Nintendo DS to allow free VOIP

Not clear as to whether this is DS to DS or DS to anything, But eitherway its very interesting:

http://www.gamespot.com/news/2004/08/31/news_6106106.html

Oh, And there will be a headset, no sidetalkin!

 

yes , that's really cool! you'll be able to send text messages made with your ds pen too.

 

That is a nice little touch. Nintendo seem to let a little more out of the bag about the DS every week ;-)

Yakumo

 

nintendo sems to learn from their past errors ; we whant ONLINE!

:smt083

 

I read some more on gamespot because of this...

I also read that nintendo has another trick up it's sleeve. Apparently, theres a square jack near the headphone jack, and we don't know its purpose yet, and Nintendo isn't telling.

http://www.gamespot.com/news/2004/08/23/news_6105434.html

Interesting, no?

 

umm now thats interesting!

 

All this FREE shit is sounding far too good to be true,this is Nintendo after all and I can't see there being no price for all this stuff,whther you need an adaptor or a special cart,Nintendo will have some profit making plan up it's sleeve.

Does no one else agree with me on this one???

 

errr, maybe its one of the nintendo strategy , but every gaming console compagny have their dark faces. like sony with their consoles that always break , sega with their lot of supports and add-ons, nintendo,..., microsoft....

 

Yeah, but wasn't the add-on's for Sega more in the Genesis Era? Besides a few wierd Japanese add-ons, there have barely been any add-on's for the Saturn and Dreamcast.

 

well, sega always tried to make great consoles with great technology before anyone else in it. but every consoles sega had flaws. sms? bad controller , not enough buttons .
genesis? too many add-ons controller with not enough buttons : they needed to change the pad in teh 3/4 of the genesis life (the second one was really good though :-D) alot of compatibility /imcompatibility problems (need a sega cd with a genesis and a 32x to run somes games)
saturn? when released it was already had low power. the system was a bit better than a 32x (if you count the never touched power of the 32x) the 32x/satun launch , the bad quality of the pad they needed to change it in america , the 3d controller ....

dreamcast? well, there's only one joystick. i think the dreamcast could be still alive if it wasn't of the pad, these days games need two joysticks (well, not all , but i don't imagine timesplitter on this controller)


i don't say that i dislike sega , i love them! i just say that they made alot of cheap shots sometimes. (well, bad plans.. that affects the consumer that need to always updrade is system with new controller or add-ons )

I whant sega back!!!

 

I can't imagine this will be a subscription based service, as nintendos last attempt at subscription gaming (the 64DD) was hardly an outstanding success now was it?

What i predict it will be is:
You buy a particular cart containing the software needed for VOIP. You will also get either a wireless headset (using bluetooth or a similar technology) or a wired one. You will then be able to communicate using VOIP to anyone you are playing a multiplayer game with, and any other DS or Computer you know the IP of and in the case of the computer has the correct software installed. I very much doubt there will be calling to standard phone numbers As this costs quite a lot on the providers part.

 

It will probably be "free" for the DS users, but cost the receiver of the call £/$X per 1/2 minute. Then be advertised as a "security feature to ensure your kids can stay in contact with you, even if they don't have a mobile phone and/or any change*"

I think THIS Article about the PSP was more interesting. They still won't commit to what the battery life of the PSP will be, if it wasn't something controversial, then why all the secrecy? They have already announced an external battery pack, so it can't be good.

Also the lack of UMD writers for even developers is interesting, one of its main attractions for Joe Public was the possibility to store the promised "4 hours of digital TV video" to watch on the move~











*provided they have battery life in the DS and free access to a WiFi enabled internet connection

~4 hours playback assuming you have a fully charged PSP and 2 (two) fully charged external battery packs, with no backlight or sound enabled on the PSP

 

:smt043 :smt043 :smt043

 

its official , it will be DS to DS , i read about it on alot of good video game sites. and i don't think it will be sold apart form the ds , just look at the thing that let you send text , it will be inclued IN the ds, so i don't know why it would be separatly , and if games use it for only , i don't know why it would take a cart , where would you put the other in? i think i've got a point , don't you think?

i've read that nintendo planned some chat rooms too, you could see every rooms in a screen and in the other who is in. you could switch rooms to rooms with you pencil and select options at the screen.

cool idea , imo.

 

oh, please.

 

a bit better than the 32x (IF YOU COUNTE THE NEVER TOUCHED POWER OF THE 32x)

look on the forums and search demo movie od the 32x.
saturn is still better , a bit better.

todays games need two joysticks , i don't say that its not fun games without 50 buttons , but the market is like that you know. the dreamcast have graphics of a ps2 , you know? oh, that's true i forgot that the dc was pirated to death and that sega was between the cd and dvd era, sorry.

 

The DC pad was one of the main reasons of its failure, afteral its the tool you use to control :smt083 good point cahaz thats what I always thought I know alot of people that sold the console right from the start because they couldnt get used to the controller. And the cable coming out from the back of the pad was also genius :smt082 . I don´t think it needs 2x analogue sticks though if they sticked to the NiGHTS design as it is no one would bitch about it.

The Nintendo DS is getting better by the time, finally nintendo is doing consoles that do more than just play games.

 

i personally love the dreamcast controller , but games of todays need two joysticks , like genesis needed more than 3 buttons for allot of games, that's how the gaming industry goes.

weclome to assembler's forum btw, hope you'll love the place! :smt023

 

Oh thank you I sure will :]
Yeah the lack of buttons was the main issue the Capcom fans were in rage once they saw it. Maybe we should discuss it in the future I have some proto designs pics of the DC pad, man what were they thinking...

 

My ass - there have been far, far worse than the Dc's controller - the XB Fatty and the GC MicroTurd the most recent. The GameCube controller is FAR more lambasted than the DCs was, and please - the DCs controller was hardly a factor whatsoever in its demise. More people though the N64s controller than the DCs was shit and rightly so; did it stop good N64 sales in NA/EU? No. SEGA had far, far larger issues at SOJ that determined the call to axe the DC than the a pitiful issue of the controller.

The GCs controller is such a small, poorly designed turd that 5 minutes of Super Monkey Ball fighting makes my hand ache and prompts me to buy a ;beefy' GC controller even though I have anything but large hands. And nothing is worse for fighters than the GC controller's strange design - and yet, are GC sales or lack thereof predominantly affected by its controller? No. The XBOX big ass Fatty beast of a controller was the absolutely worst designed turd masquerading as a pad ever made; did ti stop the XB from relative success and staying neck-and-neck with the GC sales-wise in NA/EU? No.

Erm, yeah. And why then was the Genesis was massively successful despite this and MK outsold the SNES version 4:1 DESPITE the fact taht the game is unplayable without the six-button controller?

Games in the DCs era were not the type to require two thumbsticks as there was no precedent at the time. It became a standard long afetr the Dc was gone. Don't forget GoldenEye only needed,a nd used, one thumbstick.

Absolutely NO next-gen controller besides the Saturn is suited to 2D fighters with a 6-button layout. Playing a Capcom fighter with the PlayStation standard layout was just as much a bitch as with the standard Dc controller - you were still bashing shoulder buttons/triggers. There's a reason why there are fighting controllers and arcade sticks made sepcifically for these games and it applies to every console but the Saturn, not just the DC.

There are FAR bigger issues than controller design that affect the fate of a console, ESPECIALLY in the DCs case and with SOJs decision. Furthermore, people wil buy a console for the games regardless of a shit controller - as XB demonstrated witrh Halo despite the Fatty - and simply buy a more comfortable alternative.