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The All-New Handfun Thread (NDS, GBA, PSP, NGPC, WS...)

Started by waste of chops, March 15, 2007, 01:25:37 PM

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Seeing as how the previous handheld thread seems to be lost to the ages (unless a passing Fascist of Finding could oblige?) I thought I may as well start up a new one.

Anyway, a quick heads up: Theme Park DS has been released in Japan complete with full English-language translation. It's a fairly straight conversion of the original DOS game and seems to play pretty well so far.

In entirely unrelated news, these guys are selling the R4 flash cartridge for ~£16 delivered (I haven't used them myself but plenty of people over here seem to have).

http://www.reghardware.com/2007/03/13/sony_to_shrink_psp/

Apart from the UMD loading and the battery life, I can't really think what else might improve on the PSP, it's a lovely machine.  The change can't be as dramatic as that between the DS and DS Lite can it?

If anyone can point me in the direction of a decent cricket game on the DS or PSP could they point me in the direction of it?

Also, has anyone got news of whether Madden 07 will end up being widely available on the PSP in the UK?  It seems to be as rare as rocking horse shit on places like amazon

Quote from: "aaaaaaaaaargh!"http://www.reghardware.com/2007/03/13/sony_to_shrink_psp/

Apart from the UMD loading and the battery life, I can't really think what else might improve on the PSP, it's a lovely machine.  The change can't be as dramatic as that between the DS and DS Lite can it?

I dunno if everyone would agree with that...

QuoteThe PSP, on the other hand, is a mess. Clearly designed primarily for aesthetic appeal rather than functionality, there's something wrong with almost every aspect of it. The analogue nub is hopeless, with a massive deadzone and then wild oversensitivity at the edges. It's placed awkwardly low down at one corner, giving the console an unbalanced, hand-contorting orientation if you're using the nub and the face buttons at the same time. The Square button has been placed too close to the screen, apparently forcing it to sit on top of some piece of internal circuitry so that there's a noticeable obstruction if you try to press it by sliding across from the middle. There are way too many buttons on the thing full stop - an incredible thirteen, not counting the d-pad or analogue nub or the power switch and such - and the Start and Select buttons are so small, recessed and close together than you actually have to look down to see which one you're pressing if you need them for anything in a game.

The PSP also has a thin, rough metal ridge running along its bottom edge, which digs into any fingers you use to support its weight. (It's about twice as heavy as the DS and 2" wider, which makes it uncomfortable to hold for any period of time if you don't support it underneath somehow. In fact, it's uncomfortable to hold in almost any position and no matter which of its controls you're using.) Everything about the machine has been designed to accommodate the vast screen, and it suffers badly for it. It also has the same aesthetic smudging problem as the black DS Lite - only more so, because you get the unattractive smudges all over the screen and control surfaces as well as the outer casing. All in all, a bit of a catastrophe.

I wouldn't mind a PSP as a portable emulation machine (I've got a Tapwave Zodiac which does emulation reasonably well but the analogue joystick is, quite frankly, terrible) but I'll probably hang on for the impending redesign then see if I can pick up a bargain old-style one (or just get a new one if they're cheap enough).

I'm fine with it, maybe I've got freaky hands though.  I love the GTA games and Pro Evo 6.  Maybe I'm just easily pleased.

You can get the nice white PSP with GTA Vice City Stories for £155 from Amazon which is fairly good.  Of course, what the courier did was just leave it outside my front door to wait for me to get home.  When I got there it had been nicked, rather predictably.  Prob best not to use the free delivery service in my opinion.

Neil

What's everyone playing at the minute?!  I'm really getting into my DS again as it's GREAT at this time of year.  Just installed the wifi dongle gubbins on my new puter, and tried playing 42 all-time classics online for the first time.  Bowling is a lot of fun, although it seemed to hang after the game ended, shame that.  

Anyone playing any DS games online then?!

TotalNightmare

As a 'may as well add my two cents' statement, i have enjoyed a lot of good times with that '42 Classic Games' title for the DS!

In fact, its hardly out of my DS these days, although, i must confess, i havent had the balls to play on line with anyone yet!

Also... Cooking Mama is wicked if not all that deep.

Neil

Quote from: "TotalNightmare"As a 'may as well add my two cents' statement, i have enjoyed a lot of good times with that '42 Classic Games' title for the DS!

In fact, its hardly out of my DS these days, although, i must confess, i havent had the balls to play on line with anyone yet!

Well...do so!  And let me know your friend code.  Mine is:

0430 4607 0360

It is a great game, yeah.  I played it lots in single-player when I first got it, and found some of the missions and whatnot very challenging.    

QuoteAlso... Cooking Mama is wicked if not all that deep.

Had that on there for a while but removed it to make space, did seem ok.  

Grabbed a load of GBA games last night, they tend to be fun.  I was very hooked on Mario Tennis and Mario Golf for a while.  

DS-wise, I'm catching up as I haven't played it for a while, just the odd game of Tony Hawk's Downhill Jam in bed. But I notice the Lost In Blue sequel is out, bound to be ace.  Also got Puzzle Quest, couldn't resist 'puzzle game meets rpg action' really, and it does seem fun.

buntyman

Yup 42 games in one and mario kart on the ds are the only games i play anymore.  My friend codes are 322203400086 & 442462503540 respectively if you fancy a bowl or a race. Can't be arsed playing consoles these days.

TotalNightmare


Neil

Ok I'm just adding you, but bowling just hung again after the game was over, it just seems to sit there and no buttons work. Ah well.  I haven't tried Mario Kart online yet as I'm massively shit at it with single-player.  I should play it more really, although when I had a go yesterday I found that every time I went up a hill I was wanting to do Tony Hawks stunts, heeh.  Tony Hawk's Downhill Jam is fun fun fun!

My Mario Kart code is 017253 370708

EDIT:  Ah right, adding you both.

Neil

Damn thing hung again after that round, I'm back on now if you still have time for bowls.

(TotalNightmare just WHIPPED me at draughts)

Neil

Wow, I just got spanked at bowling, 97 to 200.  I was wondering if the bitch was holding a ruler up to the screen!  I'd better start practicing this again.  Anyway I got the hanging prob sorted, so let me know when you chaps are up for more - anyone else got this?!  I need to play the card games again to refresh my memory, I remember really enjoying some of them.

SOTS

Call me an idiot but just how are you all playing Nintendo DS against each other?

I thought you could only play with people in the same area as you. Like, in your house or something.

Neil

Quote from: "SOTS"Call me an idiot but just how are you all playing Nintendo DS against each other?

I thought you could only play with people in the same area as you. Like, in your house or something.

Nah, you can do that, but you can also use the wifi thing to play over the net.  I don't have a wireless router, so I got the Nintendo "dongle" for 20 quid, and I set that up with hacked drivers rather than the official ones so I could do more with it.  Then I can use that to connect to the net for wifi games (like Mario Kart, which I know you love).  

You find open wifi connections or wifi hotspots too, on your travels.  I used one sitting outside Newtonards bus station.

I'm just going to test out the homebrew DS browser in a mo.  You can also get homebrew MSN clients, email, irc etc.

SOTS

Oh, cool.

I have a wireless router. Yet another reason for me to take the plunge and buy a DS Lite. I'm very tempted but am put off by the fact that I hardly have any money and wouldn't be able to afford more than a couple of games.

Neil

Yes, get one!  They're really fab.

You can get "flash carts" which you can then bung downloaded games on to, that's what I do as I can't afford em.  That also lets you run the "homebrew" software.  I think they're pretty cheap now, you just need one of those, and a minisd card - which you may have anyway for a phone or camera or something.

EDIT: You can also play Gameboy Advance games, and a lot of those are dirt cheap now.  No net play with em, but a lot of really top games on that system, like remade SNES games and Super Mario platformers etc.

SOTS

Well, i'm currently trying to win one, or win something I don't want which I can then sell and buy a DS Lite with the money I make. Spent hours this evening on moneysavingexpert entering loads of competitions.

Another worry though, is that it's too similar to the Gameboy Advance. Because I already have one of those.

Neil

No, it's quite a bit more advanced really.  You could check out youtube for some examples, or read up ds.ign.com perhaps.  It's a more impressive machine technically, and the dual screen and touch-screen open up a lot of new possibilities.  Good luck with the competitioning.

boki

Quote from: "Neil"What's everyone playing at the minute?!

Can't join in the DS fun as I don't have one, but I'm utterly addicted to Blingo on my GP2X - it's a conversion of  Slingo, a really simplistic game with pretty much no skill element, but it's reeeally compulsive!

Analrapist

All this homebrew sounds extremely interesting. What's the best homebrew stuff out there, in your experience?

I've been neglecting my DS lately, but I can see this getting me addicted to it again!

Neil

Ooh that sounds good.

Ha, I just won at online bowls for the first time, in a nail-biting finish where I just pulled ahead at the very last moment with a one pin lead. It was just like the end of a Rocky movie!  Sadly, my opponent is called "Licklemumy" and has a panting puppy avatar, so it feels like something of a hollow victory.  Heh, it is good when you get someone of roughly the same skill level though i.e. shite

Neil

Quote from: "Analrapist"All this homebrew sounds extremely interesting. What's the best homebrew stuff out there, in your experience?

I've been neglecting my DS lately, but I can see this getting me addicted to it again!

I've been the same really, but they're just so much fun this time of the year, tons of things you can do with them down the park.  I'm gonna start converting some TV shows and stuff for it.

So I haven't been keeping up with the homebrew scene really, but DSOrganize still seems to be one of the best.  It now has a web browser, along with the old ability to open shoutcast streams from the file browser.  IRC too, I believe.  

There's also a comics reader, DSComic I think it's called, you run comic archives through it and it spits them out in a format you can read on your DS.  I definitely want to try that, I've got some good comics knocking about here somewhere.  

I think the homebrew Megadrive emulator has come on pretty far, but still lacks sound.  Better check out the state of play with the emulators, actually.  

Oh, fuck!  Not only is Quake 1 fully playable now, but they're also converting Quake 2 to DS.  And Doom 3, I believe, heheh.  
Fucking hell, licklemummy just got a double and nearly a triple, I think I'm being hussled.  Definitely get 42 Alltime Classics if you've not got it, it's fun fun fun!

Mr. Analytical

So if you have a wireless router, can you just play DS against other people with no need of extra tech?  I thought that the dongle enabled wireless use (and apparently it's a complete pain to get it working for a mac).

Neil

I forgot NitroTracker, that's the best homebrew there is.  Excellent music-making util, and he's now modified it to use that DS midi controller thing that you can buy.  



Here's a vid of Quake on the DS, you can even play against someone on the PC.



I'm gonna give ScummVM another crack as it seems to be fixed up pretty good now, and I'd love to play Day Of The Tentacle etc again.

Neil

Quote from: "Mr. Analytical"So if you have a wireless router, can you just play DS against other people with no need of extra tech?  I thought that the dongle enabled wireless use (and apparently it's a complete pain to get it working for a mac).

Yeah I believe that's all you need.  The dongle isn't a requirement, it's only for people like me with normal modems.  I use the hacked drivers which turns it into a normal access point, so that I can then use it for wifi homebrew - something you can't do with the official Nintendo dongle drivers.   I use the inbuilt Nintendo wireless thingy or a homebrew app called DS2Key (which has wardriving and packet capture built in) to look for open wireless connections when I'm out and about, there are some set up at bus stations and hotels and the like.  

So yeah, the wireless just works out of the box, you can use it to play against people who are closeby, or over the net for Mario Kart and whatever.

Here are some instructions for getting it working on the Mac.  I daresay it's not a problem by now.

Analrapist

Has that 42 All-Time Classics game been deleted or something? On Amazon it says it'll ship in 4 to 6 weeks, which is ricockulous. I suppose I'll have to get it off eBay instead.

I think I'll get on better with that than when I've tried to play a proper full game on the DS, because by its nature I think the DS is better suited to short bursts of play rather than spending several hours on it. I'm going to follow your lead and start playing on it in the park!

When I first got my DS I played Mario Kart online against people from Japan. Obviously I got completely and utterly trounced. It was fun though, and I was surprised at how painless hooking it up to my network was.

Neil

Ha, I daren't play Mario Kart online, I'm utterly shit at it.  I'll have to give Tony Hawk's Downhill Jam a crack though, that's top fun in single-player, and I think it has voice chat.  With 42 All-Time Classics, I noticed earlier that it seems you can't scribble messages to people when they're not on your friends list, you can only pick from a selection of pre-written messages like "Good Game."  I suppose that's to stop people like me saying "FUCK!" when the likes of TotalNightmare takes some of my draughts pieces, or to prevent me sending him crude drawings of my willy.  I wish they'd fuck off with that kind of wariness, it's fun to use voice-chat and the like.

That comic book reader looks tops, it breaks them up so you can view it pane by pane.  Just downloading some pre-converted stuff from GBA The Movie Way.

EDIT:  Ooh, I've deffo got to get the SNES emulator:



EDIT:  Also, I really need to get back into Phoenix Wright too, that's a fucking cracking game.  The English language version is out now, although the Japanese version had English built-in anyway.

Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth

If you like Phoenix Wright, then you should get Hotel Dusk. It's very similar but better I reckon (although that might just be because I keep geting stuck on Phoenix Wright). Either way, it's the last DS game that really grabbed me.

The machine's been a bit neglected since then. I used to listen to music on it when I walked the dogs, but I've started running every day, so I don't dare take it with me in case it falls out of my pocket. Aside from the music player and Comic Book DS (which is fantastic) I can't get most other homebrew apps to work, which is a bit of a let down.

What the DS really seems to be lacking is a decent one-on-one beat 'em up. I've got Super Street Fighter 2 running fairly well on the SNES emulator, but just playing against the computer gets tired after a while.

Perhaps not coincidentally, I've been having a bit of a PS2 renaissance of late. PS2 games are going dirt cheap on Amazon.

Neil

Quote from: "Claude the Lion Tamer"If you like Phoenix Wright, then you should get Hotel Dusk. It's very similar but better I reckon (although that might just be because I keep geting stuck on Phoenix Wright). Either way, it's the last DS game that really grabbed me.

Thanks, will check that out.

QuoteAside from the music player and Comic Book DS (which is fantastic) I can't get most other homebrew apps to work, which is a bit of a let down.

There are issues because of all the different cards people use, but that seems to be getting sorted now with DLDI.  The DSOrganize guy got fed up supporting M3 cards and the like, but I was able to install DLDIrc to get it working.  It intergrates with the Windows shell, so then all you have to do is eg rightclick on an nds file and patch it, easy.  I think most of the homebrew will be supporting DLDI now.

Looks like some fellow is making a conversion of Descent too.  I'm just trying to find the Quake Wads - one of the Quake conversions is even going to let you load mods and total conversions!

QuoteWhat the DS really seems to be lacking is a decent one-on-one beat 'em up. I've got Super Street Fighter 2 running fairly well on the SNES emulator, but just playing against the computer gets tired after a while.

I think Bleach is meant to be great, but not sure if it's been released in an English language version yet.

Lt Plonker

Trauma Center is ace! It's a neat little surgeory game that is continually surprising me with it's inventiveness. I'm very tempted with Theme Park DS. I used to LOVE that on the PC - watching Trendy Man strut around my park like he was God's gift to the world.  It's only £24 at Tesco too!