Should I buy a DS?

[zardosbacon66]

MY PSP slim with custom firmware gets way more time than my DS lite. In fact, I don't think I've even touched my DS since I got my PSP.

I'm on the verge of selling the DS, it seems pretty useless to me now.

 

[knumpify]

1. the older ones are more durable
2. the trigger buttons wear out fast if you get hooked on mario kart, but get it anyway.
3. *cough*R4*cough*, look into it to uh... "Backup" your games

 

[runtheplacered]

3. *cough*R4*cough*, look into it to uh... "Backup" your games

DS games are the cheapest shelf price of any console/system ever, to resort to piracy on a $20 game is pathetic.

I don't know about every publisher, but Square-Enix games start at $39.99. Actually the median price is $30 for new DS games in general. When you take into account purchasing.. say.. 5 games, that's $150. If you say that's nothing.. then you've obviously lived your entire life a very privileged human being. But that wouldn't mean you get to tell others how to spend their money.

I'm not saying piracy is great, and everyone should do it.. but I wouldn't call it pathetic, either. It is what it is. It's somebody trying to save themselves some money... without the moral dilemma that actual stealing has with it.. such as walking into a store and robbing a physical item off of a shelf, for instance. (with piracy there is no missing item.. so certainly you can't just call it stealing without adding some new philosophical context to the term.)

Anyway.. just my 2 cents.

As for the OP.. Absolutely get a DS.. they're fantastic little devices. I had to sit in line at the DMV the other day.. and I would have gone insane from boredom without it!

 

[Strafe Mcgee]

Emphatically, yes. There's something on the system for everyone, including the mighty Mario Kart DS, probably the greatest Mario Kart ever made.

 

[mwhite67]

If you like bad graphics and 97 out of 100 crappy games then yes buy one in fact buy 2. Seriously though advance wars and caslevania are pretty fun.

 

[monodiabloloco]

I own both a psp and a ds. My psp hasn't been seen for months and i've only owned it for maybe 4 months.
The DS is a ton of fun. Especially if you get one for your daughter too. there are all sorts of games that you can play multiplayer with one cart. Mario Kart is def a must.. as has been mentioned.. but there are a ton more.
Personally, if you are at all into RPGs and like match games even a lil, get Puzzle Quest asap. I think it's on the Wii too though..

 

[REDPill357]

But yes buy one, and MarioKart DS too.

Can't say it much better than that really.

Yes you can. Buy one, MarioKart DS, and Contra 4.

Contra 4 may not be something for your daughter, but it is an awesome game. Nothing like a lil' retro action to get the blood pumping. It's tough, but that's the whole appeal. It gets crazy difficult when you're fighting a boss that's one-and-a-half DS screens high, and two screens across. Tell me that ain't awesome or manly.

 

[Pharsyde]

Saved me on a 18hr bus trip back home. The DS made that trip feel like maybe 3 hours. It works wonders.

 

[slyder35]

Thanks for all the comments, nice to see some constructive ones instead of the flames that tend to abound from disillusioned grumps.

My daughter is only 3 so probably the only sorts of games I could get for her would be Dora, Drawn to Life, etc. She'd grow into it I guess - but is there any word on the street of a new handheld that would replace the DS-Lite? Would hate to buy this then it's obsolete in 12 months.

 

[Same River New Water]

The argument that digital media isn't theft because you aren't taking the original is utter bullshit that pirates tell themselves to feel better about being low-down criminals.

Uh yeah, way to explain your point instead of just abusing your opponents. Look, that argument is correct: it is not theft if you're not taking anything away from anyone. That doesn't mean it's not bad, it's just not theft. By definition.

Theft [http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=theft]: the wrongful taking and carrying away of the personal goods or property of another.

Again: I'm not saying it isn't bad, I'm just saying a casual glance at the dictionary will tell you it is not theft.

And I suspect you're not Australian. Australians get unjustifiably price-gouged for digital media. Game and music label execs are on record admitting that the only reason prices never went down when the value of the Australian dollar rose is because people had got used to paying a lot to import this stuff when our dollar was cheap, and now that it's almost on par with the American dollar ($AU1 = $US0.93) most of them just haven't figured out they should be paying less, so the companies can pocket the difference. Now maybe in your hardline view of things that makes no difference, Piracy Is Always Wrong. Well, I don't know if you're American, but the United States was formed as a country when it refused to keep being overcharged by its hegemonic supplier, Britain, and few people think of that as criminal fraud. So let's say we have a certain precedent. (I'd mention the Eureka Stockade, but I don't suppose many of you foreigners have heard of it.)

Blah blah blah, that example is irrelevant because tax is compulsory and commerce is voluntary. To paraphrase you, that's utter bullshit that corporate suits tell themselves to feel better about being low-down extortionists. I'm not going to deny myself all forms of my favourite pastime on a point of abstract ethics.

* * *

Ok, sorry, back to the topic. Slyder: get a DS. Don't worry about it becoming obsolete; it's (close to) the best-selling console in history, so it will be well supported for a long, long time yet. In fact, one of the best things about it is that it has such a huge library of games. Sure, a certain percentage of them are shovelware, but even in just the cream of the crop [http://www.metacritic.com/games/ds/scores/] there are more outstanding games than you'll ever get around to playing.

I have a DS Lite which I play every day and I've never had any of the problems mentioned above, but I bought a protective plastic case to go with it - probably a good idea for any handheld, especially with a child around.

For your daughter: do get Nintendogs. DON'T get Catz, Ponyz, Hamsterz etc.

 

[JC123]

I've been thinking about getting one myself lately, I know there's at least a handful of DS only games I'd play, it's just considering whether the enjoyment I'll get is worth the significant outlay originally ($169 for the handheld, plus $50+ for new games). Then there's the consideration of how much I'll actually get to use it.

I bought a PSP shortly after launch, and it's been a relationship with ups and downs. I've got only about 6 games for it, and although I love those games, I haven't touched it in a quite a few months, maybe even a year. Being a handheld it's not as convenient to play as a console or even a PC if you're at home (charging it, small screen, cramped fingers after long sessions, etc). If you've only got a few games for it, it's also very easy to just get bored - you beat all of them, or get to parts you're stuck on (that's a problem with any system you only just bought though). One of the reasons I'm a bit concerned about buying a DS is that I think it'll go the same way, since all the problems I've had are with handhelds in general and not the system itself. The PSP is great for mature aged games: FPS, racers, sports games, that sort of thing, its also got all the added multimedia features, but I personally don't use those much. The DS seems better for the good old action-adventure games, retro classics, and kids' games.

Then again, I might just get one, I'm in a gaming mood lately. Looking to buy a few more PSP games and get a decent library going, and I've also been considering buying an old NES, just to play all the games from my childhood again. Then again, maybe a DS/Wii would save me doing that.

Khell_Sennet, on a side note, I disagree with you on Piracy, but I'll save that for another thread to avoid taking this one off-topic again.

 

[slyder35]

Fraser : see your point totally as I'm aussie too, but doing something against the law to get even at something that you don't see as fair (fair game prices) isn't really the way to go about it, or we could justify all sorts of crimes for those same reasons.

The console creators themselves have something to answer for as they've implemented region-protection, which allows the retailers in those regions to lock down (and screw the consumer) pricing if they so wish. Same as fuel, though we are at the whim of the wholesalers in that case. No real answer, just choose your games wisely I guess to justify the $$ spent.

 

[Voodoo Child]

Actually, there is no region lock on DS games., so you could easily import cheaper games from the US.

 

[slyder35]

no region lock on DS? ooooooh - shows how much I know. this is good news though - just the shipping cost to worry about. hello amazon.com here I come. might buy it on the weekend.

 

[Voodoo Child]

I've gotten some really good deals on eBay, too.

Say, 3 games, totalling up to $15 each incl. postage.

 

[BlueMage]

Slyder, mate, as a fellow Aussie gamer and PC gamer, I can honestly say, you can do far worse than get a DS. Some of the most fun I've had (with clothes on) has been when I've had that little thing in my hands. You've got whip-out-and-play titles like Mario Kart and Elite Beat Agents, all the way up to some truly inspired PC-worthy RPG titles.

 

[runtheplacered]

I don't know about every publisher, but Square-Enix games start at $39.99. Actually the median price is $30 for new DS games in general. When you take into account purchasing.. say.. 5 games, that's $150. If you say that's nothing.. then you've obviously lived your entire life a very privileged human being. But that wouldn't mean you get to tell others how to spend their money.

Not having the money to purchase something does not give a person the right to take it anyways. I'm not going to argue this overmuch because it won't change anyone's mind, but whether it's stealing a pack of chewing gum, or stealing a car, theft is theft. The argument that digital media isn't theft because you aren't taking the original is utter bullshit that pirates tell themselves to feel better about being low-down criminals. Now if this were a matter of stealing bread to feed yourself, I cold sympathize... But games are a luxury item, and not essential to life.

" but whether it's stealing a pack of chewing gum, or stealing a car, theft is theft."

I'm sorry, but that's false. As someone else already pointed out, you can't just make up definitions for words to appease your own morals. Sorry. Life just doesn't work that way. The word theft already has a definition, and that isn't it.

"I'm not going to argue this"

Usually I'm not so blunt, but this isn't a matter of opinion.. it's a matter of fact. There's nothing you can argue.. you were wrong about your definition of theft. Case closed.

"Now if this were a matter of stealing bread to feed yourself, I cold sympathize... But games are a luxury item, and not essential to life"

Now there is an interesting moral dilemma you brought up. But that's really jumping ship from the original topic, so I'll leave you to your opinion. I just want to note.. that's that is all that it is. Your opinion. As long as you realize that, we don't really have anything left to argue about.

Again, I'm not saying piracy is good, bad, or whatever you want to call it. I'm just telling you that it is not black and white like you want to pretend it is. If you don't understand the situation that is piracy, then how can you come up with valid conclusions? You can't. I would suggest really giving this whole piracy thing some thought.. because I don't think you really have, yet.

Side note about the R4 and the DS: (there's another chip called an M3, also). These chips do indeed allow you to pirate games.. but unfortunately the piracy overshadows the actual useful things these chips can do. You can put music and movies on your R4.. or you can put homebrew applications.. such as an internet browser (if you don't want to use the shitty "official" opera browser that you can purchase).. or all kinds of other neat, home-made homebrew applications. Really opens up the doors to what a DS can do.. it doesn't have to just be a piece of gaming equipment.