Nintendo likes money. People like giving Nintendo money. It is a win win situation for all that is involved. You would think that generally a company has to release a compelling product to have people give them money, but oh ho, not where Nintendo’s concerned.
How do I know that people like giving them money? Well, because I gave them $120 and an old DS for the new DSi. I paid $120 for an “i”… I didn’t play my old DS, but when Nintendo released the new DSi, I just had to buy a new one on the day of release. Why? Well, see above.
For me, the Nintendo DS platform is an interesting beast. Most of the games on it shows me a flawed future where gaming as I enjoy it has ended and a proliferation of cutesie games void of any real game play rule the world. I am so very scared of such a bleak future.
On the other hand, some of the most compelling gaming for me has been on the DS in recent times. When they remade Final Fantasy 4 for the DS and I heard it do voice acting for the first time, I was so happy that I started to cry. My childhood could be summed up by “wanting Final Fantasy to come alive” and the DS made it happen. I understand that there is nothing unique about the DS that makes it better than other platforms for the FF remake, but the fact is that it is only released on the DS, so it is the only option.
Another game that was played to death on the DS was Professor Layton and the Curious Village. I think this game fits on DS much better since it’s a bunch of brain teaser minigames. It’s one of those games that you can pick up, do a couple of puzzles, and then put it down again. This is a bit more difficult to do on a standard system connected to a tv. When you play on a large format console, there’s a bit of setup time both physically and mentally.
Anyhow, the Nintendo DS platform is a part of my gaming life. Sure, it might not be a major part, but the niche that it does fulfill, it fulfills wonderfully. Is it worth potentially sacrificing the future of gaming and succumb to the Nintendo casual game attitude? Maybe I already have…
PS, I stole the above image and did not pay $233.95 to David Thorne for it.
Wait, you traded in your DS Lite and only got $50 off? I thought gamestop offered $70. Or are you including tax?
Overall, I think the DSi is cool, but just doesn’t feel like enough of an upgrade over the regular DS Lite. I guess if a bunch of games come out that force the camera functionality, or a sweet DLC title, but otherwise the DS Lite is still a nice piece of tech.
Nintendo’s hand held strategy has *always* been of longevity and iterative hardware upgrades. I have only given in to upgrade fever once, the DS -> DS Lite upgrade… which was a sexy upgrade, but didn’t really *matter* in the end. The only one I consider to be necessary was the Advance -> SP upgrade which I didn’t bother with… I just straight up sold it in a fit of eye strain rage.
Although the DSi upgrade feels forced, I think DLC is going to invigorate the DS platform far more than camera games will. Depends on what kind of crap they are going to dump on the service. One thing that is certain: it will sell a *gazillion* units just because.
I just don’t see myself plunging for the upgrade though, sans hardware failure. What I do want is another Hotel Dusk… or maybe just ScummVM.
Yeah, When I traded in my phat DS, I only got $50 back.
I think fever is a good term for it, because to be honest, I didn’t even play my old DS in a long while. I do have a hard time rationalizing the purchase of the new DSi, but I think that’s why nintendo’s so brilliant. They don’t target the logical parts of the brain, just the parts that, well, want to give them money.
I do hope that there will be some good new online games, but I think that’s difficult since they effectively cut their potential audience from the current full DS install base to just the new DSi purchasers. Sure, there’s a beefier processor in the new DSi, but is that enough of a draw? If the quality of downloadable games isn’t as good as the physical games, will the download service languish like the xna?
Hah. I forgot about the ds phat moniker.
I’m also guilty of not playing a DS in awhile. It comes and goes in waves. The DS is a *great* platform, but I just haven’t kept up with it. Seems like the number of titles I care about fell off really quickly sometime last year.
You make a good point. It will mostly be crapware with a gem here and there. Although, a few quality VC titles could change my mind. The other problem is kids don’t have direct access to credit cards and the like. Cheaper titles may mean an easier sell to parents, but still… they can’t just go ahead and get points whenever they damn well please.
Just admit it though, you got the DSi because you miss Kai’s Power Goo.