Tuesday, October 16, 2007

Overplayed Yet Underrated

With today's video game hysteria surrounding the three major next generation consoles - XBox 360, Playstation 3, and Nintendo Wii - the brilliance of the Ninetendo DS has been lost in the shuffle, and I don't like it. For those of you who are unfortunately unfamiliar with the DS, here is a brief description of this breakthrough, handheld system:

"Nintendo DS... revolutionizes the way games are played with ultra-bright dual screens
and touch-screen technology. Connect wirelessly to Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection and put
your skills to the test against players across the room or across the world." (nintendo.com)
The advantage to this system, besides its seemingly infinite amount of available games and incredible gameplay, is its portability and size. You can't bring your 360 on a road trip or secretly play your PS3 at your girlfriends house, but you can do both with the DS. One of its coolest features is the capability to contact, interact, and ultimately game with any other DS gamer around the world via Wi-Fi. This communications feature has added a similar feature to that of the next-gen system's online capabilities. The graphics are crazy good for such a compact system, the gameplay is just as good as the reminiscent games you have all played on the super nintendo, and significantly outweighs the 360, PS3, and the Wii in terms of games available.
I'm not saying that this system makes the big 3 look bad, but it certainly should be included in the same prestigious class as the big 3.

Check out these games now available for DS:







5 comments:

Elise McJett said...

I did not know about all of those features for the DS. I never really got into it because, like you said, it wasn't one of the "Big 3s". I thought that you did a good job describing the system because it has made me want to go to the nearest EB Games and check it out!

Megan L. Johnson said...

I didn't even know there was such a thing as DS. Yes, I must be out of the gamer loop, but either way interesting to learn something new. I think I lost touch with video games after N64. The games I even attempted to play were Mariokart and Donkey Kong. I liked games better when they were simple, like Sega, Super Nintendo and the Orginial Nintendo. I don't even know what buttons to push on the new controllers. At least you do! :)

Nicholas Collard said...

The DS is underplayed? Dude are you serious?

Almost everyone I know, especially girls who don't play video games, own a DS and love it.

That system is hot. Don't worry about it not being played- Mario, Luigi, and the princess are all laughing their way to the bank. Or the flag at the end of the level; however you choose to see it.

Nicholas Collard said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Nicholas Collard said...

Your point about the commercialization is definitely on point. Sony and Microsoft are in the middle of a war for the hearts and minds of gamers- and it's an expensive war. They're dumping out millions of dollars in advertising money to proliferate their names in this country. Nintendo, just doesn't have to- word of mouth has kept them afloat for 20 years.