Topic: 2 DS Mockups....

[Ian Sane]

I just realized a possible improvement to the DS.  What if they added GB/GBC support to it?  Like maybe they found a way to cheaply include the GBC hardware without it affecting the system's size?  That would be pretty cool.

[Strell]

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Originally posted by: IceCold

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Originally posted by: Strell
I.e., it's not helping your argument, guys.  If anything, it's hurting it more and more.

?? There's no argument here.. I was just giving an example of a game.. I agree with you about the face buttons.

Ok, ok.  The discussion-at-hand, composed of different viewpoints, has one that is weaker than the other.    Sorry to sound harsh or something!

[Pale]

Hmm, here is a tangent... All this talk of durability and hearing stories about people overusing their touch screens gave me an interesting idea...

How sweet would it be if Nintendo used the online registration of games as a means to extend their "warranty".

Say for every N number of games you register you get one free repair/replacement.  It couldn't really be exploited because they could require the broken system before sending out a new one.  Also, people wouldn't be inclined to break their system on purpose because that would "cost" one of their repairs and the repairs wouldn't expire.

I think it would be a great customer service story to help sell some systems,, and I don't think it would really cost Nintendo that much because they could most likely decide on a good value of N to make it cost effective.

Now instead of seeing posts like "Kirby made me destroy my touch screen, now my ds is junk."  You could see, "Kirby was so much fun I had to use the repair authorization buying it got me so that I could fix my touch screen."

I dunno, just a thought.  

[Pale]

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Originally posted by: Pale in the first reply
If they are redoing it, it would be sweet if they could stuff the classic GB hardware in there as well.

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Originally posted by: Ian Sane much later
I just realized a possible improvement to the DS.  What if they added GB/GBC support to it?  Like maybe they found a way to cheaply include the GBC hardware without it affecting the system's size?  That would be pretty cool.

That's a great idea!  

[BlackNMild2k1]

I'm surprised that the hardware isn't powerful enough to just emulate the GB/GBC hardware..
Or that Nintendo just doesn't allow emulation of the hardware.

[Ian Sane]

Ooooops.  I completely missed Pale's post.  

[vudu]

Here's something I'd like to see if there is a redesign:  a user-replaceable touch screen.  That would be rad.

[Strell]

Pale: Good idea, BUT it *can* be abused.  Case in point: When Nintendo released the Metroid Prime 2 demo via having a certain number of games registered, people started trading codes online.  How?  Simple.  Go to Blockbuster/Hastings/Hollywood/etc and find the game section.  Most of these places leave the registration information in the box, so someone could theoretically register all of those games under their name.  Hell, they could make up a few aliases with different e-mail addresses if they wanted and double/triple their number.  

Granted, that doesn't take into account having, say, your DS reg #, but there are ways around that too.  For example, my nephew didn't register his and he never will.  That's another one for me.  Plus if I ever bought one as a gift for someone who never used it, I can take their code.  Or you can just look at the number through the hole in the box (if Nintendo still does that, I dunno if they do).

Then you aren't far away from having lots of new DSes headed your way.  

Nintendo could block it by 1) forcing people to send in the broken DS first, or 2) making the # of registrations needed very high.

In any case, it *could* be exploited with a little work.  That's all I'm getting at.  Personally I think it is a great idea.

Somewhat offtopic, someone once on Slashdot suggested that, in order to help publishers' plight against used game sales, people could send a game they didn't want anymore to the publisher, who would then send them some sort of coupon/voucher toward future purposes.  Then the company could repackage it and get the profit themselves.  Not only that, but they could sell them directly online, and could even have standards for including the manual/inserts.  Think about it - no more finding a disc only copy of Ikaruga.  Instead, you log into Nintendo.com and buy it yourself because someone got tired of it.  That way Nintendo makes a small profit, the original buyer gets a coupon and generates more profit for Nintendo, and you get a killer game AND Nintendo gets more profit.  Win-win-win all around.

[vudu]

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Hell, they could make up a few aliases with different e-mail addresses if they wanted and double/triple their number.

You can only register a code once.  Duplicating it won't work.

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Granted, that doesn't take into account having, say, your DS reg #, but there are ways around that too. For example, my nephew didn't register his and he never will. That's another one for me. Plus if I ever bought one as a gift for someone who never used it, I can take their code. Or you can just look at the number through the hole in the box (if Nintendo still does that, I dunno if they do).

How's that help?  If you register your nephew's DS and then yours breaks you'd have to have registered yours in order to get the extended warrenty.  (i.e. sending in a system for free repair that hasn't been registered to you won't help.)

Also, FYI, you can't register a Nintendo system until after it's been purchased.  I bought a GBM at Best Buy and went home and immediately tried to register it and Nintendo said it was an invalid serial number.  I tried again the next day and it went through.  I'm pretty sure I couldn't register it yet because Best Buy hadn't told Nintendo I purchased it yet.

[Strell]

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Originally posted by: vudu
You can only register a code once.  Duplicating it won't work.

How's that help?  If you register your nephew's DS and then yours breaks you'd have to have registered yours in order to get the extended warrenty.  (i.e. sending in a system for free repair that hasn't been registered to you won't help.)

Also, FYI, you can't register a Nintendo system until after it's been purchased.  I bought a GBM at Best Buy and went home and immediately tried to register it and Nintendo said it was an invalid serial number.  I tried again the next day and it went through.  I'm pretty sure I couldn't register it yet because Best Buy hadn't told Nintendo I purchased it yet.

No, you can't register a code twice, but going by the example I proposed, you could have three accounts and get three codes for, say, Metroid Prime 2 (using Blockbuster) and thus have one mapped to each account.  Do the same with a number of games available for rent and suddenly you have several accounts all pimped out with games.

Same with the second situation.  Take it a step further.  All my systems + games are on my "master" account.  I make two dummy accounts and fill them with games.  Then I add systems as I go.  My nephew gets a GC and a Micro and an DS in the course of a year, I add his stuff to that first dummy account.  A friend of mine gets his systems, I put them in the second dummy account.  Therefore three accounts with unique codes.  

Those conditions satisfy the "it has to be purchased" problem - you are using purchased equipment.

You're right on one thing - it blocks people spoofing what they own.  I own DS A and it fails, I am sent DS B.  I do something stupid a week later with my replacement DS B, they are going to tie B to my account, meaning there's no way I can transfer that one I broke to my nephew and let him replace mine.  Hence why I said earlier it's a failsafe if Nintendo forces you to send first.

However, if Nintendo doesn't force you to send first, what is to stop me from getting a new DS on all three accounts?  I just go in through mine, there's DS B.  Go to my dummy account with nephew's info, DS C.  Finally go through dummy account 2 with friend's info, get DS D.

The entire situation I posed with my last post was built on the premise that anything extraneous I get - codes from Blockbuster, my nephew's DS - are mapped to those new accounts.