DS Lite?

[Leo Ames]

No it wasn't. Nintendo has continually refined their manufacturing process and the design of the system's internals. Plus you have to take into account the mass production of it. Efficency of scale means that the hardware is likely to be getting cheaper all the time. Why do you think the DS Lite is smaller? There was no wasted space in the original model, but Nintendo has been able to produce the processor and various other components smaller and more economically as the system ages. It's not obvious from the outside (Unless something like the DS Lite is released), but just like every other piece of electronics, the internals are changed and redesigned as the company strives to make everything more efficient. Just like the Playstation 2 for example, there are over 10 revisions of the hardware.

[bluemonkey1]

The tech used in the DS is old school stuff.  I would be surprised if a lot of their internals wasn't off the shelf products anyway.  It's easy to apply high school level economics to it but in reality it isn't that simple.  None of the tech in it is pioneering and the work on improvements to that tech was mostly done in the past.  Moore's Law doesn't apply to everything.

[a1]

[QUOTE=bluemonkey]Don't forget $70 is not what eBay gives you.  eBay take a cut.  Then Paypal take a cut.  Besides some people can't get eBay accounts.[/QUOTE]

That is true, but sometimes ebay has promotions for 1 cent listings, buy-it-now or auction. The paypal cut would be around $5.00, which is pretty small. Also the items selling for $70.00 and above that I saw were before shipping. You can charge whatever you want for shipping, and while high priced shipping won't sell, around $10.00 could cover actual shipping and the fees. I'm aware that some people can't get eBay accounts, but people ages 14-18 should have a friend, parent, or friend's parent that would be willing to list the item for them. Children under the age of 14 probably think that the $70.00 after selling would be too much to pay for an upgrade anyway. I know I would have.

 

[a1]

Quote:     "I don't know who is telling you this stuff, but Lithium-ion batteries should never be completely drained. Didn't you wonder why handhelds like your DS ship with a battery that has a partial charge, it's because they should never be fully discharged. A single full discharge halves the battery's life expectancy. If the warning light comes on, put it on the charger."

 

I'm not one of the people who posted about this before, and I am not very tech-savy, but I did hear an employee at a Gamestop telling a customer to let the battery drain completely before recharging.

[Leo Ames]

It's an employee at GameStop, they're often clueless. Just do a search online and you'll find confirmation that you don't want to do that. You'll find varying numbers, but you'll see that a deep discharge of the battery does significantly shorten the life of the battery.

And no, calling them off the shelf parts isn't accurate, nor have they not had many revisions done to them since DS production began. The ARM9 processors have been refined for use in the DS specifically, and there have been several revisions in the processors to lower costs and to speed up production. Many other internal components have been changed as well.

[Paul Campbell]

[QUOTE=bluemonkey]

voor Nintendo have been ripping off consumers since the N64 days, with extra fads and accesories that aren't needed.

[/QUOTE]

  Pbbbt.  Yeah.  Only Nintendo is guilty of that.   Shame on them.  Not on any of the other video game companies releasing upgraded controllers or tiny-capacity memory cards or sports sequels with nothing but an updated roster or smaller versions of consoles or VERY NECESSARY colorful stickers to make the console look unique or multi-controller expansion modules.  Darn that Nintendo.  What you call ripping off, I call making money by selling things that people are willing to buy.  Ripping someone off would be forcing you to buy something at a rediculous price.  If people will buy it, fricken SELL IT!!!! That's why you are in business!  To make money!!

[a1]

[QUOTE=Leo Ames]

It's an employee at GameStop, they're often clueless. Just do a search online and you'll find confirmation that you don't want to do that. You'll find varying numbers, but you'll see that a deep discharge of the battery does significantly shorten the life of the battery.

[/QUOTE]

I believe you. The guys who work at game stores freak me out anyway. I try not to listen to what they say.

[bluemonkey1]

Paul if you will just calm down a moment.  For example Zelda Four Swords does not need 4 GBAs, and Crystal Chronicles does not either.  They could be perfectly playable without them.  Odama would be a more fun game without the microphone.  The GB connector was only ever used for a couple of Pokemon games.  The point is that Nintendo is guilty of foisting peripherals onto their games that do not require them.  The only reason they sell is that their is a die hard fanbase who only buy Nintendo games consoles and games.  They will happily blow their money on these things because with few games released on these systems they have nothing else to spend their money on.  I don't know why Nintendo has this group of devoted people.  I can only assume some people are just more comfortable with the familiar and don't want to try new things.

[bluemonkey1]

Just to put it in perspective I was a reasonably early Nintendo 64 supporter and I also own a GC.  I am not anti-Nintendo, I am anti the false public perception of Nintendo.

[Atarifever1]

[QUOTE=bluemonkey]

Paul if you will just calm down a moment.  For example Zelda Four Swords does not need 4 GBAs, and Crystal Chronicles does not either.  They could be perfectly playable without them.  Odama would be a more fun game without the microphone.  The GB connector was only ever used for a couple of Pokemon games.  The point is that Nintendo is guilty of foisting peripherals onto their games that do not require them.  The only reason they sell is that their is a die hard fanbase who only buy Nintendo games consoles and games.  They will happily blow their money on these things because with few games released on these systems they have nothing else to spend their money on.  I don't know why Nintendo has this group of devoted people.  I can only assume some people are just more comfortable with the familiar and don't want to try new things.

[/QUOTE]
I'm not following the logic here again.  The games that come with the mic are the same price as similar games that don't have the mic (Mario Party wasn't any more expensive when it had the mic).  Thus, it isn't being forced on you to make Nintendo money.  It's a free perephrial (or at least it is at the prices of the EBs here).  The Donky Konga games go for $30 Canadian whereas most new games go for $50 Canadian, just so that when they package the games with the Bongos they are about the price of a normal game (once again, they try to get the perephrials and game to you at the price of just a game).  I have one mic right now and two sets of Bongos and I didn't feel ripped off getting either. 
That aside, I really don't get your logic over the only reason these things sell is becuase of the Nintendo faithful.  I bought the Konga games after me and my fiancee had a blast playing the first one at EB on the demo unit and she begged me to pick it up.  We bought Jungle Beat because we had such a good time with the original Konga game.  Having played Mario Party 2 many years after its release my fiancee bought me (and to be fair herself) Mario Party 7, but not because of the mic.  The Mic is a fun little addition, but she didn't buy it because of the mic or from loyalty to Nintendo; she bought it because it was the Mario Party that was in EB on the "new" shelf at the time.  Also, my sister has an original GBA and my fiancee loves Animal Crossing.  One day we were in EB and she saw the GBA to Cube link cable on sale and recognized that it unlocked stuff in Animal Crossing and allowed one player to do somethings in the game (from anywhere, not just while connected) while the Gamecube was tied up.  At the reduced price she figured she might as well buy the cable.  She then got a loan of my sisters original GBA to use with it.  Me and her would never have bought a GBA just to play the game though, and I can't picture many people who weren't already pretty close to buying a GBA shelling out the price of a GBA just so they could design clothes patterns in Animal Crossing.   If these people already want a GBA they'll buy one and a link cable.  If they already have a GBA they'll pay the $10 for the link cable.  If they don't want a GBA tiny unlockables won't make them blow over $50.
People buy Nintendo games because they like Ninendo games Monkey, not due to some silly loyalty.  If a perephrial adds to the experience (or doesn't cost anything), fine, if it doesn't people won't buy it.   Until the day comes where I don't have fun playing Pikmin, Mario Party, Zelda, Donky Kongas, Animal Crossing, and other great Nintendo games, then I will keep buying them.  It isn't out of loyalty though.  Until the Gamecube, I can't say I ever really liked a Nintendo system more than its competition.