First let me do some apologising, the title of this blog truly is the worst title to ever exist on Giantbomb. But it's Saturday morning here in bright sunny England and my head hurts like hell so give a fellow gamer a break. Hopefully you can at least see that I was trying to be humourous with such a title, but I of all people should know that I'm not exactly a funny type of guy so I should leave the comedy to those who can actually pull of such humourous titles. Secondly I have been going through a bit of a writers block of sorts, my mind as been totally blank these past two weeks and it's effected a lot of non-game related projects I've been working on. The only reason I'm doing a blog today is due to my eagerness to discuss a matter that as me interested, so let's begin.
As all should now know, Nintendo have released their latest edition of the Nintendo Dual Screen or DS as we all now know it as. The technically named DSi hopes to improve on the brilliant DS Lite in as many ways as possible and I finally got the chance to mess around with one last night. Now when Nintendo first announced the DSi I, like many gamers was a little bit cautious. It wasn't that I simply didn't like the idea, it made perfect financial sense for Nintendo to release a new version of their portable console this year. I had more of an issue of why, why did the DS need another edition when the DS Lite is still such a fantastic portable console and without a doubt easily one of the best there as ever been. It's because of my thinking that led me to discuss the matter in this blog entry. It surprised me to see such excitment over the DSi when technically I saw nothing that was a 'Must Have' feature to my portable gaming. Reading tweets from folks who were delighted and over the moon with their own personal DSi purchases. Now I wish no hate upon such people, I'm delighted for them infact as such launches only make the gaming industry stronger and stronger.
The DSi as yet to convinced me it's a must have edition of the DS.
The potential issue lies with our current generation of wanting the latest gadgets and toys. I couldn't help but feel that a lot of the hype and excitment surrounding the DSi was bred from folks who were simply excited to get a new gadget. Now those who may have read my past blog entries will know that I'm not a huge Nintendo fan, but I do love the DS Lite and the many brilliant games avaliable for the system. I'm also not saying the DSi is not worth the money because it clearly as features that folks enjoy having, but I honestly believe the hype of the DSi as come from mostly none hardcore gamers. I simply can't see how having two camera's will make my portable gaming sessions any better plus a number of technically decisions never sat well with me. The fact that the DSi started to use a form of region locking on DSi specific software frustrates me as I've always been happy with purchasing DS games from both the United States and Japan. Many of my fellow European gamers will know that we often get the short end of the stick when it comes to Japanese released games.
So as I said eariler I got a chance to actually use one for around two hours, it belonged to a friend of mine and I got to use some of the DSi's newest features. While I will admit to finding it quite a pleasant experience with Nintendo's top build quality clearly shining through. I couldn't help but still wonder why I needed some of these new features. The cameras in particular didn't make much sense to me, it very much felt like I was playing with the EyeToy on the Playstation 3 (a point Jeff made on the latest Giant Bombcast). It also wasn't that much fun to use, despite that I sense it could have it's uses as a normal camera with the new ability for the DSi to use SD cards and I could probably see myself using them on occasion, though I would much rather just use my better quality camera. One feature that did interest me was the larger screens, yet again these are neat and do make a difference (especially the touch screen) but I don't believe them to be a must have for my games to be enjoyable when the current DS Lite screens do a good enough job. The SD card reading abilities could actually be one of the DSi's best features in my opinion and the new user interface upon start up as clearly been well thought out and designed so it definatly as some redeeming qualities to like. So overall I enjoyed my time with the DSi, but could I see myself spending £149.99 on one when I currently have two good DS Lites? Simple answer would be No, at least not yet.
You to can look like Mario, which is fun for about 5 seconds.Well I didn't want this blog to go on to long, I haven't been typing/writing much lately so my typing fingers are eager to test out my new keyboard. But please don't think I'm hateing on the Nintendo DSi, it as a number of sensible new features that could prove me wrong. But in another 15 years time I honestly believe that when we all look back at the Nintendo DS, we won't be thinking about the DSi but the DS Lite which is still a stunning portable console, the Lite made vast improvements over the poor quality of the original launch DS and that's why it shall be remembered more fondly. While I to might decide to purchase a DSi sometime in the future, my early concerns and worries have held true. I can't help but feel that the DSi currently as a gimmicky feel to it overall then an actual true improvment over the DS Lite. I did enjoy the slightly larger screen and the new user interface is offers something new and fresh. But the cameras feel strangely out of place and I didn't find them to be as much fun to use as I was hoping. Interestingly despite my criticism I still strongely believe the DSi often more useful improvements then the recent PSP - 3000 which seemed like a cheap cash in to me. So while I'm still yet to be convinced by the DSi, I do believe it deserves more of my time to see what Nintendo and developers can create with the technology avaliable. I just won't be spending £149.99 on a console that doesn't offer anything I either already have or don't need.
Thanks for taking the time to read my blog. Joseph Bayliss (TrueEnglishGent).
First let me do some apologising, the title of this blog truly is the worst title to ever exist on Giantbomb. But it's Saturday morning here in bright sunny England and my head hurts like hell so give a fellow gamer a break. Hopefully you can at least see that I was trying to be humourous with such a title, but I of all people should know that I'm not exactly a funny type of guy so I should leave the comedy to those who can actually pull of such humourous titles. Secondly I have been going through a bit of a writers block of sorts, my mind as been totally blank these past two weeks and it's effected a lot of non-game related projects I've been working on. The only reason I'm doing a blog today is due to my eagerness to discuss a matter that as me interested, so let's begin.
As all should now know, Nintendo have released their latest edition of the Nintendo Dual Screen or DS as we all now know it as. The technically named DSi hopes to improve on the brilliant DS Lite in as many ways as possible and I finally got the chance to mess around with one last night. Now when Nintendo first announced the DSi I, like many gamers was a little bit cautious. It wasn't that I simply didn't like the idea, it made perfect financial sense for Nintendo to release a new version of their portable console this year. I had more of an issue of why, why did the DS need another edition when the DS Lite is still such a fantastic portable console and without a doubt easily one of the best there as ever been. It's because of my thinking that led me to discuss the matter in this blog entry. It surprised me to see such excitment over the DSi when technically I saw nothing that was a 'Must Have' feature to my portable gaming. Reading tweets from folks who were delighted and over the moon with their own personal DSi purchases. Now I wish no hate upon such people, I'm delighted for them infact as such launches only make the gaming industry stronger and stronger.
The DSi as yet to convinced me it's a must have edition of the DS.
The potential issue lies with our current generation of wanting the latest gadgets and toys. I couldn't help but feel that a lot of the hype and excitment surrounding the DSi was bred from folks who were simply excited to get a new gadget. Now those who may have read my past blog entries will know that I'm not a huge Nintendo fan, but I do love the DS Lite and the many brilliant games avaliable for the system. I'm also not saying the DSi is not worth the money because it clearly as features that folks enjoy having, but I honestly believe the hype of the DSi as come from mostly none hardcore gamers. I simply can't see how having two camera's will make my portable gaming sessions any better plus a number of technically decisions never sat well with me. The fact that the DSi started to use a form of region locking on DSi specific software frustrates me as I've always been happy with purchasing DS games from both the United States and Japan. Many of my fellow European gamers will know that we often get the short end of the stick when it comes to Japanese released games.
So as I said eariler I got a chance to actually use one for around two hours, it belonged to a friend of mine and I got to use some of the DSi's newest features. While I will admit to finding it quite a pleasant experience with Nintendo's top build quality clearly shining through. I couldn't help but still wonder why I needed some of these new features. The cameras in particular didn't make much sense to me, it very much felt like I was playing with the EyeToy on the Playstation 3 (a point Jeff made on the latest Giant Bombcast). It also wasn't that much fun to use, despite that I sense it could have it's uses as a normal camera with the new ability for the DSi to use SD cards and I could probably see myself using them on occasion, though I would much rather just use my better quality camera. One feature that did interest me was the larger screens, yet again these are neat and do make a difference (especially the touch screen) but I don't believe them to be a must have for my games to be enjoyable when the current DS Lite screens do a good enough job. The SD card reading abilities could actually be one of the DSi's best features in my opinion and the new user interface upon start up as clearly been well thought out and designed so it definatly as some redeeming qualities to like. So overall I enjoyed my time with the DSi, but could I see myself spending £149.99 on one when I currently have two good DS Lites? Simple answer would be No, at least not yet.
You to can look like Mario, which is fun for about 5 seconds.Well I didn't want this blog to go on to long, I haven't been typing/writing much lately so my typing fingers are eager to test out my new keyboard. But please don't think I'm hateing on the Nintendo DSi, it as a number of sensible new features that could prove me wrong. But in another 15 years time I honestly believe that when we all look back at the Nintendo DS, we won't be thinking about the DSi but the DS Lite which is still a stunning portable console, the Lite made vast improvements over the poor quality of the original launch DS and that's why it shall be remembered more fondly. While I to might decide to purchase a DSi sometime in the future, my early concerns and worries have held true. I can't help but feel that the DSi currently as a gimmicky feel to it overall then an actual true improvment over the DS Lite. I did enjoy the slightly larger screen and the new user interface is offers something new and fresh. But the cameras feel strangely out of place and I didn't find them to be as much fun to use as I was hoping. Interestingly despite my criticism I still strongely believe the DSi often more useful improvements then the recent PSP - 3000 which seemed like a cheap cash in to me. So while I'm still yet to be convinced by the DSi, I do believe it deserves more of my time to see what Nintendo and developers can create with the technology avaliable. I just won't be spending £149.99 on a console that doesn't offer anything I either already have or don't need.
Thanks for taking the time to read my blog. Joseph Bayliss (TrueEnglishGent).
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