DS sales numbers

[Yegolev]

Cribbed from The Inquirer:

At a press conference on the 26th of December, Nintendo's president Saturo Iwata said, "Selling five million units in less than fourteen months means DS is the fastest among any game machines ever launched in Japan to hit that level." And that's sold units, not just shipped.

[Merusk]

Eh? 5mil in 14 months seems like it's not that many that it'd be 'the fastest among any game machines ever launched.'  Maybe for handhelds, but if you're comparing it to full-on consoles that seems anemic to me.

[Yegolev]

Without re-reading the article, I think the qualifier "at launch" might have something to do with it, but still.  Food for thought.

[Merusk]

Nope, just read the article and they meant within 14 months, 5 mil were sold.  They let you know that it took 17 months for the PS2 and over 14 months for the GBA.  Strange, I thought that sales would have been quicker than that. I was way off.

[Alkiera]

I believe the key is 'in Japan'.  And the numbers sound slow because of that.  Keep in mind, Japan is less than half the population of the US... USA is ~296 million, Japan is only 128 million people.  5 million out of 128 million is a decently big piece of the pie, considering it's a portable game machine.

Alkiera

[voodoolily]

I totally fucking  my new DS. I mentioned it in another thread, but I bedazzled it with pink and silver rhinestones. It is beautiful, and sparkly and girly as fuck. I LOVE it! The only reason I waited until Christmas to think about having one is that I'd gotten Sauced the GBA-SP for xmas last year. But he gave me a DS this year! Yay! I'm really hoping that Team Miyamoto makes a Minish Cap-esque Zelda adventure for the DS. Fingers crossed!

[Fabricated]

I got one for Christmas this year since I couldn't part with my own cash for one. I love Dawn of Sorrow and like having a good screen to play my GBA titles on, but I'm wondering if I'm going to really buy any other DS games now since I have both Mario Kart and Castlevania. The only reason I don't have more PSP games is because I'm so attached to my emulators and homebrew.

[Samwise]

Kirby's Canvas Curse is quite excellent if you like platformer type things.

[voodoolily]

I picked that one up with my gift card, and haven't started it yet. But I'm happy for it. Trauma Center is fun enough, but it gets really hard all of a sudden (relatively speaking). ANimal Crossing is also fun, but I'm sad to say that I catassed on it (GC) last summer and it has therefore lost its addictive powers. There just doesn't seem to be much to do. ALthough I will say it's cool that you can eavesdrop on NPC conversations now and they ask for your two cents. And you can invite them over to your house, whereupon they gossip to you about the other folks in townsville. And that skinflint Redd totally ripped me off for 3000 bells, which was a funny surprise.

[Azazel]

Is the DS screen backlit properly?

[schild]

Is the DS screen backlit properly?

No. Both the Gameboy Micro and new SP use far superior backlights. It's only a matter of time before they incorporate it into the DS model which I suppose will hit sometime around E3 given the rate of release on their portables lately.

[Wolf]

I find myself craving for a pink DS. And I'm a guy. Am I gay?

[Merusk]

I find myself craving for a pink DS. And I'm a guy. Am I gay?

No, but you do insist on trying to get that trannie you picked-up and had sex with to call you back. S/he was hot.

[Azazel]

Is the DS screen backlit properly?

No. Both the Gameboy Micro and new SP use far superior backlights. It's only a matter of time before they incorporate it into the DS model which I suppose will hit sometime around E3 given the rate of release on their portables lately.

Fuck that's useful. The GBA's were fun while travelling overseas for months, but went right into the drawer when we got home, and haven't seen the light of day since. I'm just not a portables guy I guess, but was considering a DS for Advance Wars once I go back to Uni in a few weeks, since I have a 2hr commute each way (FTW).

OTOH, can someone here tell me the point of having the DS, Micro and GBA-SP all on the market at once? More hardware options = more shelf space since they make their money off the software that's common to all three? That's all I can come up with.


On another topic...

I find myself craving for a pink DS. And I'm a guy. Am I gay?

I quite like pink milk, and pink doughnuts, and pink , but have no hankering for a pink handheld console for travelling with.

[schild]

OTOH, can someone here tell me the point of having the DS, Micro and GBA-SP all on the market at once? More hardware options = more shelf space since they make their money off the software that's common to all three? That's all I can come up with.

I've got all 3. They're all very good in different situations. If I have somewhere comfortable to game, I'll bring my DS. It's too bulky to just carry around whenever unless I want to bring the manpurse case that holds it around with me. Meh. The SP is for playing GBA games at home on a screen that's bigger than the micro - which I bring with me when I know I have to wait somewhere. Any turnbased tactics game or RPG on the micro = love. The buttons are too small for me to really play anything but that on them. The all metal Famicom ltd edition Micro is super nice too. It's a well made piece of hardware - a good purchase considering the DS seems to have gone through less than 24 hours of quality control. Everything about that thing seems rush job (I've worn out 2 of them. I feel pretty confident saying it's made for shit).

[Jain Zar]

Hm.  I take my DS to work with me where it sits in my front pocket, and usually gets bonked against the casino table
I am dealing at.  Works great, and I bought it day one.  The lighting is fine, and it only has a few scuff marks on the back.

I thought you treated your systems like gold.  How come your DSes break under your velvety soft touch yet mine goes
through busy workdays and there isn't a single problem with it?

[schild]

I thought you treated your systems like gold.  How come your DSes break under your velvety soft touch yet mine goes
through busy workdays and there isn't a single problem with it?

My first DS decided to have a terrible battery life. My second DS' touchscreen would start turning white. Not just when the battery was getting low either, but rather 10 minutes after it came off a full chage. If I press "down" on the d-pad it would just go white. So while I'd be sliding in Castlevania or just walking in Animal crossing, the screen would turn white. At first, I was playing Lost in Blue when it happened, and I was like, well that's crazy, maybe it's turning white because the sun was in my eyes (I shit you not, because I couldn't fathom it being a system issue). Then I noticed it happened in every game. Luckily they've both been traded in on EB Games replacement plans. So I've gone from a silver one to a blue one to a Mario Kart red one. It's probably the shoddiest system I've ever owned.

[Jain Zar]

So lets see if we get this right...

High quality built to last Nintendo product breaks down on you while HEAVILY reported failure rate systems like the PSP and 360 work like a charm?

[schild]

High quality built to last Nintendo product breaks down on you while HEAVILY reported failure rate systems like the PSP and 360 work like a charm?

Need I say it again - the DS is the only Nintendo product that's really ever broken on me. Hell, it's the ONLY gaming product that's really ever broken on me. I'm pretty sure a couple other EBGames employees here said the same thing once they were both out. At both Gamestop and EBGames, I saw a lot more broken DS' than PSPs.

[Strazos]

Are you not including the PSP's penchant for self-ejecting their discs?

[schild]

Are you not including the PSP's penchant for self-ejecting their discs?

Have you ever seen the video of that? It was a total crock of shit. TOTAL CROCK OF SHIT. That's why it was big news for a couple days right before the system released and then disappeared without a trace after release. I mean you had to wrench your PSP to the point of breaking. /meh

[Azazel]

So is the DS issue resolved now?

As in was it a 1st-gen thing where they were a bit shitty and they've fixed the issue these days, you may safely buy a DS without a problem?



Oh, and what happnened to all the posts in this section of the board? Conversation dry up due to the lack of new releases post-christmas?

[Velorath]

Oh, and what happnened to all the posts in this section of the board? Conversation dry up due to the lack of new releases post-christmas?

Pretty much.  Hell, I was so desperate for some PC entertainment that I pre-ordered Battle for Middle-Earth II so I could try the Beta.  After downloading and installing everything (which required creating a free Fileplanet account to get the Username and Password required for registration), I kept getting errors when trying to register.  Unable to play, I canceled my pre-order and am a better man for it.

[voodoolily]

I still plan on writing a review of Lost in Blue, if anyone cares. I want to play through all four endings first.

[Samwise]

I still plan on writing a review of Lost in Blue, if anyone cares. I want to play through all four endings first.

I do.  Your earlier description of it piqued my interest.

[Ezdaar]

I would also like to see a review of Lost in Blue. I've looked at it a few times at the store but haven't heard much either way about it.

[jinxer]

I don't understand why everyone is so scared of their DS breaking.  I pre-ordered myself and my son one the moment they came out.  One was stolen out of my car when it was broken into but both were very sturdy.  I still have mine, but of course, my son steals it from me from time to time and he is the clumsiest, roughest little boy alive.  It's a little scuffed, from being dropped a million times, but it's never had a single problem with it.

[Jain Zar]

Because there isn't a problem.  Schild posts from Bizarro World where shoddy products never break and quality items crap out all the time.

Unless you enjoy abusing him (and who doesn't really?), just smile and nod whenever he talks about any home electronics product.

[schild]

Yes, I post from bizarro world where people don't treat their electronics like toys. Ever think I just take gaming more seriously than most?

[Shockeye]

DS holds up well, I think.

GameSpy: As I understand it, you're getting a lot of attention for this because the DS survived the trip, but a lot of the other electronic gadgets you brought didn't, right?

    Chris Grubb: Yeah, we were pretty shocked by that. Our team went through seven MP3 players, they were breaking all over the place, we fried a couple hard drives…

    Neal Mueller: …and broke the screen on our computer, our CB radios would break all the time…

    Chris Grubb: …but the DSes help up amazingly well. It would get so cold that your hands would go numb, and they'd still be working.

    Neal Mueller: We brought 10 DSes with us and not a single one suffered anything worse than a few scratches. We actually expected them to break, which is why we brought 10, but none of them did.

[schild]

It will be fantastic when I'm at my summer home on K2.

[Strazos]

Yes, I post from bizarro world where people don't treat their electronics like toys. Ever think I just take gaming more seriously than most?

Gaming - Serious Business! 

[schild]

Yes, it is.

[Yegolev]

I take games very seriously.  Other than my wife and son, it's the only thing I love.  Thus, I don't question people on their faithfulness to a particular system, just as it is not generally nice to dog on someone's religion.  Sometimes Bad Products happen to Good People; you can't realistically expect a single anecdote to represent the quality of a full manufacturing run.  Feel free to consider Schild a statistical anomaly, but it bothers me to see people give him a hard time about it.

[Trippy]

I'm really hoping that Team Miyamoto makes a Minish Cap-esque Zelda adventure for the DS. Fingers crossed!

Here you go (scroll down to about the middle of the page):

http://www.nintendo.com/newsarticle?articleid=64wsG8LoGw3vuttzAr5zU-s70OLsg6Fm&page=