A Developer's View On DS
I always say the best way to see everything at E3 is staying home, reading articles and watching videos on the net. So while I was busy writing pages for the Dutch ‘Official PlayStation Magazine’ — yeah I do that too — a Nintendo Watch informant who’s not attending the show sent me his opinion on the Dual-Screen handheld. This ‘Dr. Suna’ is actually a portable games developer himself, too busy with some interesting projects to fly over to LA but apparently not too busy to write in.
“At their E3 press conference yesterday Nintendo showed the Nintendo DS for the first time. Dual Screen? Developer System? Whatever you call it, all has been revealed and everyone has an opinion about it, myself included.
“Looking at the press conference via the webcast I noticed Nintendo seems truly excited about the device and has convinced a fair amount of developers and publishers as well. This actually surprised me, as with the DS I get the same feeling I got when ‘connectivity’ was all Nintendo talked about. And we all know how that turned out. Maybe I’m wrong this time, maybe I’m not.
“Don’t get me wrong, I actually love the ideas behind the machine. The touch-screen for example has got me really excited — I lost lots of valuable sleep last night thinking of all the possibilities. Even though this type of interface has been around for ages on PDAs it has never been used for a pure bred gaming machine. A good analogy is EyeToy. Webcams have been around for over a decade but it took a bright mind at SCEE’s Team London to turn it into the most accessible videogame experience yet. Expect good things from the touch-screen interface.
“The wireless capabilities are great as well. While the obvious star is the Wi-Fi compatibility, I think one little sentence from the speech Reggie gave during the press conference points to a very important factor in the success of the unit in Japan: “DS will even connect for you, springing to life from sleep mode once you’re in range of someone else.” Who remembers the Lovegety from the late nineties? I think we’re going to see a lot of similar applications for DS.
“As for the two screens, I basically see it as a necessity to prevent you from obscuring the playing area while using the touch-screen — I don’t think there is a real need for having two screens at all. I also think that this will be one of the problems Nintendo will be facing when courting developers and publishers. I imagine they’ll require developers to use the two screens, while a lot of developers will just want to make a port of or sequel to an existing game. This will result in half-assed attempts like a lot of the connectivity features on GameCube, and possibly in developers flocking to the PSP.
“Another problem for Nintendo could be the 3D performance of the DS. Based off of the movies released on the internet so far I’d say that the 3D performance is comparable to that of the original PlayStation. While I think Nintendo, referring to the successor of the GameCube, is right in stating that people are not interested in just graphical enhancements, I also think it’s completely different in the handheld market. There the 3D revolution has not happened yet, and the DS will be compared to the PSP because of that. Maybe they should have put the money for the second screen in a dedicated 3D processor instead.
“Ultimately I don’t expect the DS to be around as long as the Game Boy has. I give it a couple of years, producing at least ten must-have titles and ending up as the Dreamcast of the portables — a misunderstood machine loved by hardcore game players and ignored by the mass market consumer.”
Do you have a unique viewpoint on DS or another Nintendo subject? Please write in.
May 13, 2004
Comments
"... There the 3D revolution has not happened yet, and the DS will be compared to the PSP because of that. Maybe they should have put the money for the second screen in a dedicated 3D processor instead."
I think 3D requires a big screen for it to be immersive or even functional. I think 3D wil not be DS's strong point nor is it meant to be. My guess is that Nintendo is not waging a 'handheld 3D war'. Nintendo has always put itself in the market as being original, not competitive. Problem is that although they are not comparing their products with the competition's, their clients are...
FRANK* – 05-13-04
But... The DS will come first, will be cheaper and if Ninty puts the name 'Game Boy' with it, along with some Pokémon titles, the DS will beat the PSP. The PSP will be a 'gadget', something that will cost very much and will not contain something very new, only things that you can find on (cheaper) systems. Also, the PSP will get the GBA-syndrome: Ports, ports, ports. Only the name 'Playstation' will save that platform.Beitel – 05-14-04
The DS will be as long as the Gameboy advance. Yes the graphics aren't as good as the PSP, but the battery life will be longer, the system it's self cheaper and the games them selves cheaper to make as it doesn't require developers to concernrate on the graphics so much (and so more games).
Yes the PSP is more powerful than nintendo's hand held system, it is more expensive and it is a new comer to the hand held market.
I remember the Sega GameGear and how that failed, because of the above.
I don't think it will go down the GG route, but it wouldn't suprised me if it prove me wrong.
Chris – 05-14-04
I think the DS is pretty impressive from a gameplay point of view. Although I do agree with the writer that the visuals (and the design of the machine itself) will make it more difficult to sell.
Collo – 05-14-04
Exactly what happens when DS 'beats' PSP? I'm pretty sure both systems will be able to live next to each other in their own markets. That's what i'm trying to say; Nintendo's strategy is not beating the competition with higher specs, but by catering to a different target market by being original and authentic. My bet is that PSP will sell more units than DS, though.
I think Nintendo may actually be making a mistake by putting DS on the market next to GBA, instead of it being GBA's successor. That will be more confusing than the GB to GBA transition, which really confused a huge amount of parents worldwide. (More of Nintendo's stuff is bought by parents then by kids, right?)
FRANK* – 05-14-04