Nintendo DS Defects
A poster named matt made a good point the other day in his reply here on Portagame. He wondered “where are all the DS defects?” Meaning that we all pick on the PSP, but we also know that Nintendo is no sacred cow, so where’s the scoop? Well were here to bring it to you. The biggest defect with the DS? It’s impossible to find! (Hey it’s Christmas week, what do you want from me?) I am in a big city for the Holiday’s and out of 4 Targets and 2 Wal-Marts and 3 Gamestops not one has a DS. And the even weirder part? All those same places are completly sold out of the M$ Xbox. I mean is Halo 2 that good that the Xbox is experiencing some sort of revival? Let us know what’s going on where you live….can you say artifcial demand?
Comments
um… NO dtghty
anyway…stores in canada are sold out too… apparently 95 percent of ds stock is gone here in cda.
nintendo better start that third factory up fast….
pstwo’s are selling pretty well in canada too…
and NO, i don’t live in an igloo rofl..
I was wondering through Target, of all places, on Christmas Eve at 5:00 pm and saw they had 4 DS systems available. I was floored. They must have put a case on the shelves just a few hours prior, because they were selling quick. I walked around the store and came back a half hour later to see there was only 2 left.
Costco had mine, so if you look there, you might find one or two left. Of course, it comes in a bundle with SM64DS.
Happy Holidays Everyone!
well in wv in the staes they are sold out and even xboxs too i belive and the reson i got my xbox was to play halo 2 and i hopeing to gather enough money to find a DS anyone looking forward to RE4 or conker live and reloaded?
The new PS2’s are selling out everywhere I have checked in my town. They are selling extremely well here. I’ve been hearing about lit pixels on the ds on other sites, but thats all.
Yea, I never knew X Box needed a revival. Plus it is the Best Console out there as of this moment. Plus DS is getting sold out like crazy. Plus it is really sweet.Touch screen, 3D processing, plays both GBA and new inch and a half cards that look like Digital Camera Memory. Wireless Connection, which means no more link cables.
man i thought only where i live was sold out of game system where i live your never goin to find a ds ……..
the xbox isnt in a revival, it has been progressively increasing in sales for the past 2 years now, compared to gamecubes decreasing sales and the ps2’s extremely decreasing sales (percentage wise of course). microsofts bajillion dollar marketting campaign really worked. another DS problem that you didnt bring up to the table though, is the dead pixels. SEVERAL (including my first one) had a dead/multiple dead pixels in it. fortunately, dead pixels are so minor, only the most anal retentive of people like myself will even care about it. its just dust that gets trapped under the screen, i guess the lazy fookers in the DS factories got lazy and skipped a few cleanliness procedures. still, the dead pixel problem nintendo ds suffers from is one of the most minor launch problems any system has had, and certainly cant compare to the accumulation of problems the psp is having.
launch problems, might i add, are VERY common… look at xbox and ps2 on lineup. how many launch ps2 and xbox systems are still working. dreamcast had some minor problems as well,.
the dead pixels are the lcd problems, and any device that has an lcd, can have the chance of getting dead pixels. Its kinda hard to check millions of lcds to check for one tiny dead pixel.
reno rasaki u suck balls cuz u talk to mush shit about the DS. Fuck off the ds and go suck on ur Xboxs dick for buying one insted of the DS. ha haha ahahhahaha
PS ur a big ass licking xbox suker
ya know what im tired of my name dtfgty i didnt want to put my real name so i just put anything im changeing it to omega!!!
Surprised no one mentioned the Wario Ware game errors. A small percentage of DS systems completely wouldn’t function when you did some certain minigame. I don’t remember the details but it’s posted on Gamespot. There was like a trio of the minigames you just couldn’t do. I think it had something to do with the functionality of the touch screen.
are you talking about the wario ware ds game? or the wario ware gba game? because the ds one isnt even out. still, i heard nothing of it…. hmmmm….
and jet - dead pixels arent initially dead, they get dead when a dust particle gets trapped under teh screen, at least that is usually the case…
Warioware in Japan is said to have a few problems with a limited number of DS units. It affects only 3 games on it though, allowing you to simply not complete the 3 mini games.
yeah that’s what I was talking about. yeah it’s not out HERE yet, but neither is PSP which they were griping about in the article, so I figured this was releveant.
reno rasaki, you get a stylus in the Nintendo DS when you purchase it, as well as an extra right there in the box. If you’re too careless and lose BOTH of them you have to buy more, but most gamers mature enough to spend $150 for a system are careful enough not to lose parts of it. I’ve still got both of my styluses.
My friend’s DS had a burned out/blocked pixel on his top screen, and since he had the insurance from Best Buy on it, they gave him a brand new one. Glad I bought that insurance…
I have A DS, I got it on November 21 for my birthday. On christmas I got 3 more stylus pens, odds are I won’t need them. By the way I DO have a dead pixel, it bothered me before but not anymore. Canada rocks
If you cannot find a DS, Here is a hint… look on E-Bay. By the way you have a better chance of getting a DS because about 10 times the units were sold, also getting a psp is pretty expensive.
man i wish i could get one on e-bay my parents don’t like buying things off the internet becase credit card
The DS actually does have defects, at least in my experience. I have had my replaced once by Nintendo, and another new one is coming in the mail. The first one had a defective volume control, meaning it was stuck at full volume. It also had a dead pixel. The second one’s screen scratched extremely easily because the thumbstrap has a small manafacturing defect in it. I still love the system, but it is in no way free of defects. I’d say it would probably be Nintendo’s least durable console yet. The touch screen, a great feature, still doesn’t feel durable enough.
What do you think I am? An AOL user or something? I know not everything goes for retail. Yes, companies get deals off of buying large quantaties of components. In fact, I didn’t even look at the retail price for the hard, I looked at a cheap bargain site. My mp3 player retails for around 350, does that mean it cost me 350? No, I bought it at a bargain site for near $250. I’m sure Apple makes around 100+ bucks off of an iPod. So moving on from the iPod price discussion, a better example would be of cell phones. How can a cell phone service give away a full featured phone for bargain to free prices? The answer is the contract you sign. Now they have you for a couple of years with a constant flow of money. Similar to how Sony sells the PSP, where you then buy games. Not even Nintnedo could stay profitable this console generation (They usually do) but they were profitable in 1 or 2 games, so it wasn’t that big of a deal. So maybe things cost a little more than you think, but a little less than I think.
chronova - my friend has the exact same problem with the thumbstrap - the piece of plastic had a small, sharp nub in it, and it scratched the screen quite badly. lol
he emailed nintendo and they’re mailing him a replacement ds.
jet, we have come to a consensus. lol so much time used to write those page-long answers. quoting you: “So maybe things cost a little more than you think, but a little less than I think.”
i used to think that the psp would completely own the ds, but i played it today. its actually quite good - i’m gettin one.
Hi all I have a question.I bought a DS and the problem I have is that when I turn it on all I get is a screen that looks like this: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v78/josh2222/saEE4.jpg
have any of you see this or now how to fix it?All that happens when I turn it on is I see options for language and a bunch of lines at bottom but can;t get it to work…:)…any help would be appreciated..
thanks,
josh
You guys all jump to f***ing conclusions. You all have played the Nintendo DS, but none of you (maybe a select few) have played the PSP. I’ve played the PSP (thanks to my friends who went to Japan recently) and it whoops the DS’s ass in every possible aspect. Graphics: The PSP have 16 million more colors pallets on the screen than the DS. The PSP has a joy-stick, which is a must for 3D games. It has longer Wi-Fi capabilities (The DS only has 30 ft.). Speaking of the DS’s wireless, it is completely useless. You have to be exactly near someone to play the games wireless, which I like but… THE PICTOCHAT IS USELESS! Unless you are a nerd who hates talking to people and all your friends have a DS, or your neighborhood all has a DS and never leaves it, then why would you use it? I’ve never ever seen one person in any of the chatrooms. The PSP’s LCD screen (it is great) beats the DS’s normal screen and the touch screen. The only downside I see right now regarding the PSP is that you need a memory stick to save your games, not inside the CD. Speaking of CD’s, the DS only has cartridges, which are less powerful and cannot fully support things that a CD does (and the PSP has CD’s). Take this into considerations before making any rash comments about the PSP.
Ron, while I haven’t played the PSP, your little “rant” (And yes, it is a rant) is so full of errors and misinformation, that I don’t know if I can get it all. I am by no means a PSP hater, in fact, you can count on it that I will have a preorder for it once it is brought stateside. Anyways, one, the DS wireless is 30-100 feet (Or 10-30 meters) which is the same as the PSP. Guess why? They use a similiar wirless standard. It is just that the DS has a propritary channel, so only another DS can connect to it (For the time being), though there is support for normal 802.11b. Hey, guess what else CD’s can do that carts can’t? Loading times!!!! Ya! Thats one great thing about carts for portables, no loading times. Sure CD’s can hold more, but the DS has two slots, and a game could have a DS cart (Which the memory size will slowly increase over time) and a GBA cart, if need be. Yes, the PSP has an amazing LCD screen, and I can’t wait to have one. The DS screen is decent, and by no means, bad. Also, I have heard reports of how the analog nub (its not an analog stick, but it is a nub, as it is slightly different compared to a console control) isn’t that great. But the DS has touchscreen control, and I bet you will find equal amount of people who think the nub is the greatest thing in the world, and people who think the touchscreen is even better. Sure the PSP is great (this is an opinion, and remember that, so don’t think because you think it is great, that it becomes fact) but the DS is also amazing, and I have had a ton of fun playing it. This year will be great for portables, and if Nintendo gets Metroid online, then the system will be even better. Nintendo has proven itself again, we just ahve to see if the PSP will do just as good (And even if the system is amazing, we are talking about product support, games, etc). So we will see, though I expect both to be equally amazing in the coming year.
the psp when it comes to the us will have a olcd not lcd this is a problem is 2 aspects the olcd’s dont last as long the news time i could find is 2 years. and olcd’s glow on its own so there will be not back lit. i have seen one on a pda and black does not look black and in the day time u cant see any thing. it will help with batt. life so now it will be 4.5 hr nice….
i used to be like ron - all about the psp, and i didn’t like the ds. playing the ds changed my mind - it’s good, but i still like the psp more. in fact, i’m still not buying a ds and getting the psp.
first of all, the ds is better because:
1)longer battery life
2)no loading times
3)touch screen. have you played metroid prime? i really can’t think of a better control scheme for a fps . all they need is cs for ds, and i might get it… analog nub for fps is nothing compared to this, touchscreen is next to keyboard and mouse for fps.
4)it’s already out, so impatient people like me can get it RIGHT NOW.
5)less, but not non-existent defects
the psp is better because:
1)i dont like kiddy platformers like super mario and i’d rather play gt4 than mario kart (real vs. cartoon) but i’m not saying which is the better game, its just i like gt4 a lot more.
2)umd-based media can hold the same amount as a gamecube disc
3)a LOT more powerful, in terms of graphics, compared to ds (think xbox vs. ps2, no wait, dreamcast)
4)uh… loading times for patient people?
i’m kinda turned off by psp defects and its loading times, battery life. however, like the ipod, future generations or revisions of the psp are gonna be better. kaz hirai said that. i dont like that cuz that means if i get it when it comes out in march, in about a year everyone else will have a better psp (although i got it a year before them; that’s the tradeoff). ayyyeyee can’t they make a better control scheme for fps’s on portables??? then port cs to it??? i would absolutely love that.
by the way, itsachris
just *in case* you didn’t know, psp will not ship with an OLED screen.
there is no such thing as an OLCD screen.
the rest of your points are true.
i had fun trying to read it!
Okay people, I am BY NOT MEANS A DS HATER! The DS is a fine machine, which I like to play. I just gave some points for you guys to stop dissing the PSP and love the DS. There are pros and cons for each system.
Plus, the DS has only 30 ft. wireless. I tried 50 ft. it didn’t work.
Matt, just one thing, a better comparison of the graphics would be PS2 vs. Dreamcast. Though in some cases the DS has closer to Nintendo 64 graphics.
Ron, the range is 30-100 feet. I would show you a pic off of some blog of some guy playing several blocks away from his friend, but I can’t find it right now. As for you getting 30 feet, it could be how charged the battery is, your environment (Any objects or interference from other electronics), the game, etc. The same thing can happen to a PSP, the range can decrease according to the situation.
when i wuz talking about the graphics, i mean the DIFFERENCE between the graphics like psp vs. ds compared to xbox vs. dreamcast, not saying xbox is close to psp and ds is close to dreamcast - just the difference in the graphics. trust me. look at screenshots for ridge racer for both systems. there IS that much of a difference.
i have a question for you readers - you know about the freeipods.com network, right? has anyone tried the ds version? i’d like a free ds…
Yes, I understood that, but the Ps2 Dreamcast one seemed closer. Anyways, Ridge Racers looked like crap, I have Asphalt, and that game is sweet. Definitly a decent use of the DS’s graphics, and since this is just a launch game, I can’t wait for more!
uh… english please, kredit?
btw yeah ridge racer for ds is crap. just a cheap port. in fact, it almost looks worse than my playstation version.
matt, I disagree. I love my Ridge Racer DS. Not for the graphics or the sound, I feel those could have been enhanced if they wanted to, but the gameplay is exactly how I remember it. I like the old school feel - and am all for n64 ports to the DS, even if they are almost EXACT ports like RR is.
Good for you. If I had to choose between the two, then I would. But I decided that I would get both (and use the PSP for multimedia purposes). Though one thing that helps, is that I don’t do console gaming, so it saves money. If I had to choose between the two, I might, might, just get a PSP. But I don’t, so I have the pleasure to enjoy both. My only worry is if Sony does the system right, and fully supports it. We shall see.
that would be totally cool if psps in north america were fully supported by sony… when was the last time sony did that well?
I meant more along the lines of fully expanding its capabilties. Like a 802.11 network, instead of just LAN. There is also talk of a bunch of cool stuff like a web browser and such. I just hope Sony comes out with that stuff.
Well, of course Sony will come out with a web browser and such for the PSP, it’s their life vest. Will it come out and be thrown to the wayside like their PS2 hard drive? Oh, absolutely. They’re just as bad as Nintendo when it comes to not supporting features after launching them. Well, at least Nintendo released in house games that supported the eCard Reader before it dropped that. Sony did not release in house games that supported the hard drive function before dropping it in the USA.
Thanks alot guys, i’ve been reading through and for the most part you aren’t just like “ZOMG DS SUX0RZ”
I still have no idea wich one I wan’t to buy. I’m leaning twords a DS for it’s wireless capabilities. Don’t laugh at me for this one but my band teacher actualy suggested everyone get a DS for a competition we are having, everybody could chat / play a game together without making a sound 
A friend and I played mario DS for so long I can’t remember, we beat it, it was almost just like the n64 version - he had never played it and I did so we compared it
Graphics - As far as I know it has n64 graphics… but I love the n64 and don’t play it for the graphics - I play it for the games. I have an n64 emulator on my xbox. They also seem to be adicted to making 2d games even though the have the capability of going furhter -_-
And somebody made the cd vs memory card defence - give it up bro, there both the same… one loads and one doesn’t, one can save and one can’t - woobde friggin do. The only good thing about cards is they’re easer to pirite but from what i’ve heard you can burn your own psp disks (Don’t know the name - sorry guys)
I’m not sure if the DS is compatable with 802.11b or not, if it is that would be even better - online play, but nintendo won’t say anything
Games are kiddie, i’ll admit that but I don’t wan’t to get stuck with a million different types of fighting games
-PSP
As far as i’ve heard it’s battery life sucks? But if it had 802.11 Wi-Fi capabilities and a web browser that would be cool, my PDA has that and I can rech peopl’s un encrypted networks from some of my classes.
The problom would be it’s design… i’m not stickin anything with an un protected screen in my pocket… I’ve got a flip phone, cover for my PDA, and a gba sp just for that reason - it’s gonna get funked up
Somebody made a point on another forum about DVD’s, and who watches them more than once. At first I agree’d but now that I think about it I watch family guy more than it’s healthy so that would be cool, and it could play music.
Graphics - Honestly I don’t know what’s so hot about them - i’m looking for a movie that shows them off, if anybody could find one thanks alot.
Games - PS2 seemed to have alot of fighting games. I bought a PS2 at once point for GTA 3 and Vice City. I played them alot, 97% complete on both (screw packages dude :P) and if that came out on psp I would buy psp in a heard beat. They also had Stuntman - wich I loved, but not enough to keep the thing. I sold my ps2 to help fund my laptop, and I hope the PSP isn’t the same (if I bought one)
One time at a LAN party all we did was make fun of the PSP but we had no reasons - well we had shooting disks at eachother and breaking the screen but… we didn’t have any real reason
That’s my problem… nobody gives real reasons anymore it’s just a bunch of 9 year olds yelling “ZOMG DS ARE PWNZ0R TEH PSPZ0R” and I got so tired of it I gave up for a while. Now that PSP is closer to release I think I should re consider.
I don’t know about disks in a handheld - it seems they would get scratched alot, and i’m not exacly a calm player so i’m worried there gonna come flying out on me and wizing accross the room
I think i’m gonna buy a DS unless something convinces me otherwize, right not the reasons I wouldn’t would be the games, i’m hoping they won’t just release kiddie games so i’ll be stuck with these, thanks for all your help guys, if anybody wants to we should keep an on going tallie, just things one has on the other and stuff becase to be honest with you I don’t know witch one I sohuld buy - and i’m sure alot are the same
Thanks again for all your help and for not being stupid about this
-ShutUp
I just saw a comercial for the PSP that was pretty cool lol
I had to use a laptop for the past couple of days, and I just bought a new monitor, so that entertained me for the day. News tomorrow might be slow… not that too many people will care, everyone will be playing their PSP’s. So if you aren’t going to a midnight launch, try and get some sleep!
I work at a gaming place in the midwest (not that special) and I experienced just that during x-mas season. No DS. Now we did get enough of the Xbox’s that came with two games (super deal). Gcube did the same with Mario Kart and both sold like crazy. PS2 released the K-chasis and sold like crazy.
So where’s DS?? Thumbs down big flop. If you can’t take advantage of the season, why are you in business? Also, by not selling during x-mas, the PSP exploded in the middle of march of all times because people who were supposed to have a DS (and thus wouldn’t buy another portable) didn’t!
The DS is a failure by all means. The system wasn’t all that great with GameBoy graphics and kiddie games (except Feel the Magic and Sprung which defies all logic of a system that sells Mario and Pokemon on it! - parents watch out!!!). With the PSP competition firmly in place, DS will never sell again.
Viva La Virtual Boy!
wow, i must say you are being a bit melodramatic. i dont get how they werent taking “advantage” of the holliday season. they sold out didnt they? they sold more units then the psp. so, how did they not take advantage of it? youre views are pretty immature and fanboyish. you can find proof for this in your referrance to the virtual boy. we all know the virtual boy sucked. the second that ds was released, even with its worst game only (sprung), its still 10 times better then the headache of a virtual boy. its got some really cool games for it, and ive really been enjoying games like zookeeper and mario 64.
you work for a games retailer? well, why dont you practice being a more objective, well rounded consumer? both the psp and ds have a lot to offer us (minus that pointless multimedia crap that the psp thinks its special for). if you enjoyed and respected both platforms, your views will be more respected by others and you’ll be a better salesman. of course, why do that - when being a rabid radical fanboy is possible? just talk **** on a system youve obviously never played out of simple fandom for another system that gives you an orgasm.
okay, pointless multimedia crap!?! what are you talking about. if you like watching movies and recorded tv shows or listening to music etc (which 99% of the world does) then multimedia isnt pointless crap is it. just depends on what you want to do with it. and charlie, i guess, since your saying that you dont like multimedia then you dont like the psp so dont buy one
Amen to that. by the way, I can buy a gba media player for my DS & a 256MB CF card for a total of $100 (less than the difference between the DS and PSP up here in Canada)
wow i came here looking for an answer on which 1 i should get a ds or psp i really dident get an answer but i think im going to go w/ the ds i mean FREE wiless connection (even thought like only 100 ft they really should make it go farther like maby 300 ft at least)so if any of u would like to try to coax me away from buying the ds or to stick w/ the psp pleses e-mail me at my little adress and if not displayed then srry lol.
honestly, ninjadude, from my standpoint right now - i would say the ds has more to offer and will have more to offer for the future. but thats pure speculation, a wise guess. what you really should do at this point in time is wait, E3 is around the corner and tehre will be plenty of future games, accessories, and such that will give you a better look into your investment. definitely, just wait a bit if you want to get whats best for you. E3, right around the corner.
I thank you for a wonderful site. You have done very good job. Hope my message it come out OK as we have very bad Internet in Mexico! Actually, we have a very bad many things!
Ninjadude, if your buying the DS just because of its free wireless connection, then i suggest you research more. neither psp nor ds has a fee on their internet, and the psp can actually go on the internet and connect to other systems. so my advice is to look at all the details before you make an investment, see which games and features you like better or what you wont get sick of easily
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i love making good points.