Considering Getting A Ds...

[bast525]

well I'm re-retiring my DS... makes me kind of sad after getting kinda hyped about dusting it off and playing it again. But damn... scratching that easily just sucks. So until I find a really good screen protector I'm not touching it. I figure I have until Xmas to find one since so many good games will be out by the end of the year.....

 

[Josquius]

Is the DS open for homebrew development (and possible future emulation)?
I was thinking yesterday- The GBA is and the DS plays GBA games. Including I presume those flash carts. There should be a way to use that...


Out of the next gen handhelds the DS is the one I have the most chance of wanting (I still don't want one right now though)

 

[mr twit]

well I'm re-retiring my DS... makes me kind of sad after getting kinda hyped about dusting it off and playing it again. But damn... scratching that easily just sucks. So until I find a really good screen protector I'm not touching it. I figure I have until Xmas to find one since so many good games will be out by the end of the year.....

​

Can you actually see the screen when the backlight is on? I have a few tiny scratches but you can only see them when the system's off or from the side.
I bought some Nushield screen protectors for my DS. They are great, they give great protection and a smooth feel, and they use no adhesive so won't damage the screen.

Is the DS open for homebrew development (and possible future emulation)?
I was thinking yesterday- The GBA is and the DS plays GBA games. Including I presume those flash carts. There should be a way to use that...

Yes, you can already run homebrew stuff and there are quite a few homebrew games and even a gameboy /colour emulator. You use a gba flash card together with a thing called a Passme which bypasses the protection, or you can download a wifi program to your DS through download play that bypasses the protection.

 

[Josquius]

Interesting...So any prospect of DS emulation of advanced systems like the N64 or Neo Geo?

 

[KickinWing]

Interesting...So any prospect of DS emulation of advanced systems like the N64 or Neo Geo?

​

i don't see how it would be possible since the specs are worse than the GP32s and we can't do it on our systems. And i think i remember hearing that the DS doesn't have independent 3d hardware, but i could be wrong.

 

[mr twit]

Interesting...So any prospect of DS emulation of advanced systems like the N64 or Neo Geo?

​

i don't see how it would be possible since the specs are worse than the GP32s and we can't do it on our systems. And i think i remember hearing that the DS doesn't have independent 3d hardware, but i could be wrong.

​

The GBA is a tenth of the power of the GP32, and yet it can emulate SNES relatively well, so I wouldn't be surprised if the DS could run at least Neo Geo. The processor is slower than the GP32, doesn't mean the specs are worse. Clearly it's a lot more powerful since it has proper 3D engines already on it.

 

[KickinWing]

i thought the GBA emulated SNES well because the chip sets were very close to the same and therefore the emulation was easier to code and optimize on the GBA.

 

[fitzsteve]

Just keeping on theme, I have a DS. Very pleased with it. I dont have any scratches yet but I am very protective of my toys!

I am really looking forward to Goldeneye (Pre ordered it of Play.com) I like the FPS controls in Meteroid Prime and I hear Goldeneye is similar.

I have Ridge Racer, Asplat Upban GT, Mario 64DS & Tiger Woods.

I think they are all good games, Ridge racer is very similar to the N64 version, Asphalt urban is good but I have finished it too quickly...

I absolutly love the Touch Screen with Tiger woods, having the 2 screens is great for that game and the swing control although annoting at first is great once you get used to it. If you get a DS and liked the PGA/Tiger woods games then you will love the DS version.

Thats all for now

Steve.

 

[Titcher]

i thought the GBA emulated SNES well because the chip sets were very close to the same and therefore the emulation was easier to code and optimize on the GBA.

​

Exactly.

 

[Azure]

Ooh, thread is slowly being hi-jacked.

Anyways, so I should pick up a screen protector/new stylus with the DS? Which screen protector/stylus is the best? The official Nintendo stylus is that bad. huh? Any particular brands that I should stay away from?

bast525 - So, the scratch appeared because you were rubbing too hard/frantically? How bad is the scratch and do you think you could post a picture of it?

 

[KickinWing]

Ooh, thread is slowly being hi-jacked.

Anyways, so I should pick up a screen protector/new stylus with the DS? Which screen protector/stylus is the best? The official Nintendo stylus is that bad. huh? Any particular brands that I should stay away from?

bast525 - So, the scratch appeared because you were rubbing too hard/frantically? How bad is the scratch and do you think you could post a picture of it?

​

You shouldn't pick up anything. The games right now suck and are going to suck until Christmas time, at least according to Bast, so why don't you just wait, the price would probably drop by then to.

EDIT: Dont' want to start another DS war, but don't get me wrong, I own both a DS and PSP and i'm regretting buying both at launch. I'm bored with my DS, it just sits and gathers dust, and my PSP is going down the same road, thankfully Coded arms is being released this month. But as for new system launches, both the PSP and DS have left little to be desired, but I'm looking at the long run for the DS.

DS was an impulse buy for me and i should've never have bought it. If i wasn't a collector, i would've sold it a week after i bought it. But it's all personal preference, for me, third party support is big and PSP is going to have Square, Konami, Rockstar, Capcom, many others. DS will have some too but not as much as PSP, and online play is a big factor for me too, and also, being 25, i like the mature games, not fucking Nintendogs and the gay nintendo kiddy shit. So it's all personal preference.

 

[Azure]

Ooh, thread is slowly being hi-jacked.

Anyways, so I should pick up a screen protector/new stylus with the DS? Which screen protector/stylus is the best? The official Nintendo stylus is that bad. huh? Any particular brands that I should stay away from?

bast525 - So, the scratch appeared because you were rubbing too hard/frantically? How bad is the scratch and do you think you could post a picture of it?

​

You shouldn't pick up anything. The games right now suck and are going to suck until Christmas time, at least according to Bast, so why don't you just wait, the price would probably drop by then to.

​

The games suck for you but I'm interested in them: Mario 64, Warioware Touched, Kirby Canvas Curse, Goldeneye Rogue Agent. That should last till Mario Kart DS comes out. Plus, there's already that Mario 64 deal going on (Get Mario 64 for free when you buy a DS), so there's no point in waiting for a price drop since it won't happen for quite a while.

 

[KickinWing]

thats why i edited my post, its all personal preference, nobody but you can make up your mind, we can only tell you as DS owners how we feel about our systems, and feel hatred for mine.

 

[bast525]

Okay the DS screen protectors I bought are from a company called Gamemate... I dunno some japanese company, all of the writing on the package is in japanese.

Anyways, the problem with them is that they are sized slightly too small... When perfectly centered over the touch screen, it leaves about .5-1 mm of the screen uncovered on the left and right sides, also a tiny gap open on the top and bottom as well. If it wasn't for this small flaw they'd be great, they are very easy to apply and look great, they dont' make the screen look bad or anything.

Azure - no I said I was NOT rubbing it hard at all... I said that as I was playing the metroid demo, I was trying so hard to be light with the stylus on the touch screen, that the game was having trouble registering my movements, and I was having problems aiming properly. The touch screen had literally been untouched up until that point so I very badly wanted it to stay pristine. With my last DS, the one that Nintendo replaced for me, I had played plenty of metroid w/o getting any scratches... I only got scratches after I bought Feel the Magic... that game does require some frantic rubbing on the screen for some of the mini games, and after beating that game I had 4 or 5 scratches. And no, I dont believe I could easily photograph the scratch... it is a hairline scratch that can only be seen from certain angles or under certain lighting conditions... it's VERY easily noticeable outside in daylight though, and is very annoying.

I need to find some better screen protectors ASAP. Just today I picked up Wario Touched and Yoshi's touch and go, but my wife is going to hold on to them and play them on her DS for now. She has one of those ill fitting Gamemate screen protectors but isn't bothered by the gaps.

 

[Azure]

Eh...now I'm concerned about scratching my screen I was planning on going to ebgames/gamestop today and picking up the Electric Blue Mario64 Bundle but I don't want my touch screen to have scratches.

 

[bast525]

So get a screen protector before playing it. One alternative if you can't find a good DS-specific screen protector, is to get a pack of PDA screen protectors and cut one to size for the DS. Since I don't want to order a Hori one from Lik-Sang et. all, I'll probably go this route myself.

Also, I want to restate that I DO believe, using the stylus on the touch screen in itself probably does not or can not cause scratches unless you're REALLY rough with it. I think the scratches are the result of dust... the dust gets on the screen, and then you're moving the stylus around, and move it over a piece of dust, 'dragging' the dust along while most likely pushing it down into the screen, and creating a scratch.

in other words, if you're very vigilant about keeping dust off the screen while you're playing (a pain in the ass probably, depending how clean your air is I guess ) you probably wont end up with any scratches.

 

[Ganepark32]

Good games will be coming out this summer for ds not just xmas. rogue agent looks quite good and so does splinter cell and if u can speak or understand japanese u can import goemon ds which is apparently really good. and also theres another code. these games are worth picking up. at least they'll keep u going til xmas for the better games.

 

[KickinWing]

i do not have any screen protectors on my DS and back when i was playing it, me and my fiance played the hell out of the mini games on Mario 64 DS and i don't have any scratches at all.

 

[bast525]

i do not have any screen protectors on my DS and back when i was playing it, me and my fiance played the hell out of the mini games on Mario 64 DS and i don't have any scratches at all.

​

Lucky you

Well, I tried a couple different screen protectors today. All I could find at the game store/toy's r us was the Pelican and Intec brands. I've read online the Pelican ones suck, so I picked up a couple of the Intec ones.

I also stopped by best buy and picked up a PDA screen protector just to try as my friend suggested.

The PDA protectors are oversized, and need to be cut to fit. I decided to try the PDA one first. I cut it with a paper cutter so I got perfectly straight sides measured perfectly. I cut them fractions of a mm short of the actual dimensions of screen, so it wouldn't be a pain to remove them. But ended up with WAY less gap than the gamemate/intec ones. Put it on and it actually looked okay. Tried it out playing mario mini games and it didn't interfere with gameplay at all.

i should have just stopped then

But the one thing I didn't like about the PDA one is that it was a thin, soft film. Now, the Gamester one that my wife has is a bit thicker and rigid. It has held up very well to months of use, whereas I was getting noticeable scuffs/scratches after about an hour of play with the PDA one. So i thought, maybe the Intec ones are like the gamester ones since they are both designed specifically for the DS? So I took the PDA one off and opened up an Intec one (shoulda done this in reverse order) to find that the Intec ones were exactly like the PDA one. Well, like the PDA one, except with the addition of the same flaw the gamester ones suffer from, which is being slightly too small, leaving that damned gap around the screen. Well I'd already taken off and ruined the PDA one, so I just made the best of it and put on the Intec one, though I'm sure it wont be long before I just go get some more PDA ones as that gap bugs the crap outta me.

This is really turning into a pain in the ass, having to go thru all this trouble to really enjoy my DS w/o worries.

 

[mr twit]

Try some Nushield ones, you get three for $12 and they are great. They don't use any adhesive, they just slide underneith the plastic around the screen, so there are no gaps at all around the edges, and you can just take them out and wash them with water if they get dirty.