Topic: NINTENDO DS A PRIMARY SYSTEM???

[Spak-Spang]

As an older gamer I have noticed I am playing less games at home.  Actually I am watching less television, movies, and on the computer less.  However, I did notice I am playing my GBA more and more.  

With the potential of the Nintendo DS I am actually considering making the new "3rd pillar" my primary game system, while picking up one or two games for the Gamecube that I may need.

Does anybody else find themselves thinking in a similar fashion?

Could the DS and even later the PSP become the new primary game systems for a large audience of players?

I think it would be harder for the Nintendo system, but they could make adapters to play the system on the television.  (With the DS one screen could be shown on the television and one on the portable.)

I have always believed the next big step into gaming is to create a portable system powerful enough to dock into a unit and be the home console.  Then you could have one system for both purposes.  

[Ian Sane]

"I have always believed the next big step into gaming is to create a portable system powerful enough to dock into a unit and be the home console. Then you could have one system for both purposes."

I figure in the future there will be a videogame standard format like we have for DVD players and CD players.  Any electronics company can manufacture them so naturally we'll see them in both home and portable formats.  It's going to a while before that happens though since there has to be a point where the hardware is powerful enough that there's no real need to up the specs every five years and the hardware can be shrunk down to portable sizes.

The only problem with that is games have to be made for both split screen multiplayer for home and seperate screen multiplayer for portable gaming.  Plus I don't trust either Sony, Nintendo or MS to design a "standard" that will work with all types of games.

[Spak-Spang]

Ian Sane:

That is going to be in the big big future...if it happens.  And to that I dunno.  We are already getting talk about people wanting to improve and create the new DVD format.  This to me is a great idea, but also a scary one, because so many people and businesses have already invested in the DVD format, that it could actually hurt the industry as a whole.

Despite what Nintendo or I think anyone believes I don't think we will reach a cap anytime soon that technology advancements won't matter.  The computer will constantly evolve and therefore game systems will be also.  

It is also curious to imagine what would happen to creativity and the game companies if only one format existed.  I believe many smaller companies would fail under the new found competition all clawing to get our money...and I fear the me too quick buck will continue to just get worse in that enviroment as it would be easy to just buy an engine, and crank out a horrible game quickly.  It would be a very new and different world, but would it be a better world?

[couchmonkey]

I think Spak-Spang brings up a point that I have been turning over and over in my mind for months now.  Will people keep upgrading their game hardware every few years?
I really don't know the answer.  My intuition tells me that people may become jaded by new hardware that shows minimal visible improvements in graphics.  I feel like there will be a consumer backlash when game companies ask us to pay $300 for a couple of extra layers of raytracing and texturing.  On the other hand, many people (like my mom) can't tell the difference between DVD and VHS so what is selling the DVD format?  Same question for CDs.  
The fact that people will rebuild their music and movie collections on multiple formats makes it possible to believe that they will switch videogame formats even if only hardcore fans can see a significant difference between one console and the next, but it's still hard to say for sure, because the videogame industry is still so young.

Uhh....back to the original point!  I think we may see portable systems that just hook right up to the TV and play games at home or on the go in the future, but I don't think it's going to happen with PSP or DS, simply because Nintendo and Sony aren't positioning them that way yet.

[nickmitch]

Quote
Actually I am watching less television

Sinner!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[KDR_11k]

Yeah, real geeks never watched it in first place!

[Spak-Spang]

You know maybe I am a sinner for watching television...but have you seen what it on?  Its all stupid junk.  Unless you have cable...which then takes away from my poor college status to buy games.

I don't know how far away we are from actually maxing out the graphics department to where people can't tell the difference between the generations.  Some say we are almost there, but I think we are probably 10 years from that point.  And it will be over 10 years before we have some sort of unified format, because Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo don't want to give up their hardware position that they make money on.  Nintendo specially, because they have always made money on their hardware and they have a market of diehard Nintendo fans that will buy their systems and their games no matter what happens in the future.

If we do develop a single format for games I think this would be a very  bad precedent for gaming.  Visionaries and creativity minds might end up being staffled because they have to fit their ideas in a box.  However, with competition of systems the visionaries get to throw their ideas to the hardware designers every few years, and hardware becomes available to support those ideas.  Examples of this are: Nintendo 64's analog joystick, the rumble pack, SNES mouse, DS touchscreen, Nintendo 64's and Dreamcasts Microphone adapters.   With a single format, you may have some of these hardware features come out, but who would risk designing a game around a hardware device that may be used by 1/10 the market.  But when it is built in you have less risk.  This was Nintendo's entire design philosophy with the DS.  Put everything you can into a single unit.

The DS has huge potential to be a primary system for someone.  Specially someone like me, who is an older gamer that continues to play not because of the future games and their potential, but because of the memories of the great classic games and great classic design of games.

I do believe the next evolution in gaming is a mixed home/portable system combo.  But I fear Nintendo won't do it because it would not be able to keep two markets that it makes money in, and will only have that combined market.  I also do not think Sony will do it either for the same reason.  If they succeed with PSP, then it will not want to halt its profits either.

In the end, it becomes a choose.  For many they can't afford multiple systems.  I can't.  I have a hard time saying no to games I can't get on the Gamecube.  I have a budget, and if I had to split my resources with 3 systems I am in trouble.  I do however have a gameboy advanced, and I love it.  I still only buy like one or two games a year for it.  I may try switching my priorities and buy more DS games than Gamecube.  If I do I will let you know how it goes.  See if I miss anything or not.