DS Lite anyone?

Miscellaneous Forums/General Discussion/DS Lite anyone?

Just picked me up one today, didn't mind the fact they were white-only as that's the color I normally choose for my devices (aside from my black PC).....so here's my little overview of the system for those who haven't read the millions out there...

All I can say is first and foremost, is that, man this thing is freaking bright, it's brightest mode rivals that of the PSPs 4th brightness level option, which for the the PSP, is only available when it's hooked up to the AC adapter...

Overall, quite a nice system, definately would take it over the normal DS anyday, only thing I have to keep in mind is that a few of my older DS games look worse on higher brightness levels as the games were designed around the old-DSs screen, so some things will appear too saturated or bright on this little baby, unless you tone it down to it's lowest level.
(which is the nearly the equivelent brightness of the old DS's screen, or so I could see side-by-side anyway)

Although for some games it does the reverse, some of the developers apparently didn't adjust the game graphics to look their best on the old-DS screen, and those games just look absolutely fab on the DSLite, where they were a little dark otherwise.




Couple things that really bug me about the system though....for one, they supplied only a single stylus, and they used a new (although better) stylus that's a bit more comfortable for us big-handed people, more length, bit more meat to it...but still, only one was included in my package, and I'm already on my 2nd stylus on my old DS..

Another thing that also bugged me was that the wrist-strap (that includes the thumb-thingy) is sold seperately....which I didn't know at the time, so I now have to make another trip to the store to buy the DSLite strap so I can play Metroid Prime the way I prefer.
(Still trying to keep my old DS as a whole unit, so I aint going to steal the one from it and slap it on this one, and the fact the DS came with one to begin with and appeared commonly used seemed like a step backwards not including it with the Lite)







Love the weight-balance on another topic, it feels more natural with the top-screen being near weightless, and all the weight instead being put on the bottom screen, where you hold the system. System has been downsized a bit, is actually near pocket-friendly status so far (although nowhere near as pocket-friendly as my GBMicro, that thing is SMALL), bit from my play experiance it'll appear that I may get cramps a little sooner playing games that make heavy use of the shoulder buttons, may have to find me a new way to relax my hands while holding it to prevent that.



Main thing that made me purchase the system though was the viewing-angle of the screen was increased slightly, as well as the fact the screens now do their LCD thing at steep angles the same way, both either go inversed colors, or bright, on the old DS when tilted, one screen went brighter, while the other inverted....and that bugged me quite a bit.

Another thing that I feel may bug some people is the fact the GBA-slot has been downsized in its length, so GBA carts stick out a bit, but not to the extent as say, legacy GameBoy games did on the GBA, but it's still noticable which detracts from the otherwise sleek look.
(that look being nice and coated so I wont see any of the plastic's paint job rub off as I've experiance on both my GBA-SP & old-DS)



Just a bit sad that this is basically replacing my DS, where-as when I got my GameBoy Micro, it was for road=trip purposes over my GBA-SP, getting a bit of withdrawl since I clocked so many hours on the thing....more-so now that I have to restart all my accounts on Nintendo-WiFi as those things are saved with the DS....will take awhile for me to get my 693 rounds of Tetris DS online back.

On the upside, now got me an additional DS system to play single-cart games with against friends that come over.
(my sis has her own old-DS, so that's 3 total in this house-hold, and from the look on her face after see'ing my Lite, it'll likely be 4 soon >.> )


Would post pics, but my PC is undergoing maintenances, and this PC here I'm currently using only has a crappy 320x240 web-cam installed.

GAAH!
Stop reminding me :P
I already foolishly used one and learned that all homebrew equipment works with its firmware (and fits in a way that I could put up with, since it doesn't jut out as much as 1st generation official dev carts)... but buying one would be $150 for better screens and nicer paint and a better volume control slider and a decent stylus... :(
(I could buy a new keyboard with that money!)

more-so now that I have to restart all my accounts on Nintendo-WiFi as those things are saved with the DS....will take awhile for me to get my 693 rounds of Tetris DS online back.
You can transfer your WFC data, in its entirety, to your DS Lite. It's one of the options in the WFC setup screen :)

Oh yeah, totally forgot about the transfer option for that, thx for the reminder.

Regardin volume slider, it's pretty much the same, except mine for some little reason "floats" a bit in its spot, so when I go to slide it, it kinda pushes in a little till it hits the back of the slider plate or whatever it's called, pretty much identical to the old DS's one, just better looking.


How much do those flash-carts for the DS cost btw? Wouldn't mind getting into the homebrew scene for it, as there appears to be some goodies people made for it.
(without the headaches of exploiting any built-in security like on my PSP)

I'm working on getting one as soon as I can sell off my old DS. I'd like to get a black one but white is also all that's available for me.

I found a flash card advance 256MBit with serial burner on eBay for like $80 or so. If you do get one, I definitely suggest getting one with a USB interface as it can take 10 minutes to flash all 32MB with the serial connection.

I also have a PassMe2 that will let you upgrade the DS's firmware for homebrew purposes. Once you use it to install FlashMe7 firmware, it's worthless after that. If you don't have a wireless card for WiFiMe or other firmware upgrading methods, I could mail you my PassMe2, you'll just need the Metroid Hunters demo. Let me know.

I'm very tempted. I had a PSP for about a month and promptly sold it. The DS Lite looks like a winner...

How much do those flash-carts for the DS cost btw? Wouldn't mind getting into the homebrew scene for it, as there appears to be some goodies people made for it.
It varies depending on what you want to do, but most DS homebrew works fine with a GBA Movie Player (with hacked firmware).
If you have a CF card, I would recommend it as it is the least expensive homebrew cart I have ever come across.


Since DS homebrew started off with all sorts of compact flash adapters, lots of stuff actually makes use of FAT file system stuff to read and write files or game content. (I believe Quake DS is using resources stored on the cart instead of the NDS file, since only GBA carts allow us to run binaries over 4 MB at the moment).

This is all because it began using Slot-1 for a passthrough device, which tricks the DS to run unsigned code off the GBA slot, so the best way to go was clearly to stick with GBA slot to hold the code. (And people really liked the GBA Movie Player at the time).
Even though the DS card encryption is now finally cracked, there is so much homebrew that makes use of those Compact Flash carts that noone really wants to bother switching over to boring old DS cards. (I don't anyway :P).

Other CF adapters are Supercard CF and M3... Supercard is less expensive and smaller than the M3 but seems to get very mixed reviews, while the M3 is all-round pretty decent, but just as huge as the GBAMP. (GBAMP is the size of a GameBoy Original cartridge).
If you don't have a CF card, there are some SD versions of these things, too. And, come to think of it, if you're interested in the removable storage medium methods of DS homebrew, I guess your best bet is one of the SD ones anyway as they are generally about the size of a GBA cart, which is much more manageable than the CF card things. (GBAMP just about doubles the size of a DS Lite).

Of course, regular GBA carts like Eikon has will fit best and generally do what you want.

Careful if you do decide to flash your DSL's firmware, by the way... there have been reports of it being easy to brick because a careless hand can accidentally bridge a circuit which conveniently causes a fuse to blow.
Thankfully, you don't really need a PassMe2: There are a few "nopass" devices (One which I know by name is Datel's Max Media Launcher) which are the size of a DS Card and work easily since they make use of the finally cracked DS Card Encryption to do the passthrough stuff. (Yay!).
If you do decide to flash the DSL's firmware, I'll point you here. (Actually, I'll do it right now).
Video also shows the snug fit of the MiniSD Supercard. (Note that homebrew currently doesn't play nice with accessing the SD card there, but I imagine that will be fixed soon enough).

Yeah the DS Lite and the GBA cartridges not going in properly really pisses me off too. It's certainly better screen quality than the original DS though.

Wow this sucker is BRIGHT with a capital 'B'. My son has just upgraded his old DS to this and I have to say that I'm impressed. Looks fab now (didn't like the dull screen on the older one).


IPete2.

I got one, and I love it. It came with two stylus though, not just one.

I just can't get over how bright this screen is. I'd almost say it was brighter and sharper than the PSP - although it isn't as high res.

Hopefully we'll be able to get the wi fi working on my Belkin so he can challenge you guys over the Net to a Mario Karts game...

IPete2.

I am still deciding wether to get a PSP or DS :)

DS Lite is an awesome little thing :)

Deux,

I guess its a matter of what you want - PSP is awesome too - I can upload my business videos to it and mp3s and photos and well now with V2.71 I can download game demos right off the Wireless connection inot the PSP and play them - LocoRoco anyone? Fabulous.

But I haven't played anyone over the Internet cause I don't really have any games for PSP that will do that yet.

My son has Mario Kart and we've just managed to get him online (took about 1/2 hour to figure out some new settings for the Belkin) everything is fine - he's racing against real people somewhere in the world - fantastic.

The new DS is some bright it makes the Mario games look all sparkly and just how they should be.

IPete2.

Thanks IPete2, soon I will purchase either one :)

I do like the price tag of the DS Lite.

I still have my original Electric Blue DS myself, I may upgrade to the Lite soon... Not too sure, is it even worth upgrading from the original DS to the Lite, per chance?

Based on preference I say RAM, I had a feeling I was having an affair on my old-DS while using the new one, trying to really decide if I should keep it or not...ended up keeping the Lite.

Startin to also believe the DSLite is a little TOO bright on the max settings, bit hard on the eyes over time.

As stated earlier my main reason for getting was the more uniform screen layout regarding the way the LCD screens go when tilted at various angles, having my eyes interpret different colors playing Brain Age on my old-DS because you hold the DS sideways for it hurt them a bit, gave a bit of a "flicker" look to it.

It came with two stylus though, not just one.


Well, at least the DSLite holds its stylus a lot more secure then the old-DS (I should quit referencing it as that ;/ ), so odds of it falling out unnoticed appear alot smaller then on my other system, which was the case for it.
(and to think my pack of 3-backup stylus will never get used now ;P )


Regarding homebrew, seems like a bit of a hassle flashing the firmware (or installing fixed drivers for my wireless PCI card, which appears to be compatible), I got an unsteady hand, so I think I'll just sit back until a more conveniant means of flashing it comes out.

The new DS is some bright it makes the Mario games look all sparkly and just how they should be.


Too bad that I find the upper-2 levels of the brightness make the graphics look too saturated on my side here, least they look great on the default setting.

I had a PSP for about a month and promptly sold it.


Wish more high-profile games would come out to the system, only 2 games for it out now currently that I've shown an interest in is Lemmings & Syphon Filter, along with Metal Gear Solid3:PO in the future. Otherwise it's my MP3 player/web-browser.
(and a freaking slow web-browser at that)

Makes you kinda wish the DS had SD-Card support built-in with a USB port to hook it up to your PC, like the PSP, but then again, Nintendo was never one for making multi-media devices.



On another note, was a bit miffed that when I headed to town today, none of the DSLite wrist-straps were in stock. ><

Well, homebrew's a lot easier on the GBA carts than the DS carts, as we well know, since there is a slot for GBA games on the front end. However, how is the DS with homebrew GBA games, as opposed to the standard GBA games out there?

I'd like to get into DS development, if possible. I'm watching this thread closely =]

RAM,

I dont know anything about homebrew sorry.

Richard - my son, upgraded his 1 year old DS for the new DS Lite - he is absolutely over the moon. He loves it more than his old one as it seem to give a new lease of life to his other games - they are MUCH MUCH brighter now and he can see everything the way I believe ithey were meant to be seen, with all their lusious NINTENDO ness.



IPete2.

Must say after playing some of the more touch-screen involved games, that the new meatier stylus really does help, I can play with a slightly more relaxed pen-grip pose now, where-as before with the old stick, I had to grip it tightly because of it's short length not riding along my hand in the usual pen-grip fashion.

I hope you were talking about the DS there, Genexi2 =]

=P


Talk about unintentional phallic imagery.

i been off in another planet for the pass couple of weeks....whats the main difference between DS and DS-lite...?

Much much brighter screen (lowest level of DS Lite = old brightest DS) - appears far more colourful and sharper

DS Lite - Better touch screen

DS Lite - Worse Game Boy game slot (more sticking out)

DS Lite - Better stylus

Smarter to look at and store in your top pocket (not as smart as the very small game boy micro)

My son absolutely loves it to pieces. I don't think much if anything has changed in the way of firmware. We were online via wi fi in about half an hour of fiddling.

IPete2.

It's Liter.

Yeah, you may have talked me into upgrading from the standard DS to the DS Lite, may do that this weekend...

Anybody running any upgrade specials, per chance?

Game will give you £40.00 off in exchange for your old DS.


Not sure of any others...

The thing to do is go and try it with an open mind, and buy it if you think its worth it.


IPete2.

All a store needs to do to sell the Lite's in bundle is have a kiosk with the DS and the Lite side by side for demo'ing......it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out which of the two the average consumer will purchase.

Yeah Genexi2,

You are so right with that... it's like a hot cake on a cold morning, it sells itself the moment you get a 'sniff' of it! Lol.


IPete2.

I'd love one of these. Car tax/MOT time though, so that's out. :(

I could resist no-longer. I grabbed one today from GameStation (£110 inc any game). I can't decided what games to buy before I go on holiday on Friday...

Does anyone know if there's DS version of Scrabble coming?