Nintendo DS Thread(Price and Release date?)

mz · Post by mz » Mon Sep 13, 2004 4:35 pm

From 1up.com
By David Smith
09/10/2004

While you may take the news with as much salt as required to get it down, massive retailer Wal-Mart has published a release date and price for Nintendo's upcoming DS handheld. The retailer's website is soliciting orders for the DS at a price of $199.82, promising delivery on November 30.
Several industry sources have indicated that Nintendo plans to have the DS on the North American market before the end of November, before its Japanese release. However, it's kept a tight lid on any pricing details.

Nintendo of America has yet to comment on the subject. However, word of a Japanese event to promote the DS to the press shortly before the Tokyo Game Show (set to take place September 24-26) suggests that we'll have an answer one way or the other before the end of the month.

I honestly wasn't expecting it to be that much, and to be honest I'm not really sure I'll pay it. The Metroid game is nice and all, and with the cost of the system at $50 less it might have been enough to get me to buy the system for such a game, but as it stands, I'm just not inclined to get it.

I heard the game sucked anyways.

Xephonic · Post by **Xephonic** » Mon Sep 13, 2004 4:55 pm

but..but...castlevania..mana. 4 player goldeneye wifi

t-storm · Post by **t-storm** » Mon Sep 13, 2004 5:34 pm

I voted 'No' accidentally. ><

I will buy.

!~

Brody · Post by **Brody** » Mon Sep 13, 2004 5:51 pm

Only if the lineup is impressive. I'm gonna hold off throughout the initial release and wait for color changes, tattoo versions

, price drops, bundle packs, etc.

Scissors · Post by **Scissors** » Mon Sep 13, 2004 5:52 pm

No (for now). A bit too pricey for a handheld, and with the huge lineup of games coming out around that time, I just don't see a reason to buy it just yet.

j0hn Ayanami · Post by **j0hn Ayanami** » Mon Sep 13, 2004 6:13 pm

1) Too pricey.
2) I never play hand-helds to begin with
3) Too pricey.

There's no reason for me to upgrade to the DS over the GBA SP because I don't see any games I want to play on the DS yet.

Doom · Post by **Doom** » Mon Sep 13, 2004 6:14 pm

$200... wtf

mz · Post by mz » Mon Sep 13, 2004 6:54 pm

Xephonic wrote:but..but...castlevania..mana. 4 player goldeneye wifi

When they actually come out, I'll concider buying it.

But $200? For something I have a good chance of breaking (though I haven't broekn a handheld yet)? No thank jew.

TheDarkOne · Post by **TheDarkOne** » Mon Sep 13, 2004 7:06 pm

i stopped with handhelds after Gamyboy Color... dont own an Advanced.. i dont think a good handheld game has been made... EVER, i know i'll get a lot of shit "but metroid! golden sun ..yadayadayada" yea those games didnt suck... but that was about it...

t-storm · Post by **t-storm** » Mon Sep 13, 2004 7:12 pm

WTF?!

Saint Michael is that you?

mz · Post by mz » Mon Sep 13, 2004 7:13 pm

You're wrong, but ok.

The fact is. the GBA ended up just like the N64. Some great first party titles, some good upper tier developer titles (Castlevania), and the rest is utter shit. But it's not the case for all handhelds. The game gear had tons of excellent games, especially for its time. Not to mention that playing a gameboy while on campus is becoming socially acceptable as well as a good diversion.

TheDarkOne · Post by **TheDarkOne** » Mon Sep 13, 2004 7:23 pm

well i hail from Gameboy, color and game gear... i dont know much about GBA except for the two titles i meantioned, since i think gameboy died with the increasing of whoring out games to retarted licences like.. mary kate and ashly -whatever the fuck they're doing now- games... i mean.. barby ocean discovery?! wtf?? (my sister actually owns that).. if GBA is really as decent as N64 was... i saw it's too little too late, and this new one cant do them much better either, since the price is completly insane, so that only people inside the industry, and complete nut jobs (like the jew) would buy it at release. i know next to nothing about the specs for this DS, but it can't be that much better than GBA graphics, and from what i hear about a touch pad screen... that just sounds like a cheap gimick they're trying to throw in there to boost POSSIBLE sales. I hate to say it.. but i think Nintendo has lost a substantial amount of its magic from the olden days, not saying it's completely gone, but they just dont seem to be up to par anymore.

Kakeru · Post by **Kakeru** » Mon Sep 13, 2004 8:11 pm

However, it's kept a tight lid on any pricing details.

Doesn't this kind of imply that Walmart just made up the price? At least that's what this says to me. I notice the ariticle says nothing of Nintendo itself actually recomending a price. So I'm going to take that price as a possibility, but not a done deal.

Will I get one? Currently I can't afford it anyway. So I'm not really worried about it. The metroid game sounds cool, but it's not really something I'm interested in. What's the description I heard? "A stripped down version of Metroid Prime." I think.

Plaztik · Post by **Plaztik** » Mon Sep 13, 2004 8:14 pm

i voted no, because i bought my GBA right before GBA:SP was anounced

and because i might want to check out Sony's PSP instead

Kakeru · Post by **Kakeru** » Mon Sep 13, 2004 8:22 pm

The PSP does nothing for me. I have 0 interest in this "PSP" of yours.

I like how when you view the results of the poll, when you combine the %s of Yes and No it adds up to 99 and not 100%.

Phil · Post by **Phil** » Mon Sep 13, 2004 8:29 pm

I think $200 is a good estimate at the moments since places like Gamestop and EB have it set for about that price. If it is that much, I probably won't get it right away since I can't afford that much for the system let alone one game. I do hope to get one eventually.

As far as the graphics are concerned, I heard they are suppose to be slightly better than the N64. I think their games are going to be mini-cds now too if I'm not mistaken so that could be a reason for the high price.

mz · Post by mz » Mon Sep 13, 2004 8:45 pm

No, DO, it is MUCH better than GBA graphics. It actually looks like N64 graphics.

Doom · Post by **Doom** » Mon Sep 13, 2004 8:54 pm

Kakeru wrote:The PSP does nothing for me. I have 0 interest in this "PSP" of yours.

Maybe I'm just not a portable fan, but the PSP seems even more useless than the DS at this point.

TheDarkOne · Post by **TheDarkOne** » Mon Sep 13, 2004 8:54 pm

mz wrote:No, DO, it is MUCH better than GBA graphics. It actually looks like N64 graphics.

since when is that a good thing?? i'd rather have high rez sprites than clunky 3D models, and those screens look HORRIBLE... you'd think with how far technology has gotten they could make it look atleast a little better...

Doom · Post by **Doom** » Mon Sep 13, 2004 8:55 pm

dude those metroid pics are blown up like 999x

shmack · Post by **shmack** » Mon Sep 13, 2004 8:55 pm

I voted yes, but i'm not going to buy it right away for multiple reasons-

firstly, to let the price of games and the system drop a few times, and because it probably will cost an arm and a leg here in the UK (think about 199 POUNDS which is around 400USD) so I'll wait until I visit the states and pray to the gods of nintendo that it lacks region coding like the gba did.

t-storm · Post by **t-storm** » Mon Sep 13, 2004 9:01 pm

Doom wrote:dude those metroid pics are blown up like 999x

rofl

Scissors · Post by **Scissors** » Mon Sep 13, 2004 9:41 pm

I've had a PSP for 4 years now, only it's called a PS2 and I can't carry it around.

My point is that the PSP will probably just be an overpriced portable PS2. Right now, I'm seeing way too many games that are already available on the PS2 pretty much just being ported over.

Entr0pi3 · Post by **Entr0pi3** » Mon Sep 13, 2004 9:59 pm

Concerning the DS... I think I'll buy it, but first I'll wait to see if the upcoming titles are worth the trouble. I think the hardware is interesting in term of user interface, but will the developer really take advantage of it in term of gameplay ?
So, must wait and see... (and wait for the initial price to drop, too)

I'm not interested in in the PSP at all, on the other hand.

Concerning the GBA, I dunno, personally I think games such as FFTA, Advance Wars, or Castlevania were worth it (+ some remakes of classics from the 8/16 bits era) (+ my large collection of GB and GBC games, of course...). The remakes I know I could have played on an emulator, but not in the train or in the bus (nor in a lecture hall

)
+ playing in a public area is a great opportunity to attract new friends

Arashi · Post by **Arashi** » Mon Sep 13, 2004 10:04 pm

$200

I don't really care for the graphics or how many people you can link up to on the wireles network but handheld games usually seems like something you pick up only because you're reallly really bored and have nothing else to do. So in other words, none of these games interest me far enough to the point where I'll be craving to play it day and night. Even if I do play it, the longest I'll go is like 5min. Kinda like cell phone games.

I was never into handhelds so I won't be getting this.

WaWard · Post by **WaWard** » Mon Sep 13, 2004 10:45 pm

I voted no because there's barely any games that I want to play on it. We'll see in time, and when it drops in price.

My purchase of a handheld ultimately goes to how well it does to discern itself of home console, by offering new games (something the PSP is miserably failing so far

). I don't know. It has the potential for different game experiences, but I just want to see some interesting uses of the stylus before I even consider buying it.

Shinji Hiryu · Post by **Shinji Hiryu** » Mon Sep 13, 2004 11:00 pm

The stylus idea on a portable isn't really a new thing... remember Gamecom?

No?

Don't worry. It sucked. Oh, the built in planner was cool though.

WaWard · Post by **WaWard** » Mon Sep 13, 2004 11:09 pm

I never said it was a new idea nub. Oh, and I wish I didn't remember the gamecom.

However, I'd like to see what major companies will bring as ideas on the table. But I really doubt that they will tread outside of a gimmicky use of it, sadly.

shmack · Post by **shmack** » Tue Sep 14, 2004 12:16 am

one game I've seen that makes great use of the stylus/touch screen is a Wario Ware DS game, and a Pac Man game where you have to draw the pac-man, and once you do it goes off the way you point it... I need to find previews of these for you guys... be right back . . .

EDIT: here's the WarioWare one, i can't find the pacman thing- it might have just been an E3 DS capability demo. http://www.gamespot.com/ds/puzzle/wario ... 97090.html

zsquared · Post by **zsquared** » Tue Sep 14, 2004 12:24 am

So far, no.

I'm with most people on this one. Maybe after a price drop/a higher number of games I'd want come along.

WaWard · Post by **WaWard** » Tue Sep 14, 2004 12:25 am

shmack, being the resident Wario Ware whore, of course I knew about WWDS. Still not enough to make me buy a $200 machine, especially since they're coming out with a new one on GBA anyway. <3

HKK · Post by **HKK** » Tue Sep 14, 2004 12:30 am

I'm primarily buying this for the new Castlevania.

shmack · Post by **shmack** » Tue Sep 14, 2004 12:50 am

Ward wrote:shmack, being the resident Wario Ware whore, of course I knew about WWDS. Still not enough to make me buy a $200 machine, especially since they're coming out with a new one on GBA anyway. <3

ya ya, definately. Like I said, I prolly won't buy one until they're much cheaper... though if the US Dollar stays as low as it is, the price isn't too bad for me, just over a hundred pounds if i buy a DS from the states. I'll still wait for the price to drop though.

Shinji Hiryu · Post by **Shinji Hiryu** » Tue Sep 14, 2004 12:59 am

Ward wrote:I never said it was a new idea nub. Oh, and I wish I didn't remember the gamecom.

However, I'd like to see what major companies will bring as ideas on the table. But I really doubt that they will tread outside of a gimmicky use of it, sadly.

Blah. I didn't mean for that comment to be pointed at you sir, just merely stated it. My appologies if it seemed implied

But who knows how well developers will make use of the stylus really. Of course Nintendo seems to be on the right track, but other than that... *shrug*. I had high hopes for that Metroid Prime game but all the jaggies... eww...

As a side note, I'm kinda pissed at Nintendo anyway, so I doubt I'll be buying a DS. I bought a GBASP just weeks before the price drop. Damn.

WaWard · Post by **WaWard** » Tue Sep 14, 2004 1:13 am

I find it odd that Nintendo seems to think that the stylus is a decent replacement for an analog stick... I mean, I can imagine it replicating some mouse movement and all, but otherwise, I don't think it will do the job (because of a hand that's in the way of a screen). Unless, that's probably the intent of the 2nd screen: duplicate thel game screen, free of any hand-blocking!11!

Garbo · Post by **Garbo** » Tue Sep 14, 2004 5:46 am

I was considering buying a DS over a PSP because I was pretty curious about the way its run. The PSP seemed to me like just another portable, and if I didn't already have a GBASP, I would've gotten the PSP most likely, just becuase the graphics appear to be much better than the DS.

And yet, I have no interest in buying the DS anymore, or the PSP for that matter, simply because they're both going to be very expensive with nothing that satisfies my curiosity on either. Unless the new Pokemon or FFT drags me over, I won't be getting either. I have no interest in MGS: Acid at this point.

trippingmartian · Post by **trippingmartian** » Wed Sep 15, 2004 4:55 pm

Probably not. I find that I don't play portables often enough to warrant an early adoption of NDS. It will really come down to whether or not it has any killer exclusives. Ports won't be enough for me.

HKK · Post by **HKK** » Wed Sep 15, 2004 5:17 pm

Is castlevania not enough to warrant a purchase???

Joei · Post by **Joei** » Wed Sep 15, 2004 5:20 pm

I really hope people aren't considering purchasing this.

thirdchildren · Post by **thirdchildren** » Wed Sep 15, 2004 5:59 pm

I think I'd be more inclined to buy this than the PSP to be honest, it seems to have more titles that would interest me. The PSPs ability to play movies seems to be a waste of time, and will unnecessarily push up the price.
Castlevania

Kokaku · Post by **Kokaku** » Wed Sep 15, 2004 6:35 pm

Yes, not right away though. I'll wait till the must have games are out.

WaWard · Post by **WaWard** » Wed Sep 15, 2004 10:28 pm

Well, unless it's not SOTN 1.59, I don't really want to play it.

Fei Ayanami · Post by **Fei Ayanami** » Wed Sep 15, 2004 10:52 pm

I almost lost faith in nintendo with the n64 and at first I thought the GBA was pretty stupid, but recently nintendo has been almost the only company I've bought games for.

gamecube is packed with great games. just the collections of older games like sonic mega collection and mega man anniversary collection are awesome, but there's also metroid prime, f-zero gx, viewtiful joe, monkey ball, wario ware party games, four swords adventures (quite fun if you can actually get some friends together with gbas), mario golf, wind waker, an awesome looking new paper mario coming up, mario tennis coming up, and a really awesome looking new zelda game in early stages, among others I'm sure I'm forgetting. I've been really pleasantly surprised with gamecube, and actually very happy with gba as well, with advance wars, mario golf (which connects with the gc version in fun ways), metroid, etc. I like that there are new games being made in the style of snes games, it makes for a lot of fun new 2d games, something you don't see enough of sometimes on newer systems.

anyway... yeah. I just like nintendo again.

I'm sort of dreading DS, but it seems like it might turn out well. I wish they'd let gba live a little longer though. I hope DS turns out nice, and I hope the price drops quickly, because I'm not spending $200 US on it. but I'll probably end up buying it eventually.

Calbrena · Post by **Calbrena** » Thu Sep 16, 2004 4:40 pm

I'll definitely buy one... but only when it will be available for a decent price. Should be available for less than $99 soon anyway....

Only interest of the PSP in my eyes: it's gonna make the price of the DS drop more quickly

mz · Post by mz » Tue Sep 21, 2004 10:44 pm

1up wrote: Nintendo DS Launch Details
Marketing, shipping figures, and other fun stuff.

By David Smith
09/21/2004

Following last night's announcement of the Nintendo DS launch date and launch price -- November 21, $149.99 in North America -- Nintendo held a teleconference this morning to reveal more details and answer more questions about the DS launch. George Harrison and Reggie Fils-Aime provided a clearer picture of how Nintendo plans to sell its new dual-screened handheld, especially in North America.
Originally, Nintendo planned to ship some 3.5 million units of DS hardware worldwide by the end of its fiscal year next March. Today, it revised that figure upward -- Harrison said that the company now expects to ship a minimum of four million units worldwide by the end of the fiscal year, and there's a chance to surpass that figure depending on how Nintendo's manufacturing capability holds up. Nintendo is already manufacturing hardware, he said, and will not have trouble ramping up production if demand exists. However, he would not break down how those units will be distributed between the North American, Japanese, and European territories.

The DS launch will be backed by the biggest marketing budget in Nintendo's history, Harrison said. Nintendo of America alone plans to spend $40 million selling the system in its territory within the first six months of its promotional campaign.

That campaign will encompass the usual print, TV, and cinema ads, as well as some "unique outdoor initiatives" that Harrison wouldn't describe in detail. One of them, however, is likely the Nintendo Fusion Tour, which will feature playable DS units alongside the bands on tour. Players will also be able to get their hands on the system in advance of its release at some 12,000 demo stations placed at retailers.

Reggie said that Nintendo plans to target a different audience with the DS campaigns than it has with the Game Boy Advance. Nintendo will be "starting outreach against an older demographic, a more complex gamer," he said, going on to call it "a different psychographic." The impression is that despite some of its earlier rhetoric, Nintendo is targeting an audience very similar to the one Sony is looking to reach with its PSP handheld. The DS software lineup, Reggie also noted, will include games "to meet the taste of every type of gamer."

The DS won't be available in more than one color at launch, however. While Harrison said that different colors have certainly been a useful marketing tool for past handhelds, Nintendo's plan is to maximize its manufacturing capability in the early stages of the system's release by offering only the platinum color already shown.

Nintendo's representatives refrained from offering any details on software pricing or specific DS software titles at today's conference, aside from PictoChat and the Metroid Prime: Hunters demo. That information will stay under wraps until Nintendo's gamers' summit event in Seattle, due to take place in the first week of October. All information offered by retailers at this point, they said, is speculation.

However, Harrison did confirm that DS software will be manufactured in Asia, at least in the first stages of the system's release, and software manufacturing turnaround times will be about the same as with Game Boy Advance titles, six to eight weeks. Later in the system's lifecycle, he said, Nintendo is looking into establishing software production facilities in North America, as it has with the GameCube, but he wouldn't offer a timetable on that score.

So... Not $200. I may have to grab one, depending on financial status...

WaWard · Post by **WaWard** » Tue Sep 21, 2004 11:13 pm

Still not worth unless I either have a) plenty of buddies that will buy one at launch (won't happen) or b) plenty of good games at launch (sure the launch seems ok, but not good enough for my tastes).

:frank

Cid · Post by **Cid** » Wed Sep 22, 2004 3:53 am

Nintendo continues to amaze me. Their innovation and thought of what the gamer - the HARD KORE gamer - really wants just impresses the hell out of me. What other company would include a convenient pointy object like the stylis to ram into your eyes after you've realised you wasted $150 on a gimmicky new handheld? Not Sony. Those assholes.

WaWard · Post by **WaWard** » Wed Sep 22, 2004 3:55 am

There's also a FREAKING MIKE PORT.

mz · Post by mz » Wed Sep 22, 2004 5:27 am

Cid wrote:Nintendo continues to amaze me. Their innovation and thought of what the gamer - the HARD KORE gamer - really wants just impresses the hell out of me. What other company would include a convenient pointy object like the stylis to ram into your eyes after you've realised you wasted $150 on a gimmicky new handheld? Not Sony. Those assholes.

Fuck you negative nancy!

Ikari · Post by **Ikari** » Wed Sep 22, 2004 7:18 am

Haha no. This Pos can be like 2 cents and I wouldn't even buy it.

Square Gamer

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