Upcoming DS titles...

[trebor]

I read on IGN's DS page that Katamari Dynasty and Age of Empires II are both coming to the DS...allegedly.

If AoE is done properly, i.e. ONLINE multiplayer, that would certainly make the DS more appealing to me.

Plus, it's confirmed that Animal Crossing will be wi-fi online enabled.

[Gadfly2317]

I read on IGN's DS page that Katamari Dynasty and Age of Empires II are both coming to the DS...allegedly.

If AoE is done properly, i.e. ONLINE multiplayer, that would certainly make the DS more appealing to me.

Plus, it's confirmed that Animal Crossing will be wi-fi online enabled.

You've probably already seen Alymer's post that AoE will have 4 player online, and there is another RTS on the way with 16 player online. RTS games have been the domain of PC, and have sucked on consoles, but from the first time I really looked at the DS's design I've been shouting about the potential for RTS games. . . I'm sure you were all sick of it and many said I was delusional and that we'd never see these type of adult PC games on the DS. You should have seen the crap feedback I got from the hosebags who hang out at the Blizzard Battlenet forums when I posted in the "suggestion" forums that Star Craft needed to be done for the DS.

All right, I'll stop the self-promoting "I told you so" patting myself on the back here.

I WILL be buying a second DS when Animal Crossing comes out. My wife is an Animal Crackhead and as all these games start coming out I'm increasingly reluctant to share my DS.

[trebor]

I think the design of the DS lends itself quite nicely to the play mechanics of RTS games...as long as they're done right.

If AoE is going to be just a dumbed down, "kitty" version I'll pass.

I'd also LOVE to see a Baldur's Gate style RPG on the DS, the awesome isometric-view PC version, as opposed to the Gauntlet-clone Dark Alliance.

Either way, my birthday is coming up and my wife claims she knows what she's getting me. I've babbled enough about DS's, PSP's, PS2's, and Xbox's to her so I hope she has taken the hint. ;)

[Gadfly2317]

I think the design of the DS lends itself quite nicely to the play mechanics of RTS games...as long as they're done right.

If AoE is going to be just a dumbed down, "kitty" version I'll pass.

I'd also LOVE to see a Baldur's Gate style RPG on the DS, the awesome isometric-view PC version, as opposed to the Gauntlet-clone Dark Alliance.

Either way, my birthday is coming up and my wife claims she knows what she's getting me. I've babbled enough about DS's, PSP's, PS2's, and Xbox's to her so I hope she has taken the hint. ;)

I agree, I'd hate to see any of the high-potential games just slopped together.

People are actually excited about this. Today, the PsP launch date, I was talking to some of the guys at the different game shops (I went to all of them today in town, for psychotic compulsive reasons to be revealed later) and the actual gamers, not the fanboys, are totally stoked and do understand this system's ability to do more complex and sophisticated types of gaming than the PsP. . . despite not having those gorgeous graphics.

Also ran into a fellow Advance Wars fan, and he had come to all the same conclusions I had about the game structure being massively better on the DS. . . same with fire emblem. Anyone who's spent time with these games and loves them, and who's spent time with the DS, has GOT to be enthusiastic about a fast intuitive touch interface.

To me, I've almost stopped seeing the PsP/DS thing as a competition; they are both providing such extremely different experiences that I find it kind of stupid for any gamer with the financial means to miss out on either due to some sort of fanboyism or graphics-whore tendencies.

Handheld gaming. . . DAMN. I was always half-assed into it before because they tech just wasn't there. But I am OUT of my house more than I'm in it, and even then when I'm home the consoles, the TV aren't always available. As weird as it feels to be in this place, handheld gaming is currently my primary game mode, and the consoles are supplemental (but much more potent) gaming when I have a span of time on the weekends.