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Wii Portables (Games)

DS Games To Be Downloadable to the Wii 151

Posted by Zonk from the handshakes-all-around dept.
In a New York Times article generally discussing Nintendo's gangbuster success with the Wii and DS, Reggie Fils-Aimie reveals that in the future the DS will more tightly integrate with the console. Full games will be downloadable to the Wii platform, and then transferable via wireless to the handheld. "In Japan, the DS's functionality extends beyond its game-playing ability. There the device is used to give information during museum tours, and to download content from the Wii. Some of those features will eventually be introduced into the North American market as well. 'To aggressively drive DS business we need to provide other forms of entertainment to excite the consumer,' said Mr. Fils-Amie."
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DS Games To Be Downloadable to the Wii More

DS Games To Be Downloadable to the Wii

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  • too late (Score:3, Funny)

    by maclizard ( 1029814 ) on Wednesday January 02, 2008 @02:20PM (#21884648)
    DS games are already downloadable on the PC.
    • So are NES, SNES, N64, TG-16 and Genesis games but Nintendo seems to do quite well with its virtual console sales.
      • it is quite easy for a companies numbers to reflect that they are doing well when the is little or no initial investment.
        • Yeah, because they didn't spend aaaany money when they were developing those titles initially, did they? But it is a very good capitalisation on older products, in the same way that you can use Gamecube controllers and games directly on the Wii. Great thinking on Nintendo's part :)
      • It's so much easier to play these games on a TV, without getting an extra computer, just for your TV. I would gladly pay $5-$10 for the quality of play offered by the Wii. Here's some of the advantages. Displays perfectly on your TV without messing with driver settings. Games list can be navigated with the Wiimote. The controls are much more responsive than any emulator I've ever played.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by afidel ( 530433 )
          Messing with driver settings? What, you're hdtv doesn't have HDMI/DVI? Because all I did was plug in my Toshiba 42HL196 to my Nvidia 7600GS via DVI->HDMI cable and it showed up automagically as a PnP 1920*1080 display. Then I use my emulator plugin to my DVR software and now I have literally thousands upon thousands of games to play via wireless keyboard and mouse or wiimote using a USB dongle =) The one thing that's not wireless is the arcade stick but that has a 12' cord so it's not a big deal unless I

          • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

            by Toonol ( 1057698 )
            But paying for the games on the virtual console is the right thing to do.

            Yeah, I know, mod me down... I'm kind of speaking out the side of my mouth, because I do have emulators with thousands of roms on my pc. But I still have bought about six or eight VC games, even though I already had the roms, because:

            1. A little less hassle. None of my PCs are in the living room.
            2. If it's such a great game I'm still playing it a decade later, somebody deserves an extra six bucks.

            • Re: (Score:2)

              by afidel ( 530433 )
              Many of the games I play are ones I've owned on various media over the years when the creative people were actually being paid to create them. Paying some holding company that bought up the assets at fractions of a penny on the dollar isn't what drives games to be made so I really don't see the point of enriching them. Of course when the original developer still owns the rights and is still selling the game I've been known to pay. For instance Rise Of The Triad is still sold so when I felt nostalgic for it
      • Most people who run emulators either have a working system with games, or use the emulator for other reasons such as playing (patched) import games or for the mobility that a laptop/emulator/ROMs bring, you can't take a SNES on a plane. Also, the VC is the only way people could buy the games (save used) in the last 10-15 years.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by donaldm ( 919619 )

          you can't take a SNES on a plane

          You can if you either have a home-brew DS or PSP. Of course if you want other types of emulators (ie. Sega, Mame or even MS-DOS) as well, then the home-brew PSP is the way to go although I do recommend a 1GB or 2GB memory stick even though it is about twice the price of an equivalent SD card however it is a "once off" purchase since you can back it up to your PC (MS Windows, Mac or Linux) and 1GB can hold a huge amount of ROM games.

          Actually its is kind of strange to see "

  • the nytimes article has no direct quote of reggie about downloading full games from the wii. it is possible that it could be a misinterpretation on the nytimes part.

    • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

      by account_deleted ( 4530225 )
      Comment removed based on user account deletion
      • I have seen lots of gamings sites that all use the nytimes article as a source. Can you give me an actual quote that Fils-Aimes used that says that full games can go from the Wii to the DS?

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by _xeno_ ( 155264 )

          I expect it depends on your definition of "full game" :). I can't find any direct quote either, but I doubt that it's going to be a "full game" in the sense most people think.

          The DS has had the "download play" feature since it was released, but this is essentially a wireless version of the same GBA feature that allowed games to be downloaded and played on the GBA, off either the GameCube or another GBA. Anyone remember Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles? That game downloaded a small game (really more of

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by jafuser ( 112236 )
            Since most DS game ROMs are 16-128MB and the DS only has 4MB of RAM [wikipedia.org], it would not be possible to sell normal full DS games through such a download system without some kind of memory expansion. It would still be neat to be able to download demos and maybe even buy minigames that are persisted on the Wii though =)

            • Since most DS game ROMs are 16-128MB and the DS only has 4MB of RAM, it would not be possible to sell normal full DS games through such a download system without some kind of memory expansion.

              An 8 MiB expansion card comes with Nintendo DS Browser (powered by Opera), which is more than enough to run several games with their streamed soundtracks and/or FMVs stripped out. I imagine that should Nintendo start selling DSWare through Wii Shop Channel, Nintendo will start selling this expansion card separately. Or if the player remains within Wi-Fi range of a Wii console, the DS can SMB-mount[1] the channel and stream the game data at a slight cost in loading time.

              In this case, would "SMB" mean "

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by ArwynH ( 883499 )

            Well a saw the 'like in Japan' phrase there somewhere. In Japan, we have a Nintendo PR channel, where you can view trailers, exclusive interviews and download demo games to your DS (Like at a Download Station). Looks like he just wants to port that to the US.

            What I'd like to see, both in Japan and in the US is some way to download full games legally. Perhaps a 4-slot game card, where you can download to the Wii and keep any 4 games on the card.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by pembo13 ( 770295 )
      However, this as reported before by IGN Wii
    • Geometry Wars on the Wii features an option for you to let DS users download the DS version of the game for them to play. It is lacking the co-op mode though which is featured in the off the shelf version of the DS title (this is also needed to unlock a bonus level on the Wii version). The best thing is that it made me and my kids aware of the quality of the DS title, so now it's on the list of games to pick up.
    • not full games, but samplers, similar to the ones at the store, or the multi-player options for mini-games many DS carts have for sharing between DS units. It's a GREAT idea.

      In my opinion the missing function is having a supported SD adapter on the DS. That would open it up to up to 2 GB of goodness. If Nintendo used Syncing the SD card to home based Wii consoles similar to iPods and iTunes they'd make a killing. In my opinion Apple and Nintendo should make a joint product and make an iPod Shuffle cart
      • I can't tell if you are being serious or not, but google R4DS and LMP-ng. Obviously not Nintendo sanctioned, but most of that is already possible. I should be receiving my R4 today. Can't wait!
        • I know it's basically already BEING done, but I want an Apple and Nintendo sanctioned device. The shuffle is a joke anyway and all the kids have DS units. The iPod games are a joke, and Nintendo is clearly missing the boat with Wii/DS integration. Apple TV is a poor streaming box... but Wii has massive market share. In short the two companies are both doing very well on their own, but have absolutely no intention or practice (in fact miserable failure) at doing the other's job... "playing nice together"

  • Mr. Fils-Amie said that future DS device will be more tightly integrated with its Wii console. Complete games as well as game samplers will be able to be downloaded into the Wii using its broadband connection, and then transferred wirelessly to the DS.

    Sounds cool, considering current integration of the two devices is about zero, and they both have wireless capabilities. Actually, what I'd really really love to see is the ability to play and store Virtual Console titles on my DS.

  • it's cool to see such a small device able to pack so much punch. It seriously behooves me to understand why other companies can't get this right. I give credit to Nintendo not just because of their longevity but their total ability to think outside the box and give the public something worth oggling
  • The integration between a PS3 and a PSP (both abilities available at launch and things that have been talked about coming around int he future) is what made me want to get a PS3...it has maybe acouple of good games for it, and getting a Blu-Ray player is kinda cool I suppose (never use it), the different things I can do with my PSP and my PS3 was enough of a selling point for me.

    But I digress. This would certainly be awesome, as there are plenty of possibilities. As someone has already mentioned, the abil

    • The integration between a PS3 and a PSP (both abilities available at launch and things that have been talked about coming around int he future)
      I'd rather Nintendo focus on the core of making fun games/consoles then come in later with added functions rather than rush an idea a competitor has and kind of half ass it... Not naming names *cough* SIX-AXIS! *cough* Just what I prefer from a company.
      • I know alot of people have slagged SIX-AXIS off, but I can't for the life of me think why. In resistance fall of man it adds a fun dimension to throw zombies off of you, in pirates of the carribean I've found it to have been an cool feature (in an otherwise standard game), while it could be better in motorstorm it does work (but could do with alot of improvement) and in flOw its implemented brilliantly.

        I bought flOw a few days ago off of the PS Network, the game itself seems completly pointless but I'm no

        • I know alot of people have slagged SIX-AXIS off, but I can't for the life of me think why.

          Because from the moment Nintendo revealed the wiimote till the day Sony revealed the SIX-AXIS Sony's PR department ridiculed the idea of having motion sensors in a controller. All this was made much, much, worse by Sony fanbois who for months had some very crude things to say about a controller with motion sensors, only to change their minds over night.

          My point is that many people hate the SIX-AXIS despite never having touched one, for reasons that have nothing to do with the technology itself and every

    • Why does the Wii need DVD playback? Everybody already has a DVD player by their TV. What they really need is the ability to play Divx, H.264, AAC, MP3s, and all the other popular formats from an SMB share.

      • What they really need is the ability to play Divx, H.264, AAC, MP3s In the "picture channel" you can play mp3's from SD Memory

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Pojut ( 1027544 )
        I actually do not...my 1st-gen DVD player died a little while ago, the 360 looks great as a DVD player but can't play half of the discs that I own (I primarily collect c-horror movies) and I cannot stand using the PS2 as a DVD player...Considering the interface of the Wii, Nintendo could likely make a very pretty dvd player out of it. Just seems a little strange that at this point, they would release a console that doesn't have DVD playback (or dolby digital support, what the hell is that? Some of us stil
        • So go out and buy a $50 DVD player. You'll get much better DVD player abilities out of any cheap dvd player over any console. I get that the Wii is kind of a special case in that it has a the ability to point at the screen, but still I think it would be quite lacking as a DVD player. While the Wii would probably fair better than a PS3 or XBox360, it still wouldn't be great. My DVD remote has about 100 buttons. I'm not sure how you'd mimic all those buttons with just the Wiimote. I can see why they wou
          • My "DVD Player" is my Mac mini. It's remote has exactly six buttons -- play/pause, forward, reverse, up, down, and menu. With these I can play, stop, forward and reverse through the content, select and click menu items, and control the volume. Pretty much all I need.

            Maybe I'm not getting the most out of the DVDs I watch (I usually just want to see the movie/episode and the extras) but I think a 100-button remoter would really be overkill. Heck, the 20-30 button remote that came with my TV is hardly ever use
        • Pojut, just use your PS3 as a DVD player. Make sure you get the remote. That's what I did, and it works beautifully, I have no need for anything else.

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by Pojut ( 1027544 )
            That's what I've been doing...it does work fairly well. Still, I suppose it's the idea of it more than anything else. I know there really isn't any good reason for Nintendo to have released DVD playback in the Wii, it's just that it seemed odd not to do so (kinda like how it would be strange to continue using cartridges)

            • Re: (Score:2)

              by AuMatar ( 183847 )
              Because it would add $10-$20 in royalties to make it a DVD player. Since 99% of the population already has one, there's no reason to charge us for it, especially since its likely to be subpar at it. I'd rather buy a virtual console game or 2 with that money.
            • I agree. I think it's pretty silly that the Wii doesn't have DVD playback, regardless of the fact that I have that capability elsewhere.

      • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

        by bigstrat2003 ( 1058574 )
        I want my consoles to have DVD playback because I want to have as few boxes sitting by the TV as possible. A DVD player is cheap enough, but adds unnecessary clutter. Thankfully, I have a PS3, which plays DVDs beautifully.
      • because the Wii IS a DVD player.. it's just missing a few hundred Kb of software to PLAY the DVDs. There's modchips that already allow this. The issue is that the DVD group charges $5 CASH per unit or something ungodly and that's not worth it for Nintendo.

    • Re:Sony did it (Score:4, Insightful)

      by poot_rootbeer ( 188613 ) on Wednesday January 02, 2008 @02:49PM (#21885152)
      The integration between a PS3 and a PSP (both abilities available at launch and things that have been talked about coming around int he future) is what made me want to get a PS3...

      I agree that there's some exciting potential there, but what I've seen so far has been underwhelming. Why can't I download content to my portable through my existing home PC and Wifi network? Why do I have to buy and use a set-top console from the same company for what should be a simple

      It stunk of vendor lock-in when Sony did it, and if Nintendo is going to require me to own a Wii to get downloadable content for my DS, that shall stink too.

      It sounds silly, but Nintendo definately needs to get DVD playback on the Wii going

      I agree that it sounds silly, because it is. Nobody's refusing to buy a Wii because it doesn't have DVD playback. Most households have a DVD player hooked up to their TVs already, and those that don't yet can get one at K-Mart for under $30 now. It's not worth Nintendo's time to add the feature.
      • Actually I'm refusing to buy a Wii because it doesn't have DVD playback. I have a $30 DVD player that's dying that I'll need to replace soon. When it does die I'll get another disposable $30 player unless the Wii can play DVDs (in which case I'll buy a Wii). My entertainment center is already crammed full of equipment. I simply don't have room to add another device, so until the Wii can fill the role of my DVD player I've got no room for the Wii. Granted most people aren't as short on space as I am, bu
        • Have you seen how small a Wii is? It's like 3 stacked DVD cases. They now make cheap DVD players that are about the same size or smaller. Assuming that dying $30 DVD player of yours is more than a year or so old, I bet a Wii and a small DVD player combined would be smaller than it. Seriously, get a Wii (if you can find one) -- they're great!

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Reapman ( 740286 )
        It did suck I agree, but it's changed, you can now access the Playstation Store via a PC (currently only Windows it's a special app, this is Sony we're talking about ;)) and download from your PC to your PSP.

        What I want is accessing the store ON my PSP though... still not there yet.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Pluvius ( 734915 )
        Why can't I download content to my portable through my existing home PC and Wifi network?

        You can [playstation.com]. It's a fairly recent development, but it exists.

        Rob
      • Most households have a DVD player hooked up to their TVs already, and those that don't yet can get one at K-Mart for under $30 now. It's not worth Nintendo's time to add the feature.
        It would be a nice addition for people who are out of input plugs on either their TV or their receiver. When I bought my Wii, I still had an ancient TV with the DVD player on an RF converter box (which went into the RF plug on the TV, which was its only input). To add the Wii, I had to plug both it and the DVD player into a sw
      • It won't happen because time has proven that hackers ruin it for everybody. The Wii can download games directly and over a secure connection (read even from YOU) the Wii uses Secure Digital cards formatted for Wii to save data, so it's nearly bullet proof. They have no presence on the PC desktop like Apple did, nor do they have experience to build a presence on PCs and risk the business model. Nintendo is a hardware company, they use a hardware solution. If all the pieces fall into place they will have a

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by LWATCDR ( 28044 )
      The last thing that the Wii needs is to play DVDs.
      Right now I have no less than four devices hooked to my TV that can play DVDs.
      What I would love to see is for the Wii to be become a media extender. If I could play video from my home server on my wii that would be very handy. I hear that the Wii supports Flash with Opera so I guess I could convert all my video files to flash videos and set up a webserver so I could just click on them but...yuckkkk.
      • That's one of the things I love about the PS3-- it works with standard UPnP servers, like Media Tomb [mediatomb.cc]. I like having all my music and movies on a single server, accessible from any place in the house, from any computer (including the PS3). I can even get them to my PSP via the remoting of the PS3 to the PSP, which is great for playing music remotely. (It'd be even better if the PSP could work as a UPnP client as well.)

        But, I disagree with the Wii and DVDs. I currently have two systems connected to the TV in

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by LWATCDR ( 28044 )
          Well I have a good three DVD changer that a friend bought me for christmas a few years ago, an HD-DVD player I got on sale at Walmart for $98, a PS/2 that I never use to play DVDs, and an XBox they my wife just picked up for me for Christmas. Yes an old used XBox. I never got into the XBox but always wanted to play Crimson Skys so she got me one. All of those play DVDs and I never use the DVD player in the PS2 or the XBox.
          The PS3 is a good media expander but the price is still to high for me to get one just
      • It's OK (a little like Safari on the iPhone--a browser was never intended to share scree real estate with a virtual keyboard) but the Flash player isn't the latest and greatest and there doesn't seem to be a way to get a newer version on there. My wife and I were going to watch the Rose parade on our TV (we don't have cable, the TV is connected to the Wii and a Mac Mini which serves as our DVD player) but when we went to the KTLA site, the streaming video wasn't supported. So I started looking around (based
        • Opera only has access to Flash 7. That's ADOBE's issue, nothing Nintendo or Opera can do about it at this time. YouTube typically uses just flash 7 as their content is mostly FREE so they don't care. Note that even Apple ditched Adobe, I'd wonder if it wasn't just hardware but Adobe's licensing that was getting in the way for iPhone too.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by ookaze ( 227977 )

      It sounds silly, but Nintendo definately needs to get DVD playback on the Wii going (I heard something about them planning on doing this for North America, although I don't know any details.) DVD playback and first-party rechargable batteries are what Nintendo should (in my opinion, of course) focus on getting out there next.

      The DVD capability doesn't sound silly, it sounds like nonsense.
      Even a very simple DVD remote is more complicated than the Wii controller, and thus completely miss the point of the Wii.
      DVD player for the Wii makes no sense, especially as the strategy is to present a very simple to use videogame console.
      So no, Nintendo definitely DOESN'T need to get DVD playback, and the sales of the Wii compared to the competition that has DVD playback, should be an indication of that.

      Oh and Tetris on the VC. I mean, Bubble Bobble didn't even make it until a couple days ago, that was a bad enough travesty...but not having Tetris in any way, shape, or form on the VC is downright blasphemy.

      Fortunately you don't run the Nintend

  • from tfa "(The DS does not play movies.) "

    Maybe not ones in a $25 proprietary format, but with a decent memory card it will. The Games'N'Music card you can pick up in wal-mart for $20 comes with some video samples and conversion software (and I know there's lots of other stuff out there). Saying the DS won't play movies is silly. It just doesn't have it's own media format specifically for movies.
    • I want an "iPod shuffle" cart and 4 GB of flash memory (SD would be cooler). THAT would be the killer feature turning every DS into a real iPod! Apple and Nintendo are both to NIH to try that out though. But they would rule the market for it.

  • Another possible improvement (Score:5, Interesting)

    by el_munkie ( 145510 ) on Wednesday January 02, 2008 @02:53PM (#21885222)
    They need to add a Wii app that lets users vote on priorities for VC game porting. I want Blaster Master, dammit.

    • Re: (Score:2, Funny)

      by hc5duke ( 930493 )

      They need to add a Wii app that lets users vote on priorities for VC game porting.
      I hear Ron Paul is already leading that poll

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by ProppaT ( 557551 )
        More like Mike Gravel with his National Initiative plan...which is a true shame that no one has actually ever heard of seeing that corporate press keeps bumping him out of debates and he's portrayed in popular media and a crackity old coot, but I digress. Anyway, point taken.
        • The man is 77. If he was actually elected, he'd be 78 when he took office, and 82 at the end of his term. Being President of the U.S. is a crushing burden, both mentally and physically. I'm sorry, but his positions are pretty much irrelevant; he's just too old to do it.

          Chris Mattern
    • And you probably still wouldn't get blaster master, because nobody has ever heard of that game.
      • I have. And between that and Bionic Commando [wikipedia.org] I think over the five or so years we owned our NES (and at least 200 rented titles) they probably saw a good 10% of my play time. Come to think of it... I've never actually beat Blaster Master. I tried to play the Game Boy Color version of Blaster Master, but for me it was unplayable due to the screen size.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by ivan256 ( 17499 )
      That would work... ...if votes were a binding commitment to purchase.

    • Yeah, and Re-volt for the N-64.

      Rich.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by rtechie ( 244489 )
      Highly unlikely. VC game releases are almost certainly determined by access to IP and compatibility with their emulators. If Nintendo can't contact the game's owner and work out a deal, it's not going to be on the VC. It's my understanding that Nintendo will only give game owners (except 1st party of course) about $0.25 per sale which is causing some publishers to shy away from the VC.

    • A lot of popular titles from the NES (and probalby other games) are tied up in licensing hell. RBI baseball for example was released by the same publisher as Tetris (Tengen), and after the legal blood feud Nintendo had with them, I doubt we'll ever see those games come to the VC.

      • A lot of popular titles from the NES (and probalby other games) are tied up in licensing hell. RBI baseball for example was released by the same publisher as Tetris (Tengen), and after the legal blood feud Nintendo had with them, I doubt we'll ever see those games come to the VC.

        A lot of Tengen games, including RBI Baseball (according to the Wikipedia article [wikipedia.org]), were conversions or localizations of Namco games. (The rest were conversions of games by Atari Games, now part of Midway, and Tetris was on the Atari Games side, not the Namco side.) Namco and Nintendo were on good terms when Nintendo let Namco develop Donkey Konga.

  • DS is a most amazing device (Score:4, Interesting)

    by sloth jr ( 88200 ) on Wednesday January 02, 2008 @02:58PM (#21885298)
    Bought my first one this Christmas - and promptly went out to buy a second. I am impressed by some of the software to utilize the stylus. I like handwriting and speech recognition, the split displays works out better than I had thought, wireless is seamless. It wouldn't take much to make the DS the uber-pda. I would like to see some accelerometers added for additional control mechanisms in games, and some traditional wi-fi surfing.
  • With Nintendo's online services finally getting off of the ground, I'd like to see more games take advantage of local play between multiple consoles. Every one of the darn things have built-in wireless, so why should console LAN play be so unheard of with them? Just so long as I don't have to have a disc for every system, it'll be alright. The DS has quite a few games that provide smaller clients for temporary multiplayer. I remember when PC games used to have Spawn Installs even, now I have to break the la
    • 'LAN gaming' makes sense with handhelds and computer systems, which have displays and interfaces designed with per-person monitors. But when your targeted output device is a TV (which tends to be shared and larger), things get tricky. For many Wii games, the possibility of smaller dedicated displays is worked against by the style of the controller (with some exceptions, the general point of the Wii is to wave the controller around like a madman with plenty of space between the player, other players, and t

      • if you want to play a first-person shooter or something similar where a dedicated screen is essentially mandatory, you're still better off with a PC (which also has a much better interface than a joystick for shooters and RTS, though the Wii gets closer than other consoles to having a decent interface).

        No.

        Suppose you want to play an RTS on a console, with mouse support. It wouldn't be a Nintendo console, it would be a Sony.

        Suppose you wanted to play an FPS, with mouse and keyboard support, on a console. A

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by Junta ( 36770 )
          Ok, so, where is a single RTS designed for a console specifically for mouse input?

          Same for FPS, name one that is designed explicitly for mouse and console.

          I particularly wonder for on-line gameplay, if they would worry that allowing some people to use the mouse would make the games horribly unbalanced since the 'typical' experience is intended to be couch play, which doesn't lend itself well to mousing in general. Already where games exist on consoles and computers concurrently, effort is made to keep the

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by Cybrex ( 156654 )
          Suppose you want to play an RTS on a console, with mouse support. It wouldn't be a Nintendo console, it would be a Sony.


          **COUGH COUGHDREAMCASTCOUGH COUGH***

          No, I don't really mean this as a serious reply, though I have played Unreal Tournament on a DC using mouse and keyboard. Just please don't think that Sony was first to offer usable kbd/mouse support for a console.
  • I remember reading about plans for said integration when the Wii was still being called the Revolution.

    Then again, maybe they were talking about downloading DS demos from the Wii to the DS, as opposed to full games.

  • I promised someone a DS for Christmas, but when I went out to buy it on the preceeding Saturaday (the 22nd), every place I went was sold out (Gamestop, Toys-R-Us, Target, Walmart). I did eventually find a place that had five or six left in stock, but it took a bit of driving to get it.
  • So THAT'S why they started cracking down on mod chips. I know about 2 dozen people with DS mod chips who turned their DS's into a PDA/VOIP Phone/Media player/etc. It's absurd that they spend money in one country developing a product, then spend money in another country stopping the equivalent product from hitting the market. But now it makes sense -- they probably fear that by opening this line of communication between the Wii and the DS will make it easier for the mod chip makers to become mass pirates.
  • I live with several people, and all but one of us enjoy Animal Crossing, which got me thinking as to how I would like to see the next version of that work.

    I loved the Gamecube version of AC, but having to share the console when someone else wanted to play caused problems, such as having to rollback the time so you could all get certain items or witness specific events.

    The DS provided the connection to have two people in town at the same time, or more, and still allow for independent activity.

    I'd li
  • Does this mean they are going to come out with some addon storage because the internal storage for the Wii is already lacking just from saved games and retro game downloads? Couple that with not being able to load games from the SD cards and I see huge issues with squeezing my DS games in there.

  • Nintendo needs to fix the VC accounting first... (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Myrv ( 305480 ) on Wednesday January 02, 2008 @04:09PM (#21886328)
    This is all fine and dandy but until Nintendo fixes how the VC DRM works I won't be participating. I have a Wii but I refuse to buy any VC content because Nintendo insists on locking the downloads to the machine and not the user. Currently the only way you can transfer VC games/applications between Wiis is if you send it in for repair (note you can't use Nintendos express replacement option either, you have to physically send it in and wait for them to return a repaired or fixed version). In other words, if my Wii is stolen/lost/destroyed I have no way of recovering any of the games or apps I have bought and downloaded from Nintendo. I can't re-download them or restore them from an SD card. All the Wii points I've spent will be lost. Unfortunately I didn't realize this until I got the machine. I was really looking forward to playing the VC but when I found out how it really works I basically had to give up on it. Oh well, live and learn. At least Mario Galaxy and Metroid are fun.

    • Re:Nintendo needs to fix the VC accounting first.. (Score:5, Insightful)

      by Chuck Chunder ( 21021 ) on Wednesday January 02, 2008 @06:31PM (#21887882) Journal

      if my Wii is stolen/lost/destroyed I have no way of recovering any of the games or apps I have bought and downloaded from Nintendo
      Isn't that what insurance is for?

      Do you refuse to buy normal games because if they are stolen/lost/destroyed you are screwed?

      The VC just buys convenience. Sure, perhaps it could be a bit more convenient but it's not that bad.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Mr2001 ( 90979 )
        With normal games, you can put them away for safekeeping. If a power surge blows up your console, your game discs won't be affected.

        With VC games, however, their fate is tied to the fate of your console. And unlike other digital purchases, you can't get around that by making a backup.
    • I believe they're tied to your Nintendo account if you register at Nintendos website.
    • Well this way you can sell your Wii + games downloaded legally. And if it gets destroyed you can send it in.

      There are 2 angles on that...

      I don't like both b/c of DRM.

  • DS already does more than games (Score:3, Interesting)

    by dtjohnson ( 102237 ) on Wednesday January 02, 2008 @07:27PM (#21888538)
    When my kids take their DS to the MLB ballpark, they pay $5 and they get team info and live video on their DS while they're in their seat. They can also order pricey food and stuff with the DS that is then delivered right to their seat, as I unfortunately found out :(.

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