Anyone hear anything more about the tests with the Nintendo DS?
We will be going to WDW in August and was curious if I should buy a DS or not.
We will be going to WDW in August and was curious if I should buy a DS or not.
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Nintendo DS Test?
- Thread starter no1swfanindy
- Start date
DisneyDreamerK
Member
Maybe they are going for the iPhone approach....
Apparently they love it...
http://www.apple.com/iphone/enterprise/
Now that the new one has GPS...there is a world of opportunities to make this work for the parks! (A girl can dream)
the new iPhone with the application store is going to be amazing....and I'm not just saying this because I work for them lol
AEfx
Well-Known Member
It wouldn't surprise me if it didn't work out and was cancelled, as bgraham34 said.
First, DS's aren't awfully fragile, but they aren't really meant to be thrown around much either and renting them in a theme park environment would have been a nightmare in terms of repair, etc., and I believe they have to be sent back to Nintendo to be fixed.
More than that, though, there isn't a terrible lot of information that is truly valuable to most people that can't be coveyed via the daily printed maps and times guide. Besides the novelty, it's a lot easier to whip out a map from your pocket than boot up a DS, navigate, etc.
It was a neat idea, one that I was certainly interested in, but it wouldn't surprise me if we never hear about it again.
AEfx
First, DS's aren't awfully fragile, but they aren't really meant to be thrown around much either and renting them in a theme park environment would have been a nightmare in terms of repair, etc., and I believe they have to be sent back to Nintendo to be fixed.
More than that, though, there isn't a terrible lot of information that is truly valuable to most people that can't be coveyed via the daily printed maps and times guide. Besides the novelty, it's a lot easier to whip out a map from your pocket than boot up a DS, navigate, etc.
It was a neat idea, one that I was certainly interested in, but it wouldn't surprise me if we never hear about it again.
AEfx
scpergj
Well-Known Member
Wow...that kind of stinks!
We tested one back in January, and we thought it was pretty cool. We liked being able to tell what the ride wait times were for any ride in the park, and what the fastpass return time was, too. There were a bunch of other parts we liked, too. My son was really hoping that this would end up as a new 'toy' at the Magic Kingdom!
JimboJones123
Well-Known Member
I think that the limitations on GFX would be a bit of a let down for DS. Next Nintendo Handheld go around may be better. Are Iphones really that saturated? Wouldn't Bluetooth have the same problems with GFX? I'd think that Disney would want some actual market penetration if they were going to brave something like this. May come down to rental equipment as well.
AEfx
Well-Known Member
The Nintendo DS can actually produce some amazing graphics, and surely anything to satisfy the needs of an interactive map. It is fully capable of 3-D rendering (a port of Super Mario 64 was a launch title), it's only real drawback visually is hardware anti-aliasing (Nintendo skimped on it because of the size of the screen). Many newer games compensate for even that.
My guess, if it truly has been scrapped, would be that it was tough to convince the average vacationer that they needed that info, but that the "hard core" among us who would want it would also want to just buy the darn thing and use it on our DS and wouldn't want to rent it every time.
Then the issue becomes, if they price it high enough to compensate for those of us that would buy it and use it all the time, perpetually for "free" after we bought it, they would price out the casual buyers who would just buy it as a souvineer.
It's a great idea, but I can understand many ways it could have fallen apart if indeed that is what happened.
AEfx
DisneyDreamerK
Member
They should just put a little screen in pal mickey lol
Richard Bruvofe
Member
DisneyMusician2
Well-Known Member
It is about time they did something like the DS idea.
I can't see them using iPhones. More expensive, easily broken, and probably more likely to be ripped off. They would never want to go into the iphone rental business.
I can't see them using iPhones. More expensive, easily broken, and probably more likely to be ripped off. They would never want to go into the iphone rental business.
iheartdisney91
Well-Known Member
im sorry but can someone please fill me in?
thanks
thanks
I'm bummed too, although it was my understanding that Disney would sell a "game" cartridge to those who had a DS instead of the rental of a whole system.
Senderella
Member
I thought the same thing. A DS is 130ish where an iphone is how many hundreds? Not to mention, selling a game cartridge for the DS with a couple Disney based games would make it worth the money imo (DS games usually are between $20 & $30). It wouldn't be just for within the parks but something that can be played with at home if they did that. Personally, I really liked the DS idea because seeking out a times board can sometimes be a pain if you're nowhere near one. It doesn't take much time to boot up a DS either. I'd use it in a heartbeat in the parks!! I have to say having heard about this possibility made it easier for me to finally take the leap to buy one. I love my DS regardless but I hope this isn't totally scrapped.
JimboJones123
Well-Known Member
It's very hard to get more than 5-6 lines of text that the average person can read easily on the screen. Since this seems like a mostly text based program, that's where you would see the limitations. Both screen size and resolution come into play. It's at least 1 more generation away from being where the average guest would be comfortable.
AEfx
Well-Known Member
Guess we'll have to disagree with that one. I read e-books on mine all the time and it works great, especially when held sideways instead of the traditional top/bottom format.
Thing about an I-phone is that it's still a niche, status-type item. It's like Blu-Ray, the people that want it want it bad, and paid for it through the nose, the rest of the public is kinda like "eh, all set".
I think that we'll see some sort of text messaging service before we saw any I-phone specific apps.
AEfx
Senderella
Member
Originally Posted by JimboJones123
It's very hard to get more than 5-6 lines of text that the average person can read easily on the screen. Since this seems like a mostly text based program, that's where you would see the limitations. Both screen size and resolution come into play. It's at least 1 more generation away from being where the average guest would be comfortable.
It's very hard to get more than 5-6 lines of text that the average person can read easily on the screen. Since this seems like a mostly text based program, that's where you would see the limitations. Both screen size and resolution come into play. It's at least 1 more generation away from being where the average guest would be comfortable.