Cubed 3: NDS Analysis | Nintendo's Date with Destiny!

(Nintendo Box Shot from Nintendo.com)

Here is a very positive article from Cubed-3:

"So there we have it, the final release date and pricing details have been released for the world to see. But just what does this mean? Exactly how will this affect the world of gaming? And will Nintendo and the DS portable be able to obtain a large enough market share before the Sony PSP hits the streets? So many questions, so many speculative answers that can be provided.

First of all let us look again at those release dates. Straight away we find there is the major surprise of Nintendo deciding that for the first time ever, the West is deemed more important than the East and is releasing the Nintendo DS in the US on the 21st of the eleventh month for the amazing price of $149.99. This is a major step in the right direction. Many companies have highlighted that the Eastern market has been in somewhat of a rut lately and the Western side of gaming is definitely on the rise. Nintendo has been realising this slowly and has obviously spotted the key US holiday of Thanksgiving as the perfect opportunity to put this new way of thinking into motion.

(Image from Nintendo.com)

So not only will the NDS be launched at a prime buying time of the year in the States, but will also be coming it at an entry-level price-point. Anyone wanting to make an impulse purchase would have normally bought the GBA: SP for $100, but that has now been reduced to make way for the low-priced NDS (clever move by Nintendo to avoid the price clash and many millions of complaints from fans everywhere). The sub $150 mark is at least $50 less than many analysts were predicting and several of the websites and stores that had already begun taking pre-orders will have to rectify their price estimates extremely sharpish to adjust to the shockingly low cost. Just think about it, you will soon be able to get something more powerful than the Nintendo 64 and yet dainty enough to squeeze perfectly into your sweaty little hands for what is pocket money to parents in the seasonal spirit!

But what of the Sony PlayStation Portable? What has happened with regards to that? Well, the latest news is that apparently it will hit the Land of the Rising Sun before the DS's début over there (2nd December for the Nintendo system at a paltry ¥15,000), but will definitely slip to the First Quarter in North America. That is why Sony's primary focus in today's Press Conference (which occurred after Nintendo's massive unveiling) was none other than the smaller version of the PS2, which has yet to be officially dubbed the PStwo, and after looking at the prospective packaging might not actually end up with that mantle. Whilst looking sleek, the dinky PS2 has garnered criticism right from the offing, with its lack of extension for an external HDD, top-loading software (á la PSone) that will encouraging hot-disc-swapping to spur on the pirates out there and the fact that Sony has paid no regard to its userbase that have been crying out for four-player fun out of the box. Instead, to rub salt into the wounds, you are required to buy a completely new multi-tap as the previous ones are now rendered useless with this new model.

Anyway, the PSP has barely been touched upon today really, with the light shining brightly over the NDS and PS2's mini-me. Nintendo has only shown one slight fault with its newly released specifications sheet - and it is one that Sony is having trouble with as well - battery life. Yes, Nintendo has revealed that from a four-hour charge you can get between six and ten hours worth of play time out of your DualScreen's, depending on what they are being used for. Now, in all honesty, this is being viewed as a cop-out by Nintendo. A cheap way to get systems into houses before releasing a battery pack upgrade early next year that will boost the lifespan to around the fifteen hour mark. But hey, that is mere hearsay as of now, so do not hold your breath (or us accountable, hehe) if it proves to be false.

(image from Nintendo.com)

Finally, another brilliant surprise, for since good old 1989 there have been no games bundled with Nintendo portables, but now all is about to change and in a huge way as well. First of all there is the one that everyone had basically guessed about, the fact that PictoChat will come installed on the system so that players can interact with their friends by sending them messages via the wireless connection that stretches from thirty to a hundred feet depending on 'circumstances' (live in a lead box anyone?) or locating one of the increasing amount of Wi-Fi hotspots that are popping up around the world. Just think - Nintendo's proprietary wireless network and the 802.11b network that is already in place (anyone complaining about the lack of 'g' so far can shut the hell up right now...not the time!) - perfect for every situation! The DS Phone, it is about time Nintendo did something like this...

And to top it all off, we get a demo of Metroid Prime Hunters: First Hunt thrown into the bundle. Could you really spend $150 on anything better than this? A Nintendo DS, PictoChat and a taster of a new Metroid Prime game all in one mega-package. Amazing! Admittedly we still do not know if the Metroid game will be any better than the ropey game that was shown off at E3, but the chances of NST ruining such a strong franchise are slim to zero."

Jeremy: To answer your question, Gamespot: "Metroid Prime: Hunters, a first-person shooter featuring four-player wireless multiplayer, will feature a number of improvements on the E3 version. As Nintendo software impresario Shigeru Miyamoto said in an E3 interview, the final game will feature a standard D-pad-and-buttons control scheme in addition to the stylus control shown off at E3. First Hunt should reflect this as well. "We've improved the playability and have done different things from the player-control standpoint," Fils-Aime said this morning. "The game has changed modestly for the better."

"You will get to try out the single-player first-person mode and sample the multi-player levels with up to three other friends via wireless and from just the one DS card. Magical...

These are indeed the things that dreams are made of and now all we have to do is wait to see if they all come true in just a few months time."