Author Topic: NDS: a big confusing mistake? (Read 11630 times)

Gamebasher · « **on:** June 08, 2004, 07:36:32 AM »

Over at Nintendophiles.com, there is a guy who wrote a quite interesting article entitled "Third Pillar - more like big confusing mistake". It makes me laugh. He seems to not understand that the NDS is not the new GameBoy, not supposed to be the new GameBoy and never will be. But he wants it to be. Only problem is that it can never be. It´s not Nintendo´s plan.

He laments the fact that Nintendo didn´t already herald it the new GameBoy. He clearly wants Nintendo to go head on with SONY over the handheld market and label the NDS the next GameBoy! What Nintendo has already said about the new console, the Nintendo Revolution, to be revealed at E3 2005, tells me a few things about why they´re doing it that way!

The next GameBoy will be a revolution, like it´s bigger brother GCN successor!! But don´t expect Nintendo to tell what kind of revolution until the show starts! They love to surprise us!!

Here is the link to his article anyway: www.n-philes.com/features.php

Ian Sane · « **Reply #1 on:** June 08, 2004, 08:11:32 AM »

I for the most part agree with the article. This "third pillar" crap doesn't make any sense. In fact I'm pretty sure the only reason Nintendo is refering to it as such is so they can still sell GBAs.

"The next GameBoy will be a revolution, like it´s bigger brother GCN successor!!"

The DS is a revolution already. It does what the GBA can do plus more and it adds new functionality.

The fact that it's not Nintendo's plan is irrelevant. The issue is what they should be doing not what they are going to do.

Draygaia · « **Reply #2 on:** June 08, 2004, 02:38:45 PM »

I still believe it to be a "third pillar". To me the use of the two screened system over the GBA-GCN connectioin is big. You won't see me carrying those two things around with me with a GCN hung around my neck like a golden pimp necklace. I also think Nintendo still plans for the GBE to be cheap but still fun to play other wise they should just get rid of all three and put the power of a home-console into a handheld and just have one pillar. Maybe if it wasn't a handheld but still more portable than a console it would use the "third pillar" name better.

mouse_clicker · « **Reply #3 on:** June 08, 2004, 02:46:25 PM »

I don't see how calling the DS "the next Gameboy" will change how it's competing with the PSP- the media is already creating the rivalry between the two next gen handhelds. Let's not argue semantics.

Bill Aurion · « **Reply #4 on:** June 08, 2004, 03:07:56 PM »

I think Ninty claims the DS is a third pillar because it wants to separate the DS from the Game Boy...It's a whole new gaming experience, not just a more powerful Game Boy...

Gamebasher · « **Reply #5 on:** June 09, 2004, 06:34:51 AM »

Agree. Like they said at E3 this year: The PSP will take the gamer down roads travelled before, unlike the NDS which will bring us down roads never travelled before.

Nintendo rocks the videogame universe!!

Here is one article, which I would say pretty much says everything about the future success of the NDS:

www.computerandvideogames.com/wwwthreads/ comments.php?aid=104495&nc=52 - 48k

I hopefully will learn soon to create direct links on this Forum, but I can´t get the computer to do it nomatter what I do. So I will get an expert to look into it for me.

Blackknight131 · « **Reply #6 on:** June 10, 2004, 08:21:58 AM »

Direct links? Is the "http" link function/button not working in your browser?

About the DS though, I have to say personally that, "third pillar" moniker or no, people will generally view this as the new featured Nintendo handheld....whether or not it carries the gameBoy name I dont think would change this.
But you know what, it really doesnt matter either way. Nintendo will advertise these and they'll sell a grip of them. At the end of the day its a Nintendo handheld with Nintendo games...whether they want to call it a third pillar or not I feel its likely primed for at least modest success.

-Blackknight131

Gamebasher · « **Reply #7 on:** June 11, 2004, 06:20:02 AM »

Modest success? I think people will look at two things once we get to the launch day: price and performance...and...the all-important gameplay! And the NDS will deliver that in bucketloads!! From what I saw in the E3insider.com videos of the people who were at E3 to experience the NDS first hand, I could see that they had about as much fun as people haven´t had playing a handheld for many years! The word FUN and SURPRISE was written all over their faces and that spells not a modest, but a big SUCCESS for the NDS to me! It looked to me like they were having the same level of (different type of-) fun that you can only experience in the Arcade Game Cabinets! At least so it felt from the (new kind of-) way they were interacting with the device.

All people will get with the PSP, is the same PSX, PS2 games again only this time it´s on a handheld! Which do you think people will choose? Sameness and style for more money or newness and FUN gameplay? PSP or NDS? Why do people play games? To look cool in the eyes of other people or to be entertained? PSP or NDS?

The answer is obvious to those who play games for the sake of games! Those are true Nintendo gamers, and true gamers overall! SONY makes fantastic quality in whatever technology they create, but they´re more about style whereas Nintendo has the edge of it when it comes to pure games! And their products are highly durable and qualitative too!

Darc Requiem · « **Reply #8 on:** June 11, 2004, 10:52:30 AM »

Well I agree with your post Gamebasher...well except when it comes to Sony's quality. Sony's poor product quality is well known at this point. I mean I remember one of Capcom's top guys, Mikami I believe, went on an angry tanjent about how pissed he was that he had to buy another PS because he his first two died. I mean the boards on Sony's official site are filled with "how to fix my PS2's DRE threads." I mean the PS1 had four or five design revisions because they didn't last. The PS2 is on its third or fourth I believe. I won't even start on there computer hardware. One of my friends is a tech and he was telling me to avoid Sony long ago. I shoulda listened to him. Portable systems have to have the highest of quality and judging by Sony's previous efforts and the look of the PSP's design. That thing won't last 6 months before issues arise with it.

Darc Requiem

Blackknight131 · « **Reply #9 on:** June 11, 2004, 05:22:48 PM »

The DS and its games....we cannot say concretely yet whether or not the games it will host will be truely compelling new gaming experiences. We CAN however put great confidence in Nintendo's ability to do just that, and the tech demos (although they really are nothing but demonstrations at this point) are encouraging. The games will have to be freakin excellent and original to make people forget the fact that they likely just bought a GBA SP...and a $150-ish price might just be the dealmaker...
As for how it will sell alongside the PSP, the ball is in Sony's court right now. If they deliver that hardware at a competitive pricepoint (no more than 200) WITH an acceptable battery life, they will move an impressive number of systems. Whether or not they can even meet one of those criteria is looking unlikely however. That kind of technology for under 200 bux seems like a pipe dream as of now...if its too high and the DS has a couple of showcase games, I can totally envision the DS sucking up some previously pro-PSP gamers.

And Darc voices an issue Ive had in the back of my mind as well....Sony electronics have not been the standard of lastability in recent times, have they? Hopefully for aspiring PSP owners, Sony will at least have a case or sleeve of some kind available...

-Blackknight131

Draygaia · « **Reply #10 on:** June 11, 2004, 05:24:46 PM »

But the games are still good thats why people keep buying the newer versions. Because most people who prefer the PSP over the DS because it just LOOKS cooler I still think PSP will own the DS in sales. I look forward to the DS as my main nintendo system in the future.

Blackknight131 · « **Reply #11 on:** June 11, 2004, 05:55:48 PM »

PSP owning the DS in sales? The price better be right. All the 'Magna-cum-Cool' the PSPs lends doesnt change the fact that a 300+ dollar portable system just cant establish a sizeable fan base...
If that price is in the 200s I say then its a possibility.
As details emerge about the pricing structure, what business model is adopted by developers (cheaper to port, port, port? or actual original content?) and whether the hardware does carry over glaring limitations in certain areas: well, I look forward to seeing those questions answered.
It IS a shiny system, and I like shiny ^__^
But I dont think we can say its gonna own anything just yet, till we know how feasible it will be for plenty enough people to own it...

-Blackknight131

Gamebasher · « **Reply #12 on:** June 12, 2004, 08:16:55 AM »

More than 100 developers are currently developing games for the NDS, and probably around that figure, or as much for the PSP. So SONY will not own the NDS in terms of sales, if anything it will be a close fight between the two for the start with the pure software and durability of the two handhelds to decide the final winner! Concerning that which many of you are saying about the poor quality of the Sony consoles, that must apply to the consoles and not whatever else they make! They are definitely known to make excellent consumer electronics overall, so I don´t see why they dump the quality on their game electronics!!?? Some people say this is to make people buy "a Ps2 a year" and may have already figured out a businessmodel which suits them well profitwise. If that´s what they do, then they´re downright bad moralists, aren´t they?

When the Dreamcast was still out on the shelves, there was a website called Segaweb.com, where under "Archives" one could find a series of detailed articles called "PlayStation2: Industry Disaster" and a whole lot of other names put in front of "-disaster" (I think it came in five parts totally). I took prints of them, and keep them in my collection. But you can´t access them on the web anylonger as the site was shut down a long time ago. In any event, you could read what the editors of the current Gamespot.com (I think it was them) thought about the Ps2. And they didn´t have mild words for it! I loved that criticism, since they were a competitor to SEGA, which I prefer over them anyday. However, since this is nolonger available to read, you can instead go to read THIS:

http://www.forbes.com/2001/01/25/0125disaster.html

There is apparently many others out there who a long time ago gave the Ps2 the thumbs down! But...erh...I don´t think Sony even noticed! How arrogant!!

Draygaia · « **Reply #13 on:** June 12, 2004, 02:57:15 PM »

This is exactly how a lot of people thought of the GCN vs PS2 and Xbox before launch and look where its competitors are. You can point out a lot of things on the GCN success before launch but look whats happening now.

Ian Sane · « **Reply #14 on:** June 12, 2004, 06:07:59 PM »

"This is exactly how a lot of people thought of the GCN vs PS2 and Xbox before launch and look where its competitors are. You can point out a lot of things on the GCN success before launch but look whats happening now."

I remember thinking the Cube had a solid chance in early 2001. However as more details were revealed more problems were revealed it didn't stand up as well as it did when it was largely unknown. The launch lineup was revealed to be without a Mario title and the slim release calendar for the first six months became known. Problems like the puny memory cards were revealed. Purple was revealed as the main colour. The advertising proved to be weak. By the time the Cube launch came around there were a sh!t load of potential issues, many of which turned out to be a problem.

However many of the problems with the PS2, the shortage and lack of quality games, were fixed by that point. MS had recieved a lot of criticism around E3 particularly for Halo's then sorry looking state. However they fixed most of those problems before launch and Halo turned out to be a huge success. Over time they fixed the controller issue as well.

The PS2 and Xbox improved from their initial impression while the Cube got worse which ultimately is why the console wars are where they are now. And the same thing could happen here. We haven't seen any finished DS games yet, only demos, so for all we know the launch lineup could blow. A lot of negativity regarding the PSP is heresay. It very well could be built really solid and have no skipping problems in the end. Technically neither has revealed their price yet and that could affect things. Don't be surprised if by launch day things are looking worse or better for either system.

Gamebasher · « **Reply #15 on:** June 14, 2004, 06:17:18 AM »

Nintendo will not mess up this time. Following a near complete failure with the GameCube (when third parties was beginning to drop support en masse, and they saved the day by waking up in the last minute), Nintendo knows what it must do to stay on top of things. They clearly have shown us, that they are aware of what´s at stake and have endeavoured to give us some supercool games coming up, games that are at least as good (not including Zelda, which is unbeatable) as any on the competition side. This should keep people focused on the GCN, and remember Nintendo when next generation starts (they must give us a Mario game at launch day!)! Personally, I think they´re going to blow the competition away, with something so startling and unexpected that noone will have ever seen anything like it (they put their brains in overdrive to get it right for us this time)!! As surprising as was the revelation of the realistic Zelda! Close fight between Nintendo and Sony it will be, with Nokia and the other two handhelds (wasn´t it two other ones, with 5 handhelds total?) staying on the fringe of the market for the foreseeable future.

jasonditz · « **Reply #16 on:** June 17, 2004, 11:52:41 AM »

We're missing the possibility that there might not be a new Gameboy on the horizon.

Nintendo's already commited to supporting the Gamecube long term and has implied Revolution will be something different from a direct successor. Maybe the GBA itself is Nintendo's long term Gameboy plan and there just isn't going to be another one for quite some time.

KDR_11k · « **Reply #17 on:** June 17, 2004, 09:55:06 PM »

They have stated that development on the next GB is well under way. They're going to release another GB. They'll be there when the PSP QD comes out to deliver the final blow.

Gamebasher · « **Reply #18 on:** June 18, 2004, 07:13:43 AM »

I agree! They will not reveal it now, only keep us happy with the NDS until they give us something even greater. Like I said above, the next GameBoy will indeed be a revolution! But I think we should not speculate about it, only expect that we will be very happy when it hits the market. As much as Nintendo make efforts to create ultimate gameplay experiences, there is no doubt in my mind that we will be! Also, the next GameBoy comes after the PSP, which gives Nintendo the advantage of the hardware performance. But I really haven´t any clue as to what they will then give us, only that it will be something we have never seen before.

The PSP is like a huge wedge that Nintendo has put inbetween it´s own GameBoy market and the anticipated PSP market, to secure it´s own position by demonstrating to the world what it can give for pure gameplay! When I saw E3 demo´s of the PSP hardware and software, I yawned! It´s cool enough no doubt, but funfactor-wise it´s nothing more, well, than what they also call it themselves: PlayStation Portable (PSP). It will have it´s audience and marketshare, but people will defintely be interested at least as much, if not more, in the new possibilities that the NDS offers them...

norebonomis · « **Reply #19 on:** June 19, 2004, 09:25:01 AM »

game basher, i think your avatar is a little big , it scares me

Bloodworth · « **Reply #20 on:** June 19, 2004, 01:22:19 PM »

Fixed Gamebasher's avatar for everyone.

Jale · « **Reply #21 on:** June 19, 2004, 01:24:17 PM »

Very stylish.

Zach · « **Reply #22 on:** June 19, 2004, 05:31:07 PM »

I hope that nintendo is finnaly getting off of their ashes and realizing that the competition is much more fierce than it used to be. maybe they will start to work on beoming the top dog again.

Maybe some good will come out of all of this competition, perhaps it will cause some really great innovations, the ds could be the start of some of these innovations. *crosses fingers*

KDR_11k · « **Reply #23 on:** June 21, 2004, 11:17:37 PM »

I think Ninty is pushing the DS as a separate product because it's large, expensive and not as portable as the GBA, so people who want a small device they can take everywhere and don't care about things like innovation can go with the GBA while geeks will take the DS instead. The PSP is competing more with the DS than the GBA since it's barely potable.

odifiend · « **Reply #24 on:** June 22, 2004, 04:56:48 AM »

You can't drink it?

Seriously, I agree, KDR. I don't know whose pocket the PSP was meant for and their UMD media looks pretty fragile in the pictures I've seen.

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Author Topic: NDS: a big confusing mistake? (Read 11630 times)