December 27, 2005
Next Gen Meh
by psuI just found out that like the PSP, the Nintendo DS has a delicious instant sleep feature.
Chances that either of the new next-gen home consoles have the same feature implemented in the OS and not in the stupid game: practically zero.
Chances that any of the next-gen games are really any better than Mario and Luigi: also practically zero.
My personal interest in buying a 360 to play anything but Madden 360: waning.
I cannot stop playing Mario Kart DS online.
The online experience is totally stripped down compared to Xbox Live, but I'm finding that I don't care.
Sure, there's no voice chat. In theory, that means I miss out on banter. In practice, it means that I miss out on thirteen-year-old kids slinging racist and homophobic slurs around because someone dared play a game better than them. The lack of a unified friends list is more of a problem, but I guess I'll live. The 'friend code' thing Nintendo uses is goofy.
It's all very bare bones and not all that polished. But hey, it's a $130 console that fits in my pocket. I'm pretty much amazed that the online stuff works *at all*.
Also: The DS version of Mario & Luigi is shinier and better than the GBA one. Since the DS has X and Y buttons instead of just A and B, there are of course four characters at times, which makes it even more absurd and cute. You need it.
Now, back to racing tiny little carts around against clever strangers.
Posted by Nat Lanza at December 27, 2005 11:46 PMI just spent several hours playing Geometry Wars on a friend's 360 :P. Of course buying a next gen console now, just to play a retro style game doesn't quite work out.
Hexic was also fun. Wik translated well, but then it is available on PC.
Posted by Trin at December 28, 2005 02:07 AMPlease help support Tea Leaves by visiting our sponsors.
