What's a long good DS game?

[Hejira]

Hey, you know what the perfect compromise between a book and a game is? *points to 14th post*

I have an SP. One of those old ones that's frontlit. Also, a DS Phat. I intend to get a DS Lite around the time I get Pokémon Diamond and Pearl, because I want to trade 'em with myself and my mum would never let me stick a Pokémon game into her DS.

Well, she probably would after some weaseling, but then I'd be left with no excuse to spend more money for shiny shiny.

[ijdgaf]

PHJ, I've got an English major (specifically a creative writing major). I'm about 3/4 finished writing my first novel. I intend to write many more. You won't find many people these days who read as much, or who lament the declining interest people have in books as often as I do.

That said (and I'm really not aiming this at you), I really get pissed when intelligent people get grumpy about video games and their popularity. I love books. I love movies. I love music. And I love video games. And I feel very strongly that all can exist in the same intellectual sphere without infringing upon eachother's relative importance. It's been long enough that our society has accepted film as an artform and placed the cultural significance of movies at the same level as poems and novels in the past. But video games are a newer art (yes, I said art), and they've yet to fully mature in this respect. Still, it's quite an interesting journey and I'm enjoying the maturation the video game industry is going through. Sooner or later it'll be on the same level and the older folks will be lamenting some newer, hipper upstart. Mark my words.

Until then, any critical belittling of video games, or any assertion or implication that books are inherently superior just strikes me as cultural snobbery.

Ahem. Sorry. Rant over.

[Derek]

And for that matter, I plan to bring along books as well. This flight is the first flight I'm going to be taking since buying a DS, and before that I always brought a few books with me. I don't see why that should change.

Normally on flights I take along books which I've already read and which are easy reads so the constant interruptions and general fatigue I get from long flights don't make the reading a chore. A videogame would also provide a useful distraction without being too taxing. Even outside flying there have been many times when I've found myself too asleep to properly pay attention to a book, but still awake enough to play a videogame. And videogames are normally engrossing enough that I can ignore my sleepiness for awhile. Certainly a useful benefit on a long flight.

By the way, my defense does not mean I didn't enjoy your satire, PHJ.

[Nate the Great]

DS Phat.

[Burt]

But we are all clear that the DS rules? I mean it has Two screens for crying out loud! Two Screens! And Sonic and Mario, on the same system! Plus with a wireless network and the right hardware....it can go online! I was online the other day..... on the toilet!

Hello?

Hello?

Where did everyone go?

[Nate the Great]

No, we are not clear, Burt. And you don't want me to explain, because the rest of the forum will mob you if you ask.

[ijdgaf]

Nate, you almost had me with the no backwards compatability argument before. It's sorta weak, but it's about the only legitimate gripe I can think of with the system.

The fact that you already own a GBA completely obliterates that complaint. So now... I'm really at a loss.

But whatever. Truthfully, the only real loss is yours.

The DS is the finest Nintendo system in years.

[PointyHairedJedi]

Originally Posted by ijdgaf

PHJ, I've got an English major (specifically a creative writing major). I'm about 3/4 finished writing my first novel. I intend to write many more.

Won't publishing a book printed entirely on blocks of cedar prove rather expensive?

[Nate the Great]

But does an "amazing" library negate the fact that backwards compatibility was the obvious way to go, and they chose to not go that way?

Could somebody explain the cedar block thing?

[PointyHairedJedi]

Nobody knows why cedar. It just is.

[ijdgaf]

The original design of the DS had no backward compatability. It has GBA compatability out of hardware convenience. To give it anything more would drive up hardware prices (you'd need a GBC chip crammed in there), and the cost would be deferred to the consumer.

As an owner of every incarnation of the Game Boy since the original, I much prefer their final decision on the matter. I don't see how anybody with a GBA would feel otherwise.

[Nate the Great]

And what's wrong with the cost being deferred to the customer? Z80s can't be THAT expensive. Besides, people are still buying PS3s at twice the cost of a Revolution. Would even fifty bucks (which I doubt) for the additional Z80 processor dissuade that many people? Plus, I'm a firm believer that

(Number of additional units that would be sold because of full backwards compatibility)>(number of units that wouldn't be sold because of a marginal price increase)