I’ve been looking around for a Nintendo DS Lite for my youngest son Leon’s upcoming birthday and have been toying between the idea of buying him a new DS versus buying a second hand one.

His two older siblings both had new DS’s so my initial preference was to buy him a new one too but, on the other hand, Leon is getting his DS earlier than his siblings so there is a concern that, at only age 3, he will not necessarily treat his DS with the care and respect that I might prefer.

Anyway, after seeing the price of a few second hand DS’s I was still keen on buying him a new one so started to shop around the Canberra stores to see what was available.

Most of the major department and video game stores had prices around A$199 for a DSLite with no games. JB-Hifi, my usual shop of choice for electronic items had a price for a DSLite on its own of A$179 – I would have asked if they could improve on that price but in typical fashion it was hard to find a free salesperson to talk to.

I therefore went to JB’s sister store, Clive Anthonys, who also had DS Lites on their own for A$179 (no surprise that they were in line with JB Hifi) but with a sign on it saying “Less for cash” (something this store always promotes itself on). I therefore asked what was the less for cash price they’d do it for… after some checking the salesperson advised that they actually could not improve on the A$179 as they didn’t have sufficient margins to offer it any cheaper. After therefore expressing my disgust to the salesperson that they shouldn’t put a less for cash sign next to the consoles if they had no ability to reduce the prices I decided, at my wife’s suggestion, to visit Harvey Norman.

Now I must admit I usually avoid Harvey Norman like the plague. Normally it is the most overpriced rip-off store in Canberra. However, I may have to re-assess that opinion now as they sold me a DSLite with Guitar Hero on Tour package for A$150. I don’t particularly want the Guitar Hero game but can probably sell that on Ebay for about A$25 bringing the cost of a new DS Lite down to A$125, over 35% cheaper than many stores in Canberra!

So there we go, a hardly normal purchase from Harvey Norman! How bizarre… maybe I need to keep them in mind next time I want something electrical after all!

Got a chance to have a proper go with my Xmas present the Wii Zapper tonight whilst my wife was at work. I’ve heard it critiscised on a few sites as being a lot of money for just a piece of plastic moulding to house your wiimote and nunchuk but personally I have to say I’m very happy with it and it does add that extra dimension to shooting games.

The packed in ‘Links’ game which, although not really much more than a demo, is still a lot of fun and a great way to get used to the Wii Zapper and, with the score attack mode I think will always be a good ‘party game’ a la the target practice game in Wii Play.

I’ve also been playing, if that is the right word, ‘My French Coach’ on the DS. At the moment I am up to lesson 22 and enjoying the opportunity to brush up and improve my french at my own speed. I think for a non-french speaker, my knowledge of french vocabulary is quite good but I’ve never really been formally taught how to string together sentences since my school days many many years ago when, to be honest, I had no interest in French whatsoever, so never really bothered to remember what I learnt. It’s a pity the version I have is from the US though as it seems I have to learn to speak American first in order to translate the English element of the software… gas station revisited!

I’ve been doing a lot of wii’ing over these last few weeks and thought I’d share my favourite games on the system so far:-

ExciteTruck - It may get a relatively average review at Gamespot but this game has proved extremely addictive to me! Great racing game… love it!

Super Monkey Ball Banana Blitz - I’m up to world 4 of this fun puzzle game. I’ve played numerous variations of monkey ball on consoles before but using the wii-mote to tilt the levels makes the wii the perfect home for this game.

Rayman Raving Rabbids - I’m only a little way into this game but the mini-game tasks are a lot of fun. The game probably will not have a lot of lasting appeal once complete but it has certainly proved to be a game that even Muppet can play!

I still haven’t played Resident Evil 4 and Legend of Zelda as much as I have wanted to yet but they certainly both look solid games that deserve playing through when I get the time. Lots of fun still to come I think!

Arrrrggghhh! This game is driving me absolutely crazy on the Nintendo Wi-Fi  network!I just can’t stop playing it even though I continue to keep getting my ass whipped by people who obviously have no life and have 2000+ wins on this game!

Its kind of annoying that you can’t talk to the people you play to find out where they’re from but it is still fun nonetheless to know that you are playing someone who could be on the other side of the world who is also clutching their own Nintendo DS and swearing madly when they drop a brick by mistake!

To keep anybody who cares updated, more for my own ego than anything else to be honest, I’ve put a note of my current ranking in the sidebar of this blog and will try to keep it relatively updated with my progress.

I must confess I love my games consoles and arcade cabinets but I do not always consistently play with them. Some weeks I’m in the mood to play the arcade cabinet, another week it can be the Dreamcast, another week the SNES, another week the Gamecube, etc etc…

This week it is the week of the handheld consoles as I’ve been thoroughly enjoying playing the Nintendo DS Lite and Sony PSP again.

Of course I mix things up a little and, instead of playing a DS game on the DS, I have tonight been playing around with an old NES emulator for the DS called NESDS. If you have a R4 or some other flash card for your DS you really owe it to yourself to try this emulator out… I’m very impressed… why? Primarily because I felt nostalgic for Mario so have been happily playing the original NES version of Super Mario Bros on my Nintendo DS tonight. Great fun!

[update 11-7-07] Since making this post I have now switched to playing Super Mario Bros on the Gameboy Micro via PocketNES and, surprisingly, I prefer this significantly over the DS version above… Not only is the interface much more user friendly, but Super Mario Bros at least, seems to look much better on the GBA Micro screen than the DS although, as the DS is more powerful and has a higher resolution screen, I’m at a loss to explain why! Anyway… if you have the choice, try this version too![/end of update!]

As I’ve been in a game playing mood this last week or so I must also confess I’m getting strong urges to buy a Wii… tonight’s delivery of a junk mail catalog from JB HiFi did not help my urges when I saw they have the Nintendo Wii for AU$388 with not only Wii Sports but also Resident Evil 4 included… Hmmm… tempting… I could buy that… I also fancy a copy of the Wii Zelda game and the WarioWare Smooth Moves game…. plus a 2nd Nintendo Wii remote which would give me Wii Play too… Hmmm…. that little lot would come to about AU$575 which, although I think is a good price and would give me a nice starting pack of Wii toys, I’m trying hard to resist buying… my public apologies here to Muppet though if I give in soon and pull out my credit card!

With the recent excitement and disruption caused by baby Leon I have not had time to write in my blog about my latest toy… yes, I finally (a few weeks ago) acquired a PSP.

The PSP is running firmware 3.03OE-B which, anybody who knows anything about PSPs, will know means it is capable of running homebrew and backups of games (note I say backups as obviously I am not going to condone piracy here!). The PSP I acquired also came with the original UMD of Burnout Legends and a 1GB memory stick. Unfortunately though, after a couple of weeks use I managed to corrupt the memory stick. Luckily I think I know what I did wrong so hopefully will not make the same mistake twice however the 1GB memory stick does seem to be screwed… neither the PSP nor a card reader on my PC can read or format the card

ANYWAY! What do you do? Well… you go buy a new 4GB memory stick instead! This arrived today and, as I type this post, I am transferring a few bits and pieces to it via the USB cable and all seems to be working very well.

So, having now played the PSP and the Nintendo DS the question is… which is better? Well, I think the answer is inconclusive, both systems seem to have their strengths and weaknesses. For those who are considering buying either a Nintendo DS or a PSP, here are my thoughts which may be of some help to you:-

Price

This has always been one of the big critisms of the PSP and yes, the unit itself is more expensive however, if you are using a PSP or DS for homebrew consider the fact that, for the DS, you will need to buy a special flash card such as an R4 whilst for the PSP, if you feel comfortable in hacking and flashing your PSP yourself, you will not need to incur any additional costs on the hardware side. This of course excludes perhaps your need for a larger capacity memory stick for the PSP however, if you buy a flash card for the DS you will most likely need to buy a similar memory card for that unit too.

However, as memory sticks for the PSP are more expensive than memory cards for a DS flash card it is likely that overall the PSP will be the more expensive system hence, whether you buy a PSP over the DS will be dependent on other factors…

The Games

In this regard the DS probably currently has the edge in innovation thanks to it’s dual screen/touch screen set up. However, if you prefer pure power and graphics over innovation then the PSP kicks butt. Therefore, if you are after a portable system capable of displaying PS2/Xbox graphics and you play a lot of 3D/Racing games then the PSP is for you. However, if you prefer to enjoy some of the addictive playability that Nintendo has to offer in the likes of Super Mario Bros or Yoshi’s Island then the DS is the way to go. The touch screen is also a unique feature that allows the DS to do games that just would not work on the PSP. An example being the recently released Dead’N Furious which, is a House of the Dead type clone whereby you use the stylus to touch the screen to simulate your shooting.

If you are looking to fill your flash card or memory stick with backup games then bear in mind that the PSP games, being graphically so much more intensive, also are significantly larger in size thus, unless you get a large memory stick for your PSP, the number of games you can likely carry around on your memory stick will be less than the number of games you are likely to have sitting on the memory card of your DS.

The Homebrew

Both systems have a strong community of homebrew software with both systems having several highlights.

On the DS, you may have noted from previous posts, that I have been very impressed with the port of Doom and the ZX Spectrum emulator. The latter works extremely well due to its identical resolution to the original ZX Spectrum whilst the Doom port works very well thanks to the clever use of the second screen showing the map.

There is a Doom port for the PSP but to be honest, although the PSP has more power and can run it more smoothly, the lack of the second map screen gave the DS version the edge. However, that is not to say the PSP does not outclass the DS in other areas of homebrew. For example, staying with the Doom theme, the PSP has an excellent port of Quake which, quite frankly, the DS does not have the processing power to match. In addition, thanks to the additional power of the PSP, it is also capable of emulation of systems such as the SNES which again the DS struggles to emulate.

Multimedia

Thanks to homebrew the DS is capable of playing MP3s and video but, having briefly tried these abilities suggest you are best keeping your DS as a games machine.

The PSP on the other hand is well capable of playing video and MP3s. I personally don’t think the external speakers of the PSP are that great but, plug in a set of headphones and the PSP sound is dramatically improved. I personally haven’t listened to much music by the PSP yet but I have watched a few episodes of Lost on the PSP which I thorougly enjoyed as I could watch them in bed whilst my wife was breastfeeding the baby.

Durability

This is perhaps just a personal opinion but the Nintendo DS feels stronger to me. Not that I suggest you drop your console to test such things but I just feel the Nintendo DS can be handled more comfortably whilst the PSP, particularly because of it’s beautiful widescreen display and the fact that it doesn’t have an effective cover over the screen (unlike the fold away style of the DS) feels a lot more delicate to me.

For my PSP I have purchased a hard shell logitech case and I really would strongly recommend anyone who buys a PSP to also invest in a strong protective shell asap.

It should perhaps also be noted that, touch wood, I have never had any issues with the DS flash card whilst, as I noted at the start, I have successfully managed to destroy a 1GB memory stick for the PSP with little effort. Although I realise now how I might have caused this corruption I think this fault occurred too easily and has made me very weary of what I do with the new 4GB stick.

And the winner is…

Well, as I hinted at the start of this post, I don’t think there is an outright winner.

Both systems have their pros and cons. Personally I love the DS and the PSP and, I have to say I even equally love the Gameboy Micro which, although uncompetitive now in the fact that its games are last generation, still has some pros of its own that cannot be matched by the DS or PSP.

So what should you do… well… don’t be tight, buy a DS, a PSP and a Gameboy Micro! Ok, so maybe that isn’t really helpful advice… I guess the bottom line is, you need to look at all the handhelds available and make a decision based on what you expect to get out of the console. They all have their place so, my little handheld buddies… I hope you all live long and prosper!

With a newborn in the house you would probably not expect me to be making a post about another homebrew application for the Nintendo DS but, I am still managing to sneak an hour of time to myself in the evening and tonight I finally managed to find time to install SpeccyDS v0.2a on to my R4 card for the Nintendo DS Lite.

As I lived in the UK during the 1980s it is perhaps not surprising that my first computer was a ZX Spectrum which is, if you hadn’t guessed, what this particular piece of software emulates.

What makes this emulator extra specially special is that the resolution of a Nintendo DS screen is 256 x 192 which is exactly the same resolution that the ZX Spectrum used to output back in the 1980s to our televisions. This basically means that the emulator looks pixel perfect… it really is as if the Nintendo DS was made to be THE best platform for Spectrum emulation.

Anyway, again this post is probably not of interest to many but, if you recall having fun playing the likes of Manic Miner and Jet Set Willy and would like to get nostalgic and be able to carry these games around in your pocket then you really need to check out SpeccyDS.

Again, muchos respect to the author of this great emulator… I look forward to seeing further updates

For some reason I had the urge tonight to play Doom so decided to investigate as to whether I could play this on my Nintendo DS. Much to my delight I found DSDoom.

Within literally 10 minutes I had downloaded this, done a necessary patch recommended for ensuring game saves work on the R4 card, found my old full copy of Doom and copied all files together with the full doom.wad over to my R4 card.

A few minutes later I’m happily playing Doom on the Nintendo DS Lite! Not only is this a great port over to the DS but the author has also thoughtfully made it use the two screens whereby, and quite logically, the lower screen shows the map and your statistics whilst you get the nice full view of the action in the top screen.

I will now keep my eye on the DSDoom site in the hope that future updates may resolve the two minor issues that I’d love to see in this port. The first is the ability to use any wad file you want. At the moment you must get a full IWAD and call it doom.wad in the root directory of your card. This would obviously be better if you could store the wads in a subdirectory and have the option of selecting which wad to play when starting up the game. I’d love to play some of my old pwads that I made for Doom so many years ago. The second thing I would love to see is the full music included rather than just the sound effects although I believe this task is not as simple as it seems.

Anyway… I don’t play much homebrew on the DS so felt I had to share my joy with the world about this homebrew application… a LOT of respect to the guy who made this possible.

Well tonight I finally had chance to have a little play with the Gameboy Micro I purchased from EBay last week.

As stated in my previous post this is supposedly for Quinn’s birthday but, after playing with it tonight, I have to say I think I may possibly be a mean Daddy and keep it all to myself! :p

Tonight I tested it out with a good long game of Bubble Bobble and here are my thoughts about the console.

First impression… How small is this thing! I used to think my Gameboy Advance SP was neat and small but this thing is tiny… yet strangely it is also very comfy to play. The screen, although smaller than the SP version is very well lit and nice and crisp.

Why do I want to keep it to myself? Well… even though I’m playing the last generation gameboy advance games on it, I can see this being the handheld console of choice on say business trips to Sydney because of it being so small and easy to keep in your pocket.

I love the Nintendo DS… and probably will love a PSP too!… However, although these other two consoles are technically more advanced they are not so easy to keep in your pocket. Good for holidays for sure… but, unlike this neat little thing, you can’t simply put the Nintendo DS or PSP in your pocket and forget about it.

Verdict: I’ll agree with the many reviews I’ve read on the net about the Gameboy Micro… this is the ultimate version of the Gameboy Advance. It is a pity it was released so late and effectively overlooked by everyone scrambling for the DS and PSP but now, as a neat little console to pop in your pocket on a business trip this is excellent!

However, I should perhaps also note that my comments are based on using the Gameboy Micro with an 256mb EZII Flash Cart so at least I can take half a dozen games around on the single cartridge. Obviously the Gameboy Micro’s appeal would be lessened if I was carrying around 6 or so game cartridges in my pocket too!

I have a suspicion that this week is going to be a week of new toys Wuggle’s been naughty and buying quite a few goodies off ebay… and now it’s delivery time!

To start the week I’ve received my R4 card that I mentioned a few posts back and also a Gameboy Micro. The latter I have purchased for Quinn as a 5th birthday present… yes, I know his birthday is not for nearly 9 months but it was a good excuse to tell Muppet and I do intend to give it him for his birthday even though I may play with it myself a bit first! I will give you my comments about the Micro in another post as, other than a quick test, my time tonight has been spent with the R4 card.

So my initial impressions of the R4? VERY slinky… Even though the supposedly English manual is not great I found it very easy to set up and was soon playing a couple of recent NDS games that I had not been able to get working on my old M3 card. I’m pleased to say the R4 had no such difficulties and played them beautifully

It was also weird, although very satisfying, to not have the old M3 poking out of the Slot 2 of the DS Lite. I know its only a cosmetic thing but it really makes it more of a joy to play.

The software with the R4 was particularly pleasing in that, not only does it provide some good rom trimming software it also provides a utility to transfer old M3 save games into R4 format. What a relief! I really didn’t fancy having to start from the beginning again on Yoshi’s Island DS and Super Mario Bros.

I’m also experiencing a piece of multimedia software on the DS Lite for the first time in the form of moonshell. I’d already heard a lot about this software but had never bothered to use it on the M3. Anyway… its a nice media centre piece of software although I very much doubt I’ll use it to ever watch video or listen to MP3s on the DS Lite. However, I have resized and included folders on my card for Quinn & Zoe’s photos so it is nice to be able to have them all at hand.

So, overall impression is a great purchase and, when compared to the cost I originally paid for an M3 last year, this is by far one of the best options for your Nintendo DS. Anybody with a bit of computer knowledge would be foolish to own a Nintendo DS without a R4 or similar nowadays.

The cost of this purchase has been AU$57 for the R4 card (that includes AU$12 postage) and AU$22.50 for a 1GB micro SD card. Total cost AU$79.50 - a bargain in my opinion to open up the possibilities of your Nintendo DS!

Well my first bit of 2007 console naughtiness has happened… Whilst the Muppet is away at some Chef’s Toolbox party (possibly slightly more exciting than a tupperware party but only just!), I have just spent AU$45 on a slinky new R4 from Bamboo Gaming.

For those who don’t know, an R4 is not a South African Assault Rifle nor is it a soviet missile. It is in fact a slinky device for the Nintendo DS… check here for more details.

For those who do know about these things, this is to effectively replace my M3 card which although excellent, is not a Slot 1 solution and, being the size of a GBA Cart, does not look very tidy sticking out of the DS Lite’s Slot 2 by about a cm.