All other handhelds can go to hell

This weekend I got my first REAL chance to play with a Nintendo DS. I had seen one in action before, but that never really counted since the DS belongs to my niece and the only game she ever plays on it is The Urbz. On Saturday I got to play the Metroid Prime: Hunters demo on my friend's DS, and the implications were so grand that they didn't sink in until afew days later. The game controls let you use the D-Pad or the buttons to move Samus around, and either shoulder button can be used to fire. The touch screen is used to turn and aim EXACTLY like a mouse would for any FPS on a PC.



This got me thinking about short term and long term applications for this innovation. The Nintendo DS is effectively the first piece of gaming-hardware to feature an input device that can emulate a mouse. This opens the door to a wide variety of possibilities right there. The day might come where we'll see an RTS game that's not on a PC and that's NOT totally shitty. I had gotten used to playing first-person shooters with an analog stick, but the fact remains that a mouse is the best way to aim at a human who's, ya know, trying to avoid getting shot.

Not only can the touch screen be used as a mouse, but it's still a screen, which broadens the horizons even further. I refuse to believe that, three years from now, the only thing being displayed on that screen will be a map. I can't wait to see what game developers will use that screen for once they get used to the concept, and that's the main reason why I want to encourage it. The PSP looks great and all, but it seems like more of the same. Kinda like a "Widescreen Gameboy meets personal media station". The concept of watching a movie on my handheld console is interesting, but TOTALLY incompatible with my lifestyle. Handhelds are mostly useful in two situations: using public transportation and sitting on the can, and I'm not gonna be in either one of those situations for too long. RPGs and strategy games can give me more incentive to use my handheld more, though, but the PSP is hardly going to be the only handheld to offer me that. Then again, I wouldn't be surprised to find myself owning both a PSP and a DS afew years from now, but if I had to choose one, DS all the way, baby!

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