What makes you think the DS is soooo good?

[Rolex]

I have had mine now for about 6 weeks - I only ended up buying one because I am currently working overseas and wanted something to kick about with until I got my Wii shipped over.

I am currently playing the DS more than the Wii!!! I can't quite put my finger on is ?why?

I've got 7 games including - Yoshi, Mario vs DK II (Minis), Brain Training, Trauma Center, Spiderman 3, Sonic Rush and Hotel Dusk.... I am just waiting for Animal Crossing and Mario 64 DS and r4DS (I want a decent MP3 player instead of the Nintendo one)

I really didn't think much of any of them at first - hence the reason I bought so quickly and I was fairly underwhelmed with the DS on the whole...
but it has just grown on me - I still don't think the games are fantastic although the do while away a few hours, certainly non of them are bad games!
I am now 6 weeks in and addicted -and I've seen it all after 20+ years of gaming!!! I just can't give you a succinct answer as to why I play the thing so much - could be the touchscreen not sure.

Anyone else feel the same?

[Ads]

[phillipb3000]

yea kinda i even think the DS is better than the psp

[Rolex]

yea kinda i even think the DS is better than the psp

But why - flesh your answer out please!

[allstar2b87]

i have never really got hooked onto the DS....i guess the handheld stuff just isnt for me ne more...i used to be into the game boy color ...but that was a longg time ago....GO Wii lol :P

[phillipb3000]

doesnt the ds have almost all the things the psp has like music,games,movies(maybe not pics)

i think i had my ds for about 6 weeks and and it has never left my side

[TiwazTyrsfist]

So, I will answer in two parts. First denigrating the sony GoldBrick (PSP) in comparison to the DS, then lauding the DS on it's own merits.


The PSP has several things NOT going for it. The first is battery life. I can play my DS for days, if not weeks, without needing to find a charger. PSP owners tell me they can't watch two movies in a row. And the life on game play is shorter than movie watching. I dropped my DS down a thirty foot flight of marble stairs (Not on purpose), and other than cosmetic damage to the case and having to find the gba card that popped out, it was perfectly fine. The PSP has been know to scratch and suffer pixel loss due to being wiped with a towel to clean it. One of the buttons doesn't work half the time as a Design Choice. Good one sony. Finally, the PSP has brought that scourge of gaming, The Ten Minute Loading Screen, to the hand held market. Nice.
So that's a short list of why the DS is superior to the PSP.


Now, the reasons I like the DS. Convenient. I can take it anywhere, play at any time, and by closing the lid it goes into sleep mode so I can stop at any time if I need to.
Games. The DS has fun games. Kind of the reason to buy a system, ne? Mario Cart, Pokemon, Phoenix Wright, Cooking Mama, Hotel Dusk... The list goes on. And grows. The ONLY game that the DS didn't get that I wanted was Me & My Katamari, which was originally anounced for the DS, then $ony threw money at Namco until they jumped ship...
Game Play. The DS allows for both traditional game play styles, and for new game play modes that have never been available in a game system before. The integration of on screen touch manipulation and microphone usage allow new types of puzzles and new forms of game play that make DS games unique from games on any other system.

So, there is my rabid fanboy rant. I hope you found it enlightening.

[Rolex]

So, I will answer in two parts. First denigrating the sony GoldBrick (PSP) in comparison to the DS, then lauding the DS on it's own merits.


The PSP has several things NOT going for it. The first is battery life. I can play my DS for days, if not weeks, without needing to find a charger. PSP owners tell me they can't watch two movies in a row. And the life on game play is shorter than movie watching. I dropped my DS down a thirty foot flight of marble stairs (Not on purpose), and other than cosmetic damage to the case and having to find the gba card that popped out, it was perfectly fine. The PSP has been know to scratch and suffer pixel loss due to being wiped with a towel to clean it. One of the buttons doesn't work half the time as a Design Choice. Good one sony. Finally, the PSP has brought that scourge of gaming, The Ten Minute Loading Screen, to the hand held market. Nice.
So that's a short list of why the DS is superior to the PSP.


Now, the reasons I like the DS. Convenient. I can take it anywhere, play at any time, and by closing the lid it goes into sleep mode so I can stop at any time if I need to.
Games. The DS has fun games. Kind of the reason to buy a system, ne? Mario Cart, Pokemon, Phoenix Wright, Cooking Mama, Hotel Dusk... The list goes on. And grows. The ONLY game that the DS didn't get that I wanted was Me & My Katamari, which was originally anounced for the DS, then $ony threw money at Namco until they jumped ship...
Game Play. The DS allows for both traditional game play styles, and for new game play modes that have never been available in a game system before. The integration of on screen touch manipulation and microphone usage allow new types of puzzles and new forms of game play that make DS games unique from games on any other system.

So, there is my rabid fanboy rant. I hope you found it enlightening.

Ooof - great reply thanks.

I can't really comment on the PSP apart from the fact that it has some great features from what I have seen but they aren't anything out of the ordinary for a high end gadget - but I don't think that the design is anything special; although neither was the original DS to be fair; and I do hear that battery life can be a pain. I had a go with a friends sons' PSP and whilst the graphics were excellent - you did end up looking at the loading screens a lot certainly!!

As for the DS lite - I totally buy into what you are saying - we have an innovative dual screen format - which I do think adds something. Although I was a battlin bunny player, one of the very early game n watch games *dual screen*

I think where the DS succeeds isn't in the graphics department [sound familiar - Wii] but in the touch screen innovation, M vs DK II (minis) is certainly something intuitive to play and the touch in Sonic DS really adds dimension to the game genre.

Then we have Hotel Dusk - very good, atmospheric with depth.

The microphone I haven't had any real use for above Brain Training, reading outloud but hey it works and it's a feature!!

The DS has faults as does the PSP; which you have really highlighted - but on a gameplay level then DS does seem to make more of it's features than just good graphics and internet functionality - after all at the moment the PSP/PS3 connectivity rocks!! But what good is all that when the games aren't anything new or fun to play with innovativeness .

[sherwood3570]

I have a lot of waiting going on in my life and for the cheaper price, DS was a go. In my own opinion. I think handhelds should be traditional and not suped up with graphics and what not. There's my 2 cents. BTW TiwazTyrsfist, great review.

[Wii_BrEnDo2007]

well my r4ds came in the mail on saturday and get to open it tommorow on my b-day XD

[captainff]

Like you Rolex, I bought my DSlite due to circumstance rather than desire (working 90+ hrs per week and couldn't bring myself to fork out for a laptop), and it has become my constant friend. There's not really very much to add to what TiwazTyrsfist said in regards to the comparison between the DS and the PSP apart from size.....the DS fits comfortably into a pocket!

For me, and you alluded to it in your posts, the thing that the DS brings is a mixture of retro gaming feel, modern gaming standards and the Nintendo 'fun' factor. Every time I play Yoshi's Island I am transported mentally back to an earlier time of carefree youth(ish) and the SNES. I'm sure that the PSP could also do that for me if I let it but it somehow feels harder, more grown up, more regimented to me.

Add into the equation the fact that the DS will be able to be used as a Wii controller in some soon to be released games (PSP to PS3 also can?) and there is another reason to buy one.

Am I a fanboy? I don't think that I am although others may disagree. There is something about the Nintendo philosophy of using older technology in a new way that I find appealing.