DS - DSI or DS Lite

ne1880

I am new to this and son is looking for a Nintendo DS. Basically what are the differences between the 3. Was not going to go for the 3DS as he is still young.

nhg

You should buy the 3DS but don't buy any 3DS games until he is old enough for them, all the ds games will work in it, my 7 year old has the 3DS and i notice that he hardly ever turns the 3ds switch on. You can set parental controls to turn the 3D off as far as I know, but the camera, MP3 player are excellent on it and they seem to be reduced quiet a bit in cost now.

BostonB

I don't see what age has to do with it.

Buy the 3DS it will have the longest shelf life for games.

RedXIV

BostonB wrote: »

I don't see what age has to do with it.

Buy the 3DS it will have the longest shelf life for games.

Its the warning that the 3D effect can harm younger children's optical development. Nintendo generally recommend you be seven or older to use the 3D feature

Banjo

the autostereoscopic 3D feature forces you to defocus your eyes, like a magic eye picture. If your vision is not fully developed, I'd imagine your kid could be left permanently wall-eyed after prolonged exposure - I can feel my own eyes trying to force flat text and PC screens to "go deep" after playing for a while, and I'm in my 30s! But yeah, you can disable it.

And it only works on 3DS games, so you can play DS games in 2D with the addition of the internal and external cameras, street pass quest (maddeningly addictive!), the eShop (not up to much just yet), the sound recorder (My 2 1/2 year old LOVES it when I leave the 3DS open with the Parrots on, and they randomly repeat things she's saying) and all the rest. And hell, it's cheaper than a new DSi! (well, maybe the XL)

Besides, the 3D effect is a gimic, I've yet to play anything that really needs it (although I imagine I'd throw up a fair bit less playing Ridge Racer without it, and that's half the fun!)

ne1880

So on the 3DS I can play all previous 2D games. I wasn't going to go for the 3DS as I feel he is too young to appreciate the extra 3D feature and therefor not pay the extra for what I didn't need

BostonB

RedXIV wrote: »

Its the warning that the 3D effect can harm younger children's optical development. Nintendo generally recommend you be seven or older to use the 3D feature

Didn't know that.

I don't much like the idea of the 3D myself.

But the 3DS can play everything thats released. The old ones can't. (as far as I know)

nhg

My son wears glasses and the optician whom he attends checked his 3D vision first before I bought it for his 7th birthday, and naturally I asked if she thought it was OK to get him a 3DS and she said that the ds's are great to exercise the muscles in the eye, once they don't spend all day every day on them, thankfully my little man is not hooked on it.

I agree, I hate watching 3D movies and I have very good eye sight.

ScaldyMc

The disclaimer from Nintendo about young children viewing 3d is rubbish. They are just covering their back. Like all video devices, time spent playing them should be monitored.

If it were me, I'd buy the 3ds as it will have longer rifle life, as stated above.

Nollog

DS is old, and if you find one in good condition, you're lucky.
DS Lite is good. If your son's only interested in the DS games I'd pick this.
DSi and DSiXL add a bad quality camera and an internet shop. Useless for most kids.
3DS is new, and all the new games will be on this, and all DS games still work on it.

goalie2

My wife just bought my daughter a second hand DS LITE for €100 with a game which wasnt bad. I believe I can buy an R4 chip to put more games onto it, is this correct?

nitromaster

goalie2 wrote: »

My wife just bought my daughter a second hand DS LITE for €100 with a game which wasnt bad. I believe I can buy an R4 chip to put more games onto it, is this correct?

No. You can buy games in stores or online. You really should have got a 3DS though, it'd last longer in terms of new games and such!

goalie2

I left it to the missus on this one but yes I see your point. Any good online irish stores to buy off?

Azure_sky

3DS all the way. You can turn the 3D fully off but it's harmless. It's just a disclaimer to cover themselves.

sincere113

Where is the cheapest place to get a 3DS?

whowantstwoknow

nhg wrote: »

My son wears glasses and the optician whom he attends checked his 3D vision first before I bought it for his 7th birthday, and naturally I asked if she thought it was OK to get him a 3DS and she said that the ds's are great to exercise the muscles in the eye, once they don't spend all day every day on them, thankfully my little man is not hooked on it.

I agree, I hate watching 3D movies and I have very good eye sight.

In a similar boat wrt our child has glasses and needs to work the eye muscles. I will check with the child's optician. But did you're optician state if this would be better with 3d turned on or off?

Thanks

W.

nhg

She said that his 3D vision was good, alot of people with glasses don't have 3D vision at all, she did'nt say anything about 2d instead of 3d.

I notice that he does'nt bother much turning on the 3d, the slider would be down low even with the 3d games, probably only plays on 3ds twice a week at most he seems to play the wii more often, we would have to remind him to bring the 3ds with him if we are going somewhere where he would be bored.

Banjo

I think that's more of a comment on the poor titles available for the 3DS than the 3D effect