Consider this program for the Nintendo DS:

http://www.gamerankings.com/htmlpages2/955234.asp

It is a collection of 100 novels for the DS, plus you can download more.  Using the reason people are saying on here that the Wii is destroying the videogame industry with its supposedly inexpensive and not hardcore videogames, what does one make of this title?  It is a reader of text files.  If this catches on, usng the logic of the Wii being an industry destroyer, won't this title, and others like this, destroy the industry?

Or is this whole casual games and non-games, and Wii stuff being harmful to the industry nonsense?

Yes, just like PS2's ability to play DVDs. Actually I think beds, toilets and food are more to blame. Stupid gamers thinking there is more to do than game.

The game looks interesting.

I was kind of hoping that they at some point make the DS a competitor to a lot of the e-book devices out there, this could be a good first step.

Is that destroying the video game industry? I repost the inquiry merely for emphasis. The answer is certainly not. if fact, I'd say it is expanding the industry into a more accepted media.

I personally cannot wait for the title to arrive on our shores. I've read only a few of those titles already, unfortunately, and the prospect of have all 100+ readily available in such compact, convenient form gives me an encephalon woody.

Is this scheduled for North America release? I know it just came out in the UK.

If not scheduled in North America, is the DS region free?

The DS is region free.

I do imagine the title getting a North American publisher relatively soon. If the wait becomes too long, I shall import it.

If I learn of a local improter getting copies, I'll let you know.

I'm more interested in what this might mean for the book industry.

Sadly, I doubt it will amount to much.

People actually read more than several sentences at a time?

Some of us even get paid to do so.