BBC slate DS Lite (edit: or not - my mistake)

[Lyris]

Edit: well, my face is red. I read two of the article's quotes out of context (thanks Dogg Thang for pointing these out). All the same, this is some shoddy journalism.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/5076440.stm

Some choice quotes

"the company is eschewing the relative dead duck GameCube" (funny we never hear of the "dead duck Xbox")

"the console could hardly be dubbed truly portable." (I originally misread this, although it's still questionable)

"Its chunky Fisher Price stylings pale in comparison to the techno-gloss of Sony's rival PlayStation Portable (PSP)." (and this)

"In time honoured tradition, Nintendo has snubbed the loyal band first to take the DS home by releasing a new, improved model, a mere 15 months after it first hit the market." GASP! Technology improving itself?

"The N64 was the only console in the Japanese giant's history to escape the makeover treatment." (Guess they never heard of the transparent versions then?)

Anyone ever noticed how BBC always liked to take digs at the dedicated games companies, Sega and now Nintendo? Yet, they would never dare to slate Sony - who probably provide them with good deals on a lot of pro-broadcast equipment - or Microsoft, who probably provide them with discounted bulk Windows licenses.

So, how does everyone here feel about your license fee money that was probably unwillingly taken from you, being used to fund utter **** like this?

[S0L]

What a strange review - it's all over the place. I'm almost tempted to mail the BBC with a 'Why oh why oh why' email.

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S0L
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[Darwock]

"In time honoured tradition, Nintendo has snubbed the loyal band first to take the DS home by releasing a new, improved model, a mere 15 months after it first hit the market." GASP! Technology improving itself?

Surely even the most hardened Ninty fanboy has to acknowledge they take the piss with their constant releasing of improvements. Especially as they denied the DS Lite was ever going to happen.

[Kaladron]

I hope that writer is sacked...and maimed.

[Lyris]

I'm sure it's annoying for Nintendo fanboys to keep track of it all, yes.

BBC just can't seem to understand the concept of a business actually earning money from themselves rather than forcing it out of a country's wallets.

"The N64 was the only console in the Japanese giant's history to escape the makeover treatment."

I suppose then, they're counting the Famicom being reshaped into the NES - depsite the fact this was obviously for a different territory, and, as David Sheff explains in "Game Over" to have Americans see it in a different light - and the revised small version of the SNES that was never available in Europe?

[the_dude]

I love it when Nintendo fans get wound up. You've got to give them credit though, there probably the most passionate bunch of gamers out there. But i think they take this sort of stuff far too seriously...unhealthily so at that.

[Uzion]

Surely even the most hardened Ninty fanboy has to acknowledge they take the piss with their constant releasing of improvements. Especially as they denied the DS Lite was ever going to happen.

Well apple do it pretty often with ipods.

Sony released a new PS2 and renewed their mp3's players (HD1, HD3, HD5, NWA 1000) nearly every six months.

The time between the ds and ds lite was sufficent not to be terrible. Apple announce something and then sell it in the next few hours, I know
one person who bought a colour ipod, to then have the video one released the same day for the same price. At least nintendo let you know its coming.

[Dogg Thang]

Well Lyris, I started reading your post and got to the first quote. 'He's overreacting' I thought to myself. I mean, the Gamecube didn't put up a good fight and, whatever about the numbers, all a journalist would have to do it look at store presence to know the Gamecube wasn't doing all that well. 'Yep, he's overreacting', I thought.

Then I got a little further. 'Wow', I thought, 'he's not overreacting at all! That stuff's crazy! And so wrong!'

And then I read the article. I'm back to 'he's overreating'. Lyris, you either quoted those out of context on purpose or missed what the article was saying. The 'Fisher-Price' comment and the one about it being hardly portable were clearly directed at the original DS model, not the Lite, and led to praise of the Lite for rectifying this. You may have completely misread that article if you missed that.

Here's some other out-of-context quotes -

"ridiculously popular"

"it is hard not to recommend splashing out again, even if you already adore your trusty original"

"DS Lite is slimmer and sexier than its predecessor"

"In Japan the DS Lite could not have been more popular had it been given away for free"

"a raft of quality games hot on its heels spearheaded by New Super Mario Bros"

To anyone responding here without reading the article - please do yourself a favour and read it first. This is just the old Nintendo Buyer's Persecution Complex rearing it's head again, I think.

[Kaladron]

Surely even the most hardened Ninty fanboy has to acknowledge they take the piss with their constant releasing of improvements. Especially as they denied the DS Lite was ever going to happen.

The thing is though that you don't have to buy the redesigns. The games will still work on the old machines so it's just a case of upgrading if you prefer the new style.

Nintendo have ALWAYS taken the view that if they have the technology to make a machine better then they will do it. I don't think they're taking the piss. If anything it's firms like the BBC that are taking the piss here. When the DS was released everyone bitched and moaned to say that they wouldn't buy the machine because it was "ugly" so then when Nintendo give them what they want you'd expect peeps to be happy. There's just no pleasing some people, apparantly.

[Lyris]

I'm really not that huge a Nintendo fan. In fact, before Sega quit the hardware business, I'd never even owned a Nintendo console.

I'm just completely incensed by the crap that comes out of this pompous broadcasting organisation under the guise of "quality", and the fact we're made to pay for it just for owning a TV set.

Dogg Thang - you're right - I read the "Fisher Price" bit out of context.

[Uzion]

I love it when Nintendo fans get wound up. You've got to give them credit though, there probably the most passionate bunch of gamers out there. But i think they take this sort of stuff far too seriously...unhealthily so at that.

It does seem like a very biased unfair review. The ds lite is very sleek, the whole fisher price attitude is childish in itself

[Uzion]

Oh wait, reread article now, so not all it seems.

[importaku]

Raaaaargh (hnnnnnngh must resist fanboy rant) (^_^)

Its from the BBC so who cares they know **** all about everything.

[Kaladron]

Well Lyris, I started reading your post and got to the first quote. 'He's overreacting' I thought to myself. I mean, the Gamecube didn't put up a good fight and, whatever about the numbers, all a journalist would have to do it look at store presence to know the Gamecube wasn't doing all that well. 'Yep, he's overreacting', I thought.

Then I got a little further. 'Wow', I thought, 'he's not overreacting at all! That stuff's crazy! And so wrong!'

And then I read the article. I'm back to 'he's overreating'. Lyris, you either quoted those out of context on purpose or missed what the article was saying. The 'Fisher-Price' comment and the one about it being hardly portable were clearly directed at the original DS model, not the Lite, and led to praise of the Lite for rectifying this. You may have completely misread that article if you missed that.

Here's some other out-of-context quotes -

"ridiculously popular"

"it is hard not to recommend splashing out again, even if you already adore your trusty original"

"DS Lite is slimmer and sexier than its predecessor"

"In Japan the DS Lite could not have been more popular had it been given away for free"

"a raft of quality games hot on its heels spearheaded by New Super Mario Bros"

To anyone responding here without reading the article - please do yourself a favour and read it first. This is just the old Nintendo Buyer's Persecution Complex rearing it's head again, I think.

Whoops!

[Kieran76]

I'm not entirely sure this is headline material myself.