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DS means Damn Sexy, and why I think the PSP smells.
-By Stephen Kelley-
-Presented by DMG Ice.com-
-A touchable article.-
-Presented 10/12/2005-
I was one of the early adopters of the Nintendo DS. After seeing the E3 2004 footage of the system with that Reggie guy cramming it down everyone’s throat and demanding we buy it, I felt a desire to own one. I was either scared by Reggie, or wanted to see what exactly Nintendo could pull off with this extraordinary system.
The main selling point for me was that I had not purchased a GBA SP, and was holding out for the next wave of Gameboys, this was mainly because it seems that whenever I buy a handheld a new version of it comes out.
I then realized that the DS was more of an updated Game and Watch than a new Game Boy and it played GBA games. I was sold. Sometime around January 2005, I purchased 2 DSs (one for me and one for my Fiancée) and a few games including Mr. Driller, Wario Ware, Mario 64 DS, and Feel the magic XX/XY.
Now I currently own:
- Advance Wars: Dual Strike
- Feel the magic XX/XY
- Kirby: Canvas Curse
- Mr. Driller: Drill Spirits
- Puyo Pop Fever
- Super Mario 64 DS
- Sprung
- Wario Ware: Touched!
- Zoo Keeper
Even though there were not many games that were anything but a tech demo of some sorts, I loved all the games I purchased that first day. The new touch-screen and microphone were a breath of fresh air for someone who is getting tired of games like Splinter Cell where you actually have to be Tom Clancy to play it. There comes a time in any gamers life that he looks back and wonders where all the fun went in games. I love the occasional simulation game, but too much is bad. I do not remember playing Super Mario Bros. 3 on the NES back in ’91 and having to worry about Mario having to field dress a wound he obtained by a stray Bullet Bill attack only using sticks and some alligator juice.
That is what I see is the problem with most games nowadays, they are too immersive. At some point people will realize that these games have gone to far when there is a game where you work at McDonalds and fry burgers for Cash so you can open minigames, or something else that mimics the real world too much. This is what handheld games (and the DS especially) do the best with, balancing fun and immersion.
I watched later on that year as the Sony PSP came out with tons of games and UMD movies, and did not budge, because I knew if I waited a bit longer all sorts of good games would be coming out to me. The Sony Playstation and Playstation 2 were not instant hits, and neither hit their stride until a few years after their release. It was silly of me to expect blockbuster games from the beginning. Even the XBox almost dissolved based on its poor launch, aside from the strong numbers Halo had, now it has hit a stride that has made it very popular in the US.
Why have I jumped on the bandwagon with such ferocity, you may ask? Why has Steve, the die hard Sony fan, decided that he does not want a PSP and has opted for a weaker machine?
Well, the truth is, I could care less about a mini PS2.
If I wanted to play PS2, I would play my PS2 at home on my TV. And if I wanted to play 5 year old games like Wipeout and a port of Twisted Metal Black, I will visit the value-bin of a local game store and spend ¼ the price for twice as much game. And, finally, if I wanted to watch an old movie like “Short Circuit”; I would watch it on Comedy Central for free, rent it, or buy it brand new on DVD for 8 dollars rather than 20 bucks for a UMD movie.
I have, so far, watched the PSP go from an awe inducing system that week when it first came out to an expensive waste of money. It went from a system that was so “cool” a few of my friends sold off their DSs to get one to an insanely EXPENSIVE minidisk DVD player with NO good games outside of sports games. Those same said friends have purchased their DS over again to play good games.
The main strength of the DS is innovative game play. As I played Feel the Magic, and Wario Ware, I noticed that I had never really played a game with a touch screen that actually utilized it well. The interface, which is odd at first, becomes a second nature. You wish more games had touch screen capabilities. Also, having two screens really speeds up gameplay and makes it a bit more fun. Rather than pausing the game to look at a map, the map is there from the beginning. You have to admit, that is what we really want in quite a few games. So, instead of handheld games with great graphics, and bad controls, we get fun games. It is basically what we saw happening with the original gameboy, it had bad graphics, but was fun, and thus it beat all its competitors.
Next month we are going to be witnessing the dawn of the flux of DS games that will soon grace our systems. We will get our first traditional RPG in Lunar Dragon Song, our Castlevania game, a few point and click and text adventure games once seen as a dead genre (Phoenix Wright and Trace Memory), and the next Metroid game.
What does this mean for us, the fans that could care less about flashy graphics and opt to play good games instead? It means we are the winners!
After looking around on the internet; I have come up with a magical list, worth its weight in gold! (Okay, maybe not.)
Upcoming games that I say look good (because that is all that matters) for September – November 2005 or so.
- Lunar: Dragon Song – Despite some mediocre reviews, this will be a new RPG on the DS. Plus, it is a Lunar game, it has gotta be at least average.
- Trace Memory – A point and click murder mystery with voice recognition and stylus puzzles? YES!
- Lost in Blue – So, it is basically a videogame version of “The Blue Lagoon” minus Brooke Shields. Sounds like it could be bad, but from what I can tell is pretty good, quite possibly the only game I will get that is in any way like “The Sims”
- Castlevania Dawn of Sorrow – It is a given that I will buy this. It IS Castlevania guys. C’mon!
- Metroid Prime: Hunters – I had enough fun with the demo for “First Hunt”, which was only 3 levels, that I will definitely be picking this up, especially since it has internet support. Kind of a shame it got delayed into 2006 though.
- Trauma Center – From what I saw that Phil was playing with the reviewable copy, I really want to pick this up, as text based adventure games are usually very fun, and its doctor based with Stylus operations!
- Phoenix Wright – Maybe I can play this instead of attending my Business Law class? I doubt that will work well, but this looks really fun, and besides what other game has you screaming OBJECTION! into it?
- Mario Kart DS – Online Mario Kart? ‘nuff said
- Animal Crossing Wild World – In all honesty my fiancée will be playing this, but what other way can you make a game more addicting than crack? That is right, toss it online!
- Viewtiful Joe – From what I’ve read in magazines, this looks really cool, the new powers you get to mess with really use the stylus to full extent.
- Mario and Luigi: Partners in Time – If it is half as good as Mario/Luigi for the GBA I’ll love it
- Chronicles of Narnia – The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe in Baldur’s Gate style? Sweet!
- Guilty Gear DS – One of the best fighting games on 2 screens!
Steve
-Editorial by Stephen Kelley-
-Property of dmgice.com-