My Nintendo DS Lite is Awesome
My wife surprised me this year and bought me a Nintendo DS Lite. I know, I know. I'm 27 years old and still playing video games (kid's video games in fact). But I have to say, this this is an incredible little piece of technology.
I have been playing all the classics I grew up with and the games for it now are still pretty good for my own standards. True 3 dimensional graphics make the sports and first person shooters pretty good.
The DS features two bright LCD screens. There is a touch screen and microphone as well. It lets you play the older Gameboy Advance games as well as the new ones for the NDS.
Wireless
What makes it so neat is that the DS has other features as well. There is wireless connectivity built into this thing. You can purchase the Opera web browser on eBay (it is only available in retail in Europe and Japan) and be able to surf the net wirelessly.
Decent Sound
I have to say the sound is pretty decent out of its little speakers. It even can give a bit of "surround" feel to it. It seems like some of the better quality games (Nintendo ones) really make it work well too. I was playing Mario the other night and there was a plant creature off the side of my screen so it wasn't even visible and the sound felt like it was coming from about 3 inches to the left of the screen. Really adds to the game.
Stylus
Nintendo was incredibly bright and actually packed two of these things in the box, because I am sure I will lose one. There is a handy place to store in on the underside as well. I have to admit, that at first, I was wondering how the stylus would work for games. I have adapted pretty well though. The first person shooters (James Bond, Metroid Hunters) are worth learning it because it gives you precise control over your aim.
It seems you always have the option to not use the stylus, which I like as well. My wife bought me a poker game first and I thought this would be a perfect stylus style game (and it is), but when you are in the middle of a poker tournament and want to go fast, it is still better to use the buttons.
Hacking
If you purchase a supercard and flashcart you can load up a lot of "homebrew" software that can do everything from play video, music, and pictures to a basic organizer PDA software. I have found email clients as well. There are even freeware games that are being distributed that are remakes of classics like Hexen and Heretic. Note: This is the device to play pirated games as well.
Price
The price is quiet reasonable for this thing. Only $150 Canadian and I'm sure it will drop in the future. The kicker is the games though. If you can get a Supercard and not feel guilty, then you won't have to be shelling out cash all the time for games. But even so, the games start at $40 and go down, so it is still very reasonable.
Sony PSP Versus Nintendo DS
I wanted a PSP, mainly because it is a more powerful system and it had the two games I really wanted, NHL 2007 and Grand Theft Auto. However, my friends advised me against it. It starts at $250 and there are very few games after that. That is the most disappointing thing with the PSP for them, is the lack of good quality titles. Secondly, you can't hack a PSP easily so you have to shell out the cash every time you want to try out a game.
The DS has a lot more development going on it seems. I don't know why this is. PSP is a slick system. Perhaps time will change things. I would be tempted to buy one if the price dropped on them and some more titles came out.
Best Games So Far
Of the ones I have tried I would recommend these games.
- Mario DS - a classic
- New Super Mario Brothers - awesome remake of another classic
- Pac'n'Roll - this is a cool idea and fun to play. You use your styles to roll Pacman in a 3d world. Sounds like it would be weird, but it plays amazingly well.
- Madden 2007 - need a football title
- Metroid Prime Hunters - 3d shooter done quite well. You have to train your self to use the stylus for precise control, but after that it's awesome.
- Mario Kart DS - another classic you can't beat. Plus you can play online with friends or against server-matched opponents based on your level.
- World Championship Poker - I like poker, but I always think the game will get boring after awhile. There is a bit of a campaign. You walk around and are only allowed into certain casinos, but when you earn enough money you can get into the other ones. You need to win certain tournaments, you can go to a loan shark for money, buy clothes and jewellery, and play a number of other casino games.
- Brain Age - lots of fun
NHL Hockey????
My biggest beef so far is that EA Sports has not released an NHL game for this thing. Their Madden 2007 was quite well done and fun to play so I don't understand why they can't port an NHL game as well. The only option we have is to get NHL 2002 for the Gameboy Advance and put it in there.
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Category: NintendoDS
Original Post: Thursday, January 25th, 2007
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