E-books officially on the Nintendo DS?
So what’s up on the e-book front at Nintendo? E-books on the DS are no news to TeleBlog readers. Imagine, if nothing else, the literacy angle—old-fashioned text reaching the heart of gamesdom.
But now there’s a new wrinkle, a DS Novel project, mentioned in a Nintendo financial report, according to Stuff.TV:
“Cue frenzied speculation that this is an English-language version of home market best-selling DS cart Bungaku Zennshuu—one hundred classic works of Japanese literature.
“Given Ninty’s enthusiasm for expanding its dinky gaming handheld into new territory—just recently the DS has added web browsing and MP3 playback to its repertoire—the move would seem natural.”
Stuff.TV adds that “the idea of ploughing through all 286,956 words of, say, Charles Dickens’ handily out-of-copyright Our Mutual Friend on the console’s 3in screen seems a little daunting.” Oh, come on, guys. This isn’t for everyone, but certain cellphone owners would beg to disagree, even if their reading fare is less than Dickensian in complexity.
And speaking of hardware: iPod-killer from Garmin? Any e-book potential here?
(Thanks, Mike.)
February 1st, 2008 at 1:24 pm
Regarding the new Garmin phone, hardly an “iPod killer” for several reasons. First, given the millions and millions of iPods out there there is hardly any chance that Garmin could compete with a phone product. The very fact that it is a phone limits its uptake to a small class of people - those who are on the carrier it is connected to. Second, don’t forget iTunes. iTunes and the iPod/iPhone are synergistic and each helps the other grow. No chance of this with a Garmin phone. Finally, Garmin is doing the OS itself, so we have another proprietary OS that won’t be able to run “standard” programs. Very little chance this will have an impact on the ebook market. If anything it would fragment the market into yet another proprietary format.
February 1st, 2008 at 8:37 pm
Well, with a cartridge (www.dealextreme.com) I have 1000 books on my DS. I know I will never be bored - between games and books, as well as web browsing (meh - not that great, just for news). Great for traveling light, and with a ‘AA’ USB charger (see above link) unlimited time in-between flights and delays without having to bother finding an outlet.
That and you can play movies as well. TSA also knows what a DS is - not like my issues trying to carry through a REB1200 with extra batteries. You can do the same but it is more time-consuming with a GBA - one of the last made GBA’s with the superbright screen is very readable and comfortable in the hand.
My wife and I had a rough day once, so we decided that the family (one kid and my father) would eat out. Service was very slow, but I reached into my pockets - kid got the DS to read, wife got the T3 to read with, Dad got a paperback, and I was reading from the GBA. There was a few comments from the next table and they broke into severe laughter when I puled out two USB battery chargers asking who needed power. All of this in two jacket pockets. The DS lite screen is nice - just small. Very durable, and cheap to replace. I had a Sony reader and after three returns due to faulty screens, I’m going this way for a while.
March 4th, 2008 at 2:10 am
WOW!! An E-book for the Nintendo DS!!
I could hardly wait… soo WHEN and WHERE will it be released?? What Stores can i buy it from??? about how much??
June 15th, 2008 at 1:54 am
The Moon Books Project is a website that is making classic literature and films available for free on the Nintendo DS, right now! Check it out at http://moonbooks.net