Nintendo DS Pre-Orders Now Available at GamePlay.co.uk

[Stewart]

http://shop.gameplay.co.uk/webstore/...le=nintendo_ds

£149.99 for a very sexy looking Nintendo DS. Mario 64 DS, Metroid Prime: Hunters and Advance Wars DS should be the launch games to look out for.

Advance Wars is, arguably, along with Tetris, the best hand-held game ever, so the DS version should be great.

I can vouch absoutely for GamePlay; their customer service is to games and consoles what Crucials is to PC Hardware - best in the business.

Glad to see the DS looking sleak and stylish as well, moving away from the percived negative 'kiddy' image of Nintendo.

[alterion]

what that is a rip off when it is only £80 in the USA... how do they expect to compete with the £200 PSP at only £50 cheaper???

[malfunction]

Coinsole + 3 games = £150...

[alterion]

oopps i thought that was just the base unit price ... DOH

[malfunction]

Actually

I think I read it wrong

(so double doh!)

£150 must be to cover their arses in case it's more than they think. Unfortunately with the state of affairs in this country I wouldn't be suprised if it was £120-130... If so I fully intend to import one instead (as even with import duty it would work out the same so why give some greedy b* UK retailer the profits?)... FWIW cetain UK retail chains seem to have forced the common price of Nintendo's current hardware higher than the RRP originally was... As for the PSP I still have my doubts as to it's real capabilities... The pre-launch PS2 screenies and movies were beyond what the PS2 was capable of but everyone seems to have forgotten about that and just gone OMFG!!! 111!!! one one PSP!!! PSP!!!

[Stewart]

what that is a rip off when it is only £80 in the USA... how do they expect to compete with the £200 PSP at only £50 cheaper???

Not sure what you mean mate? The DS is £50 cheaper, so how do they expect to compete with the PSP? The PSP is no dream machine, I know a lot of real gamers who drool at the likes of Mario64 DS, another Metroid game, Advance Wars DS and the likes. Not everyone wants a chav-happy PSP with an endless supply of games with 'Wrestle Punch Skateboard XXX' in the title.

Has it slipped your mind that Nintendo have total world wide dominance of the hand held market? Many have tried to compete, all have failed; Atari Lynx anyone? Even the mighty Sega fell flat with its GameGear.

Statistics from Nintendo indicate that worldwide sales of Game Boy (ie, Game Boy Advance, Game Boy Color and Game Boy) are over 120 million units since its release in 1989, with accompanying software sales at around 500 million units.

Think about that - 120 million GameBoy's sold, half a billion games sold, complete dominance of the handheld market.

That's how Nintendo will compete.

Having said that, the first set of published reviews have not been great - Mario64 DS is a winner, but the rest seem average. Nintendo will need a few more AAA title's, like Metorid, Advance Wars, and a completely new 2D Mario Bros game (which is in the works) to keep the core fans happy.

Of course, they only have to release Pokemon <Insert random word here> for the system, and bingo - 90 trillion copies sold in an hour, from one small shop in Japan.

[Agent]

To my knowlage, Nintendo have not released an offical price for the DS here (or in any of Europe ?), so that price is just educated guess work. Feel free to prove me wrong though.

[Nacrisa]

If the prices here are drastically different to the US, it should be possible to just import a DS from the US and have it run fine with any games as handhelds tend to be region-free!

I wouldn't write PSP off though, I mean Nintendo and Sega were pretty much the two main companies in console gaming until Sony came from nowhere and blew them out of the water. :/

[Rave]

I wouldn't write PSP off though, I mean Nintendo and Sega were pretty much the two main companies in console gaming until Sony came from nowhere and blew them out of the water. :/

Yeah, b*stards. Even if the PSP is totally cool, I might have to not buy one just 'cos they killed off the Saturn and Dreamcast. That'll teach them.

Rich :¬)

[TheBuZZard]

From what Ive read the PSP will have similar battery life problems that killed the game gear and lynx, only lasting 4 hours and thats with a perfectly written game that doesnt access the disc too often, compared what Nintendo manage to squueze out of their machines thats pathetic. For that reason I see the PSP more of a portable and the DS as more mobile. Nintendo have always been very good at judging what power than can use for their handhelds inline with battery technology, so they have never made them too fast and the battery life is good. PSP will be good for hotels and visits to relatives. But the DS will be the one for when youre outside with no mains power.

[Spud1]

I wouldn't write PSP off though, I mean Nintendo and Sega were pretty much the two main companies in console gaming until Sony came from nowhere and blew them out of the water. :/

Sony came and killed sega, not nintendo Nintendo and Sony are still both up there pretty much together, ok so sony have a larger share of the console market, but the big N are still there - tho mainly in japan i grant you.

In my view nintendo will continue to dominate the handheld market, they have the games, experience and dedication. Sony have a lot of console games that work fine in the living room with a tv, but on the move....i doubt most of them would be any good at all.

[JimmyBoy]

either way the ds vs psp fight in a very interesting one,

one i'll be keeping a close eye on

[Aaron]

In my view nintendo will continue to dominate the handheld market, they have the games, experience and dedication. Sony have a lot of console games that work fine in the living room with a tv, but on the move....i doubt most of them would be any good at all.

Sony has the marketting though. They know how to make their products desirable to a large audience. Before the PS1 came along, gaming was the preserve of kids and geeks - about where handheld gaming is right now.

Sega had the games, experience and dedication but look what happened to the Dreamcast.

[malfunction]

I'd argue that handheld gaming is still driven by what kids want and what their parents will buy them... And that's got to be nintendo everytime. Note that I am 28 (nearly 29 - ) and own a GBA... And am - at the moment - keener on the DS than the PSP. But - it's like the old AMD vs Intel argument... I imagine the VAST majority of people on these forums have AMD based PCs but the mass market doesn't reflect our geeky ways... For that reason I reckon the PSP will make in roads - majors ones maybe - but Nintendo won't be going anywhere... For a start the PSP looks a LOT more breakable to me than the DS (though I don't imagine the touchscreen on the PSP will be kid proof either)... All the PSP has going for it IMO is that it's a media player too - but even that isn't much of a plus point without there being a HDD built in (you can get fairly large memory sticks IIRC but they cost a BOMB compared to other types of flash memory)