21st February 2005, 7:26 PM
This device is not really an amazing thing, but rather is basically catch up for NIntendo's failures with the DS.
Okay, I have to get this off my chest, the DS is terribly designed!
The good points? It has the screen protecting and space saving laptop folding design. It also has the nice responsive buttons. Also, the touch screen is very well designed in and of itself, and both screens are very sharp and crisp and other adjectives. Being able to play GBA games is also nice. Further more, wifi is a great addition and Nintendo was right to include it.
The rest of the system is sheer missed potential. That sums up my disappointments.
First of all, it is clear N64 games will be ported left and right. That being said, controlling a platformer via the touch screen is TERRIBLE. I used the dpad for the ENTIRE game of Mario 64 just because it sucked so very much to use the screen! The screen is useful, but NOT in that way! Same reason I can't stand touch pad mice... (Maybe if the cursor was directly placed on the screen equivalent of where you touched the touch pad...).
They should have added pressure sensitive buttons. Namely, the d-pad should have been pressure sensitive, if nothing else.
Also, the system is heavy. I can understand why it is heavy, but the weight should have been better balanced. Holding a large amount of weight way off from the center of gravity puts a twisting force on my wrists that hurts after 10 minutes. Oh yes, and that makes me a baby I guess. It HURTS and is NOT healthy for my wrists! Ergonomics people!
The GBA support is nice, but no muliplayer. Okay, I use my SP for all my GBA playing needs anyway due to the wrist pain issue, but still it's a downside. Just find 3 nearby systems and randomly assign the player numbers. In a crowded area, players can be willingly selected via the OS before starting the GBA game. Another strike is lacking GB/GBC support. Look, I don't care what Nintendo's marketting is, people are calling it the Gameboy DS.
The DS games were small on flash card SIZED cartridges, all with built in save space so all makers have rewritable space from the start. However, they missed a very nice opportunity. They could have gone the whole distance and just made the cards very similar to SD cards (but not fully writable and with a security system to prevent being able to load games from normal DS cards). Then, the support for SD cards would be right there! That said, they could simply have set up the wifi, and a little program you could download from Nintendo, to let you send MP3s and demos directly to the system THAT way. What I'm saying is this external device could have been built in features of the system.
I know they had limited time, but honestly of late I am much more willing to endure delays. It's no big deal, I have other games I can play in the mean time! I really don't care if Nintendo is "the best", I just want them to be around.
Oh and, interesting that Nintendo really isn't all "we only make games" like they used to be. Anyone else notice that?
Okay, I have to get this off my chest, the DS is terribly designed!
The good points? It has the screen protecting and space saving laptop folding design. It also has the nice responsive buttons. Also, the touch screen is very well designed in and of itself, and both screens are very sharp and crisp and other adjectives. Being able to play GBA games is also nice. Further more, wifi is a great addition and Nintendo was right to include it.
The rest of the system is sheer missed potential. That sums up my disappointments.
First of all, it is clear N64 games will be ported left and right. That being said, controlling a platformer via the touch screen is TERRIBLE. I used the dpad for the ENTIRE game of Mario 64 just because it sucked so very much to use the screen! The screen is useful, but NOT in that way! Same reason I can't stand touch pad mice... (Maybe if the cursor was directly placed on the screen equivalent of where you touched the touch pad...).
They should have added pressure sensitive buttons. Namely, the d-pad should have been pressure sensitive, if nothing else.
Also, the system is heavy. I can understand why it is heavy, but the weight should have been better balanced. Holding a large amount of weight way off from the center of gravity puts a twisting force on my wrists that hurts after 10 minutes. Oh yes, and that makes me a baby I guess. It HURTS and is NOT healthy for my wrists! Ergonomics people!
The GBA support is nice, but no muliplayer. Okay, I use my SP for all my GBA playing needs anyway due to the wrist pain issue, but still it's a downside. Just find 3 nearby systems and randomly assign the player numbers. In a crowded area, players can be willingly selected via the OS before starting the GBA game. Another strike is lacking GB/GBC support. Look, I don't care what Nintendo's marketting is, people are calling it the Gameboy DS.
The DS games were small on flash card SIZED cartridges, all with built in save space so all makers have rewritable space from the start. However, they missed a very nice opportunity. They could have gone the whole distance and just made the cards very similar to SD cards (but not fully writable and with a security system to prevent being able to load games from normal DS cards). Then, the support for SD cards would be right there! That said, they could simply have set up the wifi, and a little program you could download from Nintendo, to let you send MP3s and demos directly to the system THAT way. What I'm saying is this external device could have been built in features of the system.
I know they had limited time, but honestly of late I am much more willing to endure delays. It's no big deal, I have other games I can play in the mean time! I really don't care if Nintendo is "the best", I just want them to be around.
Oh and, interesting that Nintendo really isn't all "we only make games" like they used to be. Anyone else notice that?
"On two occasions, I have been asked [by members of Parliament], 'Pray, Mr. Babbage, if you put into the machine wrong figures, will the right answers come out?' I am not able to rightly apprehend the kind of confusion of ideas that could provoke such a question." ~ Charles Babbage (1791-1871)