Nintendo 3DS

[J0e Musashi]

That's the reason I won't import, games like Zelda, Paper Mario, Professor Layton are too much to give up.

Well you just answered your own question right there.

Unless you plan to have two consoles, which I don't.

Right there also.

[JSR]

Well you just answered your own question right there.



Right there also.

Sorry, I must have landed in the smartass part of the forum, I will hurry back to "The Constructive Corner", where I intended to go.

[J0e Musashi]

Sorry, I must have landed in the smartass part of the forum, I will hurry back to "The Constructive Corner", where I intended to go.

Well if you want to, but if you can't live without the games you mentioned, then stick with a European unit. Simples non? Personally I'm more interested in the likes of 3D Ouendan than playing a re-hash of Zelda so I'll be going the usual route of a Japanese unit. If I find myself in dire need to play Paper Mario I can borrow my son's Euro Unit.

You could always import a US model as that would be in English, and you'll likely get faster release dates at the expense of being able to shop in LAME or Lamestation etc. Pro's and con's they call it in t'trade me old china plate

[Brad]

Sony had better not go down this route (region locking).

Regarding the Nintendo rehashes, I may be tempted to play them again I suppose. If I do then I don't care what language it's presented in cos I'll know what to do anyway. A japanese MGS3 would be fine for example. Also, putting region locking on the device is just BEGGING hackers to tear the security apart and as soon as they do we'll all be playing games from all regions anyway. Maybe. Depends how good Nintendo's random number generator is I suppose.

[J0e Musashi]

There will be some form of R4 out within six months of launch anyway, so it's a moot point.

[fuse]

How do you do that Adrian? I've tried, but you can't get past checkout as the item doesn't exist. It wants to charge me shipping though. Can't I just add myself to the waiting list?

I just went to the page for it, added, and then carried on as if it were in my basket. It said the order total was purely the shipping cost, so just used my on-record card details and placed it. The confirm email has in there that it's a no-money-down reservation though, so all seems to be to plan.

All of you importing a JPN unit: Do you read and speak the language well? If not some of the games could be unplayable. Can't imagine playing Paper Mario without fully understanding what is said.

I don't know why speaking would be any use, but I can read sufficient to get me through menus and whatever - if I want to play anything text-heavy then obviously yes I will have to stump up for a second (Layton is already making me consider doing so, Layton x Phoenix will definitely push me over) but I have no doubts that there will be plenty of interesting J-exclusive titles that I will want.

Personally I'm more interested in the likes of 3D Ouendan than playing a re-hash of Zelda

Pretty much it in a nutshell.

[J0e Musashi]

I just went to the page for it, added, and then carried on as if it were in my basket. It said the order total was purely the shipping cost, so just used my on-record card details and placed it. The confirm email has in there that it's a no-money-down reservation though, so all seems to be to plan.

Have they charged your credit card the shipping cost already though? I'd rather pay via Paypal really, but I gather they'll charge me right away. I'll put it on the plastic should they not take the money from me now.

[Miguel007]

Sony had better not go down this route (region locking).

After the whole Geohotz / hacking debacle you know everything they release from now on is going to be airtight - I wouldn't be suprised if region locking was re-introduced.

I wouldn't want it to happen, mind.

[fuse]

Have they charged your credit card the shipping cost already though? I'd rather pay via Paypal really, but I gather they'll charge me right away. I'll put it on the plastic should they not take the money from me now.

Nah they've not taken it. Think the Paypal option might've been crossed out, actually. On the card it goes for me!

[Neon Ignition]

I can't recall whether this has been asked before (probably) but does anyone know how the backlight is on this?

Back in the day it alone was one of the reasons I could understand people upgrading to the DS Lite though I never understood the drive to switch to the DSi or the DSi XL. Basically, I could see myself swinging a little more in it's favour if the initial machine is sufficient enough to not warrant having to upgrade to the inevitable revisions.

Also:

http://uk.ds.ign.com/articles/114/1145129p1.html

Japanese retailers are starting to report that all their pre-order allocations are all gone

[abigsmurf]

I'd guess the backlight has to be pretty bright, wouldn't surprise me if the parallax barrier absorbs a percentage of the light so they'd have to compensate.

Incidentally, the EU Nintendo guy said the 3-5 battery life was a worst case scenario: intensive game using full 3D with the wifi on

[Dogg Thang]

On the battery, I'm remaining a little optimistic on it, in spite of all the other negativity. On one of the recent DS models (may have been DSi but I honestly can't remember), battery tests online showed it lasted considerably longer than Nintendo had quoted. A stark contrast to many other devices where real tests often have the opposite results. So perhaps it really is a worst case scenario.

I really hope so because the low end of that, at three hours, is pretty unacceptable. The PSP was rightly ripped to shreds on its poor battery life and this doesn't yet sound all that different. Still... remaining optimistic.


Edit: Although, now that I think about it, my DSi has a habit of just dying out of nowhere so it may have been the DS Lite that had a longer battery life than quoted.

[Neon Ignition]

At the rate I'd use it, never using the online functions, the battery would probably need charging after every 3-4 days which isn't too bad.

[abigsmurf]

One thing Nintendo have been keeping quiet: The download store won't be ready for launch, it's going to come via a firmware update.

Really hoping the Virtual Console gets a good range of titles. They've only confirmed GB and GBC. They showed off Yoshi's Island though so snes could be incoming.

[Dogg Thang]

More reasons to hold off.

I really hope they do as much for the 3DS as they did for the Wii VC. A handheld version of the VC would be sweet.