Comments on: A Frugal Man and His Nintendo DS / DSi

By: Jesse

Jesse — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 15:49:32 +0000

@ DB Cooper

I get that there is a stigma attached to video games. However, is it any different than someone who watches hours of television or movies? I think video games are often mistakenly seen as children’s entertainment, therefore if an adult is seen playing them, you see them as a “loser”. If you’ve got no problem sitting through a two hour movie on a random Saturday night, playing video games shouldn’t be seen as any different.

By: Shelly

Shelly — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 13:40:06 +0000

For the DS, there are third party devices that allow you to use a Mini-SD card (CycloDS Revolution that someone mentioned above is one, R4 is the one I have). It allows you to use a DS Lite for all kinds of things (there are many “homebrew” games/applications that people have created for the DS, and if you’re into piracy you can find every DS game ever made online, not that I’m condoning that activity). Because of this, I haven’t found the DSi to really be worth the cost.

I also agree with those who mentioned that there are a lot of great games out for the iPod Touch that cost far less than the games for the DSi. I could see there being some complaints in terms of the big action games for the Touch, but you mentioned downloading puzzle games — that’s the kind of stuff that the Touch does best! I’ve just been using free applications and have been having a great time with it. My addiction right now is to Wild West, a free pinball application. I also love Tap Tap Revenge, a free rhythm game — they have a whole library of songs you can download to play with it (also free), and you can play against other people online, too. There are a lot of bad apps available as well, but if you can weed through them a bit, there are plenty of gems.

By: Sandy

Sandy — Sun, 12 Jul 2009 14:26:13 +0000

One comment on children playing video games and not utilizing all fingers in developmental stages.
My daughter plays violin in the school orchestra (we live in a great public school system that still supports the arts, thankfully!)and I was talking to her teacher about some issues. According to her, and she has been teaching for 30 years, in the last 5-7 years, a large number of the kids have a terribly difficult time with a particular fingering that is one of the earliest skills the children learn on the violin. This had never been a problem in years past. She said were she doing a Doctoral research paper, she’d do it on the theory that children are not utilizing all of the important finger developmental stages as young children because more and more of them are sitting infront of computer screens or TV screens or video games so much of their childhood now, as opposed to when screen time was much less. I have often wondered, too, how having a Wii in your living room would disuade a child from learning how to (really) bowl, play tennis, and any one of many games that they can just go to a screen to “play”. I’d be really interested in any parental comment on how many hours their children are in front of a screen, and how that may effect their childhood skills.

By: DB Cooper

DB Cooper — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 13:30:23 +0000

I don’t know…I see grown man playing video games and my first thought is: loser. Personally, I would rather actually live my life rather than focus so much attention on stuff that’s not real happening on a tiny screen. I’m pretty sure that when I’m on my death bed, I won’t be regretting that I didn’t play more video games.

As a teacher, I am disheartened by the amount of time my students spend in front of some sort of video screen. It’s a BIG world out there – go LIVE it!

By: Kyle

Kyle — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 03:38:28 +0000

I read this blog to keep from spending money and you are talking me into BUYING something…nooooooooo! Oh well, good article and you do make it a point to address it to those dead set on playing games.

By: Sandy

Sandy — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 00:42:15 +0000

Thanks, Liv. Interesting thought about clothes. I’m not a shopper…most of what I have, I’ve had several years or more. I don’t think it’s possible for me toeven remember what I spent on items that I bought 15 years ago and still wear. I guess whatever I spent on something I’ve gotten that much wear out of,it was a deal!

By: liv

liv — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 19:26:25 +0000

@Sandy
Games can definitely add up. Between downloadable games and console (Xbox, etc) games, they can start from as little as like $4 and go up to $60. I know people who have emptied their pockets for every single console and game imaginable…but then again, they’re really hard core gamers and enjoy it a lot in both social and solo aspects.

People do spend money on what they are entertained with. That is the most important part. Depending on the replayability of the game, you can spend (I’d guess) a minimum of 20hrs on any given game up to an infinite amount.

I love how Trent used this comparison with games. I don’t really do this with games as much as I do this with clothes. (Try to get it down to at least $1 per wear) It makes me happy when I’ve gotten a $4 tank top and worn it 100 times.

By: Jen

Jen — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 16:10:34 +0000

I love my DS, though I do wish I would have waited for the DSI. I’ve gotten the most enjoyment out of Zelda, Professor Layton, Brain Age, and Lego Batman for the DS, which is just super fun and adorable.

By: Sandy

Sandy — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 15:14:34 +0000

ok..just out of curiosity, how much do all of these games add up to. I’ll admit, our family is TOTALLY out of the tech loop when it comes to games described above. Also, when I think of our younger years, I can’t imagine my husband spending time playing games as much as it sounds like people play games now. He and I were busy with language lessons during our early marriage, and learning about other cultures by travelling, and socking money away for a deposit on a house.
Everyone spends money and enjoys themselves differently, I suppose. Also, what amount of your time are you playing per day? per week? per month?
I’m not saying that it’s a bad way to spend your time, and you are all getting something out of it, I’m sure (social interaction, etc…).As long as you are doing things to advance yourself while you are young and not using too much of your time playing games, I have no issue and it sounds like fun…I’m just in the dark on cost and time involvement.

By: Tyler

Tyler — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 14:49:59 +0000

Elite Beat Agents was a poor performer, sales wise (sad, seeing as it is such a fun game), which is why it is in the clearance rack at many stores. I agree with Tetris DS being on the list, along with any version of Meteos. PuzzleQuest (either Warlords or Galactrix) will also give you a large amount of playtime. Pokemon, if you are a fan, will give a deep experience…Chrono Trigger is also on sale for $20 at GameStop, and has 14 or so endings if you want to invest the time in it.

By: prufock

prufock — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 14:13:40 +0000

I’ve never thought about the cost per hour of playing time before. It’s an interesting way of thinking about game prices. How did you arrive at that precise number?

By: David Turnbull

David Turnbull — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 13:28:18 +0000

“Most of the iPod touch/iPhone games are pretty poor. I’ve tried quite a few and they’re just … not good. Most of them have serious control issues. Cheap does not always equate to good.”

I think you were just unlucky. I’ve only bought a few games, and athough they only cost $1-$4 I find that they’re absolutely fantastic. It’ll be a while before many games match the depth of a Nintendo DS game (check out “Real Racing”), I’ve still invested plenty of time into iPhone games.

A few of the best picks are:
1. Sally’s Spa (don’t avoid it because it’s aimed at women…it’s addictive)
2. Flight Control
3. Knights Onrush
4. Sentinel 2
5. Fieldrunners
6. Hero of Sparta
7. Blimp

You may not get a game as deep as something like Phantom Hourglass, but you are paying like 30-50x less (or 70x less if you’re Aussie like me).

I’ve owned a few handhelds over the years, and have loved them but I rarely felt I was getting value for money. I may have spent $70 AUD on a handheld game and played it for 20 hours, but now I spend $1 for an iPhone game and get at least 4-5 hours out of it.

I guess everyone has their own tastes though.

Side note: This comment turned out longer than I’d planned.

By: JJ

JJ — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 12:46:24 +0000

I meant HDDs. :)

By: JJ

JJ — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 12:45:43 +0000

360 is cool, especially if you use it to stream Netflix movies. Wiis are easy to hack to copy games to HHDs.

By: Brian S.

Brian S. — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 12:23:57 +0000

What no comments on the PS3 or the Xbox 360? That’s disappointing.

By: Jeremy

Jeremy — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 09:11:20 +0000

The Web Browser is terrible. Complete waste of time to try and use it for anything.

By: Strabo

Strabo — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 07:48:53 +0000

“I am attracted to all this device does. The wifi, the SD card (big plus)… How is the MP3 playing? I would buy this if it was a competant MP3 player.”

Absolutely terrible. Because of the DSi’s function to add effects to whatever you play everything goes through the filter even if you don’t want effects added which adds a really bad background noise to the music, not to mention making it sound flat and shoddy.

By: Benjamin

Benjamin — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 05:36:00 +0000

While this is highly illegal, you could buy a flashcart for your DS. I’m not sure if there’s one out yet for the DSi, but basically a flashcart allows you download games onto it. I I think the price for that is probably around $80 ish.In the long run it will save you money because you can just download games instead of buying them.

Like i said though! Its illegal unless you only the original copy of the game!

By: Jin6655321

Jin6655321 — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 03:55:13 +0000

Peggle is a bit pricey at $30 (new) but DEFINITELY worth buying. If you’re not familiar with it already, it’s like plinko meets pinball.

If you’re a puzzle fan, I also recommend Exit DS. It’s now $20 new (was $10 new until it became popular.

By: John Davey

John Davey — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 01:43:19 +0000

Thanks for the review Trent. The kids have been considering trading their DS lites for DSi’s. I heard the music format was actually AAC, not MP3. What about the camera capability. Can you download the photos off the DSi? Can the browser do anything useful, like access Twitter?