DS Receives Major Face Lift!

[AML]

The new nintendo DS has been given a few (much needed in my opinion) cosmetic as well as technological changes!
The unit now look smuch thiner, design style is more mature, and it now has speakers, (2 stereo) where the "dips" used to be on the top half of the unit.

The top screen also seems to be bigger than what it was before, and the bottom screen looks smaller, but its hard to tell from the pictures. The controls now look more like the controlls of the super nintendo pad!

All these changes have been finalized and i think make the DS look MUCH better! See for yourselves!

http://gameboy.ign.com/articles/534/534070p1.html

[Solar]

Software companies worldwide have more than 120 Nintendo DS games in development. Nintendo alone is developing more than 20 titles, and in excess of 100 companies have signed on to create games for the new system. The company is expected to announce the launch date, price, and game line-up in the near future.

now thats some thing to save for :o

Dual screens, chat functions, a touch screen, wireless capabilities, voice recognition - these abilities surpass anything attempted before, and consumers will benefit from the creativity and innovation the new features bring to the world of video games

im starting to think the psp is not going to get a chance

[Paul Williams]

I don't think it ever (PSP) really had a chance and that was just based on the backward compatability with the GBA, which I believe gives it the edge for current GBA users and we know how many of those there are.

Paul

Now thats more like it

so much slicker and sexier, good move

[CAS FAN]

Yeah it's a very nice looking pice of kit I must say!! I was tempted to dabble in a handheld again with the GBA SP but was never that bothered.

This on the other hand looks light years ahead and as long as the price isn't silly (i.e. it needs to be sub £100) then i'm pretty sure i'll dabble!

I'm not really sure at what market the PSP is going at and I think that will be it's downfall. It's rumoured price is too expensive to be just bought for mobile gaming and the specialised media means that you can't just stick a dvd in and people aren't going to buy the same films twice (i.e. once for home & once for mobile viewing).

I think Ninty have got this so, so right and whist they may struggle in the full size console arena the are Kings of the Handheld - that's for sure!

[H4r7y]

those new pics have changed my impressions.
DS may now be a contender to land on my shelf just for the slick looks

[CAS FAN]

Yeah, especially as it's rumoured to be priced at under £100! It can't fail in my eyes!

[Miyazaki]

Thank god for that.

It looked like a pile of ****e before.

Still can't fathom the dual screens though.

What a waste of time. I bet no more than a handful of games utilise it properly, while all games will sap the battery life by putting frankly pointless maps on mariokart for it

Theres some great ideas coming from the developers for using the 2 screens i cant wait

loads os possibilities, i think Nintendo will make sure the best developers use the full funtionality of the device,

Squaresoft have announced massive support for it with most there licenses going to appear on DS and i can think of many ways to use 2 screens with there games

I would love games like Command And Conquer they would work great

We will see i think its gona be a success

[Tetlee]

Originally Posted by Games Guru

. I bet no more than a handful of games utilise it properly, while all games will sap the battery life by putting frankly pointless maps on mariokart for it

Yep, I hope there will be an option to disable one screen with games that you don't really need two in order to save battery power. I agree, it would be anoying to waste battery juice if the top screen is only showing maps.

Also as Betamac mentioned, a C&C game would be great with the two screens, then a map would be usefull!! Will be interested to see just how the developers take advantage of the extra screen, but for sure there will be at least some titles that prove the point that two is better than one

Anyway, I'm liking the new looks of this handheld and will be hoping to pick one up nice and cheap when I visit Argentina next Feb

[Apnomis]

Well I must say, the PSP looked light years ahead of the DS. When I first saw the two I thought the DS looked like ****e and thought the PSP would win hands down just on it's looks. I also thought the DS was a bit naff and gimmicky. Now I'm not so sure, it's become a much tougher contest...

The PSP though my not have dual screens and a touch screen (still think that's a bit of a gimmick) but I'm pretty sure it will have chat functions, wireless capabilities, and voice recognition (along with language translation software).

The only real edge the DS has is it's backwards compatibility if that's the case. However the real test will be the price, if these UMD's Sony have come up with are cheap to produce and are priced agressively it could be anybodies game. Everyone is writing off the idea of buying a movie twice, but just say for a minute they only cost a fiver a piece, now I know that's highly unlikely, but you get the idea...

[Miyazaki]

Whys that unlikely?

Most back-catalogue dvds are about a £5 and a couple of months after a new release you can ofter find it for £10.

I bet there will be blank UMD's and people will start copying games and films.

That is the only way I will have films on a PSP I may or may not own is if I can copy my dvd to my handheld, which I'm led to believe is not illegal here, if only for my private use.

[CAS FAN]

At the end of the day this will be a battle of 2 huge brands.

When it comes to handhelds the Gameboy is king but when it comes to consoles the Playstation is king (I mean brand wise so as to avoid an X-Box is better than Playstation debate).

Brand wise GameCube and X-Box are not particularly good and although both are more powerful that the PS2 the sales figures are not in the same league. Gameboy on the other hand has built up a very solid brand so it will be interesting if PS2 owners buy the Playstation portable on the basis that it's a playstation or if they stick with Nintendo's offereing. I personally think that brand loyalty is strong in video games (the heated discussions that occasionally develop on this forum are testiment to that) especially amongst casual gamers who like to know where they stand. Let's face it if they bought a ps2 over a game cube then surely they prefer the playstation games and I think this will carry across to the handhelds. If you prefer your Gran Turismo, PES and Virtua fighters to your Mario, Mario Kart and Zelda then surely you won't buy a DS over a PSP, and vica versa.

They are both nice looking machines - one has a huge screen and one has 2 screens. One looks like a game and watch (which lets face it will be viewed as a toy), the other looks like an expensive & hi tech piece of kit. The PSP will almost certainly be quite a bit more expensive but it's target market can probably afford it. Most of all though the product with the strongest brand and the widest selection of games (and other software, films etc) will probably be the most successful.

[Apnomis]

Originally Posted by gthom3

At the end of the day this will be a battle of 2 huge brands.

When it comes to handhelds the Gameboy is king but when it comes to consoles the Playstation is king (I mean brand wise so as to avoid an X-Box is better than Playstation debate).

Brand wise GameCube and X-Box are not particularly good and although both are more powerful that the PS2 the sales figures are not in the same league. Gameboy on the other hand has built up a very solid brand so it will be interesting if PS2 owners buy the Playstation portable on the basis that it's a playstation or if they stick with Nintendo's offereing. I personally think that brand loyalty is strong in video games (the heated discussions that occasionally develop on this forum are testiment to that) especially amongst casual gamers who like to know where they stand. Let's face it if they bought a ps2 over a game cube then surely they prefer the playstation games and I think this will carry across to the handhelds. If you prefer your Gran Turismo, PES and Virtua fighters to your Mario, Mario Kart and Zelda then surely you won't buy a DS over a PSP, and vica versa.

They are both nice looking machines - one has a huge screen and one has 2 screens. One looks like a game and watch (which lets face it will be viewed as a toy), the other looks like an expensive & hi tech piece of kit. The PSP will almost certainly be quite a bit more expensive but it's target market can probably afford it. Most of all though the product with the strongest brand and the widest selection of games (and other software, films etc) will probably be the most successful.

Good points there gthom3. Sony & Ninty both control different areas of the market, and I think for the most part that will carry down to handhelds dependent on price. I for one can't stand the Mario/Zelda games, I've never been a huge fan of cutesy Japanese games, I prefer more realistic graphics, more compelling story and more challenging games. So for me if I was to get a handheld it will only ever be a PSP. You're also right that the DS will be classed as a toy where the PSP would be put in the high-tech gadget category along with mobile phones, PDA's and mp3 players etc. With it's USB ports and Memory Stick compatability it has the potential to be a whole lot more than a games machine, digital photo album is the first obvious application that comes to mind...

I would personally feel a bit silly whipping out a Ninty DS and having a play with it in public, or at work etc. But I wouldn't mind showing off my shiny new PSP.

I don't expect the Ninty Fanboys to go buying a PSP, but I think they are overlooking the market of a) Gameboy owners that aren't Fanboys, b) PS2 owners that don't have a handheld, c) anyone over 20 that up until the PSP have thought it a bit geeky to be seen with a Gameboy.

As for Gameboy being no 1 in the handheld market that's because it's number 1 or 1! Discounting mobile phones and Nokia's recent attempt, Ninty have never been properly challenged in the handheld market since the days for the Sega GameGear! So it's hardly surprising they have the dominance, they've been the only player in the market for so long! In fact I think the market has been quite stagnant personally, from what I've seen of Gameboy games they are low quality, low colour, 2D scrollers. Technologically they're miles behind their big brothers. But they've never had to revolutionise until now. Now Sony has come in a brought console technology to handhelds, so Ninty had to act. Personally I think the introduction of the PSP will be just what the market needed, and I think even Ninty fanboys would have to give a nod to Sony on that front.

If you asked me whether I would want to be seen poking Pikachu on a little square touch screen or playing Mario Cart via WiFi, or for an extra say £50 be playing the PS2 port of Gran Turismo or Metal Gear Solid or be playing PES with someone via WiFi etc on a large 16:9 screen on an extremely cool looking piece of techonolgy. I'd say the PSP wins hands down, but that's just me, I like adult games and I like gadgets...

[CAS FAN]

To be honest any machine that allows wireless multiplayer PES4 and GT4 will rule in my book!

You are right in that the Gameboy hasn't really been challenged yet and they've probably got the sternest challenger possible now in the Playstation! It's similar to when the original Playstation first came out - Nintendo and Sega hadn't really been challenged by anyone else, yet along came a console with no history, no pre existing classic titles or characters and it wiped the floor with them both!

If Sony take the handheld market by storm, just as they did the console market then domination will be too soft a word for their grasp over home video gaming. Personally I would like to see a better challenge from Microsoft to stop this domination, but that's another story.