Tendo City

I have no sympathy for that kind of stupidity. If you don't plan in advance for a trip then it's your own fault.

And how do you solve the problem, exactly?

Gee I dunno, by buying an extra battery pack ahead of time? OoooOOooh!

Expensive! Especially if you're talking having three or more of them... I mean, get a used game or a battery pack... (and before you try "batteries cost money too", again, its easy to get plenty for no money if you're in the right situation...)

You'll need just one extra pack unless you plan on playing for 15 straight hours.

Seriously, you guys are huge whiners.

Right, because it'll work for 5 hours...

3-5 hours x 2 = 6-10 hours. Someone needs to take Algebra again. :p

Not that I want to get sucked into this argument. *runs*

And doesn't GBA get 15 at least?

Oy, 10 or 15 hours, big whup. You think Nintendo's GBA successor will have a 15-hour battery life? Haha, dream on.

And just like Sony always does, I'm sure they're release longer-lasting PSP batteries further down the line.

No, it won't have 15, but 10 is very reasonable. I do not want Nintendo killing their battery life for high-volume media... I think that good battery life is more important than 1+GB media.

If people could live without an internal light for over 13 years, I'm sure they'll be able to live with a pretty short battery life as long as the battery is rechargeable and you can get spare packs.

Um, those are very different things, you know, so I don't see why you make a direct comparison...

They're both handicaps.

Yes, but battery life is more important than a light... at least IMO... but you can find ways to get around a light, while batteries are a bit harder to deal with...

Maybe if you spend all of your time indoors and under a bright light, but for most people an internal light is a huge deal.

Many, not most, I would say.

You say lots of things.

And I know some people complained about the GBA screen brightness, but hardly all...

Yeah I bet.

So you know everyone with a GBA? :)

Yes.

Mr. Forum-Master sez: Don't just post links! Make sure you post the article too for the benefit of others!

Screw that. The only real problem we had before was that people would post ABOUT an article without linking to it. I'd much rather have JUST a link with no text about it. Ya want info? Click the frickin' link!

Article well worth reading.

When you have 56k you like things to be setup so that you don't have to go to other webpages when it isn't necessary.

I've used 56k a lot and it really isn't that bad.

IGN has been really slow these past few weeks. Each page freezes for several seconds when it first loads up. It's been this way at work, home, and at my friend's house. Same thing with ve3d and the ign boards. Very annoying.

It does that for me too... but on my comp it's because my computer is messed up and Netscape gets very slow when it has to load a new window or box... error windows or cookie windows often make netscape stop for a while. The IGN problem for me is because they added a popup ad that gets through the blocker.

I don't get those ads because I have Insider, but it's still slow.

Quote:I've used 56k a lot and it really isn't that bad.

Yes, it really is.

I agree.

Slow, but for webpages you can deal. It's downloading, not just loading webpages, that is the real pain.

Wepages with IMAGES take a while, and IGN has plenty of them.

Then just disable images! Point is, as Weltall would say, the rest of the world won't be waiting for you to catch up.

Oh, I haven't had those problems with IGN. In fact, Avant Browser, as PA put it, makes IGN surfable again by not only having great pop-up blocking, but ALSO by having a quickly accessible button to disable flash. I always have flash disabled now unless I see something funny like <a href="http://www.weebls-stuff.com/toons/22/">this</a>.

Quote:Then just disable images!

Then the pages look dumb.

Supposedly from Famitsu...

Quote:When asked if they have high hopes for the machine, 93.3% of makers said yes, with 64.4% of retailers and 62.2% of users also agreeing. 10% of makers are already sold by the idea, 33.3% are staying clear of the hardware for now, while 56.7% are currently looking into its potential. Specific comments from creators follow:

Atlus' Okada:
- with 2 screens and 2 CPUs, I feel we can start to create new game concepts
- whether we can turn these new ideas into reality is the key for the industry

Koei's Shibuzawa:
- I think we can make an interesting game with one screen for the large-scale battle with the other screen focusing on a local battle, in historical strategy games, and so on.

Camelot's Hiroyuki Takahashi
- I've been a Nintendo fan for a long time. I want to say that, inspite of me not being good at the games.
- In a game industry that is feeling more and more penned in, this should create a few openings.

Camelot's Shugo Takahashi
- It looks like we can make new things that have been impossible until now
- It's exciting hardware for both makers and users
- I'm definitely going to E3!

Namco's Yoshizumi
- When I first heard it would have 2 screens, I thought it was a Game & Watch remake, but on further inspection I found it is different
- I'm excited by it, and I also have an overwhelming feeling
- As a creator, I'm being asked for ideas
- I think the hardware will be very good at creating intense feelings

Masahiro Sakurai
- It has become a constant point of discussion when we creators meet for drinks
- Easy to use hardware is great

Banpresto's Terada
- A machine with two screens is going to be quite a high hurdle for developers to get over, I think
- Because the handheld market is so important for the "Super Robot Wars" series, we are thinking of ways to put something out as soon as possible
- Being released with the PSP, I want this to stir up the handheld industry

Sonic Team's Yuji Naka
- We've been waiting for this! We'll be sure to try out something new with this
- We would definitely like to release something for the launch

Amusement Vision's Nagoshi
- The first time I saw it, I thought "?", then when reading the specs, that turned into "!"
- This is a machine that will stimulate both the users' and the creators' desire to play
- It should allow the birth of a whole host of new ideas and play experiences that haven't existed before

Chunsoft's Nakamura
- It looks like this may resolve all the hardship we have had until now in one swift blow
- The roots of gaming are returning and it looks like they will put up a good fight

Tetsuya Mizuguchi
- Having two separately functioning screens suits the time perfectly - with users becoming increasingly multi-tasking
- I expect this will also lead to the possibility of improving people's brains
- I'll be keeping my eye on it!

Obviously Japanese developers have gotten more info on it than US developers have. IGN did a video interview with Vicarious Visions and they know as much about the DS as we do. Pretty sad.

Yeah... showing it to developers is good, and this report is somewhat encouraging (Koei? Have they released anything for Nintendo, even in Japan, in years?)... but they are ignoring American developers? I wouldn't be surprised, not at all... Nintendo seems determined to ignore the needs of its biggest market.

Looks like a lot of Japanese developers are really excited about the DS.

Quote:Yeah... showing it to developers is good, and this report is somewhat encouraging (Koei? Have they released anything for Nintendo, even in Japan, in years?)... but they are ignoring American developers? I wouldn't be surprised, not at all... Nintendo seems determined to ignore the needs of its biggest market.

Well they did say that they were going to devote a lot of E3 '04 to the DS.

True. But they should be giving equal treatment to American and Japanese third parties.

The DS is supposed to have a worldwide launch of late 2004, yet most US developers (if any) know nothing about the system.

Yeah, that is not good... but the comments from Japanese developers are...

Wireless multiplayer connectivity (Bluetooth-like) is probably in the DS...

http://www.gamespot.com/news/2004/03/01/...90345.html

Woo!

Woo!! Bluetooth Party!!

*claps*

Here's the question. Will this next system be set up so that the wireless connection works with all old games? One little tricky item to deal with is that the way the data is handled by the GBA's current cables is different than the way the wireless connection is designed. I mean, the data is sent along a cable just back and forth in two player. Add a 3rd though, and that data has to piggyback along with the 2nd player's data to get to player 1. This wireless connection likely depends on a "host" system just synchronising the data. Not sure if I'm being clear here, but as I see it they'd have to kinda do some artificial data passing, by sending the data from 4th player to 3rd, then to 2nd, then along to 1st. I can imagine there'd be some lag involved in that unless it was really optimized. I'm also not sure if that's ACTUALLY needed. It all depends on if the GBA games multiplay was specially designed around this, and it most assuredly was I think, and thus if it didn't work like that, the games wouldn't work...

This is probably why Triton Labs has taken so long making their little wireless adapter, and why the adapter for Pokémon only works with that and later games that support it. Ya see, when I actually take the time to think about why they did these things, I can actually figure something reasonable out :D. Still, I would really like it if Nintendo solved this problem in time for the next system. That would mean it's already solved for when whatever Nintendo considers to be the REAL portable successor is made.

If the DS doesn't play GBA games there won't be a problem...

I think it will...