Nintendo DS

[hstangor]

Hi all,

maybe this is the right forum for a suggestions like this; i noticed at Popcap that there's Bookworm already for the Gameboy Advance ... and i just saw the Nintendo Conference from this years E3 where they presented the new Nintendo DS Handheld. I'm sure that with 2 screens, one of them touch sensitive, WI-FI Support, Wireless, Microphone support and a price tag of Euro 150-200 it will become a big hit. And when i saw the stylus features i asked myself if it could also feature Astraware titles like Bejeweled and all my other favorites. I mean: Astraware knows how to do Stylus Games right, and in a Videogame Market that's mainly geared to Action fans there is for sure also a niche for your games. Has anyone seen the presentations? Astraware could be unique on a platform like that ... Nintendo does focus more and more to Metroid, Zelda, Mario Titles which are all fine but they forget the Tetris audience that is hungry for the kind of games Astraware gives us.

Are you thinking about supporting this system? I'm almost sure the hardware will be a huge success... even bigger than Sonys PSP... there are 100 developers already... and i guess Astraware could fit gamewise (i dont know much of licence costs and budget for a device like that). Even with the price tag of 30-50 Euros per cartridge this could be something... maybe by releasing only Game Packs with multiple games instead of single games? The Popcap ones for example?

Anybody seen the presentations? I have to say that they not only excited me, but also my whole family. When this thing comes to Europe we will immediately grab at least 2 or 3 of them *g*.

Regards,
Hans-Jörg

[USNAVYSEAL]

That is up to Popcap to do that. Popcap is the one that made the GBA version, not Astraware. Also, if you noticed, Astraware only supports Palm, PPC and Smartphones. Personally I hate the DS. One...two screens? One of them is almost a waste (all of the screenshots I have seen, it is basically just used as a map...whoopie! a map!); secondly, they still have tiny screens. The Sony PSP and the Tapwave Zodiac have much bigger screens to make it much more enjoyable. Plus, the DS, IMO, is ugly.

[hstangor]

I'm sure with a battery life time of "10... well maybe 8... sometimes 2.5h" as Sony put it during their conference the Ultra-Scratch-Proof PSP 16:9 screen will be a very big success when put in a standard backpack... if they somehow get the PC-emulated games running one day on the new UMD disc format no-one needs and a memorystick the market never accepted.

Okay... this was a bit cynical, but for me the PSP is nothing more than a Standard Handheld with lots of horsepower, much more power than the DS i'm sure, but with the same weak points that once ruined Segas Gamegear.

Furthermore you have no Touchscreen. You have a price tag that's double. And what's the point of watching movies on it when it's not a dvd i can put in there?

The DS is much closer gamewise to a PocketPC than the PSP simply from its user interface abilities: Touchscreen plus stylus.

And maybe i should stop the fanboy talk. :-)

Peace treaty ? *g*

Regards, HaJö

[ackmondual]

...... One...two screens? One of them is almost a waste (all of the screenshots I have seen, it is basically just used as a map...whoopie! a map!); secondly, they still have tiny screens. The Sony PSP and the Tapwave Zodiac have much bigger screens to make it much more enjoyable. Plus, the DS, IMO, is ugly.

True, devs have to take advantage of the 2 screens, else it's just wasted. Some have tho. The inventory map thing may seem redundant but there are bound to be games (if not alr) where having a map/status/inventory screen 'll be helpful RIGHT THERE. Esp if u have to interact with them constantly. The 2 screens can also project a huge vertical image across them. Samus Aran is looking mighty fine up close :D

The PSP and Zod screens are nice, but Zod has a serious issue with dev support. Very few AAA titles are working with Tapwave, if any. Such lack of development will mean that the Zod screen won't be fully utilized as much as it could be :(

.

......

Okay... this was a bit cynical, but for me the PSP is nothing more than a Standard Handheld with lots of horsepower, much more power than the DS i'm sure, but with the same weak points that once ruined Segas Gamegear.

Furthermore you have no Touchscreen. You have a price tag that's double. And what's the point of watching movies on it when it's not a dvd i can put in there?

The DS is much closer gamewise to a PocketPC than the PSP simply from its user interface abilities: Touchscreen plus stylus.

..........

Well, the DS has no analog which some argue is better for certain types of games, the PSP no touchscreen, which would be kinda close to a pointing device like a PC mouse (try playing Starcraft64 and selecting only specific units in a big clump of them with the analog stick.. quite frustrating), and the Zod has no crosskey joystick, which again ppl argue would be good for certain types of games, altho I find that analog still works fine for games that don't really benefit from it (like Mortal Kombat 64, as opposed to distinguishing running from walking in Mario64) but would still prefer CK joystick. All seem to have their own fallacies in interface.

As for movies, Sony'll release movies on UMD. Cons with this whole concept are:
-don't kno how they'll squeeze a 4.7GB to 9.4GB DVD onto a single UMD. Maybe they have compression technology, lose some quality/content, or span them across mulitple UMDs.
-u have to rebuy the movie if u already have them on DVD
-some say only Sony distributed movies will make their way onto UMDs

As for price, AFAIK, the US PSP release price is still unknown. Back bef even the DS came out, it WAS rumored that PSP will be $300. Unfort. for Sony, DS came out at $150. Again, it was rumored that they changed the tentative launch price to $180, since charging x2 as much compared to its competition would be suicide. However, that big difference may easily come back and bite them in the *** later on. They'd be taking a HUGE hit if they had to bring the price down that much.