind by the R4 and it's ilk, and this is probably one of the main reasons that the DSi has to exist in the first place.

This is cobblers, of course. Nintendo is making enough money from the DS and its software to sink an entire fleet of battleships. Despite (or hey, perhaps because of) the existence of flashcarts, DS software moves by the truckload. 1500 new DS games were released in 2008 - that doesn't happen in markets where games aren't selling.

And finally, of course, there have been DSi flashcarts available for weeks and weeks now.

can't see this working outside of japan, to be honest. don't think there will be too many people upgrading for minimal gain, so DSi specific games will have a paltry audience consisting of new owners or existing owners replacing the one they dropped.

For me, I'd like a DS2 which simply has the graphical prowess of a PSP ,but retaining the dual screens and stylus input. The DSi just ain't really an upgrade.

I think what everyone needs to remember is that Nintendo are getting absolutely bumraped blind by the R4 and it's ilk, and this is probably one of the main reasons that the DSi has to exist in the first place.

and i'm sure it's gonna take a full month before the piracy industry has found a way to apply the same to the DSi. piracy is the reason the DS is so madly popular, and it's big business. go figure

Sorry but at £30 a pop for new releases , the DS is becoming hugely irrelevant to anyone who doesn't pirate. Look at the price of stuff on the iphone - that's how mobile gaming needs to be priced; not at a level which is higher than many new home releases I play on PC or PS3.

QFT

I want the Gameboy 2 to come out.

Annoyed?
Just.Don't.Buy.One.

Nintendo has always hated Europe, and their current strategy doesn't interest me in the slightest. Colour me uninterested.

On the subject of colours, still nothing other than black and white?

Whatever other people think, my own feelings towards it is I just dont care. My DS and psp are purely for times when I cant get my gaming fix from my pc and 360, and the DSi adds nothing that would make me curious, let alone ready to pay out again for practically the same console.

Annoyed?
Just.Don't.Buy.One.

Thank God you were here! We'd never have thought of that!

@Weezer

BTW: the outside camera is a full 3 megapixels (VGA res), while the inside one is 0.3.

No. Both are 0.3 megapixels which is VGA res (640 x 480 pixels).

Anufea - yes, my maths is shit. VGA is 0.3MP. However these guys say the exterior one is 3MP...

http://www.electronista.com/articles/08/...

They're wrong. Can you really see Nintendo putting in a camera generating more pixels than the DS can actually display...?

@JahB

Like it or not, you can't blame them for doing this even if it's in vain.

I've reiterated this part for you since you missed it.

@Self-revering Stuart Campbell

This is cobblers, of course.

Good to see the years haven't stopped you from being a raging cock, Campbell.

Nintendo is making enough money from the DS and its software to sink an entire fleet of battleships. Despite (or hey, perhaps because of) the existence of flashcarts, DS software moves by the truckload. 1500 new DS games were released in 2008 - that doesn't happen in markets where games aren't selling.

And finally, of course, there have been DSi flashcarts available for weeks and weeks now.

Have you heard of the music industry? I think people are still buying CDs, but not that many. The same thing will happen to the DS market eventually if the uptake of R4 continues. Sure the DS is popular and sells a shedload of games, but you're even more of a moron than before if you correlate the two directly with piracy.

Nintendo will eventually move to a model primarily driven by downloads, and they couldn't have done that with the DS Lite. They'll make downloads so cheap that people won't even bother with an R4. It's the future.

Patronise away.

"They'll make downloads so cheap that people won't even bother with an R4. It's the future."

I seriously doubt the "cheap" part TBH.

It's gonna be great. How much more proof do you need than the DS itself that power is no longer a requirement for gameplay? The arguments against it around R4, horsepower etc. are idiotic. Nintendo isn't forcing you to buy.

"They'll make downloads so cheap that people won't even bother with an R4. It's the future. "

The words 'cheap' and 'nintendo' don't belong in the same sentence, sadly.

They'll make downloads so cheap... a ha... a ha ha ha ha

The DSi is about putting a Nintendo shop window in the palm of people's hands. They've seen Apple do it with the iPhone and the App Store and they want some. Except that the way Nintendo will do it will be to have no downloadable content available in Europe until all the early adopters have died of natural causes and it'll be 54.99 for a Gameboy game.

"Have you heard of the music industry? I think people are still buying CDs, but not that many. The same thing will happen to the DS market eventually if the uptake of R4 continues."

The same thing will happen to the DS market eventually if the Pope grows fucking wings, son. If the R4 was going to kill it, it'd have done it by now.

"Nintendo... downloads... cheap"

Thanks, love. You've given everyone a right old Friday-afternoon chuckle with that one.

:D

This will do big things in Japan as they are obsessed with anything new - To be honest I cant see it doing so well over here though - At least for now. I dont agree with the R4 on principal - Though I do own one! - I suppose that would make me a man without principals!

I would like one purely from that seed of childishness that rears its head when something new arrives but for once I think I can wait.....

I wouldnt write Nintendo off with this though..... I remember back when the original DS was released everyone dissing it and saying how shit it was compared to PSP - Look what happened. (I own and love both BTW). It'll be interesting to watch this space.

Fuck Nintendo? Fuck all of 'em - its called consumerism - They are no more gulity than any of the others! We have the right to refuse but so often we dont!

EDIT: They'll make DLs so cheap people will not bother with R4 ...... well unless they make DLs free then I would beg to differ! Bit Torrent - Search - leech - Seed (optional but gentlemanly!). Done.... And no regional release dates need to be waited for.

I'd forgotton how much I'd like a GBA 2 to come along until someone else mentioned it. I gave up hope and thinking about that some time ago.

Oh come on, noone uses the GBA slot except for the R4 cards.

Bring on the DSi :)

The loss of GBA slot is of no importance to me because, let's be honest, GBA games are OLD. And I buy NEW technology to buy NEW games. If I want to play GBA games I'll pick up a GBA for about £8.

And if you want to play Guitar Hero On Tour, Metroid Pinball, use the Opera browser, then what?

it has a built in browser, and you don't need the rumble pak to play metroid pinball

and guitar hero DS is crap and misses the point

Am I the only one who thinks that DSi cart games won't take off?

1. The girls and grannies that much up such a massive proportion of DS game buyers aren't going to pay so much for such a minor upgrade. Will there be a big enough install-base for third-parties to justify developing DSi-only games?

2. If developers start releasing games on both platforms then it's just going to cause no end of confusion come Christmas when all the mums and aunts go in to by some film tie-in for the kids and don't know which of two pretty much identical consoles they're buying for.

Those aren't reasons against them taking off. On the contrary they're reasons that will make people think about upgrading.

/waits for resonable price and decent download titles

Otherwise I'll consider a 2nd hand black DS lite for Chinatown wars. If it's good.

Poor defence. Basically saying, wait for the future. I will wait, but I won't be buying to do so.

Those aren't reasons against them taking off. On the contrary they're reasons that will make people think about upgrading.

Girls and grannies not upgrading and not creating a big enough install base is a reason girls and grannies will upgrade? How exactly do you explain that?

"Oh come on, noone uses the GBA slot except for the R4 cards. "

R4s don't go in the GBA slot, love...

When people see more complicated games running on the thing (thanks to extra cpu and memory)

When people see downloadable snes/megadrive games running on it

When people see they can take photos of themselves and put them in game, etc etc..

THEN I can see a rush of people buying one.

I don't think it's wise for Eurogamer to begin an article by patronising it's readership and painting them as swearers.

The DSi is indeed a rip off, because for £150 you'd expect more adventurous hardware.

It's the new hardware you're paying for after all, £150 would buy you a lot of DS software.

Otherwise you'd by a much cheaper DS lite.

Compared to the iPhone and PSP the DS is getting very far behind in terms of hardware, and now also value for money. iPod Touch anyone? Much better screen and OS, better web browser, better music player, 600mhz CPU and hardware 3D for under £100.

However what matters most these days, is the software, and this Nintendo gets right... very right indeed.

"When people see downloadable snes/megadrive games running on it
When people see they can take photos of themselves and put them in game, etc etc..
THEN I can see a rush of people buying one. "

OK, two things

1) I think you're vastly over estimating the percentage of the DS owner population who give a crap about SNES/MD games. D'you think all the casuals who got a DS and a copy of Kawashima as a christmas present are going to think 'Oooh yes, I must go out and spend 150 quid on something which is almost identical to what I already have, only it'll let me play 20 year old games that I've never heard of before that are worse than the ones I've already got'.

2) It's a good job there isn't an already existing easily pocketable range of devices which contain a camera significantly better than the one on the DSi which the majority of the population already own and which allow them to, for example, send photos to each other and stuff like that /facepalm. Photos in games? Big frikin deal. PS2/3, 360 and PC owners have been able to do that for years. How have games that push this as a major part of their functionality sold? Bloody appallingly. Nobody is going to ride out the credit crunch on the basis of the profits made on 'In the Movies'.

The DSi is an incremental upgrade to the DS. if they were bringing it in at the same price as the DS or less, that would seem a relatively sensible thing to do. To bring it in at a higher price, that's just mental.

Jon

I find the persistent scepticism of cheap features over horsepower consistently hilarious.

"piracy is the reason the DS is so madly popular, and it's big business. go figure "

Remember that next time you moan that there are no big budget 3rd party games on the thing...

The DS got massive a long time before it was pirated, and it certainly hasn't affected software sales in anything like the magnitude that it has hit the PSP.

"The same thing will happen to the DS market eventually if the Pope grows fucking wings, son. If the R4 was going to kill it, it'd have done it by now."


It already has.. that's why 3rd parties dont bother making "hardcore" games for the thing any more (knowing the "hardcore" are more likely to pirate) - and concentrate on the "mainstream" audience who dont know what a R4 is or how to use one if they did.

Cocks like you will never get a simple concept as "you're destroying the games you love so fucking much".. You'll just be the first to moan when cooking mamma 8 comes out and use that to justify you stealing assed ways.. And before you jump in like a cock i know you are and start saying "it's not stealing" ,. You now have something people worked hard to make that you didnt pay them for.. It may not be the dictionary definition of stealing.. but then in the dictionary under the word "cock" is also your face.

(goes off to copy a load of stuarts articles and claim them as my own - as it's "not stealing".. hell - i might even see if someone will pay me for his hard work..)

"It already has.."

LOL. Have you actually looked at any sales figures recently? The DS is the biggest licence for game publishers to print money in the history of the games business. The R4 and its ilk have been out for YEARS, are incredibly cheap (less than seven quid now), and are so simple your granny could use them. And yet, DS games still sell by the shipful, which is why so many get released (over 210 already this calendar year).

"Cocks like you will never get a simple concept as "you're destroying the games you love so fucking much""

That's because they're palpably, visibly, empirically, measurably NOT BEING DESTROYED, you retarded fucking halfwit.

http://worldofstuart.excellentcontent.co...

Well done stuart.. Yet again you've just proved to the world what a complete cock knocker you are.. Well done.

"ooh, my written English skills arent as good as yours - that MUST prove you're not a cock"..


BTW: There's high sales figures on mainstream tatt - non mainstream stuff isnt selling (to the point that people have stopped making them) because cocks like you wont pay money for them.

If you dont want it.. fine, dont have it. Dont use that as an excuse for not paying for it.

"honest officer, i only stole this tv because it was too expensive"

cock.

Who mentioned English skills? Or excusing anything? Not me.

Just some of the third-party "hardcore" DS games released in 2008:

Chrono Trigger (Square Enix)
Disgaea (NIS)
The World Ends With You (Square Enix)
Race Driver: GRID (Codemasters)
Izuna 2 (Atlus)
Castlevania: OoE (Konami)
Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney (Capcom)
Bangai-O Spirits (D3)
Trackmania (Focus)
Guitar Hero On Tour (Activision)
Civilization Revolution (2K)
Sim City Creator (EA)
Geometry Wars Galaxies (Sierra)
Metal Slug 7 (SNK)
Exit DS (Square Enix)
Space Invaders Extreme (Taito)

Plenty of which have done very nicely indeed saleswise, despite those nasty old pirates destroying the industry which is still managing to churn out 100 new DS games a month, many of which (see above) are of excellent quality.

So why don't you just save yourself any more embarrassment and fuck away off like a good wee cretin, eh?