Ireland's reaction to the DS/DS Lite

Rozie

Is pathetic.

In all honesty, reading people being ****ed around with games stores not even bothering to get them in on launch day makes me sick.

I went into a music shop the other day and they had a whole wall of PSP games and UMD videos. Not a single DS game in site. In a lot of Xtra visions the PSP is celebrated with tons of titles brightly displayed, and the DS titles shoved down low.

This is madness. The DS has shifted so many more units than the PSP, and will continue to be on top thanks to the much improved DS Lite.

I wouldn't be surprised if Ireland is the only country in the world where the PSP really is outselling the DS.

The truth is that there are so many ****ing chavs, skangers, scobes and trendies here who'll suck up the latest trendy items and not bother with that "Nintendo thing". Ireland is one of the worst countries for the annoying fallicious conservative "Grow the **** up" argument(and is even prelevant on these forums, gauging by some of the ridiculous arguments I've been in), which is basically another form of thought control. Nintendo is a "Kiddie" company. Nintendo is having trouble in the Ireland for the same reason guys are told to "get a hair cut"(which seems to usually work, bizarely) and the same reason so few of us question what goes on in the world around us(we're as bad as Americans for this - just replace "Liberal scum" with "Cop on and grow up" and it's the same bloody thing). We have to learn to do things because we like them or it's better to do them, not because they're what's the norm or what's marketted to us the most. Though again, it's mainly the fault of those bleeding skangers.

It was hell for me when I owned a Dreamcast. It completely bombed over here and games were impossible to find compared to in England. Because it was "weird" and "not Sony" basically.

We had the highest relative sales of Playstation in the world here outside of Japan(who buy everything anyway).

Though it could be the arrogance of those stocking the DS that are to blame.

I don't see why the PSP could possibly be doing better except for the Trendy factor. It has mostly reshashed games you got sick of on your PS2 a few years ago, some pretty unimaginative ports. The few original games it has are hardly inspiring.

There's nothing wrong with liking the PSP. There is something wrong with quite how much Ireland likes the PSP compared to the DS, and says a lot about the dominance of a particular group of people.

The graphics are better than the DS, but it costs 100 more too. The selection of games is wider, but the only ones that are really any good are ones you've already played.

As usual the dumbasses that oversaturate our country with their gullible sheepish insecure asses **** it up for the rest of us.

goo

What a horrible way to see life.

Owen

Yes, but doesn't the DS look like a makeup compact? Hey, I'll pay a game, right, I'll use the joypad, but oh no, wait, I'll take out the stylus now and use that ... DS was a bad idea at the start, it still is. The reasons the PSP is outselling the DS are :

Design
Practicallity
WiFi built in
Web Broswer Built in.
Mp3 Player Built in.
Photo Slideshow
Game Titles

steviec

I own both and I have to agree that the PSP wins out on design by miles. The PSP fits in my jeans pocket, the DS doesn't. And before you say 'oh the Lite will', well that would involve paying for the console twice, and that adds up to more than the PSP cost... Of course sucker that I am I do intend to buy a DS Lite because it's what the DS should have been in the first place.

The best games I have on the DS have just left me thinking "oh I wish the buttons weren't so cheap feeling", "I wish the screen was more visible", "I wish there wasn't an entire second screen sitting there taking up a ton of space so it can show me my score/a map"... There's some great software for it, you know like Mario, Mario & Luigi, Phoenix Wright, Warioware, Mario 64... It's much more original to release minor updates of nes/gba/n64 games than it is to release minor updates of PS2 games isn't it!

Right now I'm about 50/50 on which console has the better games, but Liberty City Stories multiplayer(single player is rubbish) on its own has given me more hours of gameplay than every other title on both consoles put together so that's got to count for something. And that's a game that the DS simply couldn't do. Whereas all of the above-mentioned DS games could easily be done on PSP, it's only the odd game here and there that actually gains something from the second screen/touchscreen.

To get back to the original point, what you're seeing is mainly symptomatic of Nintendo's disregard for Europe over the years, along with Sony's real focus on Europe and in particular Ireland, you simply wouldn't see a GAA game or a game with RTE 2FM on the cover coming from Nintendo. Sony invest in Ireland and it pays off for them. Microsoft look to be doing the same with the world's first Xbox Live centre opening in Dublin last month. Even 15 years ago I seem to remember there being a Sega centre in Dublin and no such presence from Nintendo.

projectmayhem

psp is outselling ds in ireland and the UK. in america it's even stephens, and in japan ds is outselling psp.

oh well.

stores will hail and glorify anything that makes people hand over cash. having worked in xtra-vision, i can tell you that not once did i sell anything by nintendo. and we had a full wall of crap, which had to be scaled back and is now a shelf of ds stuff with like 2 gamecube titles and a few random gba games.

psp is selling software and consoles, so it'll get a nice fat wall to glorify it. welcome to a capitalist nation.

Linkdude

ned78 wrote:

Design
Practicallity
WiFi built in
Web Broswer Built in.
Mp3 Player Built in.
Photo Slideshow
Game Titles

I'd say the main reasons are because it's Playstation and not 'kiddy'. Playstation is cool now, the brand name has probably pushed 50% of the units here or more. The MP3 could also be a factor but it's generally placed behind watching as they say 'DVDs' (to me at least), even though UMD is a struggling format really. Anyway, WiFi's in both of them.

Of course, the game titles are also appealing to most buyers. Flooded with racing titles and such.

DS just needs more generic racers and 'gangsta' games for it to sell to the masses. =P

Also, Ireland isn't a big enough market for Nintendo, so we're generally grouped with the UK which is still a small market for them so then we have Europe. Besides the reception was to be expected. People aren't as accepting here as they are everywhere else. When we're a big market they might give a damn, which doesn't look likely.

CiaranC

What a bizarre rant

DOLEMAN

Rozie aren't you the transsexual who is angry at everything and everyone because they don't think like you?

Lemlin

You can read a report of the Lite launch here - http://www.irishgamer.ie/features.php?id=5&page=1

It went unnoticed in most places from what I heard from retailers. However, GAME did say that it sold well in South Dublin and Cork.

Vokes

Here in London yesterday after work there were quite a few ppl getting it in my local HMV. Picked up one myself + Brain training for £110 (€160).

Quite happy with it. Screens are very impressive

Spuddie

Any hardcore gamer that i know say the ds is alot better !!:D but then you have people who want a handheld console , they see a huge selection of psp all over shops and a little corner for ds. Then they think : " psp is 250 € and the ds is 150 € , so the psp must be better because its dearer and has a better selection than ds ". So off they go and buy the psp .
I have a psp and a ds , and i can honestly say that the psp is good but the ds is better , you just gotta have wifi and the right games !

ps. When you first buy your ds it costs 150€ , If you sell your ds for 60€ and buy the ds-lite for an extra 90€ , that only comes to 240€ (which you spent on your ds and ds lite) which is still cheaper than the psp. I mean ,look at what " ned78 " said , you can tell he dont have a clue about the ds. :cool:

Stokolan

picked 1 up myself. i must say the design is a lot better then the original version. If it came out in this style from the start i reckon it would have done a lot better.

Brain game is kinda cool.

just wondering is it region free?

Spuddie

Stokolan wrote:

picked 1 up myself. i mus say the design is a lot better then the original version. If it came out in this style from the start i reckon it would have done a lot better.

Brain game is kinda cool.

just wondering is it region free?

Yup , everything on the ds is region free !!

Stalfos

A kinda annoyed with nintendo and the way they seem to always do this lately :mad:
They bring out a handheld and about a year or two later, they bring out a better verison. Like the GBA SP. And i even waited a year to buy a DS and still the bring out a better verison. If your gonna do something, do it right first time i say. I also havn't seen any trade-in deals for the DS yet either.

Rozie

At least Nintendo can admit to their mistakes, unlike Sony who just say they're "Part of the design".

Even the old DS was fine. I could fit it in my pocket if I wanted to. It's hardly that much bigger than the PSP.

Design

I don't get what was wrong with the DS's design. It was kind of charming and a little retro. The DS Lite is even sexier, but the old DS was fine.

Practicallity

Um, how?

WiFi built in

... the DS made much better use of this.

Web Broswer Built in.

It's a lot more limited than the Opera browser for DS, but still - it's not a feature you need for a games console.

Mp3 Player Built in.

It's a nice novelty, but why would you honestly want a handheld that plays Mp3s? The video thing is kind of cool if you download stuff on to it, but UMD is absolutely pointless; you'd save money by buying a Portable DVD player as well as a PSP since you wouldn't have to fork out for the titles you already have. Better screen, too.

Photo Slideshow

Uh... okay.

Game Titles

The DS has MUCH better titles. Not only does it add tons to ports(Mario 64 is a great example - you get to play as Luigi, Wario and Yoshi - not as big a change as Liberty City Stories maybe, but you ARE getting the minigames which are worth a whole game on their own) but it has top notch titles that simply aren't possible on any other console.

The DS has simply had far more high ranking titles than the DS. Check out any unbiased game mag's "Top 20" or "Top 100". How many PSP titles do you see in it? ANd how many DS titles?

None of the extra stuff should matter that much since most of us already have Mp3 Players and **** that do it much better. Portable internet is interesting - but how do you type URLs, etc.? The DS is better built for that by far.

Technically speaking, the PSP is good value for all that goes into it. But the problem is that none of those things alone really work that well.

I do hate Nintendo for making me shell out for another DS, but it really was worth it I feel. You don't HAVE to buy it though - the old DS is fine too.

RE*AC*TOR

i mostly agree with Rozie, but Nintendo only have themselves to blame. Games appear far too late in the european market compared to US/Japan. Therein lies the problem.

Someone like me can ignore the problem, because I have no problem importing, then again that affects the sales of where I'm importing from, not here - vicuous circle.

Jammer

Rozie wrote:

Mp3 Player Built in.

It's a nice novelty, but why would you honestly want a handheld that plays Mp3s? The video thing is kind of cool if you download stuff on to it, but UMD is absolutely pointless; you'd save money by buying a Portable DVD player as well as a PSP since you wouldn't have to fork out for the titles you already have. Better screen, too.

Thats like saying why does anyone want an ipod?

The PSP is handy because you dont need to carry anything else around....ipod, portable dvd player etc. You have it all in one little handheld.

The screen on the psp is easily the best 'portable' screen going

monument

RE*AC*TOR wrote:

i mostly agree with Rozie, but Nintendo only have themselves to blame. Games appear far too late in the european market compared to US/Japan. Therein lies the problem.

Spot on, in the UK everyone knows they are lacking on ground (from releases to marketing). In Ireland... oh, never mind.

mcgarnicle

What a mental post, truely you are insane.

CiDeRmAn

Not sure about the lack of Lites on the ground, I was in Gamestop in Santry and they have plenty, and selling them at a fast rate, I was in town and Game on Dawson St seemed to have them too.
As for which is better PSP or DS, what a crap notion, just get the one with the games you want to play, idiots.
Most of the critisismsof the original DS have been comprehensively dealt with in the newly designed unit, its a nice, solid pleasing little machine, very neat and the screen is quite simply amazing, I'm playing New Super Mario Bros on it and the colours just jump out at you, Trauma Centre and Metroid similarly look incredible. So get over the notion that the PSP has the best screen in the business, it doesn't any more.

And Nintendo have provided plaenty of POS material like posters and stands to the retailers for the stores, its up to them to put them in shop, and most would rather a large advert for EAs Fifa World cup instead.

Anyway, I owned a DS, sold it to finance a PSP and flogged that a few disillusioned months later to buy a DS again, best thing I ever did, then the other week I sold that to purchases a DS Lite the other day, its a beauty.

But if you want to own a PSP and spend all your money on reheats of PS2 titles be my guest.
And if I wanted movies on the go I'd have bought a portable DVD player, doesn't anyone else see how you are all being played if Sony gets you not only to buy your PS2 favourites again for the PSP but also UMDs of your favourite DVDs? Its a scheme, a moneymaking scheme, and the Irish have bought right into it.
At least Nintendo have moved away from this notion of making consoles into Multimedia Hubs and just made damn good games machines, unrepentant and thank the gods for that.a

sock puppet

Jammer wrote:

Thats like saying why does anyone want an ipod?

The PSP is handy because you dont need to carry anything else around....ipod, portable dvd player etc. You have it all in one little handheld.

The screen on the psp is easily the best 'portable' screen going

Yeah but then you have to buy memory sticks for the psp. To store a decent amount of songs you would need to spend a lot more than you would on an ipod.

monument

mcgarnicle wrote:

What a mental post, truely you are insane.

Just for you, I’ll spell it out… Nintendo HQ do not give their European divisions proper resources, while the level of this in the UK is seen as somewhat bad, their activeness in Ireland amounts to nothing.

Rozie

Jammer wrote:

Thats like saying why does anyone want an ipod?

The PSP is handy because you dont need to carry anything else around....ipod, portable dvd player etc. You have it all in one little handheld.

The screen on the psp is easily the best 'portable' screen going

The PSP doesn't come with a Harddrive Mp3 player, meaning you're very limited in size(plus you have to tack on extra costs for memory cards), and it's not a portable DVD player since you have to rebuy the DVDs, and it's still in a much smaller format.

The PSP tries very hard to be an all emcompassing device but falls short in all of them.

Video/audio player makes sense but it's still awkward. As for Mp3s on a game console I've spent the last half hour playing Castlevania on my DS while listen to the Dresden Dolls on my creative Zen. Could I do that on my PSP?

Games systems should be seperate. Mp3/Video player capability is nice but it really is nothing more than a gimmick, which is ironic given many people's stance on the DS. The Touch Screen is not technically a gimmick since it offers many new gameplay possibilities.

If I did had money, I'd consider buying the Mp3/Video player add-on for the DS since it wouldn't cost much more than the flash cards for PSP anyway, and you can probably do a lot more with it(homebrewn games and emulators, locked out on most new PSPs). But it's not a major selling point for me. I've always gone first for the consoles that offer games over media - the Dreamcsat, the Gamecube, and the DS. And I'll be getting a Wii.

projectmayhem

Rozie wrote:

The PSP doesn't come with a Harddrive Mp3 player, meaning you're very limited in size(plus you have to tack on extra costs for memory cards), and it's not a portable DVD player since you have to rebuy the DVDs, and it's still in a much smaller format.

The PSP tries very hard to be an all emcompassing device but falls short in all of them.

first, you can convert your dvd down to mp4 and stick it onto a memory stick on the PSP... you don't have to go buy the UMD.

also, the PSP is not an mp3 player, movie player or coffee pot. it's a portable games device, that will let you play mp3's or watch movies.

steviec

Well I went and bought one as I'm prone to do on impulse, it's a bad habit of mine.



Very impresses with the screen, vastly vastly superior to the previous DS and it even compares well with the PSP. Nice and compact too, it's everything the DS should have been. I also much prefer the buttons, they're more rounded than those cheap feeling flat DS buttons. It improves in every way basically, into a much more usable console that I might actually take out with me now where I couldn't with the DS because it was too bulky.

Star Lord

I so wanna trade mine in for a lite now, but am totally skint till week after next!

mcgarnicle

monument wrote:

Just for you, I’ll spell it out… Nintendo HQ do not give their European divisions proper resources, while the level of this in the UK is seen as somewhat bad, their activeness in Ireland amounts to nothing.

Just for you, I'll spell it out... I wasn't talking to you

monument

mcgarnicle wrote:

Just for you, I'll spell it out... I wasn't talking to you

Right then, it would be handy if you were to quote the post you're responing to if it is not the last one, like mine.

monkeyfudge

I got the DS Lite today myself... I wasn't expecting too much from it and thought I was being quite silly buying one when I had a perfectly good DS at home... but it really is very, VERY lovely and I don't feel bad about getting it at all....

Haven't made time for my DS in few months... and I think it's time to catch up on smome great titles.

(Oh.. and I had a PSP back when it first launched in Japan... lovely screen.. but it really didn't have anything that interested me... so I sold it on, there is a few things on the horizon that might interest me like Silent Hill, so I may pick up another one at some stage.)