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Forums - Nintendo Discussion - Nintendo expects DS and DSi to 'coexist' in US, gamers unimpressed

c0rd on 08 October 2008
steven787 said:

Maybe, Nintendo is going to make DSi only games to sell DSi's not the other way around, as everyone seems to assume in this thread.

Of course that's the case. However, there isn't any sort of traditional games they can make while justifying DSi exclusivity - its only new features are an SD card, maybe improved online, and a camera. This leads me to believe exclusive DSi games will only be one of two things:

  • Released in the DSi shop. There may be great games the DS misses out on, but likely none of the major Nintendo games. Iwata has also stressed how important standard retail is.
  • Non-games - I can definitely see some Touch! Generations sort of stuff exclusive to the DSi.

Any traditional games - The Marios, Zeldas, Pokemon's, Kirbys, Fire Emblems, and other things forum goers here care about - should remain compatible with both platforms. If all you're interested in is a gaming device, I don't think they will force you to upgrade. That's what I hope, anyway.



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steven787 on 08 October 2008
c0rd said:
steven787 said:

Maybe, Nintendo is going to make DSi only games to sell DSi's not the other way around, as everyone seems to assume in this thread.

Of course that's the case. However, there isn't any sort of traditional games they can make while justifying DSi exclusivity - its only new features are an SD card, maybe improved online, and a camera. This leads me to believe exclusive DSi games will only be one of two things:

 

  • Released in the DSi shop. There may be great games the DS misses out on, but likely none of the major Nintendo games. Iwata has also stressed how important standard retail is.
  • Non-games - I can definitely see some Touch! Generations sort of stuff exclusive to the DSi.

 

Any traditional games - The Marios, Zeldas, Pokemon's, Kirbys, Fire Emblems, and other things forum goers here care about - should remain compatible with both platforms. If all you're interested in is a gaming device, I don't think they will force you to upgrade. That's what I hope, anyway.

 

That bolded part is exactly what I'm talking about.  If Nintendo knows 5 million people minimum are going to buy a game, they will put it on the new system, to get people to buy the new system.

The only reasons why they put Z:TP on both GCN and Wii, is because 1) GCN had a small user base, 2) Even Nintendo thought Wii would fail, and 3) they were very similar.

1) and 2) do not apply to the DS and DSi.



I would cite regulation, but I know you will simply ignore it.

TWRoO on 08 October 2008
mike_intellivision said:
This seems to be random UK Nintendo bashing!

The intent of my statement is that a lot of sites in the UK seem to think that since Nintendo is not the latest/greatest technology that it is not worth their while -- thus they take great delight in making mountains out of molehills with regard to anything that might be different about Nintendo's approach to gaming.

The "gamers unimpressed" comes from the original article -- which was actually much more harsh. My expression of exasperation comes from the fact that (a) there is no proof of this statement (most gamers probably don't know about it) and (b) its a UK site talking about the marketing strategy for US/NA.

Mike from Morgantown

And yet here is one of the strongest Nintendo countries compared to it's competitors in the world (only France and Japan being more Nintendo biased)

Although before the DS it was perhaps one of the weakest, (of the important market countries) so those websites are just living in the past.

 



c0rd on 08 October 2008
steven787 said:

That bolded part is exactly what I'm talking about.  If Nintendo knows 5 million people minimum are going to buy a game, they will put it on the new system, to get people to buy the new system.

The only reasons why they put Z:TP on both GCN and Wii, is because 1) GCN had a small user base, 2) Even Nintendo thought Wii would fail, and 3) they were very similar.

1) and 2) do not apply to the DS and DSi.

It isn't impossible, but is it worth it? As much as I love Zelda or Mario, they can stratch me off the potential buyer's list if it means I need to upgrade the DSL to DSi. Not only that, I'll also be much more cautious of buying from Nintendo in the future. I could be alone on this, but I doubt it.

While the GCN and Wii are similar in graphical power, to my knowledge the DS & DSi are the same. The only extra gameplay related feature the DSi can really add is the use of a camera, and what good is that for traditional games? The GCN and Wii have completely different control schemes (which affect gameplay drastically), so the upgrade makes sense.

I feel it'd be similar if Sony released PSP-3000 only games, even though the only new addition is the mic (let's assume a mic couldn't be used otherwise). That would not sit well with current PSP users. If you're going to abandon your old userbase and force people to upgrade, it had better be for a good reason.