So, the DS... it uses carts?

[Querjek]

I'm just making sure of this as I am eager to preorder one of these from Japan... but I just wanted to make sure that it's a CART-based system before I do... also, does anyone have a good preordering site?

[Ed Oscuro]

Blah, ordering sites...I always have trouble, and I'm patient. :o

It certainly does use carts; Nintendo was talking a while back about having the capability to manufacture 128MegaByte (1GBit) GBA-size carts.

[atari_overlord]

Does anyone know the current size of the carts now? I wonder how much more the games for this thing are going to cost. $30 for a new GBA game is a little high but seems fair to me. I dont know that I will pay much more for a portable systems games.

[atomicthumbs]

I read about the slots for the carts on IGN. Pretty cool how the GBA and (DS) carts fit into the top slot, where the old carts fit into the bottom slot. It's nice to see that they went through the extra effort to make it almost completely backwards compatable!

[sisko]

Not really carts, but cards. The DS cards are supposed to be the size of a secure digital memory card, or, about the size of a quarter.

[MarioAllStar2600]

Not really carts, but cards. The DS cards are supposed to be the size of a secure digital memory card, or, about the size of a quarter.
That is by far the coolest thing I have heard all week. Besides the new machine.

[Rev. Link]

One thing worries me: 128 meg SMCs (like what the DS cards are supposed to be similar to) usually go for around $50 in stores, and that's blank!

Could this mean DS games will be really expensive?

[WiseSalesman]

You're talking about pre-ordering? Has anyone even seen what the system looks like yet?

[Rev. Link]

IGN has pictures of it.

http://gameboy.ign.com/articles/513/513188p1.html

[Ed Oscuro]

Yes, on CNN.com...

[Drexel923]

As far as I know, from watching the Nintendo conference today, the games will be on 1 GB cards. I highly doubt the games will be expensive, I wouldn't be surprised if they try and sell them for $25-30 like the GBA. $20 would be nicer, but I don't think any other handheld will go near that price...hell even the N-Gage games are 30 bucks.

[Rev. Link]

Not 1 GB, 1Gb.

GB = Gigabyte
Gb = Gigabit

1 Gb = 128 megs, roughly.

Don't get me wrong, I truly want to believe the games will be $30 or under, but if a blank 128 meg card goes for $50, how can Nintendo sell games on them for so cheap?

[Drexel923]

Not 1 GB, 1Gb.

GB = Gigabyte
Gb = Gigabit

1 Gb = 128 megs, roughly.

Don't get me wrong, I truly want to believe the games will be $30 or under, but if a blank 128 meg card goes for $50, how can Nintendo sell games on them for so cheap?

Doh, didn't hear them say Gigabit :o

I'm sure the price will be fine...remember, it doesn't cost anywhere near $50 to produce the carts/cards. Its a relatively cheap medium...the N-Gage uses cards like these, correct, and those games sell for $30. Nintendo knows the handheld market, they will not make the games more than 30 bucks.

[Rev. Link]

Oh, I forgot about N-Gage (can you blame me?).

Then that really makes me mad about these companies selling blank cards for $50! :angry:

[Ed Oscuro]

Not 1 GB, 1Gb.

GB = Gigabyte
Gb = Gigabit

1 Gb = 128 megs, roughly.

Don't get me wrong, I truly want to believe the games will be $30 or under, but if a blank 128 meg card goes for $50, how can Nintendo sell games on them for so cheap?
Because they're Nintendo and have special suppliers you and I don't have. Really and truly. Also their stuff is manufactured differently than these general purpose $50 cards you speak of, and perhaps the "sell the razors at a loss, sell the razor blades at a profit, the ink cartridges at a profit, etc." model of operations has something to do with $50 prices for cards. I'm certain it's less wholesale, though, and Nintendo certainly does even better than that.

By the way, 1GBit = 128MBytes, exactly, not "more or less." When one says "128MB" you don't mean 128 million bytes, as a megabyte is 1024 Kbytes, and a Kbyte is 1024 bytes. It doesn't make sense to say "128,000,000 bytes" any more than it does to say "127,999,999 bytes" because memory addressing doesn't work that way, and likewise 1 billion separate bits could be different from 1 gigabit. It's all multiples of powers of two. Don't mean to beat that into the ground but it shows up often enough, folks should know...interestingly, computers always show the corrected number, not the simplified, human-readable one, on the POST and the like operations. It's so integral to the system's operation that outside of sales and marketing there's never any need to convert over - whom are also the culprits behind my little discourse right now :D "The Two Mega Cart" sure sounds more impressive than "we have 256Kbytes in this SMS game," after all.

[Jasoco]

I think they should have gone Disc's and instead, made it a portable Cube. ;)

[Ed Oscuro]

Discs would've meant a much bigger unit that would've been more prone to failure and would've sucked batteries dry in no time flat. Nice thought though :P

[Jasoco]

Discs would've meant a much bigger unit that would've been more prone to failure and would've sucked batteries dry in no time flat. Nice thought though :POh.. like the PSP will be.

Gotcha. ;)

[Ed Oscuro]

Hey, I stole that directly from a quote somebody had about the PSP. Back Atcha!

[Jasoco]

Now, what has me nervous is wherher these Memory Cards will be erasable. Accidentally or not. I do NOT want toput my NEW SMB in my DS one day only to find out the big electromagnetic storage box I plan on keeping all my DS games in erased the game. That or even a regular refrigerator magnet. Just how durable is the data on these things? Will it be hard-coded into the card or just written like a disc/disk. Because I am very scared. I do not like Floppys. I do not trust Memory cards. I don't even trust HD's. Anything with magnetic data storage is not 100% secure. So it'll be a big plus if the games are wired into the cards.

[Zubiac666]

wow
nintendo dropped the cardboard boxes(like GBA games) and give the DS-games "sort of" CD cases.......yes!
http://www.gcadvanced.com/images/games/NintendoDSb.jpg

holy crap! look how small those cards are O_O

[Rev. Link]

Wow, seeing that picture really makes the DS remind me of a Game n' Watch.

And I must say, it looks fairly sleek when it's folded up. Very nice, Nintendo. :)

[Ed Oscuro]

Now, what has me nervous is wherher these Memory Cards will be erasable.
I guarantee you they won't be ;)

They're an extension of the tech in the old GBA carts - that, or they work in the same manner and the pins react the same way. Doesn't sound like much, but I'd expect Sony's Memory Stick and, say, Crystal Flash cards to react a bit differently.

[davidbrit2]

First of all, I would bet money that the cards they use will be their own proprietary form factor. SD cards are just being brought up for comparison.

As for price, blank cards probably cost you about $50 because they have to have read/write hardware, whereas a bunch of mass produced read only cards need less sophisticated hardware. So I'm sure it won't be a problem.

[sisko]

First of all, I would bet money that the cards they use will be their own proprietary form factor. SD cards are just being brought up for comparison.

Oh most definitely. If they were a standard card, copying and emulation would be WAY too easy to get away with,

[autobotracing]

Im really like the game and watch look!


I hope the games are going to be decently priced. x_x

[Jasoco]

About time they put games in plastic cases! Let's hope they switch to them for GBA games as well. I do believe the new GBA Video's are also gonna be in plastic. I plan on buying all of them eventually just to have. And having plastic cases is convenient. I really wish they had done this from the beginning. The cardboard boxes are too fragile. And even Jewel cases die fast. But the DVD style boxes are great as are Clamshells. Kudos, Nintendo. I absolutely can not wait.

[NintendoMan]

That's awesome that there is a place to puts in the new memory card type games, then i guess another slot to put in GBA games.

Does anybody know if the DS will only play GBA games, or will it play all GB games like the GBA SP.

Making this system backwards compatible is the smartest thing nintendo could have done.
I mean they have already sold one more in my house. Besides me getting one of course, I talked my brother into getting a DS in the fall, instead of getting one for his birthday in august. He wanted a GBA to play gameboy games. But now is getting th DS!

[NintendoMan]

Hey, and what's up with everyone not liking cardboard cases anymore. I love the cardboard boxes, as long as you keep them in good shape, which of course I do. Plastic cases can crack easily and the plastic on them fades if you keep the game out and dust hits it.

And plus, these are just demo cases, so who knows if DS games will actually be sold in plastic cases?

[Ed Oscuro]

Cardboard boxes are alright, but when you combine shrinkwrap...

They really just don't do that well. Nothing beats a well designed Mega Drive or x68000 clamshell case, NOTHING.

;o

[rbudrick]

Hmmm, 2 slots....I wonder if this will come in handy when you have say, blue and red pokemon games and want to trade monsters...shit there's 2 screens...why not?

-Rob

[Jasoco]

Hmmm, 2 slots....I wonder if this will come in handy when you have say, blue and red pokemon games and want to trade monsters...shit there's 2 screens...why not?

-RobNo, the two slots are different.

[Rev. Link]

About time they put games in plastic cases! Let's hope they switch to them for GBA games as well. I do believe the new GBA Video's are also gonna be in plastic. I plan on buying all of them eventually just to have. And having plastic cases is convenient. I really wish they had done this from the beginning. The cardboard boxes are too fragile. And even Jewel cases die fast. But the DVD style boxes are great as are Clamshells. Kudos, Nintendo. I absolutely can not wait.

Another thing, these plastic cases will save space. I'm having quite a time trying to find room for all my games on my shelves now as it is.

[Daniel Thomas]

Count me in for a DS. Like most everyone, I was questioning Nintendo's sanity until they finally unveiled the new handheld. It looks great. It seems like they've been listening to the complaints -- small size of the SP, only A and B buttons, etc.

Dumb question, though: does this thing have shoulder buttons? I'd have to assume it does, sine shoulder buttons have been standard since the SNES, but the photos don't have a clear view of the back.

Add in backwards compatibility and you have one killer game system. I'm really wondering if Sony can really compete if their PSP is as expensive as everyone says it will be.

[Jasoco]

Shoulder buttons = Yes

So, the DS is finally the SNES. Except, it SHOULD be an N64. So it's once again missing buttons it could use to make compatible games. No stick or C buttons or Z button. *sigh*

[calthaer]

Does anybody know if the DS will only play GBA games, or will it play all GB games like the GBA SP?

This is the question I want to know, too. Gargoyle's Quest is too cool for me to give up that easily...and what about SML2 and Wario Land?

[Ed Oscuro]

Does anybody know if the DS will only play GBA games, or will it play all GB games like the GBA SP?

This is the question I want to know, too. Gargoyle's Quest is too cool for me to give up that easily...and what about SML2 and Wario Land?
In a video I saw earlier it was said the system will be able to play 500 GBA games...now the system will have to have support for every GBA/GB/GBC audio channel since some GBA titles mix and match, but I'm not sure about compatibility.

But yeah...Gargoyle's Quest is one of the best games on the original GB, I'd hate to miss that one too :o

[Crush Crawfish]

I'm really looking forward to a DS, but I want to know this:

If nintendo claims that the DS is not to replace the GBA, then why does it play GBA games? Doesn't that make the GBA obsolete? Maybe we'll be seeing a drastic price drop for the GBA? I dunno. I'm just confused.

[chadtower]

If nintendo claims that the DS is not to replace the GBA, then why does it play GBA games? Doesn't that make the GBA obsolete?

Absolutely not. Does a newer, bigger TV with better sound make your regular TV obsolete? No. It only means there are better ones on the market than the one you have. Your TV still works just fine and is fully supported.

[Jasoco]

I'm going to miss the small portability of my GBA SP, because once I have a DS, there ain't no freaking way I'm going without DS games! No freaking way.

[Rev. Link]

But the DS looks like it's only the size of two SPs side-by-side. Bigger, yes, but not out of the question, IMO.

[Hep038]

The only reason I can think Nintendo would say it is not replacing the GBA is because of price. If the SP and the DS are close in price no one would buy a SP anymore. That makes me think that the DS price of 199 seems about right. Thats a price driffrence that would keep both units in stores.

[Rev. Link]

Well, they could also mean that DS won't replace GBA 'cuz DS won't be able to play GBA games in multiplayer. Remember, didn't Nintendo say that you won't be able to use the GBA wireless adapter to play games that aren't specifically designed for it?

If all DS mulitplayer is wireless, that means you won't be able to play most GBA games multiplayer on the DS.

[macabre26]

Here's a thought for you all... I think the main reason that Nintendo has taken the same old route with carts/cards are the load times. My main complaint (other than price) about the PSP is that with a disc setup the load times always come back to haunt me in the end. On the other hand we have the GBA with practically no load times, ever... from what I've seen at least, which is only through my brother. The DS in my opinion is going to be the revolutionary system to hit the market in many years. Though I love the GBA, this should blow it all away.. as a friend of mine mentioned the other day...

Imagine sitting on the a bus playing a networked game of quake with a dozen other people... all going to work.

I think Sony is in a lot of trouble at this point. The PSP look really nice, but I hadn't really looked at the DS until a few days ago. Its blown me right out of the water. I had said this was my last generation of console, but I wasn't every big on the portable side. But I'll definately get myself a DS.

[Lady Jaye]

From what I saw of the Nintendo conference online, it seems that the DS fits in a man's hand. So, its size is probably somewhere between the GBA and the SP.

[Spartikcus]

I really am digging the new casing for the DS, it looks nice and sturdy,
The PSP on the other hand gives me the feeling that if I put it in my pocket it's going to snap in half. Anyone else feel this way?

[Drexel923]

From what I saw of the Nintendo conference online, it seems that the DS fits in a man's hand. So, its size is probably somewhere between the GBA and the SP.

From IGN...


It's approximately as wide as the original Game Boy Advance system, and designed in clamshell fashion exactly as the Game Boy Advance SP is.

http://gameboy.ign.com/articles/513/513150p1.html

[suppafly]

Someone has forgot the whole point of the DS release: what about 2d games?

Right now, the GBA is the only system with GOOD 2d games IMHO...will those awesome games go away, and will we play 3d games only on handhelds from now on??? Personally i think the DS looks nice, but i dont wanna say goodbye to 2-d games...

[Ed Oscuro]

Someone has forgot the whole point of the DS release: what about 2d games?
That was not the point of the DS's release. It's about as powerful as an N64, remember? If games reqire a 2D viewpoint, they'll use that viewpoint, and that's really the end of the story. More graphics power is - more power for the graphics!