Nintendo 3DS to Liberate Gamers from Evil Cartridges

[Sprogus]

Nintendo have been trying this technology already. Look at the pokewalker that came with the Gold and Silver remakes. Once it is tied to the cartridge and ds that's it until you reset it to a new one. I imagine it will be similar to that.

Regardless of what they do I'm going to be getting a 3DS. I was going to get one from the moment I heard about the OoT remake.

 

[Urgh76]

So can I just borrow games from friends and install them on my DS I wonder.

I spy a loophole ^__^

 

[Outright Villainy]

I'm assuming that it'll be tied to a specific machine, and you could reset it if you want after, providing you uninstall it at the same time. It'd be the most sensible option.
This is shaping up to be a fantastic system though. I may actually get this, despite my huge poorness. It's so damn tempting.
If I see starfox and metal gear actually coming out I'd sell my kidney to get it.

 

[fix-the-spade]

I am still at a loss why people think Nintendo cares about what Apple does. Yes, Apple has made the iPod Touch, iPhone, and iPad. But all of those are good only for casual smalltime games and can't run what's being produced for handheld gaming consoles like the PSP and DS. It's Oranges to Apple-shaped Broccoli, really. Now if Nintendo decides to make a DS that doubles as a phone and pc-port...then we will know what the big N thinks of Apple.

Nintendo will have taken notice because the iPhone has sold millions and made scads of money. Even though it's quite distant now it's still a competitor.

It's tempting to take the Sony/Msoft approach and label something as not a competitor, but it is. It's a hand held gaming device, to you and me it's a very limited one but it still plays games. Apple have been very clever in introducing controls/games in an accessible way but they are definately moving towards more games. It's kind of the opposite of Microsoft's all singing and dancing entry with the Xbox, they've quietly gained a foothold and set about making it bigger, which they have done massively so.

Nintendo have always thought long term,I would expect them to be heading off future iterations that can do more than the current gen models

 

[Atmos Duality]

If PSP was a sinking ship, I think Nintendo just fired a torpedo at it...and hit.

A Mk 59 frictionless torpedo right up the screws.

 

[RUINER ACTUAL]

How is this special or a unique feature? You can download full games to the DSi and PSP right now. However, it could make getting free games extremely easy if you don't need the cartridge.

 

[RUINER ACTUAL]

If PSP was a sinking ship, I think Nintendo just fired a torpedo at it...and hit.

You can say that now, but nothing about the new PSP has been announced, so it could just blow this thing out of the water. I know I will never get (another) Nintendo product.

 

[John Funk]

Nintendo have been trying this technology already. Look at the pokewalker that came with the Gold and Silver remakes. Once it is tied to the cartridge and ds that's it until you reset it to a new one. I imagine it will be similar to that.

Regardless of what they do I'm going to be getting a 3DS. I was going to get one from the moment I heard about the OoT remake.

A very good point. Not QUITE the same thing but the fundamentals are there nonetheless.

 

[AceDiamond]

I am still at a loss why people think Nintendo cares about what Apple does. Yes, Apple has made the iPod Touch, iPhone, and iPad. But all of those are good only for casual smalltime games and can't run what's being produced for handheld gaming consoles like the PSP and DS. It's Oranges to Apple-shaped Broccoli, really. Now if Nintendo decides to make a DS that doubles as a phone and pc-port...then we will know what the big N thinks of Apple.

Nintendo will have taken notice because the iPhone has sold millions and made scads of money. Even though it's quite distant now it's still a competitor.

The iPhone is a smartphone. the DS and successors are dedicated gaming consoles. Know the difference, there may be a test later.

 

[Sprogus]

Nintendo have been trying this technology already. Look at the pokewalker that came with the Gold and Silver remakes. Once it is tied to the cartridge and ds that's it until you reset it to a new one. I imagine it will be similar to that.

Regardless of what they do I'm going to be getting a 3DS. I was going to get one from the moment I heard about the OoT remake.

A very good point. Not QUITE the same thing but the fundamentals are there nonetheless.

Yeah I realise it's not quite the same thing but it proves that nintendo know what they are doing when to comes to protecting their stuff from piracy.

 

[the1ultimate]

Nintendo is the best.

This will probably score them a huge amount of points with most people. And it's not as though they need more popularity at the moment.

I'm cautiously optimistic about their implementation of this.

 

[Artina89]

The more I hear about the 3DS, the more I want it.

 

[DarthFennec]

Okay, where this kind of stuff happens to be, crazy DRMs are sure to follow. The whole thing will probably be much more of a nuisance than it seems right now ... from a technical point of view though, looks awesome ^_^

 

[ProfessorLayton]

Haha, give in Brad, give in!

I wonder if this is a decision taken against R4 Cards, or if you will be able to 'swap' games from friends and thus not have to buy them. I suspect Nintendo will have some registration process with each game, ensuring it can't be spread around. They wouldn't purposely lose sales like that would they?

You know, when they had the big list of developers that were going to be making games for the 3DS, I saw Level 5 (makers of Professor Layton) and my decision was made right then. And it seriously is annoying carrying around five different games...

I'm pretty sure Nintendo will find a way to make it so people won't just give it around... probably like CD keys or something...

 

[thatstheguy]

Nintendo, I'm really starting to like you again (except for the Wii).

I'm assuming that there will be restraints to saving the game on multiple 3DS's. Still, a nice feature nonetheless.

 

[Pinstar]

Well, there goes one excuse for R4 cards.

I'm guessing this is going to be a way for them to work around R4 cards entirely, in a Steam like version of "DRM that gives you something back"

 

[Atmos Duality]

You can say that now, but nothing about the new PSP has been announced, so it could just blow this thing out of the water. I know I will never get (another) Nintendo product.

I will just flat out say this: I hate my PSP. I don't want to hate it, but that's where I stand now.

Why? Because I hate that it physically hurts me to play half my games.

Can't play Monster Hunter anymore. My left index finger literally blistered and swelled from bruising due to "Camera Clawing". No game has ever done that to me before.
Can't play MGS Portable Ops, even though I genuinely like the premise (and it's the first MGS I've actually played since the NES cart.) because of awful camera controls in an already complicated game.
The interface directly impedes my ability to play any of the GTA titles.
See a pattern?

And it's not like this is rocket science.
Hey Sony, try this instead:
Base the shape of the handheld on a narrowing V shape with the option to attach a flip top cover to protect the screen (via the slots between the L and R buttons). Use the additional casing mass on the back to house two rows of back buttons, and two analogue nubs (total) for controls in addition to what the PSP has.

That way, you free your thumbs to use the analogue sticks and your index and middle fingers for the four inputs on the back, with the option of 8 additional inputs in the face buttons and D-Pad. In addition, the shape is still quite portable (Only slightly bigger than a PSP-3000) with no extraneous bits that can be easily broken off.

You can now play any console game of any genre with reasonable controls. This works best for PS2 ports, because all the controls are already there. And we already know Sony loves their PS2 ports.

In fact, Sony had a chance to rethink its system and design it to be better.
Instead, we got the farce that was the PSP-GO.
"Why no, we won't fix our hardware to support our own games better! Suck it up!"

In that time, I've actually gone back to playing my much older DS. And you know what? It works. The games might not be as mature (pity) but the variety is much much better, and the touch screen can function as an extra series of inputs. If I cannot control the game, I do not look forward to playing it. It's that simple.

Sony had better impress me, and fast. Because right now, I'm looking at the 3DS with genuine interest, and that's the first console I've been this interested in since the Playstation 2.