Nintendo DS Lite
Recently I bought myself a Nintendo DS Lite handheld. It’s amazing so I thought I could share a few observations.
The NDSL has two screens, one of those is a touch-screen. Although not all games make use of the feature, the touch-screen is the most important feature of the NDSL. Other features are a microphone (used for speech recognition for example) and WiFi (multiplayer) built in.
Playstation Portable vs. Nintendo DS Lite
I had the opportunity to play around with a Sony PSP, which is nice too, but honestly nothing more than an extension of your traditional Playstation. The PSP has great graphics and you’ll get a “WOW!” pretty fast. Compared to the NDSL it doesn’t change/improve the way we play, it’s merely stuffed with nice features. A real fun killer is battery life. The PSP lasts for three to four hours, whereas the NDS lasts up to 15 hours!
To use the words of a Nintendo developer: The PSP will not be able to display anything that you cannot do on a current system.
The NDSL may be not as powerful as the PSP, but is much more fun to play with. Especially Brain Age (Gehirn Jogging) is incredibly funny. It makes use of the touch-screen, and uses speech recognition. For all the tests and exercises you either say or write the solution which really feels natural. The recognition of both, hand-writing and speech, is good (very few false recognitions).
Games
One might think that a NDSL is only for kids or teenagers, I don’t agree. Yet it is true that Nintendo has more games targeted at kids, there are lots of games you can play at any age (Tetris DS, Brain Age, Big Brain Academy, Wario Touched even Worms). I don’t want a game more realistic than the real world.
Homebrew Software
Something I didn’t try is installing homebrew software. It requires extra hardware and some patience, but it allows you to install any software downloadable from the internet. It includes VoIP programs, Linux and other cool stuff like Python.
I wonder why Nintendo takes such an effort to prevent people from installing their own software? Looking at the ideas and capabilities it would boost it’s popularity. I know that legal issues could be the main driver behind these efforts… . Compare this with Linksys’ WRT routers. Since they had to open up the software (GPL) the sales exploded because people want to play with the hardware.
What I really like about the NDSL
- The NDSL allows you to copy a game to another NDSL (multiplayer) so you don’t need n-times the game to play it with your friends.
- The games are very good and very funny. If you like it more realistic and “mature” the NDSL might not be right for you (but take a look at “Resident Evil” and “Metroid Prime: Hunters”).
- It’s compatible to the Gameboy Advanced, so you can play all your GBA games with your NDSL, too bad it doesn’t support the original Gameboy too.
- It’s like a Mac: It just works (and if you close it, it goes to sleep).
What I don’t like about the NDSL
- It has no game included, not a single one. If I remember correctly, the Gameboy had Tetris or Super Mario included, but the NDSL has nothing.
- It’s a very closed architecture, you can’t easily install your own software on it.
Nintendo DS Lite compared to Nintendo DS
The NDSL is a updated version of the original NDS. It has more capabilities than the NDS, not less: The battery lasts longer and the screen is brighter. It’s called lite because it’s slimmer. So don’t buy the NDS because it sounds more powerful (like I nearly did).
Would I buy it again? Yes.
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A game that keeps a smile on the player’s face is a wonderful thing. [...] To do this, we must return to the beginning, to recapture the essence that made people who enjoy games even now enjoy them in the first place. —Shigeru Miyamoto (Nintendo Video Game Developer)
