3DS – I don’t want to carry two systems around.

March 12, 2011

Well… for all the hype and excitement surrounding the 3DS it appears that backward compatibility was not something that the big N put a lot of thought into.  I have included a link at the bottom of the post with all the details but to sum it up the screen will either be very small or fuzzy.  Take your pick on that one.  I understand that with the leap forward in resolution it is difficult to maintain a perfect picture but I had hoped Nintendo would have found a better workaround.  In all the past the iterations from the original Game Boy to the DSi XL they have managed to maintain an almost perfect picture integrity when allowing backward compatible play.  In many cases the picture was better on the newer system than the old one.  The kicker here is that in order to play your DS games on a decent screen you will be forced to keep and at times carry two systems.  The DS and 3DS are not small devices so this can be pretty impractical.  Another negative aspect is that Nintendo has announced that the battery life for the 3DS may be as short as 3 hours per charge.  This is very surprising considering I don’t even know what the average charge for the DS Lite is since I rarely ever have to charge the thing.  In light of these recent updates along with the delay of all the core titles to June and August I’m starting to questions if I will hold my pre-order.  I will more than likely still pick it up just to experience 3D without glasses but at this point in time I’m considering waiting for the 3DS Lite.

Playing DS on a 3DS is less than ideal


Mass Effect Redemption

May 10, 2010

If you are a fan of the Mass Effect series you need to take a look at the Dark Horse comic series Mass Effect Redemption.  The story takes place between one and two and chronicles the story of Liara T’Soni as she attempts to recover Shepard’s body from a deal taking place between the Collectors and the Shadow Broker.  It is a great story and provides some interesting context to where you pick up at the start of Mass Effect 2.  Copies of the comics are pretty much impossible to find but lucky for the rest of us Dark Horse has made them available on iTunes for the iPhone.  Reading the comics on the iPhone is really cool and comes at the very reasonable price of .99 cents per issue.  Check out the link below.

Mass Effect Redemption Comic Series


The Joystiq Podcast

May 7, 2010

If you are a fan of podcasts and all things gaming you are missing out if you aren’t listening to the guys at Joystiq.  The group is composed of Joystiq staff members Chris Grant, Ludwig Kietzmann and Justin McElroy.  The guys have a great chemistry and it is a very fun and interesting show.  It is overall PG but every once and while Justin gets riled up over an issue pushing it into the PG-13 range.  To get started with the podcast listen to Episode Zero to get caught up with the history of the show.  The Joystiq website is also one of the best gaming sites out there.  Check out the links below.

Joystiq Podcast

Joystiq Website